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Will You Add? - How to Write Money-Making Offers!
Calculate Net Present Value ng a Contact on the fly, make any changes under the “Special Provisions” section of the Contract. Generally, you will find the space allocated for “Special Provisions” to be inadequate. Susie’s Company and the maker of the Contract really don’t want a lot of Special Provisions (they would just assume Susie fill out the contract and you sign it). Be careful here. Don’t leave something out just because you feel squeezed for space. Figure out a way to get everything included, even if it means attaching a handwritten Addendum.Net Present Value (NPV) refers to the sum of a series of cash flows in and out. NPV takes into account the series of cash paid or received in today’s value. This is different from a layman calculation of cash flows which only takes into account the dollar value of the cash flows. Take for example we take out $1000 from our pockets to invest in a business venture. In one year’s time, the business venture pays out $1,100 and we put this money into our pocket.To a layman, the net investment gain is $100 ($1,100 - $1,000). Using NPV, the amount is smaller. This is because we take into account what our $1,000 initial amount would have earned us if we put it in the bank. Assuming that the interest rate is 5%, our $1,000 would have earned us $1,050. Therefore the net investment gained would have been $50 ($1,100 - $1,050). That’s not all. The amount is what we gained in one year’s time. But in today’s time, that $50 would have worth less today. That means if we put less than $50 into the bank, we would have gotten that $50 in one year’s time. The exact amount is $47.62($50 / 105%). This amount is the Net Present Value of our cash out flow of $1,000 (denoted by a negative sign) and a cash inflow of $1,100 in one year’s time (denoted by a positive sign).Sounds complicated? Here’s another way of looking at it. That $1,100 in one year would have a present value of $1,047.62 ($1,100 / 105%). Since we took out $1,000 to gain that $1,100 (which has a present value of $1,047.62), the NPV is $47.62.After you have u Tell it all, Brother! Believe it or not, most Contracts have Contingencies in them. A Contingency is something which must occur before the Contract is binding. A typical Contingency in most Real Estate Contracts is Financing. The terms on most houses Susie sells are cash to a new loan. That is, the Buyer must go out and secure financing on her own. The Contract is usually contingent on the Buyer being able to secure Financing. It would be hard for most people to buy, even if you tried to force them to buy, without some type of Financing. So Financing becomes a Contingency. Another widely accepted Contingency is Insurable Title. The Seller, in most Contracts, agrees to deliver good and marketable title. If any defects are found in the title (and left uncured) the Buyer can request his Earnest Money be refunded and be released from the Contract. These are just a few Contingencies. Read and become familiar with the Real Estate Contract that’s accepted in your part of the world. It won’t take you long to become an expert if you know what to look for. And speaking of Contingencies... We may want to put in a Contingency or two for our own protection. This is another one of those choices we can make. Contingencies can help you or hurt you. It’s your responsibility to insure they help you. Contingencies can have the effect of turning a Purchase Contract into an option of sorts. They can give you control over a piece of property without the corresponding liability. What if, in Susie’s Contract w How To Write Fundraising Letters: Your Donors Deserve Pity Contract BasicsBack in 1985, which I now realize is more than 20 years ago, a homeless man stood at the corner of College and Yonge streets, in downtown Toronto, begging for money. This was his cry:“Quarter! Quarter! Dime! . . . Nickel! . . . Eeeeeeeeven a penny will do!”Of all the panhandlers that I met during those four years that I walked the streets of Hogtown, I remember this man alone. He stirred an emotion that made him unforgettable.That emotion was pity.I can recite his pitch word for word because it was so pitiful. He didn’t change a word of it in four years. He yelled his appeal all day, every day, from the same corner at the uncaring masses. He clearly had a mental illness and couldn’t work. He didn’t appear alcoholic. So my heart was moved whenever I passed his corner, and I sometimes dropped change into his outstretched hand, and spoke a kind word.I donated to his cause for the same reason that your donors can donate to your cause—compassion.When you sit down to craft a fundraising appeal letter, look for the problems in your work that stir in you feelings of pity, compassion or sympathy. If something stirs your heart, it will likely stir your donor’s heart.Look for painful feelings or situations that you share with those you serve. Look for the sympathy that you feel over another person’s suffering. Look for that tender sorrow that you feel for someone (an orphan, a battered mother, a prisoner of conscience) in