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Watch Live: Google Hangout With Century 21 CEO Rick Davidson And Department Of Veterans Affairs

December 4, 2013

Century 21 is joining Veterans United today for a Google+ Hangout to discuss veterans and homeownership. The conversation will focus on insights for returning veterans looking to purchase a house, the roadblocks they may face and the resources at their disposal, as well as answering questions from participants.

Rick Davidson, CEO and president of CENTURY 21, and Shirley Morrison, broker/owner of CENTURY 21 Sweyer and Associates, will participate in the Google+ Hangout to answer questions and provide advice to veterans about buying a home.  Davidson, recently elected as Chairman, International Board of Directors at Easter Seals, will also speak to the philanthropic organization’s resources that veterans can use to transition back into civilian life.

In addition to CENTURY 21 representatives Rick Davidson and Shirley Morrison, the following experts will participate in the Hangout:

•    Patsy Molloy Taylor – Assistant VP, Marketing and Corporate Relations at Easter Seals

•    John Bell – Assistant Director of the VA Home Loan Program for the Department of Veterans Affairs

•    Chris Birk – Author of The Book on VA Loans and Executive Editor at Veterans United Home Loans

•    Sam Reeves – Senior Real Estate/Homebuying Expert at Veterans United Home Loans

•    Sarah Hill – Chief Storyteller at Veterans United Home Loans

According to a recent survey conducted by CENTURY 21 and Harris Interactive, 75 percent of military families cite owning a home as one of the most important things to service members upon returning from deployment.  Still, many veterans are in the dark about how to use their benefits and face other roadblocks in the path to homeownership.

Learn more about how you can help veterans on their pursuit of homeownership by tuning into the Google Hangout live at 2:00pm ET. Watch here.

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5 Reasons To Shop From Home This Weekend

November 27, 2013

At CENTURY 21®, we love Cyber Monday. You can skip the lines and still find great deals, all from the comfort of your own home. Here are five reasons why we think the smartest shopper is the home shopper:

1. At home, you have the option to shop in either the upright or prone position.

2. Your risk of being elbowed, shoved or stepped on is virtually zero.

3. You’ll avoid unbecoming altercations over sale items.

4. You can wear your favorite, comfy slippers without fear of embarrassment.

5. You know how you always wear a big winter coat, then realize it’s way too warm as soon you get inside, but you don’t want to go back to the car, and you’re stuck either sweating or carrying it around the whole night? Well, that won’t happen either.

The verdict is in. Come home for the holidays, and stay home for the shopping. Find the perfect home for all your holiday shopping needs at www.century21.com.

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Listen To The Thanksgiving Anthem: #Tryptophan Slow Jam

November 26, 2013

Christmas has all kinds of songs and carols, but Thanksgiving has never had its own holiday standard. Until now.

A unique brand of harmony and soaring melody join together to form the greatest Thanksgiving rock anthem of all time: “Tryptophan Slow Jam.”

Experience the mega-mellow Thanksgiving classic – a rousing anthem about a family taking a psychedelic tryptophan-inspired journey into Napland after a massive turkey dinner.

Love the song? Download it on iTunes and CENTURY 21 will donate 100% of the proceeds to Easter Seals.

Share the Tryptophan Slow Jam on your social media channels with the hashtag #Tryptophan.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Remembering Marsh Fisher, Co-Founder Of CENTURY 21 Real Estate Franchise System

November 25, 2013

Marsh Fisher, co-founder of Century 21 Real Estate, died from natural causes on Friday, November 22 in Pomona, CA. He was 88. An influential and iconic entrepreneur, Fisher is credited with transforming the real estate industry and the practice of franchising existing real estate companies under a singular brand.

“The real estate industry has lost a legend,” said Rick Davidson, president and CEO, Century 21 Real Estate LLC. “Much of the structure of the industry today is a result of Marsh’s work in the early days of franchising. He was a true visionary.”

What started in 1971 as a regional franchise in Orange County, CA, is today the franchisor of the world’s largest residential real estate sales organization, comprised of 7,100 independently owned offices in 75 countries and territories with more than 102,000 sales professionals. CENTURY 21 is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp., a global leader in real estate franchising and provider of real estate brokerage, relocation and settlement services.

