Susan Schneider’s Blog

It’s a Beauty Contest in a Price War

The days of a quick sale due to location, location, location, are long gone. Today, location is just one of the considerations when a buyer is contemplating putting in an offer. If your home doesn’t look like a supermodel strolling the cat walk, you may have to consider some enhancements, and quickly.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a seminar on staging and I have to admit, I walked away with some ideas I had not thought about. Professional staging offers many opportunities for sellers to put their home in the absolute best light at a fraction of the cost of an average price reduction. The best part…it is tax deductible. Staging is especially critical if a seller is dealing with dysfunctional spaces or dated interior. In addition to staging, I also learned some simple “inexpensive” techniques such as:

• removing screens from the windows to let in more natural light
• adding fresh mulch to the landscape
• pressure washing the sidewalks and seal coating the driveway
• replacing bathroom mirrors (costs less than you think)

Remember, unlike the Chance cards in Monopoly, there is no prize for second place in a beauty contest.

Fail Forward

“The major difference between achieving people and average people is their perception of and response to failure.”
Failing Forward, John Maxwell

The point is, if you wait until your next idea, your next concept, your next innovative solution is perfected before executing, you could find yourself with a program that is not competitive, an outdated policy, or heaven forbid a portfolio full of inventory property. We need to become comfortable with being 90% complete with our strategy and then, for the other 10%, let the chips fall where they may. You will learn from any errors and have the flexibility to make necessary changes. Chances are, the fears of failure will surely outweigh the reality of the outcome. In fact, someone once told me that I should always run the worst-case scenario in my mind, and if I could live with that, then I will be just fine. Believe it or not, this suggestion will work.

It is easy to follow the pack. I have found myself saying more than once, it would be so easy to mimic what someone else has already figured out. There is some truth to that in part, but parallel to that we need to find a way to make it our own and try something a little different. Personally, I would rather be known as someone who is willing to fail forward a few times versus someone who is afraid to take a risk.

Twice the Space at Half the Price

Most of us think of states like Arizona or Florida when we dream about the location of our second homes. Rarely do we think that our second home may actually be in a five mile proximity from our office. But for some transferees, this has now become a place they call home, or what we in the industry term as temporary lodging.

Prolonged separation from a family is never easy. However today, mainly due to the sluggish real estate market, we are seeing extensions of months added to what is typically a 30 to 60 day stay.  The price tag on this “home away from home” can be difficult to swallow for most. I often see companies trying anything to find cost effective solutions for this issue, some of which end up adding significantly to the overall cost. One of these solutions is extended hotel stays. It is easy to think that a $100 a night published hotel rate might actually help you come out ahead in overall costs. But the important thing to remember about hotels is:  1) hotel rates fluctuate daily based on occupancy and day of the week, and 2) the tax alone on the daily hotel rate can sky rocket significantly depending on location. Does New York come to mind?

What I suggest is to first get over the initial sticker shock of the 30-day temporary lodging invoice. Instead, break the costs down into a daily rate and look at the overall savings that come with putting your employee into an apartment rather than a hotel. Not only do you give the employees the space that they will need to live comfortably, especially when the family comes to visit, they will also have most of the amenities that will ease their living accommodations, including a full kitchen. Companies also get the benefit of not having to pay a per diem for meals.  I am confident that in the long run, companies will find the temporary lodging to be the most cost effective solution.

Let Freedom Reign

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
Erma Bombeck

Once again, I quote one of my favorites, Erma Bombeck, who always seemed to capture the essence of many things in a few short words. As I celebrated our Independence Day last week, I was reminded just how fortunate we are to live in this country. Yes, it is easy to open the paper each day and read about real estate misfortunes, watch the limping stock market, or painfully fill up our tanks at the gas station. But, are we willing to accept all of this as dowry to our freedom?  I believe we are. I know that personally, I am thankful for the freedom of speech, the freedom to make choices, and the freedom to walk the streets without fear. Much of this I take for granted. Thankfully, I have this day to remind myself otherwise.

I hope that all of you had an opportunity to take the long weekend to enjoy and rejuvenate yourselves as we prepare to head into the second half of the year.

What’s Your Bhag?

No, this is not an instant messaging acronym for “what’s your problem,” although it does seem to flow naturally off the tongue. What I am talking about this week is BHAG – BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL. It is from Jim Collin’s book “Good to Great.” Okay, I am going to admit here that the “Hairy” part always throws me off a bit, but I get the overall point of the acronym. The question is what is my end-all-be-all goal and more importantly do I have one?

It would be so easy to give vanilla answers, such as those pertaining to revenue, profits, and client and transferee survey scores, but that wouldn’t be very audacious now would it? Audacious and (ugh) Hairy are bigger than that. Like, what if our company never had to respond to an RFP (Request for Proposal) again because prospect’s were standing in line to work with us and didn’t even feel the need to look at competition. Now that’s BIG! Or, what if we could find a way to sit face-to-face with every transferee we worked with. Now that’s really BIG! Are these unattainable? You may think so, but unless we put it out there, we will always settle for less.

As the summer Olympics approach, I am constantly reminded of what determination, perseverance, and commitment is being made by the athletes. Frankly, I am a bit jealous. You see, the BHAG has been with most of them since they were a child (need I mention Tiger Woods). I can guarantee most are not heading over to Beijing hoping for the Bronze medal. They are all going for the Gold. And so should the rest of us!