distress.Then craft your letter so that you capture th Learning “How to Write Money Making Offers” is one of the most exciting skills you’ll learn as a Real Estate Entrepreneur. It’s a lot like learning how to print money legally. These skills will literally change the way you think about Real Estate Investment. Not only will these skills open new doors of opportunity to you, they will also give you the confidence to profit from opportunities you once thought out of your reach. But before we get started, listen to what I have to say, and listen closely... The value of this information is more than just dollars and cents. Money comes and goes. The skills and attitudes stay with you forever. It’s the confidence the skills impart. The new found sense of freedom. The change in the way you view the world around you. Protect this information. Don’t lose it. Read it more than once. Read it again after you have had an opportunity to think about some of these concepts. Read it after you’ve put some of these skills into practice. Don’t just read it once and forget about it (which I’m not sure is possible). Don’t underestimate the value of these skills! Learn To Take 100% Responsibility When it comes to “Writing Money Making Offers” you have to take 100% of the responsibility. Nobody is going to do it for you. You have to be proactive and make the offer the way you want to make it. Not the way it’s always been done. Or the way the pre-printed form dictates. But do it the way you choose to do it. The real tragedy is most people will never be exposed to the idea of freedom of choice. But… you’ve been exposed. And now, what you do with your freedoms is your choice. You can choose to give your freedoms up and be no better off than an animal, or you can exercise your freedom to choose and become more proactive. Like I said… it’s your choice. Printing Money… Legally! O.K. Let’s figure out what were trying to accomplish in “Writing Money Making Offers”. We’re not just trying to buy a house under favorable price and terms. That’s not a bad goal but it’s a little confining. What we’re really trying to do is Create Value! We’re going to take an ordinary piece of paper, put some ink on it, get it signed and then...... take it to the Bank. Just like cashing or depositing a check. We want our paper to have value. Real Estate is just our vehicle. Well then, what constitutes Value? The most obvious is Price. If we can get a Contract accepted on a piece of property below market value it should be worth something. Or, if we get a Contact accepted at market value and someone else is willing to pay more, we have created value. But terms are where the real action takes place. Anything is possible with terms. At some point, price makes no difference with the proper terms (in fact, price really is a term). We’ll talk more about terms later, but suffice it to say, terms create real Value. People used to say, “You name the price and I’ll name the terms, or you name the terms and I’ll name the price”. In fact, you may have used this yourself. If accepted, this becomes a no lose situation for the Buyer. But more often than not, this just lets the Seller know there has to be something (value) in it for the Buyers or the deal won’t go together. Our Goal is to Create Value Now that we’ve established our goal, let’s talk about how to accomplish it. The very first thing we should do is get off the preprinted forms. The best way to do this is to learn how to modify these forms (Contracts). The reason is this... All preprinted forms have a built in bias. To understand the bias, you either need to know who drafted the form and for what purpose, or read the form and see how it conflicts with your goal of creating value. The one thing you can be sure of is this: Unless you drafted a preprinted form yourself, it doesn’t represent your best interests. We live in a world of preprinted forms. So it becomes paramount we learn how to modify these forms in the least offensive way. Let’s look at an example... What happens when Susie Salesperson calls you up with a really good deal. You meet her at the property and decide to make an offer. Immediately, Susie becomes excited and pulls out (careful now) one of her companies preprinted Contracts. There are only a couple of blanks to fill in. All of the rest has already been taken care of for you (or to you). What are you going to do? If you refuse to use her Contract, she may never call you again. Or worse yet, she may think you’re some kind of scam artist. Gossip gets around quick in the world of real estate. You want to make the offer and you want Susie to like and trust you. How can we accomplish our goal and not send up red flags? Well, as it turns out, the offer and acceptance process is not exactly a clean game. The typical Buyer and Seller make several changes as to price and terms before a Contract is finalized. Now, these are not the same changes we might make, but they do make changes. It’s not neat and pretty because they typically just scratch through what they don’t like (such as price) and write in what they do like… then initial it. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it! This is not exactly high tech. But it is typical in the industry. So, how can we use this to our advantage? Here’s what I recommend... Use the standard preprinted Real Estate Contract accepted in your area. If you haven’t read this form, get your hands on one and read it. Note those areas (preprinted clauses) which are not in your best interest. Also take note of all the blanks you will have to fill in. Our strategy then becomes to fill in the blanks with words and phrases to benefit us and modify the preprinted clauses to our advantage. In other words, we are going to take a Seller’s Contract and turn it into a Buyer’s Contract with the least amount of resistance on the part of either the Seller or their Agent. What you need to know about Contracts... When modifying a Contract remember that hand written language is given top priority. Next comes type written language, then comes printed (boilerplate) language. Language in an Addendum, takes priority over any conflicting language in the body of the Contract. You don’t have to scratch out the part you don’t like (although this is an option) just add conflicting language of a higher priority. Keep this order of priority in mind when modifying a Contract. Any ambiguity in the language of a Contract is considered the problem of the maker. This means there is a higher level of responsibility placed on the party who composes the Contract than on the other party. Sometimes... it is to your advantage to use and modify other’s Contracts versus creating your own. Just be sure to read the entire Contract and modify it with words which are easy to understand. Contracts can be binding and create liability. Keep this in the fore front of your mind. Ask yourself this question: “What if something happens and I’m not able to perform as agreed?” What is your exposure? Always limit your liability. Always! So... the easiest way to modify Susie’s Company Contract is to be prepared with an Addendum with all of your goodies spelled out. An Addendum is a piece of paper with language in it that modifies a Contract. An Addendum is attached to a Contract. All you need to do is write “See attached Addendum” on the face of the original Contract. This should be mentioned in the “Special Provisions” section of the original Contract. In addition, you could write this in any blank on the Contract where you want to refer to the Addendum for additional details. Using an Addendum makes modifying a Contract easy. And the best part is that you can prepare an Addendum ahead of time when you are not under any pressure. You can think it through and make sure you don’t miss anything. Our other alternative is to modify the Contract on the fly. Because you will be more apt to make a mistake or forget something with this method, I would recommend you carry with you a Contract Checklist. A Checklist will save you a lot of misery (and make you a lot of moola). When modifying a Contact on the fly, make any changes under the “Special Provisions” section of the Contract. Generally, you will find the space allocated for “Special Provisions” to be inadequate. Susie’s Company and the maker of the Contract really don’t want a lot of Special Provisions (they would just assume Susie fill out the contract and you sign it). Be careful here. Don’t leave something out just because you feel squeezed for space. Figure out a way to get everything included, even if it means attaching a handwritten Addendum. Tell it all, Brother! Believe it or not, most Contracts have Contingencies in them. A Contingency is something which must occur before the Contract is binding. A typical Contingency in most Real Estate Contracts is Financing. The terms on most houses Susie sells are cash to a new loan. That is, the Buyer must go out and secure financing on her own. The Contract is usually contingent on the Buyer being able to secure Financing. It would be hard for most people to buy, even if you tried to force them to buy, without some type of Financing. So Financing becomes a Contingency. Another widely accepted Contingency is Insurable Title. The Seller, in most Contracts, agrees to deliver good and marketable title. If any defects are found in the title (and left uncured) the Buyer can request his Earnest Money be refunded and be released from the Contract. These are just a few Contingencies. Read and become familiar with the Real Estate Contract that’s accepted in your part of the world. It won’t take you long to become an expert if you know what to look for. And speaking of Contingencies... We may want to put in a Contingency or two for our own protection. This is another one of those choices we can make. Contingencies can help you or hurt you. It’s your responsibility to insure they help you. Contingencies can have the effect of turning a Purchase Contract into an option of sorts. They can give you control over a piece of property without the corresponding liability. What if, in Susie’s Contract we What Constitutes a Booming Economy for the Average Citizen? t’s not a bad goal but it’s a little confining. What we’re really trying to do is Create Value!Like most people I am not an economist, just a perplexed Canadian citizen, trying to make sense