via tres online
June 6th, 2017 – Raj Qsar, owner/principal of The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County, California shares his unique journey into the real estate profession. Unique is an appropriate term, as no other guest has traveled the path Raj details. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, so tune into Episode 97 of The Real Estate Sessions and enjoy.
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MEDIA ADVISORY
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WHO: Giveback Homes, The Boutique Real Estate Group, Commerce Mortgage, JJ Mazzo Summit Funding & Pango Escrow Group
WHERE: 4010 W. McFadden Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92704
WHEN: June 3, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m
Giveback Homes and 25 members from The Boutique Real Estate Group, Commerce Mortgage, JJ Mazzo Summit Funding, Pango Escrow Group and local real estate agents are volunteering their time for a special Saturday build day at the Habitat for Humanity Santa Ana project. This project includes seventeen homes to be built in three phases at various locations in the city. The homes are being designed to be compatible with surrounding neighborhoods and incorporate green features including on-demand hot water, recycled sub-base aggregate concrete. construction waste reduction measures, and storm water infiltration systems to reduce the hydrocarbon run-off and recharge the groundwater aquifer.
Join Giveback Homes and Habitat for Humanity at this event to learn more about these homes and how Giveback Homes is contributing to addressing the need for housing in Southern California and around the globe.
Website:
https://givebackhomes.com, http://TheBoutiqueRE.com
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:
Photo, interview & video opportunities available
Contacts:
Caroline Pinal // Giveback Homes // 661-992-6793
Raj Qsar // The Boutique Real Estate Group // 714-412-5019
About:
Giveback Homes is a community of real estate professionals who are committed to creating social change by helping build homes for deserving families around the globe. We work together to organize fundraising events, mobilize teams of volunteer homebuilders, and we inspire others to take action for social good.
via inman
Recently, Raj Qsar — the principal/owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group — composed an intriguing and inspirational post on the Facebook group Lab Coat Agents about how a listing for a leased property, which he made no initial profit from, snowballed into at least 11 subsequent sales, countless connections and increased visibility over the course of the past three years.
“Even on million-dollar listings, if agents can take a reduced commission or they feel like it’s overpriced or whatever, they’re not going to put their best foot forward,” he said. “That’s just too bad that they’re not thinking downstream. ‘Cause the world is able to see anything that we drop on the Internet, and who knows what opportunity that will bring. It’s all downstream.”
Qsar says he knew he wasn’t going to make any money from the initial lease listing, but he decided to take the opportunity anyway.
He invested in professional photos and brochures, staging, a single-property website and even ordered custom signs that were up to the neighborhood’s code.
In addition to stellar marketing strategies, Qsar provided five-star customer service through appointment-only showings.
“We’re able to look the tenant and the tenant’s agent in the eye; we’re able to open the door for them, make sure the beds are made, the lights are on, the music is playing, the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming,” he says with a laugh. “We’re driving, taking time out of our day to make sure we can open the door for someone we don’t even know. That’s doing it right.”
Qsar says he treated the leased property like a million-dollar listing to “give the client the best chance of success.” Plus, he knew that his current efforts would lead to future rewards.
“What we preach at our brokerage is that it’s all about downstream. You’re not taking a listing for this listing, you’re taking it for the next listing,” he says. “You’re taking a listing for the digital content you’re going to produce, and you’re taking it for the online leads you’re going to generate from that one listing.”
Furthermore, Qsar says most agents are transactionally trained, which means they are trained for “this one and only transaction.” Basically, agents are playing a game of checkers when they should be playing chess, which puts them behind in the long run.
“[Agents are] not trained digitally, they’re not trained for content, they’re not trained to meet real people in real life,” he says.
Out of all the aspects of being a successful real estate agent, it’s clear that Qsar treasures his ability to make personal connections the most.
“Something that everyone seems to forget is that you’re going to meet real, live human beings from this listing,” he says. “That’s an opportunity for you to connect with people in real life, and when you connect with people in real life your chance of success is much greater.”
Qsar says that personal connections not only make it easier on the agent but also the client, which is what the work of real estate is all about.
via homespotter
So, I did some heavy lifting for you to find some of the most influential real estate agents and influencers to learn from online. Then, I curated some of the best resources they created, as a one-stop shop.
Rather than list these experts in random order (or choosing our favorites), we took the time to rank each person based on their influence across social media, using scores from FollowerWonk, Klout, and our own judgment.
While not a perfect science, by ranking each influencer by their social impact, you will have a better sense of who you want to learn from as you master your craft.
