Exciting Spring 2009 Events!

Hello Everyone!
As we enter the spring selling season, I thought we should set some informal brainstorming meetings that allow our team to get together, share ideas and position ourselves for success. If you’re reading this blog post and you’re not part of the Realty Corp team, please know that everyone is always welcome to all of our events. Our Company strives to be open, dynamic and inclusive and everyone’s input is valuable.
Before outlining our upcoming brainstorming sessions, I wanted to take this opportunity to share some thoughts with about our improved $495 listing program. Our new $495 website is e commerce enabled so credit cards can be accepted on line. Our $495 program is vastly superior to other so-called discounted listing services, here’s why: We provide a virtual tour – so the listing displays well on line. Obviously, this feature is critical! What’s the point of relying exclusively on internet marketing if the home does not display well online? In addition, our $495 service allows clients to switch gears later – by adding services, going to a full service model or even doing an auction! Finally, our listings offer our professional assistance with market analysis, assistance with offers and we make it easy for agents to show our listings! Our corporate office staff and our alliance with Centralized Showings mean that real estate agents can book appointments efficiently. We track feedback and inform our clients. Bottom Line: This $495 listing should continue to allow us to gain market share and get our team paid since it’s a fee for service and not transactional compensation.
I am pleased to invite everyone to the following optional meetings. As you know, we do not require floor time and do not believe in regularly scheduled meetings. However, the following optional brainstorming sessions allow our team to come together, share ideas and formulate action plans.

· Mon Avie Networking and Tasting – 6 PM on Monday, March 23rd. My terrific friend Jen Watts introduced me to this terrific and healthy drink – that also has a business opportunity associated with it! So please stop by the corporate offices of Realty Corporation of America around 6 PM on Monday March 23rd, network with colleagues and new friends and see what the excitement is about!

· Auction Brainstorming – Tuesday, April 7th @ 11:00am & Thursday, May 14th @ 11:00am – Our auction business allows real estate agents to get paid quickly and gets properties sold in a fast and efficient way. Please join us as we review past successes and brainstorm on how to continue to get new business.

· Mortgage Strategy Session – Wednesday, April 22nd @ 3:00pm & Thursday, May 21st @ 3:00pm – The mortgage business is undergoing significant changes and TLG is well positioned in today’s market. If you are in the mortgage business, please visit www.tlg.bz and check out the events calendar and join an upcoming conference call. In addition, please bring your ideas and suggestions and join us on these dates.

· Real Estate Overview including Marketing Ideas and Working with Buyers and Sellers – Tuesday, April 14th @ 5:00pm & Tuesday, June 9th @ 5:00pm. We have recently added several features to help our real estate agents become more successful. We have a new company store on our new ‘dot net’ site and have created several new videos – including a Bluestone video and a video about personal property auctions. In addition, we are developing an agent website that Realty Corp team members can buy inexpensively and promote themselves while incorporating some of the Realty Corp web features such as $495 listings and property searching.

· Finally, assure sign that summer is around the corner is the fact that the company has purchased 100 tickets to an upcoming Indians game. Join us on Sunday, June 14th @ 1:05pm – As we sit in the bleachers and watch the Tribe defeat the Cincinnati Reds. Please RSVP to Sarah Brewer for tickets at sarah@realtycorpofamerica.com.


Once again, thanks for taking time to review this memo! We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Real Estate Auctions: Rapidly Growing and Sometimes Misunderstood in Northeastern, Ohio!

While selling personal property and real estate at auction is widely accepted in many communities throughout Ohio, Real Estate and personal property auctions have been less prevalent in the Greater Cleveland area until recently. Since 2007, when Realty Corporation of America's Auction Services became licensed, our company has gained significant knowledge and learned a great deal about how to successfully introduce the auction method of selling Real Estate and personal property while educating members of the public about auctions. In this article, we will share some of our ideas and insights.