“Marsh was an innovator, and his dedication and commitment to CENTURY 21 helped the company grow across the United States and all around the world,” added Davidson. “I am incredibly proud to be in a position of carrying on his legacy and continuing to innovate within our company and the industry.”

After selling CENTURY 21 in 1979, Fisher went on to make a significant difference in the technology industry, as well. He was the originator and creator of IdeaFisher software, an application that opened the minds of corporations, consultants and educators to the process of Associative Thinking. He is also the author of “The Ideafisher: How to Land That Big Idea — And Other Secrets of Creativity in Business.”

Marsh Fisher was a B-25 bomber pilot in the United States Air Force from 1943-1945. The Fisher family is commemorating his life with a private family interment. An Air Force honor guard will perform.

Fisher is survived by his first wife of 19 years, Barbara Fisher; children: Jess Fisher, Cynthia Fisher-Davidson, and Heidi Fisher; brother: Jay Fisher; son-in-law: Doug Davidson, and grandchildren: Calyssa and Caden Davidson. The family also wishes to express its deepest gratitude to Paul and Mary Lou Curtis for their unconditional love and support. Fisher’s co-founder at CENTURY 21, Art Bartlett, predeceased Fisher on December 31, 2009.

In lieu of flowers the family is kindly asking that donations be made to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Foundation, 406 W. 34th St. Ste. 920, Kansas City, MO 64111, Telephone (816) 968-1128, www.VFWFoundation.org.

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Real Estate Reads Of The Week

November 22, 2013

Happy Friday!

Each Friday we share with you the must-read, real estate news of the week. We’ve got everything you need to know to stay on top of breaking industry news and trends.

Refill your coffee and get reading!

“Reality Check: Florida Housing Market Rebound”

This week, Craig Beggins, owner of CENTURY 21 Beggins in Tampa, FL, spoke with MNI News about the current housing market in Florida. “We’ve been beaten up for the last eight years, but my business is up about 40% this year, and I’m expecting another 40% next year,” Beggins said. Continue reading . . .

“Is Winter The Best Time To Buy?”

Spring and summer are often thought of as the best months to list and sell a home, but could the winter actually be the ideal time? This week MSN Real Estate lists the benefits of selling your home in the off season, as well as the reasons buyers should keep looking through year-end. Continue reading . . .

“6 Quick Tips To Give Your Home More Appeal”

Selling a home can be an extremely stressful process. Between staging your home and having to leave every weekend for several hours for open houses, it’s no surprise that people dread selling their homes -– even when the market is strong and homes are selling relatively quickly. If you’re looking to sell your house and want some quick moves to improve it that won’t ruin your budget, start with these six easy things you can do to freshen up the sight, smell and overall feeling of your home. Continue reading . . .

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CENTURY 21 American Homes Forms Best-In-Class Hybrid Powerhouse

November 18, 2013

This month, CENTURY 21 American Homes announced it has merged with independent Cruse Real Estate, effectively combining two unique business models to create a best-in-class hybrid real estate model in the Long Island and New York metro area. Prior to the merge, CENTURY 21 American Homes was already the top CENTURY 21 firm in the state of New York. The addition of Cruse Real Estate Broker/Owner Michael Kenduck and his team will surely help continue their business success.

We sat down with Mike Litzner, Broker/Owner of CENTURY 21 American Homes, to hear how this merge is going to change their business model and help the newly formed team take on the local market.

C21: Can you tell us about the recent merger?

ML: Cruse Real Estate was a three office firm. They are combining their team into one office, which will become the tenth office of CENTURY 21 American Homes.

C21: Tell us about this new real estate hybrid.

ML: This merger is the bringing together of two niche markets. We are combining two unique business models to create one unique, best-in-class, hybrid powerhouse.

C21: What does the Cruse Real Estate team add to the CENTURY 21 American Homes team?

ML: We are happy to have the Cruse Real Estate team as a part of the CENTURY 21 American Homes family. Michael Kenduck, their broker/owner, will automatically become the number one agent in our company when he joins. He is only 29 years old, but he’s been licensed for eight years and he really embraces technology to elevate his business. He will continue to focus on REOs and short sales.

