Today and tomorrow I’ll be in Colorado with my assistant and co-author, Lois Maljak, attending the 3rd Annual RISMedia CEO Exchange. This year’s Exchange–which is once again being hosted by RE/MAX founder Dave Liniger at his privately owned and managed Sanctuary Golf Course and Clubhouse, in Sedalia, CO–is an invitation-only event that draws the top 100 real estate brokers in the U.S.

If you run a real estate brokerage–like all of the people attending the CEO Exchange–you have to provide consistent and professional training, a strong and appropriately supportive company culture, along with a positive work environment for the agents, specialists and support staff who work for your organization. If you don’t, especially in today’s economy, your agents could flounder!

As a part of this year’s CEO Exchange agenda, I’ve been asked to serve on a panel discussion titled “Are You a Good Manager? Managing Your Agents and Agent Teams.” My fellow panelists and I are charged with sharing best practices and tip, tricks, strategies, and even warnings so other top brokers can learn from our successes and mistakes.

Joining on today’s panel:

• Brian Allan, Broker/Owner, Windermere Cronin & Caplan Realty Group
• Chad Ochsner, Broker/Owner, RE/MAX Alliance
• Steve Rodgers, President & CEO, Prudential California Realty

Our panel is being moderated by Bob Blount, CEO of RE/MAX Allegiance. Bob’s operation includes 1,150 real estate agents working in 35 offices in Virginia and Maryland.

Since attendance at this week’s event is by invitation-only, it’s unlikely anyone stumbling across this blog post would be able to sit in my session. That being the case, I strongly recommend to anyone starting or managing a real estate agent team, that you pick up a copy of my latest book, “Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Team,” which I co-authored with RISMedia’s President & CEO, John Featherston.

I am pleased to announce that my latest book, Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Team, is now available. Co-authored with RISMedia President & CEO John Featherston, Power Teams is a definitive resource for Realtors and real estate agent teams alike. Like all of my other books, this one is packed with proven strategies and best practices, and includes insight from some of the nation’s leading real estate agent teams.

From my co-author and publisher, John Featherston:

Being a real estate agent just isn’t what it used to be. Today’s real estate consumers are more sophisticated and knowledgeable than ever before. Ralph and I both believe that in order to remain competitive, agents have to do much more–place more phone calls, ramp up their marketing efforts, offer additional services, and spend more time with their clients to better understand the needs of today’s real estate consumers. Many agents are feeling the strain and looking to the team concept as a solution for themselves and their customers. In Power Teams, we help agents–and brokers–overcome the obstacles of creating and succeeding with an agent teams.

In Power Teams, John and I set out to:

• Define and explain the agent team concept
• Review the various agent team models
• Help agents decide whether the agent team concept is right for them
• Show agents how to build a team from the ground up

To order a copy of Power Teams, please contact Pat Hatton, RISMedia Account Executive, at (800) 724-6000 ext. 124 or e-mail. pat@rismedia.com

Today’s edition of The New York Times carried a story by Joanne Kaufman entitled, “A Shift in Real Estate Books.” The story is about how publishers are scrambling to get books to market to help homeowners and real estate investors with the downturn in the housing market and increasing foreclosures.

The article begins by focusing on the fact that even well-to-do celebrities are having trouble. Recently, Ed McMahon–famous for serving as Johnny Carson’s co-host and for making a small number of people happy as spokesperson for American Family Publishing sweepstakes–has run into some financial trouble and is facing foreclosure on his $4.8 million in home loans. As Kaufman’s article points out, I attempted to contact McMahon to offer my help in reviewing his real estate files (to see if he had been mislead or worse by his financial advisors or the real estate industry professionals who worked on his behalf), but I didn’t get very far.

In any event, The New York Times article serves as a nice nod toward those of us work hard to write great books that truly help homeowners navigate their way through testy waters.

From The New York Times:

A few years ago, when the housing market was white-hot, companies that publish how-to books were tripping over themselves to pump out titles about buying property and making money in the real estate business.

Now that the bottom has fallen out of the housing market, the opposite is true: publishers are updating their backlist titles as well as rushing out newly acquired manuscripts to advise consumers who may have stumbled in the housing game.

For more on this story, read “A Shift in Real Estate Books” or click on the banner image above.

