Meet Eric Miller, the best condo agent I've ever known! Actually, one of the best & smartest & hard-working agents I know, period, but for today we're talking about condos. Eric and I have been business friends for a while now, we have been official colleagues & team members for a couple of years now.
Eric calls Fort Lauderdale home and has dominated that market for a very long time. He also has his license in North Carolina, and a lovely second home, in the Asheville mountains.
In one of our recent weekly mastermind sessions (we do a mastermind with our national team every Wednesday ... support, training, cheerleading), we covered the topic of condos.
Eric knows condos extremely well. I thought I knew condos (I can hold my own), but Eric schooled us on the topic! He knows every condo tower in FTL like the back of his hand. He says to start there. Start by knowing every single thing you can possibly know about every condo option in your area ... everything from how many parking spots you get to price appreciation to amenities to deferred maintenance to who has the best pool. Everything.
Here are a few things I picked up in that mastermind session ... hopefully there is an aha or two in here for you, my fellow Realtors.
First, define condo.
A vertical neighborhood.
When Eric said this on our mastermind, there was a collective aha in the group. Simple enough. Or how's this for clarification:
condo - a form of ownership
townhome - a type of construction
How To Stand Out As A Condo Person (or things to know)
Say hello to everyone, they'll think you're an owner.
A new building may have "deficit budget funding" ... meaning the developer did not collect enough funds for a proper HOA reserve & now new residents are going to have to pay to build that up.
Healthy Reserves: An HOA should fund 10% of the total budget in reserves every year.
Marketing Tips For Realtors
Wear your badge.
Always be super nice to residents.
Call the building manager: "I'm selling unit #6, want to make sure I'm doing everything that you need."
Marry the building & the staff.
Leave your business card at the front desk.
Twice a year send a postcard to all residents with stats for the building.
Want more condo business? Either go after a complex that you just SOLD in ... or a complex you just LOVE!
Tour Tips
Show the units your buyer wants to see, then 1 more that YOU want to see.
Video & blog it.
Make sure you have a top notch flyer, especially with your higher $$ properties.
To preview, call the listing agent & ask what appointments they already have set up & I could see 30 minutes ahead of time (make it convenient for them).
Thanks, Eric! Always full of useful gems!!
What are your best condo tips?