Overview

At recent auctions conducted by Realty Corporation of America, the vast majority of buyers and bidders had never been to an auction before. Therefore, most members of the audience were unfamiliar with key terms such as buyers premium, reserve auction, chattels, ticket runners, clerks, cashiers and the Auction Recovery Fund. We believe that it is a duty of licensees as well as a good business practice to make sure that bidders are comfortable with all aspects of the auction format. Since auctioneers generally represent the seller, it is in the sellers interests to make sure that bidders are comfortable buying at auctions. In our experience, if a buyer is not comfortable with the auction format or has not has sufficient opportunity to preview real estate being auctioned, sellers tend to receive lower proceeds. Therefore, while many auctioneers don't recommend on-going open houses before the date of a real estate auction, our company has found that making a property available for inspection puts buyers at ease. We even commission a comprehensive property information report on each home we are selling to improve disclosure and give buyers full and complete information. We believe that buyers are more confident that they know what they are buying and, in the case of distressed real estate, they have a better understanding of the cost of renovations. In addition to the foregoing, many different business models are being attempted as auctions are more widely accepted in greater Cleveland. Some firms charge a larger buyers premium and do not charge seller commissions. At our company, we employ a unique sliding scale commission structure. We provide the seller our best estimate of a range of outcomes and charge a lower fee if the selling price it at the lower end of the range. This technique has allowed us to convince sellers that we are genuinely working in their interest to maximize their dollars received. Realty Corp has made it a point to convince sellers that the auction method of selling real estate coupled with an aggressive marketing campaign delivers fair market value for real estate. While many auctioneers prefer to conduct absolute real estate auctions, challenging market conditions and reductions in real estate valuations mean that many sellers are simply unable to contract for an absolute real estate auction.

Auction Day Announcements

Explaining the terms of the auction and providing a narrative of the property's highlights is critically important. At Realty Corp. we have at least two licensed auctioneers at each real estate auction. One auctioneer provides an example of the bidding process to familiarize the audience with bid calling process and to create excitement for the auction while the other calls the auction. It is vitally important that buyers understand how to bid and are comfortable with the auction rules and format. Prior to the bidding process, auction assistants circulate among the bidders to answer questions and later encourage participation and relay bids to the auctioneer. During the auction, the value of the property is reinforced as potential bidders compete to purchase the property

We encourage buyers to be pre-qualified for a mortgage prior to the auction. By offering mortgage services to those who are interested, we encourage additional bidders or facilitate more aggressive bidding than may otherwise occur.

Following the sale of the property, auction company personnel immediately meet the winning bidder to sign the purchase contract, property and agency disclosures, collect the down payment, and arrange for the closing, typically within 30 days.

Challenges
The Auction Method of selling Real Estate is more successful when important issues are addressed in advance. Specifically:
- Communities with point of sales laws require a property inspection prior to title transfer. We strongly suggest making sure sellers order required inspections in advance of the auction.
- Given the current Real Estate Market, we suggest that sellers provide loan payoff information up front so reserves can be established if the property cannot be conducted as an absolute auction. Many sellers are unsure of exactly how much they owe on their property, many loans have pre-payment penalties and some sellers have other mortgages or other obligation that are tied to their property. The savvy auctioneer has a full title examination conducted prior to the auction to avoid trouble later.
- Finally, we suggest that sellers and the auction team be clear about the marketing campaign being conducted. Realty Corporation of America identifies all marketing initiatives (newspaper advertisements, direct mail, signage, open houses, media advertising, etc.) as part of our proposal so that the client has reasonable expectations about what promotional campaigning they can expect.
In closing, Auctions are gaining in popularity in greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. We expect continued growth and welcome suggestions from our colleagues in the Auction Business as we promote the auction method of selling Real Estate and personal property.

Realty Corp's Alliance with the Bluestone Community!