Nationally syndicated talk radio show host Michael Dresser was kind enough to interview me yesterday about my latest book, Mortgage Myths: 77 Secrets that Will Save you Money. Click here for the recorded version of the show, or here if you would like to learn more about the new book.

I am pleased to share that my latest book, “Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Teams” (co-authored by John Featherston, Founder/CEO & Publisher of RISMedia), will be available this coming January. Combining our years of Real Estate industry experience, John and I have created a book that is bound to serve as the definitive guide on one of the industry’s most predominant trends: Real Estate Agent Teams.

Besides drawing from personal insights and experiences in our Real Estate careers, John and I have included information collected from interviews with many of the Real Estate industry’s top teams. At the end of the day, our new book helps agents and brokers overcome the obstacles of creating and succeeding with agent teams. The book not only includes a step-by-step guide to forming an agent team, but also covers the best practices of teams who have already reached a notable level of success.

“Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Teams” helps you by:

• Defining and explaining the agent team concept.
• Reviewing the various agent team models.
• Helping agents decide whether or not an agent team is right for them.
• Showing agents how to build a team from the ground up.

To pre-order your copy, click “Power Teams: The Complete Guide to Building and Managing a Winning Real Estate Agent Teams” today.

There are no secrets to selling success. Every salesperson knows what he or she must do to attract clients, grow business, and boost revenue. Sometimes, we just get so caught up in the day-to-day drudgery of doing business that we forget what we should be doing to build our business.

The following ten commandments of selling success can help you refocus your energy and enthusiasm on the factors that contribute most to your selling success:

1. Practice your craft. Practice selling at work, at home, at the airport, in the taxi, at the grocery store, and wherever else you happen to be in contact with other people. The key to selling is being able to establish personal relationships with your clients. Practice by making meaningful connections with everyone you meet.
2. Invest in your own success. As an entrepreneurial salesperson, you have to act like a business, and that means investing in your own personal and professional development, in the latest technology, and in support personnel, so you have more time to spend on what you do best and what earns you and your company the biggest profits.
3. Adopt new technologies. Tech savvy clients are relying more on the Internet for their information and are using a variety of communications technologies to keep in touch, including cell phones, e-mail, text messaging, VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol or Internet phones), and blogs. To stay in touch with the latest generation of shoppers, you’d better be tech savvy, too.
4. Hire an assistant. Hire or be hired. Hire people to take on tasks that they can perform better, faster, and for less money than you can, and then treat them well. The more work you can outsource to others, the more time and energy you can spend on dollar-productive activities. Instead of asking “What’s the cost of hiring an assistant?” ask “How much revenue am I losing by not having an assistant?”
5. Fire your worst clients. The customer is not always right. In fact, some customers can drag you down, sapping time and energy you could be devoting to other, better clients. You don’t have to be rude about it, but get rid of the clients who are squandering your time and resources.
6. Date your leads… or someone else will. Regardless of how you obtain leads, make sure you keep in touch with those leads until they are ready to buy. One great way to automate the process of keeping in touch with your leads is to add leads to a drip e-mail campaign. A drip campaign sends a series of e-mail messages to prospective clients over the course of several weeks or months automatically.
7. Give without expectations. Sales coaches often recommend that you “give to get.” I’m telling you to “give to give.” If you’re expecting something in return, you’re not really giving–you’re bartering. Give for the sheer pleasure of giving.
8. Take risks. The people who make the most money take the biggest risks, and that applies to sales as much as it applies to anything in the world of business. You have to be willing to invest money and take some chances. Otherwise, you’re not a salesperson. You’re an order taker.
9. Embrace change. The Internet, new technologies, and the global economy have combined forces to accelerate change to a dizzying pace. The only way to survive and thrive in this environment is to embrace rather than resist change. Every change, particular changes that cause problems and headaches, is packed with potential.
10. Achieve a balanced lifestyle. Being a successful human being means much more than achieving career success. It means remaining healthy, building rewarding relationships, supporting your community, and perhaps even raising children. Failing in one area of your life can lead to failures in other areas.

Work on being successful in all areas of your life. Without the strong relationship I have with my wife and children, I would not have achieved the same level of success in my career. Success feeds on success, and, unfortunately, failure feeds on failure. Encourage everyone around you to set goals and pursue their dreams. Surround yourself with success.