As the Principal/Owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group, Raj has invested heavily in bringing all aspects of the real estate experience completely in-house. From custom design, professional staging, architectural photography, cinematography and social media to technology, internet optimization, cloud based transaction management and global listing syndication. This design & tech-forward approach has earned The Boutique Real Estate Group accolades & awards worldwide.
In 2016 Raj was named to the prestigious SP200 Honoring The Most Powerful 200 People in Residential Real Estate. Raj was selected as Most Innovative Real Estate Agent in 2014. Raj was also selected as 33 People Changing The Real Estate Industry by Inman News and was also named Top 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders For 2013.
via David Glenn
Nothing quite defines the American dream like homeownership, and that’s true for homes of all shapes and sizes. For those of you who want to really invest in your abode, the luxury market might be for you. Luxury homes are currently defined as homes with a multi-million dollar price tag. Though that qualification does not always need to be met if the home is possessed of certain features such as location, amenities, etc. Luxury homes are always homes that are unique and original, and they include amenities such as a Home Theater, private elevators and car lifts, cutting edge technology and more.
What is especially important in the luxury market is the ability to adjust the home to a particular homeowner’s individual needs. There’s a big difference between what’s considered luxury in Los Angeles and in Houston,
and the market responds to that. Many luxury homes are focused on security, with gated entrances, motion detectors, and secure buildings to make homeowners feel safe and secure, as well as grant peace of mind. Aside from practicalities, there are a few standard features that most luxury home buyers look for.
Firstly, location. As with any real estate purchase, location is perhaps the most important consideration. Most luxury homes abide in gated communities or closed buildings, in what are considered elite neighborhoods. Luxury apartment buildings are equipped with incredible views, a full time staff, and concierge service. Luxury homes are equipped with private locations, stunning vistas, and plenty of room to grow.
Depending on where the home is located, outside can be just as important as inside, with decks and pools playing a big part of a luxury lifestyle. Californians are more likely to be drawn to a house with a pool, while New York residents and other city dwellers are more interested in a room with a view.
Quality is also key. Luxury homeowners want quality in everything, from the floors to the walls. Many choose exotic or imported woods and tiles to finish with, and that alone can bump up a price tag. In the kitchen especially, custom cabinetry is a must, and homeowners want the install to be perfect.
Another amenity that appeals to most luxury buyers is a Home Theater. These rooms often come equipped with a large screen, custom lighting and sound, a mini-kitchen or refrigerator, and often a popcorn maker, to lend that movie atmosphere to your home.
Homeowners are also beginning to embrace an entire wet room instead of a simple shower or bathtub. Many of these rooms have multiple shower heads, as well as a place for seating and luxurious flooring. They are considered one of the most popular luxury features, for the relaxation value alone.
Open floor plans are also a must, just like in the suburban real estate market. However, luxury homes often have extremely high ceilings of twenty feet or more, along with the use of counters or cabinetry to separate the living and eating areas. The floor plans are fully customized as well.
Wine cellars are also becoming a more usable space, with room for entertaining and serving guests directly in the cellar itself. This use of smaller space is creative and whimsical, and allows hosts and their guests to be more focused on the current conversation then perhaps they would be in the rest of the home.
There’s also a focus on technology in the home, especially in the kitchen, where smart appliances are quickly gaining popularity. Many homes can be fully synced to a mobile device, like your ipad, that you can use to control everything.
So what’s most important in a luxury home? Real estate always focuses on location first, but after that, most of the requirements are left to homeowner’s individual taste. With the luxury market expanding as it is today, there are no shortages of opportunities to fully customize a home and make it yours. It’s said that “A man’s home is his palace”, and the luxury market provides the chance to make that statement very true indeed.
via inman SF
Inman and Lab Coat Agent founders Nick Baldwin and Tristan Ahumada have announced a new collaboration with Inman for Connect San Francisco. The Learning Lab at Connect is a two-hour hands on session featuring advice and insights popular on the Lab Coat Agents Facebook group.
Designed specifically for agents who are looking for practical, business building skills, the learning lab will be on Tuesday, August 2nd at Inman Connect San Francisco. Tuesday at Connect is free for Select members and included with a Connect registration. Non-Select members can purchase a Tuesday-only pass for $29. Register for Connect here or Tuesday only here.
