We're (still) Hiring! (VIDEO)

We now have 2 open positions to fill with truly remarkable title people! See video below for a description of the jobs, and see the links for instructions on how to apply.

Click here to see company president Derek Massey describe the open positions.

Click here for instructions on how to apply for Title Service Representative (Settlement Officer) position.

Click here for instructions on how to apply for Settlement Coordinator (Processor) position.

Setting Expectations (Part 1 of 5)

Last Saturday I published this post called “Title Company Fail.” In it, I outlined what I thought were 5 steps to help get title industry service levels where they should be. In this post, I will address the first.

1. Set better expectations up front

Last night I had the pleasure of spending some time with some folks in the RE.net crowd. In particular, Jim Duncan (@JimDuncan) and Matt Case (@MattCase) were discussing pictures that accompany listings. Being a non-agent, I always assumed you put up the very best pictures you could find. You made that front lawn look huge. Made the living room spacious and spotless, and hid the ugly wood paneling in the guest bedroom.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

It seems so obvious to me now. If you do that – post only pictures in the most favorable light – what happens when buyers show up? “Huh, that lawn doesn’t look as big as I recall from the picture.” “Spacious living room? This is a little den!” “How many fake trees were killed to panel that wall?” The buyers instant reaction is negative.

Compare and contrast.

The pictures are a true representation of the property. Maybe even a little on the flat side. Because it’s priced right (you are, of course a GREAT listing agent), the buyers still want to see it. Now what happens? The first physical reaction to the property is a positive one. Same property, same price, better results.

How does this apply on the title side?

Here are but a few things title companies could do to set better expectations up front:

1. Provide a quote for all the services (title, closing, title insurance, recording, transfer tax, etc.) up front.
2. Explain the different between standard ALTA policies and Enhanced Coverage.
3. Tell all parties that the short sale will NOT close in 2 weeks.
4. Tell all parties that the REO will NOT close in 2 weeks.
5. Send out a title commitment to the agent/buyer in advance, showing the exceptions to title.
6. Explain to the seller from the beginning why their current mortgage information is so critically important.
7. Tell everyone up front what you require for funding (Wire? Certified check?)
8. Explain up front that a HUD is not final/complete until the title company gets instructions from the lender as well as their approval.

There are likely many more, but even if every title company adopted a handful of these, we’d probably see a little more positive feedback.

The next post on this subject, scheduled for later this week will be on over-communicating.

Attention to Detail

Something special is happening in our Hunt Valley headquarters today. It happens once a month, during the first or second Wednesday of the month. Our two Sales Managers/Regional VPs, armed with a month's worth of feedback from the sales side, bring up every issue dealt with over the prior month. More specifically, every issue that the production/processing side could have possibly handled better/more efficiently/with better customer service. The operational leaders sit in on the meeting, and listen to all the feedback presented. It is all documented on a spreadsheet. Teams are ranked on a 1-10 scale. We dive into the details -- either right there in the meeting or after -- and drill down to the tiny little details usually revolving around who called whom, and when did the call take place.

Sound tedious?

It can be. There were several months where only 2 files were brought up, yet we still spent an hour plus dissecting how we could have been better. I would imagine this month there will be a few more given the increase in volume and the complexity of the transactions.

Why do we do this?

1. Every individual who sells our service to others deserves input as to how to make our offering better;
2. Every individual who utilizes our services deserves the ear of leadership; and
3. That which gets measured against gets done or improved.

Tiger Woods reinvented his swing when he was the #1 ranked golfer in the world. Is there any question the drive for improvement never ends?

Dan Coleman on Stress (VIDEO)

In this segment, Dan "Dan the Info Man" Coleman talks about how to deal with stress that typically comes with the end of the month in real estate. He also dances. In short, stress can be relieved (or at least mitigated) by (1) relaxing/exercising, (2) making a list and crossing off completed tasks, and (3) celebrating your successes.

Click here for a link to the video.

The audio is a little choppy, and for that we apologize. Our studio is being renovated.