For more information on sales success, see my latest book, “Advanced Selling For Dummies,” which is available on Amazon.com and from fine booksellers and retailers nationwide.

For some Real Estate investors, the recent downturn in the housing market looks like opportunity. Some of the most aggressive investors go after foreclosures–homes that people have lost after they have fallen behind on mortgage payments or taxes. In light of the fact that “Foreclosure Investing For Dummies” is now available, The Washington Post’s Mary Ellen Slayter recently interviewed me about the pros and cons of investing in foreclosures and how investors can minimize risks while maximizing returns.

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Tips From a Foreclosure Investor

Sunday, July 1, 2007; Page F06

Q. Who is a good candidate for investing in foreclosures?

A. It’s right for someone with a secure job, solid cash flow and lots of cash on hand — someone who wants to make some money on the side. If you’re married, your spouse needs to be on board, too. I like for people to use their own money. But if you don’t have enough cash but you’re willing to do the work, find a partner. My first “bank” was my grandmother. I didn’t pay her interest, but every time I made a deal, I took her out to lunch. If you really want to do it, you can always find sources of investment capital.

And who’s not a good candidate?

Anyone who thinks this is easy money. It’s a myth, perpetuated by all these late-night TV gurus, that you can get rich quick doing this. If you’re in financial trouble, this is not going to bail you out.

Why would someone want to look into this now?

There’s never been quite so many opportunities for individual investors to buy foreclosures. There are just so many of them. Before, the market was chiefly controlled by good old boy networks, through the banks’ brokers.

How does it work in declining markets, which are the ones that are most likely to have lots of foreclosures?

You account for this in the price you pay for the property. You make your profit when you buy, after all; you realize it when you sell. There’s a formula in the book that helps you adjust for a soft or flat market. My wife once pointed out to me that no matter what the economy looks like, people are still going to buy and sell houses. They’re still going to get married and start families. Even if 10 percent of workers are laid off, the other 90 percent are still working. They will still need housing.

Describe the perfect property for the foreclosure investor.

It should be in a good neighborhood. And you should be able to see clearly what you need to do to fix it up and sell it.

What kind of work is usually involved?

All kinds of things, inside and out. Look at the doors, windows, roof, concrete — everything. Properties that are in foreclosure aren’t always in great condition. After all, the owners couldn’t afford the mortgage payments. They probably couldn’t pay for maintenance either. It’s important to have a thorough, professional home inspection before buying. But if that’s not possible, then you should at least inspect the outside of the property yourself — all four sides.

You’ll also need staging (making the property look pretty) to move the property if the market is slow. Once you start working, multitask to fix things up as quickly as possible. Timing is everything. Every day you keep a house off the market, you’re losing money.

What types of properties should investors avoid?

Don’t buy if there are a lot of distressed properties on a block.

Don’t invest in foreclosures long distance. You need to be able to see what you’re buying. And don’t touch pre-construction projects.

Also, avoid any deal in which somebody promises you cash back at closing. This is never legal. Stay away from that.

What are some other things that potential investors should keep in mind?

Always have a Plan B. Not every house on the market sells right away. You may need to rent the place out for a year or two after you fix it up. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can lower the tax rate on your capital gains .

And be prepared to lose money sometimes. Even I don’t hit home runs every time.

What about guilt? Do you ever feel bad that by profiting from foreclosures, you’re making money off other people’s hardship? How should people handle those feelings?

Of course you can feel guilty. So don’t take advantage of people. You’ve got to try to make it a win-win. Sometimes the best thing to do is help the person keep their house. I’ve run into situations like this, including one in which the woman who co-owned the house just got behind after one bad event. She didn’t want to ask for help from her family. But instead of buying the house after foreclosure, we made some phone calls that helped her keep it. You’ll get more opportunities that way than being a vulture. And you’ll sleep better at night.

To order “Foreclosure Investing For Dummies,” go to Amazon.com.

Finally, if you or someone you know is interested in investing in foreclosed properties, please feel free to contact my Real Estate office. My staff and I are ready, willing and able to advise you on the best strategy for your investment-related goals.

I recently co-authored a book about real estate and mortgage fraud called Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership with attorney Rachel Dollar. In the book, we offer detailed descriptions of how various scams are pulled off. The intent was not to provide a how-to manual for con artists but to educate real estate professionals and consumers, so they are better equipped to defend themselves against these crooks.