C21: Will you have new areas of service?

ML: We will be serving the same communities, but different ends of the market. We will be leveraging our footprint across all of Long Island. Combined we will have 450 agents, over 1,600 sides of business and over half a billion dollars of closed deals in 2013.

C21: How is the local market rebounding?

ML: The past year our local market is up 11% year over year. Prices are back up by 8%.

C21: What do you think sets your team apart from the competitors?

ML: Our determination to succeed. We try to be forward thinking and get our arms around the business while still maintaining a personal touch with each of our clients.

C21: Headquartered at 2694 Hempstead Turnpike, Levittown, NY, CENTURY 21 American Homes will continue to provide full-service real estate assistance, specializing in both residential and default sales throughout Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens County and Brooklyn.

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CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company Named To Top 100 Places To Work

November 14, 2013

This week the CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company was named one of the “Top 100 Places” to work in Dallas/Fort Worth by The Dallas Morning News. Congratulations!

The competition had three categories – small, medium and large businesses – and the CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company was named the number seven best place to work in the large business category. Lucky number seven!

We sat down with President and CEO Jim Fite to learn about the nomination process, what makes the company such a fantastic place to work and their goals for the future.

C21: CENTURY 21 Judge Fite was just named one of the “Top 100 Places to Work” in Dallas/Fort Worth, how are these winners determined?

JF: Someone nominated us, but we’re not sure who. We were contacted that we had been nominated last spring. They immediately sent out a questionnaire to all of our employees. Out of 510 surveys sent, 273 of our agents and staff responded. They gave over 420 comments!  The paper then compiles all the survey results from the nominated companies and determines the rankings.

C21: How many other local businesses were you competing against?

JF: 1,275 companies were nominated across three categories: small, medium and large businesses. We were in the large business category (500 employees or more) and we ranked #7 on the list.

C21: Congratulations! Your parents started the company and now you and your sister are leading the charge. What are the advantages of a family run business?

JF: There is certainly a vested interest in the quality of service when your name is on the door. It feels like every client is important . Your whole life is invested in it, as opposed to working for another person. We have a very family culture here. When someone joins, I send an email with the subject line, “Welcome to the Judge Fite family.” We build that culture from the day they start with our organization.

C21: What do you think makes for a great office culture?

JF: My perception is it’s important to go overboard in the area of communication. Keeping our people informed, promoting the good, or if it’s not so good, talking about how we can improve. Always looking to exceed expectations. Getting a positive customer experience.

C21: How do you work to ensure that commitment to service?

JF: CENTURY 21 does a quality service survey after every closing. We see those results online in real time. I can look at our whole company’s results any moment of any day. In our company, I have a staff member who prints out every survey, every day, and puts them in my mail box, hard copy.

I have a stack at least a half inch thick every day. I walk in to my office, bring them to my desk and I read every quality service survey that comes back. I circle the overall rating, I read the comments and I write a personal note to the agent. I put them in my sister’s inbox, she reads them, makes her comments and then each manager gets their people’s surveys. They will take them back and read them and then they will read the survey in front of their peers.

Our company’s quality service rating year-to-date is 96 percent.

C21: How do you maintain that standard of excellence across 20 offices?

JF: We survey our employees every year in August. There are 100 questions on the survey. We take that information to our annual strategic planning meeting. We then develop the plan for the upcoming year and beyond based upon what our people say about us.

Each group of managers (22 managers) across four groups, meets before the annual meeting. At the meeting they give a report from their individual group and we then plan for the future. My point is, it’s bottom up – from agents to staff to the management team.

Once management signs off on our plan for the year ahead, we to talk to our agents about what we’re going to be doing in the coming year. They have our commitment based on the survey they filled out.

C21: How important is training when it comes to establishing a great place to work?

JF: It’s absolutely important. We have brought in Brian Buffini to our company. We have 150 -250 agents who have gone through the Buffini program. Every new agent goes through the Peak Producer program. We have a 12 week program for all new agents that meets every Friday. We also have coaching with our managers. Every manager is a certified mentor through Peak Producers. Our managers coach on an individual basis. Then we have the CENTURY 21 brand for online training for additional specialization.