Hello and thank you very much for taking the time to read the Realty Corporation of America "blog". We appreciate your time and we strive to offer compelling content that conveys important information and sparks your thinking! As always, we hope you will share your response to our blog and let us know your thoughts about the ideas and topics we select! Of course, suggestions about topics you'd like to hear more about are appreciated! Today, I'd like to take a minute to discuss Realty Corp's partnership with the Bluestone Community. Bluestone (www.liveatbluestone.com) is a terrific development in Cleveland Heights that features beautiful loft units and modern arts and crafts style homes. Bluestone has done well despite the challenging real estate market because we offer compelling advantages and have a superior product. At the end of the day, real estate is a product -and over the long term, the best products attract the most clients and increase market share when compared with less desirable offerings! Keys to our success at Bluestone include our 100% tax abatement, a terrific location, open and modern floor plans, utilization of the latest green building techniques and the ability of our customers to customize each home to their precise requirements. In addition to its attractive features and amenities, there is an interesting "business aspect" of our Bluestone alliance. First off, Realty Corp is very fortunate to have such a greatlisting - one that we took away from a large, rival brokerage. There's an important point right there - smaller and aggressive companies can succeed and thrive in this market. Trust me when I tell you that every broker in town would love this listing. Yet, our combination of compelling marketing services, terrific and innovative sales initiatives and reasonable pricing won the day. Even better, it's a great alliance: our team genuinely believes in the Bluestone Development. It's a lot easier to promote a product you believe in and feel proud to represent. Plus, it's terrific when our team has genuine respect and admiration for the team building the development. It's a rare pleasure to work with such a talented and successful team of professionals like Ken Lurie and Dave Orlean, our co-developers, and Eric Lee, who runs our Sales Center. Bottom Line: everyone is working together towards the same goal and the partnership we have formulated - and the relationship we've built - is delivering results. No doubt, not everything has been perfect and some of our sales initiatives haven't worked as well as we'd like. Nevertheless, we are always brainstorming and working on new concepts, refining our current plans and adjusting to new realities in the market. Overall, however, we have been able to "sell through" the tough times by providing clients reasonable pricing, numerous upgrades that are "standard" and by having a great product. Finally, our ability to collaborate together has been terrific. The best ideas we have formulated have been discussed and revised with input from our different perspectives. Sales and development are two different businesses - but the sharing of ideas and brainstorming has been great. I've learned a great deal by being a part of the Bluestone team. So, for all you entrepreneurs out there, keep in mind that - quite often --the best way to sharpen your skills and grow your business is to find quality clients and make yourself indispensible to them! Learn the client's needs and go far beyond what they expect from you. Build your knowledge so you can be a more valuable asset and align your interests with your client's interests! We've built our business around clients by making sure we meet their needs. At the end of the day, that's the key: providing valuable services to clients that deliver results! In addition to the business aspects of the Bluestone alliance, I wanted to share some of the exciting GREEN characteristics of the development. The"green" features of Bluestone are really threefold: Use of green building techniques during construction, making green features a part of our units and finally, the location of Bluestone in the heart of a vibrant urbancommunity. The Bluestone construction team has done a terrific job during construction to make sure that construction debris is properly disposed and recycled when possible. We are careful about energy consumption and work hard to minimize the impact of our project on the environment. When possible, existing trees have been incorporated into our development. Green features of the completed units include the following: All of our Loft Building terraces are made from composite material called "Trex" - which is both sturdy and maintenance free Windows are designed to retain heat and minimize energy use because we use "E gas windows" which have a layer of gas between panes to provide both sound deadening and energy efficiency. Special low VOC paints are used at Bluestone. These paints do not release chemicals into the environment and are manufactured in an "eco friendly"manner. By utilizing 2 x 6 joists in our construction, additional insulation is included in each home. In addition, we use an insulation called "Nu Wool" which substantially increases efficiency and provides enhanced soundreduction. We employ "Gypcrete" floor leveler which is made from recycled material. Energy efficient appliances are included with all units Granite countertops are natural and not man made Our bamboo flooring is made from sustainable materials Bluestone features energy efficient next generation heat pumps as our heatsource - thereby reducing utility costs and our carbon footprint. Finally, the location of Bluestone is very important. Bluestone embraces many aspects of "new urbanism" and makes exceptional use of the land we have - including ample green space and embracing the location we are in rather than "overpowering" the space. Our ability to offer open and modern floorplans in an inner ring suburb is critically important. Many residents of inner ring suburbs who leave the area do so because they cannot find the right property to "downsize" into or they can't find the features and amenities they want. At Bluestone, we had a promotion where we gave away an energy efficient smart car - which gets nearly 50 miles per gallon - to all new residents of Bluestone. This promotion was designed to make the point that one tank of gas would last a long while for most Bluestone residents -especially those who work at University Circle, Downtown or near the Heights! Just moments from Little Italy, Coventry, University Circle, The Cedar Lee District and Cleveland's cultural treasures means that Life is truly at your doorstep. So Bluestone is helping make Cleveland Heights more vibrant and attracting folks who want to live in the area - but also want the advantages of new construction. Our development is well designed and conceived. The floor plans don't waste space nor do they feel like the typical suburban "sprawl". Our unique design features maximize space utilization - and allow our residents to enjoy the community and neighborhood. Simply stated, Bluestone is a true "green" development that's making a positive impact on the area! The beautiful Bluestone Sales Center is open seven days a week - so if you are a local resident, in the market for a new home or if you want to see Greater Cleveland's most exciting development first hand, we hope you stop by and say hello! Please visit www.liveatbluestone.com frequently to learn more about construction progress and upcoming events! We hope to see you at the Bluestone Sales Center soon! As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome. Please let us know what you think of this article or feel free to suggest topics you'd like to hear more about. On behalf of the hard working Realty Corporation of America Sales Team, thank you very much for your interest in our Company and thanks for reading our blog! - Tony Viola, President

