The best ways to spend $1,000 today

Okay, so you won’t find $1,000 between your couch cushions. But if you do have some extra cash to invest in your business, here are some recommendations from top agents and brokers, industry speakers, and financial professionals on how to get the most in return for your money.

Start with a stamp, then pick up the phone

Launch an eight-by-eight program, which works as follows: Send a series of mailings to a "sphere of influence" once a week for an eight-week period.

As an example, if you had 100 people on your list, mail 25 of them the first week’s mailing. For the second week, mail the first group of 25 the second mailing, and bring in another group of 25 for their first week’s mailing, and so on.

At the end of a complete eight-week cycle, telephone the first group of 25 and visit with them using the FORD calling technique. That is, focus your discussion around Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Dreams. Do not talk real estate unless they want to. This would mean 25 calls a week each week. You call each group only when you have completed the mailing cycle for that group. That’s five calls a day, five days a week.

The mailings need to be high-quality, full-color, and should include your photo. The mailings also must be something of value to the people receiving them.

This is a terrific way to jump-start your year.

–Walt Frey, CRS, broker, senior CRS instructor, CRS president, and president of Walt Frey Seminars (walt@waltfrey.com)

Convenience at hand

Purchase any personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Palm operating system, then spend the balance on equipping it with software for mapping, financial calculations, and mobile MLS functions.

When you can press one button to synchronize your contacts, schedule, daily activities, and access MLS data, then you can serve prospects wherever you meet them.

For less than $1,000, you can search listings, schedule showings, provide accurate directions, and then calculate payments, all from the palm of your hand.

–Stephen M. Canale, CRB, CRS, GRI, RAM, speaker and trainer (Stephen@Canale.com)

Put listings on the big screen

In response to a new trend being established by homebuyers, we are equipping one of our conference rooms with a large viewing monitor. More and more, buyers want the agent to pull up available properties and view them together in the office prior to showing appointments, so we want to have a VIP viewing room with comfortable features. For anyone who wants to do this, I would recommend purchasing a large screen to connect to an existing computer.

Our VIP viewing room is a small conference room with four upholstered chairs with rollers and a nice writing desk for the work surface. The big purchase is that flat-screen monitor, which will hang on the wall for easy viewing.

The next purchase on our list is a video-game console for pre-teen/teenager entertainment while Mom and Dad concentrate on real estate.

–Linda Ferguson, managing partner of Westmark, REALTORS® in Lubbock and 1999 Texas CRB president

Give it away

I would recommend picking a local charity that could use two things: 1)your $1,000, and 2) advice to members about home purchasing. You will receive a tax deduction (if you itemize), you will receive the goodwill that comes from giving, and you will receive a great marketing opportunity.

–John Henry McDonald, CFP™, president and CEO of Austin Asset Management Co. (AustinAssetManagement.com)

Buy a political insurance policy

Without question, I would invest $1000 in a Texas Life Membership in the Texas Association of REALTORS® Political Action Committee (TREPAC/TARPAC). If I already had my Texas Life Membership, I’d add another $1000 to the first.

If you want the most for your investment dollars, you can’t buy a better insurance policy to see that Texas continues to maintain an environment favorable to REALTORS®.

With re-districting this year, all Senate and House seats are up for re-election. Couple this with a state budget in dire shape, and we’re facing the most important election year in recent memory. Some legislators during the 77th session began to target real estate professionals and real estate transactions as prime sources for filling the state coffers. They want to tax your real estate commissions and impose a property-transfer tax. Imagine if these folks are re-elected and a few more just like them find a seat in the legislature.

It is comforting to know that our PAC is very good at what they do.

–Rick Straub, GRI, broker of International Realty Plus in El Paso and TAR Region 16 regional representative

Put it back into your community

I would recommend spending the money on community efforts, because I believe in giving back to the community where I work. For me, that’s all of San Antonio. There are so many people who live under bridges and in cardboard boxes who desperately need some warm clothes, a warm bath, a haircut, and help finding some form of employment.

You may think this sounds corny, but if you haven’t driven in the areas of your city lately, you might want to. It will remind you of the blessed life you live.