Baldwin and Ahumada will host the lab and will cover tech and marketing topics including: video marketing, leveraging client reviews, branding and luxury listing marketing and, of course, using Facebook to build your business. Confirmed speakers include Steve Pacinelli, Laura Monroe, Raj Qsar, Sergio Gonzalez, Amanda Todd, Terry Waggoner, Jason Walters, and Travis Thom.
“Inman and Lab Coat Agents share the same vision: bringing together the best in the business to collaborate, network and share the latest, successful strategies,” said Brad Inman, publisher.
“Lab Coat Agents is thrilled to bring our hands on approach to discovering what works for today’s agent to Connect San Francisco. It’s the perfect platform to share and learn with the best of the best,” said Nick Baldwin, Lab Coat Agents.
The Learn Lab will be Tuesday, August 2, from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Hilton Union Square. Save your spot now here.
When it comes to lead conversion, The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County has moved on from MLS to RealScout, a San Francisco-based software company that makes connecting with buyers as simple as a text message.
“I can do anything I want standing in line at Starbucks if it has to do with a real estate transaction,” said Raj Qsar, owner of The Boutique Real Estate Group. “Contracts, social media, technology.”
Qsar referred to the current MLS as archaic in its ways of communicating directly with clients. The process of logging in and checking messages only through the MLS portal became a tether, he says, prohibiting engagement. With RealScout, agents are notified immediately of interested parties.
How it benefits different offices depends on the location. For Los Angeles, and more specifically The Boutique Real Estate Group, the criteria chosen caters to the demographic. In learning what buyers are looking for, RealScout is able to build a profile and inform them of other homes that offer similar amenities.
Once buyers find what they are looking for, they are then able to narrow down the search through the criteria: high ceilings, floor plans, and other details unique to each buyer. This information is also passed along to the agent, helping them secure the relationship.
“The common use cases are when the agent invites the client to use RealScout,” Andrew Flachner, president, and co-founder of RealScout, said. Another entryway is through Zillow, which Qsar said has a direct impact on building a relationship.
Through API integration with Zillow, buyers can connect directly with agents. If during the search they click on a page featuring The Boutique Real Estate Group, users are automatically entered into the agency’s RealScout database and begin receiving notifications according to their search criteria.
Converting leads from online sources is not easy. It’s hard enough getting your face and name seen, much less turning someone’s query into a sale. Through the buyer notifications, which are property listings based on prioritized criteria, RealScout helps to bridge the trust between agent and client.
“They can count on the info from RealScout and your happy, smiling face is what they’ve seen all the time,” said Erica Boisvert, realtor and operations manager at Boutique. “You’ve already got that trust.”
Flachner, who used to be a real estate agent, said that RealScout was developed out of necessity. When he was showing houses, he says his clients wouldn’t demand something like an exact square footage number because they are not robots. Instead, they describe how a cul-de-sac would be a safe place or how a backyard for the kids would nice, which is the criteria that he wanted to implement in RealScout.
“I wanted software that emulated what a good real estate agent is and helps me, almost like a superpower,” Flachner said.
The criteria for each location is different. Flachner said he has come across a buyer searching for a beachfront property that was able to see the surf break, which is not a common criterion in Seattle. Instead, criteria there features options for vicinity to Microsoft’s bus station.
“The answer is, agents, helped us form these criteria,” he said. “We don’t normalize across the country.”
via PLACESTER
Years ago, real estate agents were the gatekeepers. If you as a consumer wanted to know what was on the market, you had to go through an agent. But those gates are gone. Real estate consumers now have access to all the property data they could ever want. Today, you need to give them something unique, something they can’t Google—and Raj Qsar has a few ideas about how to do it.
Raj is truly on the cutting edge of the real estate business. In 2015, Inman News named him one of the 33 People Who Are Changing The Real Estate Industry. As principal of The Boutique Real Estate Group in Orange County, California, Raj has led the charge to create content and experiences that provide value for real estate consumers far beyond the MLS.
“I wanted to do something that was different,” Raj explained. So, in 2009, Raj worked with a local filmmaker to produce an emotional short film about one of his listings. “Not only did we sell a price record on that home, we got like every listing for the next three years in that neighborhood.” Today, The Boutique Real Estate Group continues to produce high-quality videos that offer prospective buyers a beautiful, intimate look at their clients’ listings.
Whether it’s through video or some other avenue, Raj says, today’s agents need to focus on adding more value for their clients. “Give them something they don’t know,” Raj told us. “‘Hey, did you know that this neighborhood on the 4th of July actually shut down the streets? There’s a live band, a taco cart, and the local fire department comes up and does a parade with all the kids?’ [That’s] the stuff that…provides value to these people who wanna spend a couple million bucks on a home.”