Real Estate Auctions: Rapidly Growing and Sometimes Misunderstood in Northeastern Ohio!

By: Tony Viola. President of Realty Corp of America --- While selling personal property and real estate at auction is widely accepted in many communities throughout Ohio, Real Estate and personal property auctions have been less prevalent in the Greater Cleveland area until recently. Since 2007, when Realty Corporation of America's Auction Services became licensed, our company has gained significant knowledge and learned a great deal about how to successfully introduce the auction method of selling Real Estate and personal property while educating members of the public about auctions. In this article, we will share some of our ideas and insights.OverviewAt recent auctions conducted by Realty Corporation of America, the vast majority of buyers and bidders had never been to an auction before. Therefore, most members of the audience were unfamiliar with key terms such as buyers premium, reserve auction, chattels, ticket runners, clerks, cashiers and the Auction Recovery Fund. We believe that it is a duty of licensees as well as a good business practice to make sure that bidders are comfortable with all aspects of the auction format. Since auctioneers generally represent the seller, it is in the sellers interests to make sure that bidders are comfortable buying at auctions. In our experience, if a buyer is not comfortable with the auction format or has not has sufficient opportunity to preview real estate being auctioned, sellers tend to receive lower proceeds. Therefore, while many auctioneers don't recommend on-going open houses before the date of a real estate auction, our company has found that making a property available for inspection puts buyers at ease. We even commission a comprehensive property information report on each home we are selling to improve disclosure and give buyers full and complete information. We believe that buyers are more confident that they know what they are buying and, in the case of distressed real estate, they have a better understanding of the cost of renovations. In addition to the foregoing, many different business models are being attempted as auctions are more widely accepted in greater Cleveland. Some firms charge a larger buyers premium and do not charge seller commissions. At our company, we employ a unique sliding scale commission structure. We provide the seller our best estimate of a range of outcomes and charge a lower fee if the selling price it at the lower end of the range. This technique has allowed us to convince sellers that we are genuinely working in their interest to maximize their dollars received. Realty Corp has made it a point to convince sellers that the auction method of selling real estate coupled with an aggressive marketing campaign delivers fair market value for real estate. While many auctioneers prefer to conduct absolute real estate auctions, challenging market conditions and reductions in real estate valuations mean that many sellers are simply unable to contract for an absolute real estate auction.Auction Day AnnouncementsExplaining the terms of the auction and providing a narrative of the property's highlights is critically important. At Realty Corp. we have at least two licensed auctioneers at each real estate auction. One auctioneer provides an example of the bidding process to familiarize the audience with bid calling process and to create excitement for the auction while the other calls the auction. It is vitally important that buyers understand how to bid and are comfortable with the auction rules and format. Prior to the bidding process, auction assistants circulate among the bidders to answer questions and later encourage participation and relay bids to the auctioneer. During the auction, the value of the property is reinforced as potential bidders compete to purchase the propertyWe encourage buyers to be pre-qualified for a mortgage prior to the auction. By offering mortgage services to those who are interested, we encourage additional bidders or facilitate more aggressive bidding than may otherwise occur. Following the sale of the property, auction company personnel immediately meet the winning bidder to sign the purchase contract, property and agency disclosures, collect the down payment, and arrange for the closing, typically within 30 days.ChallengesFinally, the Auction Method of selling Real Estate is more successful when important issues are addressed in advance. Specifically:Communities with point of sales laws require a property inspection prior to title transfer. We strongly suggest making sure sellers order required inspections in advance of the auction.Given the current Real Estate Market, we suggest that sellers provide loan payoff information up front so reserves can be established if the property cannot be conducted as an absolute auction. Many sellers are unsure of exactly how much they owe on their property, many loans have pre-payment penalties and some sellers have other mortgages or other obligation that are tied to their property. The savvy auctioneer has a full title examination conducted prior to the auction to avoid trouble later.Finally, we suggest that sellers and the auction team be clear about the marketing campaign being conducted. Realty Corporation of America identifies all marketing initiatives (newspaper advertisements, direct mail, signage, open houses, media advertising, etc.) as part of our proposal so that the client has reasonable expectations about what promotional campaigning they can expect.In closing, Auctions are gaining in popularity in greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. We expect continued growth and welcome suggestions from our colleagues in the Auction Business as we promote the auction method of selling Real Estate and personal property. ###