of what is meant when people refer to our economy as booming. I look around and see the price of housing going through the roof, energy costs sky rocketing, and taxation has totally gone wild.Did I miss the memo on how to get rich quick in Canada?I am noticing families with two kids who have “normal” type jobs building homes, buying cars, taking vacations, and living a great lifestyle. How do two people with two kids, living on a combined joint gross income of $100,000 afford all these big ticket items?Even if they did get help from family along the way, how can they even afford a mortgage, property taxes, utilities, and still buy a decent grocery order every week. Most of the citizens I meet have trouble just getting a full time job, and have to continually deal with company closures, layoffs, and down sizing.According to the powers at be we are living in a prosperous times, with a booming economy. It sure seems that way if we consider all the new construction or the actual amount of people in the parking lots in our box store world.Here’s my version of a booming economyPeople are working at jobs were they are making a great living, can save up to buy a car cash, put money away for their retirement, buy a house with a sizeable deposit, put their kids through university, and have some spare cash to throw around for entertainment or hobbies.ConclusionMy feeling is we are We’re going to take an ordinary piece of paper, put some ink on it, get it signed and then...... take it to the Bank. Just like cashing or depositing a check. We want our paper to have value. Real Estate is just our vehicle. Well then, what constitutes Value? The most obvious is Price. If we can get a Contract accepted on a piece of property below market value it should be worth something. Or, if we get a Contact accepted at market value and someone else is willing to pay more, we have created value. But terms are where the real action takes place. Anything is possible with terms. At some point, price makes no difference with the proper terms (in fact, price really is a term). We’ll talk more about terms later, but suffice it to say, terms create real Value. People used to say, “You name the price and I’ll name the terms, or you name the terms and I’ll name the price”. In fact, you may have used this yourself. If accepted, this becomes a no lose situation for the Buyer. But more often than not, this just lets the Seller know there has to be something (value) in it for the Buyers or the deal won’t go together. Our Goal is to Create Value Now that we’ve established our goal, let’s talk about how to accomplish it. The very first thing we should do is get off the preprinted forms. The best way to do this is to learn how to modify these forms (Contracts). The reason is this... All preprinted forms have a built in bias. To understand the bias, you either need to know who drafted the form and for what purpose, or read the form and see how it conflicts with your goal of creating value. The one thing you can be sure of is this: Unless you drafted a preprinted form yourself, it doesn’t represent your best interests. We live in a world of preprinted forms. So it becomes paramount we learn how to modify these forms in the least offensive way. Let’s look at an example... What happens when Susie Salesperson calls you up with a really good deal. You meet her at the property and decide to make an offer. Immediately, Susie becomes excited and pulls out (careful now) one of her companies preprinted Contracts. There are only a couple of blanks to fill in. All of the rest has already been taken care of for you (or to you). What are you going to do? If you refuse to use her Contract, she may never call you again. Or worse yet, she may think you’re some kind of scam artist. Gossip gets around quick in the world of real estate. You want to make the offer and you want Susie to like and trust you. How can we accomplish our goal and not send up red flags? Well, as it turns out, the offer and acceptance process is not exactly a clean game. The typical Buyer and Seller make several changes as to price and terms before a Contract is finalized. Now, these are not the same changes we might make, but they do make changes. It’s not neat and pretty because they typically just scratch through what they don’t like (such as price) and write in what they do like… then initial it. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it! This is not exactly high tech. But it is typical in the industry. So, how can we use this to our advantage? Here’s what I recommend... Use the standard preprinted Real Estate Contract accepted in your area. If you haven’t read this form, get your hands on one and read it. Note those areas (preprinted clauses) which are not in your best interest. Also take note of all the blanks you will have to fill in. Our strategy then becomes to fill in the blanks with words and phrases to benefit us and modify the preprinted clauses to our advantage. In other words, we are going to take a Seller’s Contract and turn it into a Buyer’s Contract with the least amount of resistance on the part of either the Seller or their Agent. What you need to know about