Finance With Factor

Brian Koss, VP of Marketing and Residential Lending at Mortgage Network, shares his takeaways from the recent New England Mortgage Bankers' Convention.  He provides stats and perspective on how realtors and real estate professionals can comfort customers and coach colleagues through a rapidly shifting market (a real estate market that many of us haven't seen or at least haven't seen in the last 30 years).

Sales, negotiations, and customer service are all about responding to the other person’s anxieties, comforts, and needs. I speak with a professional poker player on how he learned to read “tells” and ways we can apply that to improve our business.

Social media is an efficient way to spread brand awareness and sell product, but how do you service professionals use it to build relationships and generate leads with new prospective clients? Jenn Vinson, Dr of Business Development at Cosmopolitan Title Agency, LLC, shares how she has leveraged social media to foster new friendships with potential referral partners.

“Pauly Parlays" a fantasy football expert shares sleepers, must haves, and a variety of fantasy football tips…I share how we can learn from fantasy football to improve our credit scores.  Good credit doesn’t have to be a fantasy, you can apply the same logic you use to build your fantasy line-up to improve and maintain your credit score.

Moving means a lot of changes. For many, new schools are one of the most important and stressful. Lisa Kingsley, an experienced teacher and school administrator, shares ways that parents can help their kids adjust smoothly and quickly to a new school this year.  She even shares a few tips on how your real estate team can help you evaluate schools and start the registration process. E85-R122

Everyone in sales is a story teller.  But, story telling is an art and making memorable stories is a skill...a skill you can learn and refine.  While working at the NBA, Kevin Scheitrum made a career of telling memorable stories to build fan engagement, solicit responses, and evoke emotion.  Kevin shares how he approaches story telling and ways small business owners, real estate professionals, and anyone at a cocktail part can become a memorable story teller! 

"Points" are an upfront cost (added to closing costs) typically used to "buy down" the interest rate or secure underwriting exceptions.  When used correctly, points can help buyers increase their buying power and lower monthly payments.  As sellers, you can use "seller credits" to offset rate movements and increase your net proceeds.  On this episode, I share a presentation, at a local real estate office, on how points can be a valuable tool in the real estate toolbox for savvy buyers, sellers, realtors, and lenders.

Making "splashy" social media content is difficult for any small business owner, but especially in a crowded space, like the real estate market.  Charlie King, of the Charles King Group at Compass, shares his philosophy on creating memorable sharable content and how it has helped him grow his social footprint.

Building an all-star team can be difficult, especially if they are all incentivized to compete against each other. Sales "teams" are inherently self-interested and highly competitive, but that doesn’t always yield an enjoyable work environment. At Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Page Realty, they have built offices filled with top agents and fostered a collaborative environment. Ruthann Wright shares the secret to getting all their stars working together.

Fellow "control freaks" raise your hands? Tim Legere, an NCAA ref, recovering small business owner, youth hockey coach, and finance professional, teaches us to control our controllables and plan for (but not sweat) the other stuff!  He shares some valuable takeaways and stories everyone can relate to as you manage your own to do lists.