Of course, it’s not just the agent’s responsibility to add value: brokers also need to step up and provide for their agents. “They need to create value within the brokerage to be able to push it to their agents, so the agents can push it to their clients, and give [them] the opportunity for success,” Raj explained. That value consists not just of modern tools and great design, but also intensive, one-on-one training in how to use these resources effectively.
“Most of the agents [we hire] are at these big brokerages with 500, 600, 800 agents,” Raj told us. “They feel like a fish. They feel like they have a number. They come here and they’re like, ‘I can’t believe how much one-on-one time I got. I can’t believe that you sat down for three hours and didn’t look at your phone one time.’”
In this interview, Raj explains how video can tell powerful stories around your listings and neighborhoods, and describes how today’s brokers should be investing in each of their agents.
As your business takes off in real estate, it’s important to maintain the relationships already established with not only your former clients but also in the communities you serve.
One of the best ways for agents to gain exposure and build new relationships with potential clients is through the gift of giving. Recently, Raj Qsar of The Boutique RE, a residential real estate brokerage in Orange County, California took this idea for a spin.
They teamed up with Giveback Homes and Soul Cycle for a unique way to give back to the community. By reaching out to their network, they organized a #RidetoBuild spin class to help raise the funds needed to build a home for a deserving family.
Raj and his realtor friends managed to raise the money and feel the burn while helping to better the life of a family in need with the guided help of Giveback Homes.
Fueled by the passion of real estate pros like Sindeo Advisory Board Member, Raj Qsar, and hundreds of other leaders in real estate, Giveback Homes has made the opportunity to give back easier than ever.
Giveback Homes provides their members with marketing and design services, tutorials on how to incorporate giving into their business, local Build Days, international Build Trips, and tangible results of the impact they’re making throughout the world.
Recently, Sindeo helped fund a home for Marie in Haiti and Arcadio in El Salvador, and has plans to join Giveback Homes for their first Build Day in San Francisco this Spring.
Want to help too? Click here to donate to the San Francisco project or any of their Build Projects throughout the world.
For real estate professionals ready to join the social good movement, enter “sindeo” as your building code for a reduced rate of $30/month.
Written by: Raj Qsar
👉 The business greeting in many cultures is often the initial impression an individual can give to their clients. Since our team assists clients in buying & selling residential real estate in Southern California we have many different cultures we come across and each culture seems to have their own unique customs in regards to business. Over the last 8 years, we have seen a massive influx of individual from 🇨🇳 China who are buying & selling homes here in Orange County. A few things we have learned over the years in regards to business greetings & etiquette include:
Some helpful tips:
1. You must have a business card. Not having a business card is like not having a name and the equivalent to not shaking someones hand in western culture.
2. Your title on your card is also very important. Most Chinese people want to feel they are speaking to someone very important or someone at their level. So if you are meeting a CEO of a Chinese company they will want to speak to the CEO of your company.
3. Receiving or giving your card:
a. You MUST be standing up (this shows respect)
b. You MUST have your cards in a case (this shows you are organized). The case should have a spot for your cards and for the card you are receiving.
c. You MUST hand your card over with both hands (as the photo above represents). This is the highest form of respect. Never give a card out with your left hand. It is considered a total insult.
d. When you hand your card over please make sure the writing is face up towards your client (this shows courtesy).
e. Then you MUST accept your clients cards with both hands as well (as shown above).
f. When you receive the clients card, pause, read it and make a comment about their company, their title or simply repeat their name. If you are unsure how to pronounce their name now is the perfect time to ask and clarify.
g. Now place your clients card back in your case and put the case back in your jacket pocket over your heart (left side coat pocket). This shows honor as you are placing their card over your heart. If you are not wearing a jacket keep the card in your right hand for the entire meeting. If you are seated, then place the card in front of you (not face down).
Things to NEVER do:
1. Never hand out a ripped, torn or dirty business card.
2. Never write on someone’s card. It is the equivalent of writing on someone’s face.
3. Do not accept or give your card with one hand. And never with your left hand (as mentioned above).
4. Never place a business card in your pant pocket and then sit on the card. It would be like sitting on that persons face.
5. Do not stack your cards on a table and have your client simple take one.
6. Never ask a client for another card and say you lost it. It is like you have lost their face.
Trying to be a better realtor, investor, and business woman is tough. To keep on top of your game, you know the value of learning from the best.