Contracts... When modifying a Contract remember that hand written language is given top priority. Next comes type written language, then comes printed (boilerplate) language. Language in an Addendum, takes priority over any conflicting language in the body of the Contract. You don’t have to scratch out the part you don’t like (although this is an option) just add conflicting language of a higher priority. Keep this order of priority in mind when modifying a Contract. Any ambiguity in the language of a Contract is considered the problem of the maker. This means there is a higher level of responsibility placed on the party who composes the Contract than on the other party. Sometimes... it is to your advantage to use and modify other’s Contracts versus creating your own. Just be sure to read the entire Contract and modify it with words which are easy to understand. Contracts can be binding and create liability. Keep this in the fore front of your mind. Ask yourself this question: “What if something happens and I’m not able to perform as agreed?” What is your exposure? Always limit your liability. Always! So... the easiest way to modify Susie’s Company Contract is to be prepared with an Addendum with all of your goodies spelled out. An Addendum is a piece of paper with language in it that modifies a Contract. An Addendum is attached to a Contract. All you need to do is write “See attached Addendum” on the face of the original Contract. This should be mentioned in the “Special Provisions” section of the original Contract. In addition, you could write this in any blank on the Contract where you want to refer to the Addendum for additional details. Using an Addendum makes modifying a Contract easy. And the best part is that you can prepare an Addendum ahead of time when you are not under any pressure. You can think it through and make sure you don’t miss anything. Our other alternative is to modify the Contract on the fly. Because you will be more apt to make a mistake or forget something with this method, I would recommend you carry with you a Contract Checklist. A Checklist will save you a lot of misery (and make you a lot of moola). When modifying a Contact on the fly, make any changes under the “Special Provisions” section of the Contract. Generally, you will find the space allocated for “Special Provisions” to be inadequate. Susie’s Company and the maker of the Contract really don’t want a lot of Special Provisions (they would just assume Susie fill out the contract and you sign it). Be careful here. Don’t leave something out just because you feel squeezed for space. Figure out a way to get everything included, even if it means attaching a handwritten Addendum. Tell it all, Brother! Believe it or not, most Contracts have Contingencies in them. A Contingency is something which must occur before the Contract is binding. A typical Contingency in most Real Estate Contracts is Financing. The terms on most houses Susie sells are cash to a new loan. That is, the Buyer must go out and secure financing on her own. The Contract is usually contingent on the Buyer being able to secure Financing. It would be hard for most people to buy, even if you tried to force them to buy, without some type of Financing. So Financing becomes a Contingency. Another widely accepted Contingency is Insurable Title. The Seller, in most Contracts, agrees to deliver good and marketable title. If any defects are found in the title (and left uncured) the Buyer can request his Earnest Money be refunded and be released from the Contract. These are just a few Contingencies. Read and become familiar with the Real Estate Contract that’s accepted in your part of the world. It won’t take you long to become an expert if you know what to look for. And speaking of Contingencies... We may want to put in a Contingency or two for our own protection. This is another one of those choices we can make. Contingencies can help you or hurt you. It’s your responsibility to insure they help you. Contingencies can have the effect of turning a Purchase Contract into an option of sorts. They can give you control over a piece of property without the corresponding liability. What if, in Susie’s Contract w Community Based Cause Marketing for Small Businesses usie Salesperson calls you up with a really good deal. You meet her at the property and decide to make an offer. Immediately, Susie becomes excited and pulls out (careful now) one of her companies preprinted Contracts. There are only a couple of blanks to fill in. All of the rest has already been taken care of for you (or to you).If you are in a small business you need to support your community as best you can and pay them back for supporting you all these years. Not only is helping the community the right thing to do and you should do simply because of that sole reason, but over the years I have watched our company do incredible business, as our franchisees helped their individual communities.But what kinds of community involvement should a business do? What kinds of things can you afford to do and what kinds of things will return the on-going favor in a circle of perpetual motion allowing customers to spend money with you and