WELCOME

Hola! I’m writing this in Mexico, hence today’s greeting. I’ll tell you what—there are worse places to wake up, and not many better. I’m down here for CBRSuccess2024 and I’m just having the time of my life! Sometimes it’s nice to go away and get a hard reset, and believe you me, I’ll be hitting the ground extra hard when I get home because this experience has just been so fantastic.

Today, I want to talk about a couple of things—one entails planning and one entails doing. So let’s get right into it… after I share this view.

THE REALITY OF REAL ESTATE

A few weeks ago, I told y’all how I always spend the months October-December making a goal for 2025 and working toward it so I have a big jump start on the new year.

As it turns out, I am a trend setter because of the October Theory. #OctoberTheory is all the rage on social media right now. Apparently if you want to change your life for the better, now is the time to start, rather than waiting for the new year.

The thought process here is that it can take 30 tries to make a simple task a habit (like taking off your eye makeup before bed, guilty as charged) or three months to make into habit something more complex, like starting a new fitness regime or changing your diet.

If you want to skew your goals to be more business-oriented, now is the time to add five new calls a day, five follow-ups, or five door knocks. Or, use October through the end of the year to up your education or learn everything about an area that’s new to you, because you’re setting yourself up for success.

So, instead of being the person putting a whole lot of pressure on themself in January, if you start now, you’ll begin the new year so far ahead of the game!

And here’s a quick reminder that what you’re consuming is your reality, so if changing what you’re taking in is that first step, there’s no better time to do it than October!

@glenndabaker

Tell me… Do you agree? I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing but what you consume shapes your perception of reality. #GlenndaBa… See more

STORY TIME WITH GLENNDA

If You Don’t Talk to Your Clients about Commission…

There used to be an old PSA about how if you’re not talking to your children about drugs, then someone else is. Well, the same holds true today, only I’m changing the parameters a little bit. Now, if you’re not talking to your clients about commission, I guarantee you that someone else is.

Know this, right now your clients ARE being contacted by outside parties. One of my clients who sold with me in 2023 told me he received a letter telling him that if he bought or sold a home within a certain time period and paid a commission to a real estate agent, he was eligible to be part of a settlement.

The letters, postcards, and emails are very official looking, and they explain the eligible dates range depends on which MLS you listed your home for sale. They say, “You may be part of class action settlements,” and those are the magic words because everyone automatically thinks, “Free money!”

The notifications talk about proposed settlements with defendants for a sum of $980 million… which now sounds like A LOT of free money. It also says that a federal court authorized this notice, so it feels very official.

Here’s the thing—the notice is not from a federal court. That is a key piece of info right there. It goes on to talk about the settlements and all you have to do is click a button right here to get a payment. It says a court will hold a hearing on 11/24 to consider whether to grant final approval of the settlements. Obviously the ACT NOW is heavily implied by the click here button, which some of y’all helpfully pointed out in my IG comments is a common phishing scam. (This just doubled down on the fact that there’s nothing good that can come of your clients getting this information from anyone but you.)

I have a couple of bits I want to point out about this—first, they had my client’s personal email address, which is something that isn’t publicly available. Second, here’s where the language gets a little slippery. It says that a federal court authorized this notice. And that is true. Yet the notice was not sent from a federal court.

Oh, no. This notice is from an entity trying to insert themselves into this lawsuit. I find it incredibly ironic that the ambulance chasers who are sending these notices are paid like real estate agents, in that they get a percentage of the settlement, plus expenses. Y’all, should we become personal injury attorneys? Because I never get reimbursed for my expenses. If a house doesn’t sell, I’m the one who eats those sunken costs.

I talked about this on my IG posted below a few weeks ago, but it’s important enough that I want to remind everyone of what’s happening again. Understand that your clients are being contacted and they are being given this information. (What they aren’t being told is they’re likely to end up making $12.)

Now is not the time to make like an ostrich. Yank your head out of the sand if that was your first inclination. It’s imperative y’all are letting your clients understand what’s going on with the new NAR policies, especially now that the ambulance chasers have been added to the chat.

If you’re not sure what your October Theory project should be, let it be this—learning to articulate exactly what real estate commissions are and how real estate commissions are paid. Because if you are not talking to your clients about that, someone else is. Who is that someone, specifically? It could be a no fee broker, a discount broker, a hungry attorney looking for an easy win, or ironically, the NAR plaintiff who then turned around and started his own real estate tech company. (Oh, my stars and stripes, do not get me started on that.)

I can’t stress how critical it is for you to curate the narrative of your community. Let your clients know what’s happening and do it in a way that is both direct and transparent. They only way we’ll all be successful moving forward is by articulating our value, being transparent about our value, and knowing the info upside-down and inside-out that will help our clients move through the real estate transaction with ease.

It’s just that simple.

glenndabaker

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GLENNDAISM

This Is Never Not True

GO HOMES.COM WITH GLENNDA

What Do I Always Say?

Something I always say is that when you stumble upon those timeless brick ranches, you jump on them! Nothing is better than the house that grandma built. They are always solid as can be, because they don’t make them like this anymore. This one’s particularly a gem because of the nicely finished basement and tons of access to the outdoors. I love this one, and I suspect everyone else will, too!

Remember, with Homes.com, it’s your listing, your lead.