As soon as the book hit the market, several people posted messages on my blog FlippingFrenzy.com claiming that our book provided con artists with information that would enable them to avoid detection and prosecution.

When Rachel and I and our writer, Joe Kraynak, originally began discussing plans for the book, we brought up this issue among ourselves. We were well aware that such a book could be used by con artists or con artist wannabes as a rudimentary training manual, but we thought at the time and still do that educating the public would provide a greater deterrent. The biggest threat to real estate professionals, homeowners, and the entire real estate industry is ignorance. The con artists are already well equipped with the knowledge and tools to rip off the system, and their biggest weapon is other people’s ignorance.

If you read any book or article on scams or white-collar crime, you always find explanations for how specific scams are perpetrated. If you go to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) site on identity theft at www.ftc.gov/idtheft, for example, you can pull up an entire list of strategies that con artists use to steal information, including dumpster diving, skimming, phishing, and redirecting your mail to their address. The site even contains a video showing a con artist stealing mail from a mailbox and digging through the trash to obtain discarded documents. The FTC isn’t trying to teach people how to steal identities. The intent is to let potential victims know how identity thieves operate so they are better able to defend themselves.

In Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership, Rachel and I take the same approach, revealing how perpetrators operate, so that potential victims can take practical steps to prevent fraud and be able to spot the signs of a bad deal earlier enough in the process to do something about it. Unfortunately, anything you produce to help people defend themselves against fraud reveals something about how the con artists operate, so it is a bit of a double-edged sword, but the other option—keeping the public in the dark—gives the con artists more ignorant victims to exploit.

Only by being empowered by knowledge can we defend ourselves from the people who already have that knowledge and are committed to using it against us to separate us from our homes and our money.

To help kick off RISMedia’s 2nd Annual CEO Exchange (July 23 & 24 at the Sanctuary Golf Course and Clubhouse in Salida, Colorado), I will be providing each attendee a complimentary copy of my latest book, Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership, co-authored with Rachel Dollar, a legal expert in the mortgage lending industry.

If you’re unfamiliar with the CEO Exchange, it’s an exclusive gathering of over 100 top brokers and Real Estate industry leaders for the purpose of discussing the most pressing issues facing the residential real estate industry today, and as Rachel and I point out in the new book, the most pressing issue is the proliferation of fraud in the Real Estate and lending industries. Real estate and mortgage fraud are a cancer that is eating away at the very foundation of the American Dream of homeownership.

According to the FBI, Real Estate fraud is one of the fastest growing white-collar crimes in the U.S. From 2003 to 2004, reports of mortgage fraud jumped 146%, and another 28% from 2004 to 2005. Reported dollar losses from mortgage fraud increased 90% from 2003 to 2004 and 136% from 2004 to 2005. Currently, lenders report over $1 billion in losses annually from mortgage fraud, and this accounts for only about a third of the losses actually suffered (only a third of the industry is subject to mandatory reporting requirements).

Industry leaders have long known about this growing problem, but con artists are able to adapt as quickly as new legislation is passed. In my experience, the best defense is education–teaching Real Estate professionals as well as consumers exactly what constitutes fraud, how to spot the signs of fraud, how to stop it, and how to get the word out about con artists and their accomplices.

I view the CEO Exchange as the perfect opportunity to further the crusade against Real Estate and mortgage fraud. By getting our book into the hands of industry leaderswe can take advantage of the trickle-down effect. Once industry insiders and thought leaders read the book, they will sound the alarm, and the rest of the industry will begin to take the threat more seriously. By becoming educated and joining forces, we can defeat the con artists and preserve the health of the Real Estate.

Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership provides real-world examples illustrating exactly how real estate and mortgage fraud are committed, pointing out the common signs of each scam, and providing tips on how professionals and consumers can protect themselves from becoming unwilling victims or unwitting accomplices. Topics covered in the book include:

• Defining real estate and mortgage fraud.
• Demonstrating the catastrophic effects of fraud on individual homeowners; the real estate industry; and local, state, and national economies.
• Differentiating between fraud for profit and fraud for housing.
• Identifying common schemes and schemers, including asset rental, air loans, chunking, double sales, straw buyers, nominees, and faulty appraisals.
• Spotting the warning signs of a fraudulent real estate deal.
• Proven tips and tricks for avoiding fraud and steering clear of gray areas in your real estate transactions.
• Practical advice for real estate agents, appraisers, mortgage brokers, investors, title companies, lawyers, and homeowners.
• Reporting fraud: One person can shut down a shady deal. Why you need to be that person and what you should do when you suspect fraud.
• Guidance on what to do if a con artist has victimized you or a relative, friend, or acquaintance.
• Advice on what to do if you or a loved one has knowingly or unwittingly been involved in a fraudulent deal.

This is just the beginning of a revolution in the real estate and lending industries to take back control from the con artists and other opportunists who are committed to milking the industry dry for their own benefit.

On June 12, 2007, Reuters reported that “U.S. home foreclosures in May jumped 90% from a year earlier, reflecting a poor spring housing market and foreshadowing even higher levels later in 2007.” And this was only one of dozens of articles I read in June declaring the current foreclosure crisis and presaging worst times to come.

Real Estate professionals probably find these headlines more than a little scary, but just think how scary they are to homeowners, a majority of whom are probably a layoff or an accident away from foreclosure themselves. And think how scary it is for homeowners who have already received a missed-payment or foreclosure notice.

The good news is that if you are a Real Estate professional, you are in an excellent position to help these homeowners while creating a new revenue-generating division in your team or brokerage and generating some very positive PR.

Early in my career, I lost one of my first homes in foreclosure. I fell behind on the payments and was too embarrassed to ask my parents for assistance. By the time they found out about it, it was too late to save the property. Some good came of this, however; I realized that nobody in my market was serving the needs of distressed homeowners facing foreclosure. Sure, a few shysters in the neighborhood were pouncing on foreclosure victims like helpless prey, but nobody was informing distressed homeowners of their options and offering viable exit strategies.

Shortly after becoming a real estate agent and opening my own brokerage, I decided to launch a separate division to handle foreclosures, and it has become one of the most rewarding and profitable divisions for my business. I encourage you to do the same.

Why start a foreclosure division?

I encourage you to add a foreclosure department to your real estate business for several reasons, including the following:

• Working with people in foreclosure will generate an incredible amount of business for your organization, including listings, buyers, cash acquisitions, land contract sales, and renters for company-owned properties.
• You gain the opportunity to help people who are in foreclosure–people who probably don’t know what options they have available to them. You could be the one who offers them one last chance to get their life back in order.
• You can offer one option that most foreclosure investors cannot offer–the option to place the house on the market and sell it for the distressed homeowners. If the owners choose not to sell the property to you as an investor, they may hire you to list it, in which case, you profit from the commission. Either way, you win.

A foreclosure division provides your entire Real Estate operation with recession insurance. Even when the U.S. economy is booming, a minimum of four to five percent of all homes in America are in foreclosure or facing foreclosure. When the market tanks, you have even more opportunities.

Getting started

Getting started in the foreclosure arena requires some attention to detail. You can lose a lot of money if you are ill prepared and fail to do sufficient research. Your preparation must include the following:

• Secure financing (most foreclosures are cash buys).
• Brush up on foreclosure laws and regulations in your area.
• Prepare a foreclosure packet informing distressed homeowners of their rights, options, and deadlines.
• Network with loan officers, bankruptcy attorneys, title insurance companies, and other real estate professionals who can assist homeowners facing foreclosure.
• Network in the neighborhood to find leads on pre-foreclosure opportunities.
• Follow foreclosure notices published in your area.
• Research documentation on foreclosure properties, including the title and any liens against the properties.
• Inspect the properties with your own two eyes before making an offer or bidding on the properties at auction.

Tip: Consider setting up a cash-buy division in your business, as well, so you can move quickly to seize great buying opportunities. Your cash-buy division can purchase properties that are listed at bargain basement prices, unlisted properties, and pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties.

When you step into the foreclosure arena, be careful. Study up on the foreclosure market in your area and invest with integrity. You deserve to earn a fair profit from your work, but you should always inform homeowners of all of their options and do what you sincerely feel is in their best interest. Don’t withhold valuable information just so you can get a better deal. My most recent book, Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, shows you how to invest with integrity.