–Ruben Peña, agent with Wakefield REALTORS® in San Antonio and TAR Region 13 regional representative

Figure out how to use those gadgets

I would suggest hiring a technology consultant to spend roughly five and a half hours per week for four weeks to maximize the use of the assets you already own. Many REALTORS® have the hardware and software, but most do not know how to use them to improve their business. For instance, most people have the basic Microsoft Office products, yet many do not realize their capabilities in graphic design, e-mail convenience, spreadsheet ease, or the available interaction between the Office programs. We own three digital cameras and Adobe Photoshop, but only use the basic functions, when I know there are many things I could do to enhance our marketing.

Once you know how to use what you have now, you can better see what you will need in the future and know where your tech budget should be. You will also be able to identify what tech training classes you might want to take, or what tasks you want to hire out.

–Brooke Hunt, agent with Ebby Halliday REALTORS® in Colleyville and TAR Region 3 regional representative

Get educated in commercial real estate

For a prospective or new commercial real estate agent able to spend $1,000 to further their career, I would strongly recommend education. Begin with the CCIM Institute courses and follow that through to the designation process. For someone completely new, there is a two-day CI intro course that provides an overview and some basic tools. Tuition will usually be $250 or less. You’ll have to buy an HP 10BII calculator. For those with some real estate and financial background (or if you’ve taken the intro), there is CI 101, which is the Financial Analysis Course for Commercial Investment Real Estate. This is where your education really begins. The cost of this course is $995 for non-candidates or $835 for candidates. (So it makes sense to join!) The benefits of these courses–and the ones that follow–are immense and are not only measured as you become more technically proficient but in the network you build and the friends you make. As we like to say: "Come for the knowledge. Stay for the business."

–Phil Crane, CCIM, broker with Roalson Interests, Inc. in San Antonio and 2001 chairman of the TAR Commercial Investment Division

Get into multimedia

We look for recent, proven, unique ideas in multimedia that offer marketing and production services and add sales production to our company. Crozier & Henderson Productions of Dallas has a proven marketing and sales methodology that assists new homebuilders in gaining market share. The process sparks the development of a bond between the homebuilder and real estate agents. The bond is forged through the use of their television show titled Hot On Home and continues through video- streaming the product via the Internet. The mixture of television and streaming media is not only the next marketing frontier for homebuilding and REALTORS®, it can be seen in a variety of other industries as well. In the world of the high-tech consumer, this new marketing technique may very well be one of the most important to date. If you have e-mail and a Web site, the cost of this particular program is very reasonable and is available in some of the larger Texas cities. A small price to pay for the added market share to your annual sales production.

–Joye Kuhn and Jeanne Slay, The Rave Review Team, RE/MAX DFW Associates, number six on REALTOR® Magazine’s list of Top 100 salespeople published in September 2001

Show you care

I would make sure that my sphere of influence would be the beneficiary of that money by giving them a meaningful gift. During the holidays, that might be a poinsettia delivered to their home with an appropriate holiday message. Any time of the year, it might be a contribution to local charities in their names. Whenever I do this, the response has been tremendous, because these people already know of my real estate ability: Now they see that I care about them and want to provide something meaningful to someone in need in their name.

–Vicki Fullerton, ABR, CRP, CRS, e-PRO, broker with RE/MAX The Woodlands and 1999 president of the Lone Star CRS chapter

Call in a coach

Agents will spend money on tools to organize and systematize their offices, yet most people in the industry have no plan for implementation, budgeting, wealth-building, or investment. A good business coach can multiply the value of that $1,000 with savvy business advice and implementation of the many tools most agents already have in their possession, like mail managers, contact databases, etc.

Agent profit in 2002 will require accountability for the investment of an agent’s time and money, and my money would be invested in the best coach I could buy. I would negotiate for more services as my profit and production soared. Training and online services are easily attainable, but strong, targeted guidance and accountability works for the Olympians, and surely can work for the focused agent.

–Terri Murphy, GRI, CRS, LTG, author, speaker and active agent from the Chicagoland area

Power in the palm of your hand

I recommend for brokers or agents to purchase a Palm handheld for organization and the client/customer contact, and the many additional things it will do. I use my Palm for setting and reviewing appointments. It is also connected (synchronized) to my desktop computer. I find the Palm also wonderful for address-book information along with extra notes about particular clients, customers, etc. Combine this with upgrades to your computer (or purchase your first computer if you haven’t yet taken that step), and you will put money in your pockets.

–Scott Senter, CCIM, ABR, GRI, President of Senter, REALTORS® in Abilene and 2002 chairman of the TAR Commercial Investment Division.

Photo © Corbis Images.

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