Fun but Mediocre Events -- Everyone is Welcome!

Our new President is leading America in a new direction! The Browns hired a new coach so we suck less next year! Cleveland is building a Medical Mart to bring new jobs to the City! With all of this change we can believe in, I think it's really important that some of us remain committed to the same old tired nonsense! Why get better, grow, change or improve when we can just do the same stupid stuff over and over? In that spirit, I'm pleased to invite you to another Mediocre Bar Night! Oh Yeah, the same dumb social activity we thought up in Collinwood ten years ago! Just remember our motto: LOWER YOUR STANDARDS, INCREASE YOUR HAPPINESS! Please join us Tuesday Feb 17th at 6:30 at the Colony in Cleveland Heights! We're having Onion Rings and French Fries for dinner and the Old Milwaukee Light will be flowing! Let's be honest: this gig is gonna suck! Be sure to wear your worst jeans, use that green eyeshade you NEVER should have bought and bring a date you don't like that much -- or maybe recycle an old flame you dumped a while back! Whatever you do, don't miss the Mediocrity! While my social events may be mediocre, I have cool friends that come up with exciting events! Please join us at Lavish, tour the salon and learn more about the Number One Super Food in the World: The Acai Berry! Yes, this unique nutritional drink is changing lives and making America healthy! Save the date: Monday, February 9th at 4854 Richmond Road, near I 480, starting around 7:00! To learn more, visit www.monavie.com or call the Beautiful & Terrific Jen Watts at (440) 376-9814! I know no one has any plans on a Monday in February in Cleveland so we expect full attendance! Weak Excuses (I'm tired, I forgot, I can't go, I have to go to bed early, I already went out this past weekend, etc.) will not be accepted! As always, everyone is welcome so bring a friend, bring a date, bring a cousin, bring a dog -- just be sure to join the fun! See you soon! Tony Viola - Realty Corporation of America - 216-214-4665 - tony@realtycorpofamerica.com