Education for Week of May 11

Here is what we have on tap for classes this week. If you are interested in more details, please contact Harry Yazbek via email or Twitter.

Monday, May 11th

11:00 AM: Short Sales with Harry Yazbek (3 credit hours) at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Bethesda, MD.

Tuesday, May 12th

10:00 AM: Maryland Ethics with Harry Yazbek (3 credit hours) at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in McLean, VA.

10: 00AM: Web 2.0 for Real Estate with Dan Coleman (non-credit) at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Crofton, MD.

Wednesday, May 13th

10:00 AM: Title Insurance with Stacy McKone (3 credit hours) at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Reston, VA.

1:00 PM: Short Sales with Harry Yazbek (3 credit hours) at the Greater Baltimore Board of REALTORS ®

Thursday, May 14th

10:00 AM: Contracts with Harry Yazbek (3 credit hours) at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in McLean, VA

10:00 AM: Contract to Closing with Stacy McKone (2 credit hours) at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Leesburg, VA.

Friday, May 15th

None Scheduled.

Remember that you can always check for future classes on the Events tab of our Facebook Fan Page.

Derek Massey Featured in Maryland Daily Record

Through its On The Record blog, The Daily Record (Maryland's only daily newspaper besides The Sun) occasionally interviews local businesspeople who blog or use social media to promote themselves or their industry. Their goal is to show the business and legal community how to harness the power of the Web professionally.

This week, On The Record caught up with me (Derek Massey) to discuss how I use social media for business. Clink this link for the interview.

Title Company Fail

"long day. Hate fighting with title companies for a HUD"

"What's worse - Title Companies or Home Owner Associations??? Two of the same, I'm beginning to think so these days . . . . IRRITATED!!!"

"keep plugging away, keep farming. Just keep costs down. You can't even depend on title companies to help that much as before."

"i hate having to extend contracts because title companies wait till the last mnute to clear title. whats worse, having to extend mult times"

"okay, definitely hating title companies. wont close til tuesday f'sure.. and guess i have to pay closing costs now!??! hello 3k. goodbye 3k."

"Title companies suck. No urgency. Mostly in thiseconomy. Aren't they trying to keep business and a job?"

"tired of title companies that can't prepare a HUD correctly. Is it really surprising a REO has delinquent water bill buried in prop taxes?"

"Hate title companies. Hate this. Ughhhh"

So I set up a search in www.Search.Twitter.Com to tell me when the phrase “Title Companies” is mentioned in Twitter. These results feed into my Google Reader. The notes above are actual tweets I copied and pasted from that search. The timeline is between April 22nd and May 7th. While I did not copy all of them over, rest assured the others were “neutral” at best. Example: “Looking at local title companies to contact for some lead lists.” None were glowing recommendations.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: It is (unfortunately) not human nature to express those things we are happy about, especially on the internet. It’s the “Evening News” mentality. People are loudest when they are complaining. I didn’t expect this query to turn up “Title companies are the cog that holds society together!”

But even given that fact, it strikes me how negatively folks think of us in title. I have a little bit of insider’s knowledge having been brought up in the family title business, so I’m more than biased. I know how hard it is to own and run a title company, and also know how hard each employee in a title company works to get to closing. So why the disconnect between effort and perceived value?

The easy answer – the cop-out post – would be to ask you as a real estate agent what you think. But it’s not a real estate agent’s job to figure that out, it’s mine. So, with that, I’ll take a stab at where I believe we (as an industry) need to do a better job:

1. Set better expectations up front

2. Over-communicate

3. Pick up the phone when it rings

4. Pretend the only file we have is the one you are calling about

5. Reinforce – every day – that our internal employees have clients

I will hit each one of these in separate posts in the future to give more detail, but I believe this little 5-point “program” could help restore some faith in title companies. Like good real estate agents and lending professionals, there are some seriously great people who perform miracles every day to get deals to closing – we just need to get those stories to the forefront and make them commonplace.

So........What are your thoughts?