for you to take some of that money and continue to return the favor?Well there are many things you can do for instance join a local service club and volunteer to help out and donate your time, labor and perhaps supplies and resources to the cause. That is a very easy thing you can do. Support a local Little League Team or buy a backboard at the ball park? Donate money to a silent auction.Why not host a fundraiser for a non-profit group you feel passionate about. You will be killing many birds with one stone and you will really be helping your business, community and feeling great about what you are doing; do it. Consider all this in 2006. What are you going to do? If you refuse to use her Contract, she may never call you again. Or worse yet, she may think you’re some kind of scam artist. Gossip gets around quick in the world of real estate. You want to make the offer and you want Susie to like and trust you. How can we accomplish our goal and not send up red flags? Well, as it turns out, the offer and acceptance process is not exactly a clean game. The typical Buyer and Seller make several changes as to price and terms before a Contract is finalized. Now, these are not the same changes we might make, but they do make changes. It’s not neat and pretty because they typically just scratch through what they don’t like (such as price) and write in what they do like… then initial it. It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it! This is not exactly high tech. But it is typical in the industry. So, how can we use this to our advantage? Here’s what I recommend... Use the standard preprinted Real Estate Contract accepted in your area. If you haven’t read this form, get your hands on one and read it. Note those areas (preprinted clauses) which are not in your best interest. Also take note of all the blanks you will have to fill in. Our strategy then becomes to fill in the blanks with words and phrases to benefit us and modify the preprinted clauses to our advantage. In other words, we are going to take a Seller’s Contract and turn it into a Buyer’s Contract with the least amount of resistance on the part of either the Seller or their Agent. What you need to know about Contracts... When modifying a Contract remember that hand written language is given top priority. Next comes type written language, then comes printed (boilerplate) language. Language in an Addendum, takes priority over any conflicting language in the body of the Contract. You don’t have to scratch out the part you don’t like (although this is an option) just add conflicting language of a higher priority. Keep this order of priority in mind when modifying a Contract. Any ambiguity in the language of a Contract is considered the problem of the maker. This means there is a higher level of responsibility placed on the party who composes the Contract than on the other party. Sometimes... it is to your advantage to use and modify other’s Contracts versus creating your own. Just be sure to read the entire Contract and modify it with words which are easy to understand. Contracts can be binding and create liability. Keep this in the fore front of your mind. Ask yourself this question: “What if something happens and I’m not able to perform as agreed?” What is your exposure? Always limit your liability. Always! So... the easiest way to modify Susie’s Company Contract is to be prepared with an Addendum with all of your goodies spelled out. An Addendum is a piece of paper with language in it that modifies a Contract. An Addendum is attached to a Contract. All you need to do is write “See attached Addendum” on the face of the original Contract. This should be mentioned in the “Special Provisions” section of the original Contract. In addition, you could write this in any blank on the Contract where you want to refer to the Addendum for additional details. Using an Addendum makes modifying a Contract easy. And the best part is that you can prepare an Addendum ahead of time when you are not under any pressure. You can think it through and make sure you don’t miss anything. Our other alternative is to modify the Contract on the fly. Because you will be more apt to make a mistake or forget something with this method, I would recommend you carry with you a Contract Checklist. A Checklist will save you a lot of misery (and make you a lot of moola). When modifying a Contact on the fly, make any changes under the “Special Provisions” section of the Contract. Generally, you will find the space allocated for “Special Provisions” to be inadequate. Susie’s Company and the maker of the Contract really don’t want a lot of Special Provisions (they would just assume Susie fill out the contract and you sign it). Be careful here. Don’t leave something out just because you feel squeezed for space. Figure out a way to get everything included, even if it means attaching a handwritten Addendum. Tell it all, Brother! Believe it or not, most Contracts have Contingencies in them. A Contingency is something which must occur before the Contract is binding. A typical Contingency in most Real Estate Contracts is Financing. The terms on most houses Susie sells are cash to a new