Happy New Year Everyone! Exciting Updates for 2009

Hello Everyone! I hope your 2009 is off to a good start! As part of our new blogging feature on the Realty Corporation of America web site, I wanted to take a minute to provide this brief market overview. These observations about recent developments are purely my own and they are based on discussions with clients, lenders and our amazingly talented mortgage, auction, real estate and construction team at Realty Corp.
As you know, we’ve seen a significant drop in interest rates in the last few months. Traditionally, the Federal Reserve uses reduction in interest rates to spark economic activity. Under current circumstances, with the financial system under such pressure, lower interest rates have multiple benefits to our Country. Obviously, low rates encourages mortgage refinancing – an important way to increase consumer’s disposable income AND get funds back into the banking system. While credit standards remain very tight and “stated” income loans are virtually impossible to get at the moment, we are seeing the early signs of a substantial pick up in the mortgage business. Our mortgage affiliate, Transcontinental Lending Group, has seen a significant increase in mortgage applications. With many properties worth much less than they were just a few years ago, appraisal and valuation issues have been a serious impediment to getting deals finalized. And while credit issues have held up or killed many deals, the number of inquiries has significantly increased. Given the fact that over two thirds of our competition has disappeared, we believe the near term future will see more deals getting done – and our hard working team getting paid – at a much higher level of frequency than we’ve seen in several years.
The real estate market appears to have settled down to a “new normal” of low activity and many sellers who are simply unable to sell. The properties that are selling are in excellent condition or priced in an extremely reasonable fashion. The market is largely “REO driven” and is characterized by decreased valuations and continued “work off” of excess inventory. While more foreclosures are coming, the worst news is now factored into real estate pricing. Our Auction Services Division (www.realtycorpauctions.com) has seen a steady increase in inquiries as more and more sellers decide to get what they can for a property and simply move on. An auction that is marketed well (with numerous open houses, radio and TV advertising, e mail campaigns and other invigorated promotion) brings true market value for real estate. If market value is defined as what a willing buyer will pay in an open bidding process, then auctions deliver current value – as long as the marketing “cast a wide net” and has alerted potential buyers that the property was being auctioned. In any event, Realty Corp has seen some (but not all) lenders work with us on short sales, we’ve seen asset managers increasingly price our bank listings reasonably and we’ve seen cash rich investors selectively venturing back into the market. Bottom Line: 2009 is likely to see the last of the price declines in the real estate market for a while. Unfortunately, we may see several years of “flat” valuations and tough market conditions until underlying economic activity picks up. However, real estate is cyclical and – at some point – excess supply is worked off and demand returns to more normal levels. An increase in bank lending would certainly help, as we’ve gone from subprime lenders literally throwing money at borrowers to today’s environment – where many hard working and qualified individuals cannot access the mortgage market.
Finally, I wanted to mention that changes in technology have continued to impact the real estate brokerage business. Several examples come to mind: First, print advertising has been almost completely useless as a mechanism for driving buyer calls to real estate agents. Second, social networking and creating “spheres” are vital ways for real estate agents and loan officers to network and attract clients. Third, the continued decreases in the costs of technology mean that the big guys simply do not have any intrinsic advantage over smaller or younger real estate companies. Realty Corp is able to offer every single service that any large broker can – at a much lower cost. So technology and the ability to pack our web site full of timely information and real time data have allowed us to create value for clients and compete effectively. Simply stated, I don’t think we could have built our business ten or twenty years ago when the larger players in the business dominated the market and tightly controlled information. Technology has leveled the playing field and lowered costs for consumers and upstarts. I expect these trends to continue and to accelerate. Bottom Line: a relentless focus on lowering costs, adding value for clients and providing more innovative and cost effective solutions for clients is vital for success.
As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome. Our company is the mirror opposite of the big Mega Brokers and the franchised real estate firms. We started the Company in the basement of my house with two credit cards and big dreams! We have always prided ourselves on diversity, innovative services, an entreprenurial culture and an open sharing of ideas and a spirited interaction with clients, consumers and members of our industry. So let us know what’s on your mind, let us know how we can improve our Company and let us know if we can be of service to you.
On behalf of the most talented and hardest working team in the real estate business, I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to read my Blog! I am looking forward to hearing your comments!
Tony Viola
President
Realty Corporation of America
Tony@realtycorpofamerica.com
(216) 214-4665