Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: The Secret to Success

By Gino Blefari

Last week my travels found me first in Northern California on Friday, then Southern California at the beginning of this week and today, in Columbus, OH for a meeting with the fantastic Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Professional Realty team and Owner David Mussari, Broker Rob Arnold and Market President Michael Smith.

While in Northern California, I had the opportunity to pick up my new car—a Tesla Model X SUV—and the experience inspired me to do a little digging on Tesla CEO, co-founder and notorious boundaries-pusher, Elon Musk. Today, Musk is in the news because he just unveiled the Tesla Model 3, his first foray into more affordable, mass-market automobiles that many say will revolutionize the auto industry, signaling a change from fuel-based cars to ones that run on electricity. And though production for these cars won’t begin until 2017, the Model 3 still represents a major step forward in the evolution of the electric automobile.

Posted by HomeServices of America

DEVELOPING SALES SKILLS – PART 1

In the first of a three-part video series, Paul Campanaro, agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties, Nevada Properties and California Properties explains how to develop your sales skills. “Wherever a lead comes from ultimately at the end of the day it is going to boil down to the quality of our communication,” he says in his video. “What we say is paramount to getting a contract signed.” Watch the rest of Paul’s video and stay tuned for parts two and three, coming soon!

Posted by HomeServices of America

Interest Rates and Affordability: What You Need to Know

By Camilo Ramirez

One of the most important life goals for millennials across the country is home ownership. They crave a sense of community and a place where they truly belong. However, affordability plays a large role in purchasing a property and when it comes to affordability, nothing is more important than interest rates. With rates currently hovering around a five-year low, now is the ideal time for millennials to become home owners.

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thoughts on Leadership: The Storyteller’s Secret

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in Southern California for a meeting with the HomeServices of America, Inc. board and to work with our staff at HQ on products and services that will help our brokerage networks achieve even greater success this year. Just before arriving in California, I had finished The Storyteller’s Secret by best-selling author Carmine Gallo—who also wrote one of my favorite books, Talk Like TED—about the power of stories to impress, illuminate and inspire.

“We’re all storytellers,” Gallo writes. “We don’t call ourselves storytellers but it’s what we do every day.” He goes on to explain that in this twenty-first century age of information—the “knowledge economy”—we are only as valuable as our ideas. In the spirit of idea-sharing, here are five of my favorite concepts Gallo presents in his book:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: My Take on the NAHREP 10

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me in Washington, D.C. to attend the 2016 Housing Policy and Hispanic Lending Conference held by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP).

This week my travels found me in Washington, D.C. to attend the 2016 Housing Policy and Hispanic Lending Conference held by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). During the conference, I had the honor of speaking on a panel moderated by 2016 NAHREP President Elect Leo Pareja, and spoke along with Sherry Chris, president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, and Geoff Lewis, president of RE/MAX about best practices in real estate. During the panel, I discussed the “NAHREP 10,” principles put forth by the organization to allow its members to succeed. It just so happens that these guidelines are very close to my own philosophies and practices that I’ve used and embraced throughout my entire career:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: An Uber Idea

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels first found me in Burbank, CA for the transition of Century 21 Crest Real Estate, now operating as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Crest Real Estate. This fine brokerage has 25 proud years serving Burbank, La Crescenta and Sunland and is on a mission to grow. At their transition event, you could practically feel the excitement in the air; everyone on that team is ready to go forward as a member of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices family.

After Burbank, I was on my way to Dallas to get ready for the 2016 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Sales Convention. (Be sure to follow the brand on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat for the latest updates from the #REvdUp2016 event.) I took my usual Uber to the airport in California and once in Dallas, was planning to call an Uber again to take me to the Omni Hotel. I must confess I’m no stranger to the app-based taxi service, which I find convenient and always reliable in getting me where I need to go. I’m also intrigued by Uber’s steadfastness in the face of certain speed bumps on their road to success. So far, long-standing regulations and legal obstacles haven’t stopped the company from finding rapid and expansive growth.

So, here I am in Dallas, about to call my Uber when I notice a new option on the screen: “UberPITCH,” it reads. Immediately, I’m intrigued.

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Win the Earnhardt Way

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in Indianapolis to meet with the talented team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Indiana Realty. Spending time with the agents and managers at Indiana Realty, including co-founders Kevin Kirkpatrick and John Dick, as well as Chief Operating Officer Craig West, was an incredibly rewarding experience, and all attendees were in warm spirits despite the cold weather and impeding snow.

While driving to the Indiana Realty event, I had the opportunity to catch glimpses of the Indianapolis skyline from my car window and it’s difficult to be in that city without thinking of its most iconic event—the Indianapolis 500. The race is especially front and center this year, as the Indy 500 is set to hold its 100^th running May 29.

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Book of Business and the Business of Books

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in the rainy Pacific Northwest for meetings with the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate team, including president/CEO Jason Waugh and Northwest Real Estate Chairman Mike Gain. I started off by speaking to our Seattle-based agents and managers then drove with Jason and the event’s keynote speaker, Ashton Gustafson, 174 miles on I-5 southbound to Portland.

I was thrilled to spend time with both Jason and Ashton—Jason for his consummate professionalism and leadership of the Northwest Real Estate brokerage and Ashton because I was intrigued by the speech he delivered in Seattle that spoke about the importance of connection. Essentially, Ashton’s message was that no matter how much you tweet or post or snap in today’s tech-centric world, real estate is still about genuine, personal connection. It doesn’t matter, he might argue, if you achieve real connection through handwritten notes, in-person meetings or even a casual drop by to visit a past client; real estate is not an online business. Real estate is a people business.

Posted by HomeServices of America

Apex of Luxury: A Modern Masterpiece in Laguna Beach

Featuring the elite listings of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

This privately gated expansive modern masterpiece in Laguna Beach, CA was built with every element of elegance, including an infinity pool and spa, a commercial grade elevator, a private beach area, a sand-front cabana and grassy lawn rarely available in oceanfront living today.

Posted by HomeServices of America

I Shop for Houses Online: Doesn’t Everyone these Days?

By Jake Breen

It’s become a bit of a battle. You want a new home, you surf the web well in advance of actually moving (consumer surveys report you start 17 months in advance of buying) and you believe that you are becoming a real estate expert if you search long enough and hard enough. After all, can’t you find everything you need to know about a house, the neighborhood, the community by “googling”? Well, not exactly. Let’s examine why:

Posted by HomeServices of America

No more posts.

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America

Share this:

Posted by HomeServices of America