| One of my favorite interviews this year! Host Chris Stafford pecked my brain during his show for entrepreneurs called Massive Abundance. What mistake did I make with Yelp!? If I were new agent with just $1000, what would I do? And more secrets to my success! Chris also speaks around the country like me, so it meant a lot to me that he writes: I interviewed the "entertainer" Realtor, Herman Chan. Man, this guy is filled with so much energy and enthusiasm. |
|
0 Comments
Niche Interiors sits down with Herman Chan to pick his brain the San Francisco Luxury Real Estate and Design Market! Find out the answers these pressing questions on their site!
 Money Under 30 has a great article for people looking to jump on the real estate band wagon. Good luck!!
If you’ve been considering a new career or starting a side hustle to earn extra money, perhaps you’ve thought about becoming a real estate agent. Being a Realtor is great if you like houses and enjoy working with people, but it’s not always the dream job some imagine it to be. It’s a common misconception that real estate agents earn a ton of money for doing practically nothing. Selling real estate is more work that you might imagine and, although there are some very successful real estate agents, there are many who struggle just to make ends meet. From somebody in the business, here’s what it takes to become a real estate agent — and what you should consider before starting down the path to selling homes. Do you have the time and cash to get licensed? Where will you work? Can you afford the start-up expenses? How are your boundaries? Okay, so how much can I earn as a real estate agent? Can I really sell real estate part-time? CLICK READ MORE LINK ON THE RIGHT FOR THE ANSWERS. Or this link!  7 Homebuying Mistakes to Avoid: If you’re on the housing search, sidestep these homebuyer pitfalls -by Susan Johnston for Us News & World Report
"For most people, a home is the largest purchase they’ll ever make, so choosing the wrong property can have disastrous implications for their wallets and well-being. Still, many homeowners feel a strong sense of pride in putting their mark on the property, building equity and having a place to truly call their own. Whether you’re a seasoned or first-time buyer, here’s a look at seven homebuying mistakes to avoid. 1. Using the wrong real estate agent. Just because your sister’s college roommate’s friend just got a real estate license doesn’t mean she’s the right agent for you. San Francisco real estate agent Herman Chan suggests vetting agents and looking for someone who does real estate full time and knows the local inventory. “You can lose an offer if you’re not responsive in a couple of hours,” he says. Request the agent’s sales data, and find out how he or she communicates. Chan recommends asking questions like these to gauge the agent’s tech-savyness: “Is it OK if I text you? Is it OK to DocuSign things? If I can’t make an open house on Sunday, can you shoot me a video?” If you prefer to check texts and emails on your phone, you may not want an agent who insists on faxing contracts. 2. Shopping before you get preapproved. Before you get serious about buying real estate, find out how much mortgage you qualify for and get a preapproval letter from your lender. “If you fall in love [with a property], write that offer and then find out you can’t afford it, it’s an emotional roller coaster you can’t afford,” Chan says. Many agents won’t even take buyers to showings until they have a preapproval letter for that very reason. Read the other 5 tips here! You might remember I posted this fantastical image on my Instagram (@hermanity) of the Docusign office in San Francisco earlier this month. I can now reveal Docusign invited me to their swank new San Francisco HQ to chat about how I use Docusign , especially with Google Drive. The feature just went live on their site! Check it out! Seriously folks, if your Realtor doesn't offer Docusign to you, they are doing you wrong! It'll change your life. When they need your signature ASAP (which is like always!), no more scrambling around for a printer, finding a scanner, or god forbid using a fax! It's all electronic, paperless & mobile!
Spring season is around the corner! If you are an owner, you what that means: you are thinking of putting your home on the market. But before you do , check out my tips on Bankrate.com! Avoid those costly boo-boo's before taking to a Realtor. From Bankrate.com 
 Chinese buyers are taking over the world. Just check out the billionaire demographic. Asia is off the charts! Meanwhile, rich folk in Europe are dwindling (probably fleeing, especially in France where they have 75% tax on affluent people) Here's a tongue in cheek article I penned for Asian Real Estate Magazine that's worth reading if you are gonna take on Asian clients! Enjoy! I started Habitat For Hermanity as a videoblog years ago, so I love sharing how video is not only a great brand builder for agents but it's what consumers expect now! 73% of consumers say they prefer agents who use video. Shocker: Only 1 in 10 agents have a youtube account!  Herman's Secret Tips for Buyers (Love Letter!) & East/West Coast Market Comparison on Atlanta Radio!10/23/2013
Fortune Builders has a great infographic with top seller tips to move your property! They might seem rudimentary, but they are tried & true!   Now that the market has roared back, we are not shocked that people are trying to be real estate agents again. It ain't a breeze to break into the biz. But here are my tips from my article for AGBeat.