C21: Will you leverage this new “Top Places to Work” achievement to recruit top producers to the CENTURY 21 Judge Fite team?

JF: Absolutely. It’s already being done. We’re trying to go viral in social media. We communicated it internally, the paper released a video on Sunday and published the full list on Monday.

The video will be shown at all of our sales meetings this week. We encourage our agents to share on their social media channels and share with their sphere of influence. We have posters for all of our offices. The news will go up on our website. It’s also now in my email signature.

C21: That’s excellent. Congratulations to the whole CENTURY 21 Judge Fite team. We are proud to have you as members of the System.

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3 Powerful Real Estate Investing Rules For Regular Folks

November 12, 2013

I’m a fairly average guy. Average intelligence, average income, average lifestyle. I don’t have millions of dollars, well-connected friends, or an excess of free time. However, I do invest in real estate, which makes me a little different than the average Joe. The way I invest isn’t complicated, difficult, or time consuming. Sure, there are ways to invest in real estate which are complex, expensive, and extra-risky. However, that’s not my style and it’s probably not yours.

Therefore, today I want to share my thoughts on how to invest in real estate when you aren’t uber-rich, uber-connected, or uber-smart. This post is about investing in real estate for regular folks like you and me. So let me give you the three real estate investing rules for regular folks.

1.) Learn Selectively

Learning how to buy that first investment house or property can be overwhelming. If you search Google for “Real Estate Investing” you are given 217,000,000 results, or if you search Amazon for “Real Estate Investing” you are presented with 11,472 books on real estate investing…

Ouch.

So how can you possibly consume that much information? Easy: Don’t.

When investing in real estate, there are a whole lot of different niches you can get into (like single family homes, multifamily properties, commercial retail stores, etc) but you don’t need to master them all. In the same regard, there are many different strategies you can choose (like long term buy and hold, house flipping, and more) but you don’t need to know them either.

You simply need to pick one niche and one strategy, and learn a little about those. That’s it.

For example, you might be interested in buying small multifamily properties, like duplexes or triplexes, and hanging on to them until retirement. Suddenly, the vast amount of information out there becomes a lot smaller, and it’s much easier to find the information you need. Searching Google for “how to buy a small multifamily property” will bring you far more targeted responses. This is a good thing!

Additionally, once you narrow your focus of learning down, it’s easier to find individuals who have experience in the kind of investing you want to learn more about. Using the same example as before, perhaps you can ask family and friends if they know anyone who is a landlord of small multifamily properties – and then take that investor out to lunch to learn.

Therefore, the first rule of investing in real estate for regular folks is to learn selectively.

2.) Start Small

The second rule of investing for regular folks is to start small. Yes, you may want to acquire millions of dollars in real estate to stock your retirement fund, but that million dollar portfolio starts with a single purchase. And that’s okay!

Perhaps it’s your goal to buy ten single family houses over the next five years. You do not need to buy all ten this year, or next. Perhaps you can buy just one this year, while learning how the process works. The year after you might buy two. Then three. Each year, you become more and more familiar with the process and can buy more and more properties.

The great part about this kind of learning is that it happens naturally. You don’t need to feel overwhelmed, because those other properties will come in time. The knowledge and experience will come slowly, so let it. Just start with the first deal. Starting small is not only necessary, but it’s also a good thing.

3.) Buy Only the Best Deals

Let me ask you a quick question… Would you rather buy ten homes that broke even each month, or one deal that made you $1,000 per month? Hopefully you picked the one one deal, because wealth is built buying great deals. So when you start shopping for your next real estate deal, focus intently on only buying the best deals. Remember these three simple words: Quality over Quantity.

Having hundreds of properties does you no good if you aren’t making any money from those properties. When you are a multinational corporation or large hedge-fund buying up property, you can wager your bets and buy thousands of properties, hoping that some turn out good in the long run. However, if you are a regular guy or gal looking to stock your retirement fund, you can’t afford to buy bad deals.

Keep in mind that just because you might be an regular person – doesn’t mean you should buy regular deals. Since you probably won’t be buying dozens of properties at a time, you can take the time to shop selectively for the best ones.