Four tips for future agents to jump start their career by Herman Chan Real estate is not an easy game to get into, yet many people take the leap, unaware of some simple ways to jump start their career BEFORE day one. Earlier this month, a discouraged viewer from my Habitat for Hermanity web series emailed me for advice about embarking on his new profession as a realtor. “I’m really struggling with how to really get clients and make that first sale. I’m young and have no real connections so to speak. Is there an easier way? Do you have any advice for a new agent looking to jump in and get through the struggles and tribulations that come with entering this industry?” I told him that launching a career in real estate is indeed an uphill battle, so armor up! The attrition rate for newbies is dismal, with many agents abandoning the business in 6-12 months or less. How to avoid this tragic fate? My two cents to him were as follows:  Splitsville! Not happily ever after... Jane Lynch is getting divorced from her wife who is demanding $93k per month in spousal support. A big point of contention is the $3M mansion they bought. She wants to keep it or get a 50% buy out! Here's the kicker. Those 2 don't have a prenup! (and California is a community property state! Poor Jane!) Before buying, they should have read my article for 429 Magazine. Let's revisit it:
"Herman Chan is a San Francisco-based real estate expert whose hit video blog, Habitat for Hermanity, earned him national attention . His unique brand of humor and insight can be seen athabitatforhermanity.com. Chan shares with dot429 pieces of advice for prospective LGBT homeowners." 7 Tips for Prospective LGBT Homeowner by Herman Chan Even all the recent ups and downs of the market cannot deter people from pursuing their piece of the American Dream. And the LGBTQ community is no different. We have every right to stake our claim in that Dream. As exciting as it is to purchase property, special considerations must be taken into account for LGBTQ buyers. As you embark on your house hunt, keep these tips in mind. Parents, your college bound kid is gonna be spending a ton of time in their dorm room. They say workers are more productive in pleasant environments. I think this applies to students too! So make sure to decor up their dinky dorm room. Watch my tips & you'll thank me when they get straight A's! What a great informative radio interview with Joe Cucchiara! Listen to our radio chat here.
KSJO 92.3 FM KLOK 1170 AM (Intro in Chinese: Tily) 今 天邀请到一位 很特别的 来宾。雖然他的 專業是 房產經濟人，但他在主流 媒體的曝光率 是 頻繁的 也是 多元化的。他的專業知識 除了在 灣區房產 經紀之外，還包括 室內 裝潢設計，美食推薦，與 專題 演講。 他的 專業 網站，“Habitat for Hermanity” 包含了 如何成為一位 成功的 房產經紀人的 視頻博客，以及 綜藝節目評論等。雖然如此，與他 在房地產上 合作過的 客戶，對他 評價 卻是 贊不絕口。現在就讓我們來 認識這位 擁有 獨特魅力的 百萬房產 經紀人，Mr. Herman Chan. 1. What does it take to make yourself stand out among other real estate brokers? 2. You seem to be interested and are knowledgeable in so many areas besides real estate, brokerage, including interior decoration, TV entertainment, restaurant recommendations, just to name a few. What are you most interested in and why? 3. Do you think home prices are over-priced in the Bay Area? 4. How long do you think this hot trend will last in the San Francisco Bay Area? 5. Since this is a seller’s market, do you recommend perhaps older people sell their homes, make some money, and buy a home elsewhere to live, or people whose job situation isn’t so secure to sell their home while the market is hot? 6. Besides high rental prices, lower mortgage rates, loosened credit history review, demand from some overseas investors, and perhaps a slight economic recovery in certain sectors, what’s driving such a craze all of a sudden? 7. If people would like to get in touch with you for advice on anything, how should they contact you? To inaugurate the release of the Great Gatsby, here is my Art Deco How-To video for my San Francisco Chronicle Series called Real Estate Real Simple. Art Deco is one of my all time eras in design, the decadence the glitz and glamour! The Great Gatsy is also one of my favorite books (the capitalist commentary, haves and the have-nots, the laissez-faire!). The newly released Great Gatsby film, starring Leo Dicaprio & Tobey Maguire, is a visual homage to this fabulous period of art and design. Folks, I could watch the film with the sound off! I was visually drowning in all the details, costumes, architecture. Wow! My only disappointment was that the film left out the homoeroticism between Nick Carraway and Gatsby (I recall that gay undertones too when I read it in high school...I thought it was hormones, but maybe not...at least per Salon Magazine)
Demand Media Video -- powered by http://www.sfgate.com  US News & World Report interviews me about real estate reality TV. Some peeps question the veracity of these shows, but speaking as someone who is a viewer and participant, I say "This is HGTV, not PBS!" Die-hard fans of reality TV scour the internet, post on fan forums, read the blogs, we all know these shows are "produced." There is nothing wrong with that! People tune in to be entertained. Reality TV has been around for over a decade. We know no one buys a house in 25 minutes, just like we know Rachel Ray can't bake a souffle in a 5 min segment! Everyone knows how these shows are "made for TV". So what? You take the viewers on a journey and at the end they learn a bit about real estate....and that, folks, is why the question of reality TV being fact or fiction is besides the point! Read the full article here: "The good thing is that you see the pros and cons of the house that they end up buying," Chan says. "They film them talking about the trade-offs. Those are very real conversations that people have. Usually by the end of the show, someone makes a compromise because there's no perfect house." I reveal my successes & failures in an exclusive chat with RealEstate.com. In what is probably the most thorough interview I have given to the press, we cover a wide swath of topics from my not-so-glamorous career before real estate, why agents are insecure, how web/tech trends have shifted in the past 3 yrs, and most importantly what I would tell a younger Herman. Thank You to writer Shannon O'Brien (I now know who is writing my biography! Lol!).  Photo Credit: Will Taylor
|
As Seen On
Archives
February 2016
Categories
All
Blogroll
Real Estalker |