Look for properties in good neighborhoods that provide good monthly cash flow (the extra income you get to keep after paying all the monthly expenses.) Estimate the future potential of a property very carefully and conservatively:

  • If you think you might spend $50 per month on repairs, perhaps you should double that just to be safe.
  • Not sure how much the property will rent for? Aim low – and if it turns out better than you estimated you can celebrate.
  • Nervous about the potential tax increase in your city? Plan for the worst-case-scenario.

Buying the best deals will allow you to spend less time managing properties, give you less stress while owning them, and help you build wealth even faster. As I said, quality over quantity.

Conclusion

Look – you don’t need to be exceptionally brilliant, rich, or connected to invest in real estate. Instead, you just need to follow the three rules I’ve listed above. Learning selectively can help you get off the couch and investing with less hassle, starting small can keep you from getting overwhelmed, and buying amazing deals will help ensure you achieve your financial goals. Stop worrying about being average and start planning for an above-average financial future.

Brandon Turner is an active real estate investor and Senior Editor at BiggerPockets.com, the real estate investing social network. He enjoys writing epic long blog posts, such as his The Real Estate Agent’s Ultimate Guide to Working with Investors.

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CENTURY 21 Veteran’s Day Survey Finds Home Ownership Most Important Factor For Returning Service Members

November 8, 2013

Today the CENTURY 21 brand announced the results of its Veterans Day survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive.  In honor of its long-time partnership with, and dedication to, Easter Seals, CENTURY 21 conducted the survey to identify veterans’ perceptions of home ownership and the roadblocks they face when searching for a home.

According to 75% of military families, owning a home is one of the most important things to service members upon returning from service.  Among the reasons that becoming a homeowner is so significant to veterans are a desire to have their own residence (73 percent), establishing a household (43 percent) and financial security (36 percent).  In addition, the majority of veterans (88 percent) indicated that owning a home makes them feel safer.

“Home ownership is a top priority for many, but is especially significant to those returning from a tour of duty,” said Rick Davidson, president and CEO, Century 21 Real Estate LLC.  “Veterans have done so much to serve our country.  We are proud to work with Easter Seals to help empower veterans to lead more independent lives and fulfill the dream of homeownership.”

When we say “Welcome home,” we meant it.

Check out the infographic below with the full results of the survey:

For active or retired service members who are interested in Easter Seals resources available to them, call the Easter Seals Community One Source Hotline, (866) 423-4981, or email veterans@easterseals.com.  Visit www.century21.com/aboutus/veterans to learn more.

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Support Easter Seals In The Honoring Those Who Serve Challenge

November 6, 2013

Easter Seals, our corporate philanthropic partner, is one of a select group of military service nonprofit organizations invited by Newman’s Own® to compete for a $75,000 grand prize in the Foundation’s “Honoring Those Who Serve Challenge.”

As a team, let’s rally and raise funds to support the Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Community Services and help Easter Seals bring home the $75,000 grand prize.

It makes a world of difference to our veterans and military families when we make a positive difference in their lives.  Your investment and encouragement will allow us to achieve our goal of enabling them to thrive where they live.

Time is of the essence. The Newman’s Own® Challenge ends on Veterans Day, Monday, November 11, at 11:59:59 am ET.

Donate now! Here’s how:

 

  • Go to http://www.crowdrise.com/eastersealsinc-nof
  • Click “Donate to this Fundraiser” on the right side of your screen.
  • A “Donate Pop-Up Window” appears (if you do not see a pop-up window, then you have them set to “Off.” Look in the upper right hand corner of your Web browser [Chrome, IE, Firefox, etc.] and allow pop-ups from Newman’s Own®.)
  • In the “Select a Team Member” pull-down menu, select “Easter Seals” – should be the first selection on the list.
  • Enter the dollar amount you’re contributing and whether you want your name or to remain anonymous.
  • Indicate if your contribution is a Gift, or whether you’d like to add a comment, an ‘in memory’ or other form of ‘tribute.’
  • Click the “Donate” button.

Please note: You can add donations made to the Newman’s Own® Challenge to your Easter Seals total dollars raised office count.

Thank you for your continued support of such an important mission.

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