loan. That is, the Buyer must go out and secure financing on her own. The Contract is usually contingent on the Buyer being able to secure Financing. It would be hard for most people to buy, even if you tried to force them to buy, without some type of Financing. So Financing becomes a Contingency. Another widely accepted Contingency is Insurable Title. The Seller, in most Contracts, agrees to deliver good and marketable title. If any defects are found in the title (and left uncured) the Buyer can request his Earnest Money be refunded and be released from the Contract. These are just a few Contingencies. Read and become familiar with the Real Estate Contract that’s accepted in your part of the world. It won’t take you long to become an expert if you know what to look for. And speaking of Contingencies... We may want to put in a Contingency or two for our own protection. This is another one of those choices we can make. Contingencies can help you or hurt you. It’s your responsibility to insure they help you. Contingencies can have the effect of turning a Purchase Contract into an option of sorts. They can give you control over a piece of property without the corresponding liability. What if, in Susie’s Contract w Home-Based Call Center Agents: Delivering the Ultimate Customer Experience , then comes printed (boilerplate) language. Language in an Addendum, takes priority over any conflicting language in the body of the Contract. You don’t have to scratch out the part you don’t like (although this is an option) just add conflicting language of a higher priority. Keep this order of priority in mind when modifying a Contract.At every customer-focused company there is a desire to provide the ultimate customer experience, from the CEO on down. What gets lost in translation is the extreme impact that delivering this level of customer service, or failing to do so, has on a company’s bottom line.Consider the impact of a customer’s experience when contacting your company: a satisfied customer typically tells one to three people about a good experience, while an unsatisfied customer talks to as many as 10 people about the bad experience. Businesses today are reaching an inflexion point where their customers are demanding more from their interactions with customer service representatives; simply answering a customer contact in a specified timeframe is no longer enough. Your customers want to speak with someone who understands their needs without detailed explanations or constant repetition.What many companies are learning is that there is an easy way to make sure they have the most qualified and professional team of customer care employees answering calls from their customers each day: through the home-based employee model. The home-based employee model has proven to be the most effective way for companies to address the challenges they face with their existing customer contact solutions. These include customer satisfaction, agent quality, business flexibility and business continuity.There are substantial benefits to using home-based customer service employees that ultimately result in a win-win-win situation for your company, Any ambiguity in the language of a Contract is considered the problem of the maker. This means there is a higher level of responsibility placed on the party who composes the Contract than on the other party. Sometimes... it is to your advantage to use and modify other’s Contracts versus creating your own. Just be sure to read the entire Contract and modify it with words which are easy to understand. Contracts can be binding and create liability. Keep this in the fore front of your mind. Ask yourself this question: “What if something happens and I’m not able to perform as agreed?” What is your exposure? Always limit your liability. Always! So... the easiest way to modify Susie’s Company Contract is to be prepared with an Addendum with all of your goodies spelled out. An Addendum is a piece of paper with language in it that modifies a Contract. An Addendum is attached to a Contract. All you need to do is write “See attached Addendum” on the face of the original Contract. This should be mentioned in the “Special Provisions” section of the original Contract. In addition, you could write this in any blank on the Contract where you want to refer to the Addendum for additional details. Using an Addendum makes modifying a Contract easy. And the best part is that you can prepare an Addendum ahead of time when you are not under any pressure. You can think it through and make sure you don’t miss anything. Our other alternative is to modify the Contract on the fly. Because you will be more apt to make a mistake or forget something with this method, I would recommend you carry with you a Contract Checklist. A Checklist will save you a lot of misery (and make you a lot of moola). When modifying a Contact on the fly, make any changes under the “Special Provisions” section of the Contract. Generally, you will find the space allocated for “Special Provisions” to be inadequate. Susie’s Company and the maker of the Contract really don’t want a lot of Special Provisions (they would just assume Susie fill out the contract and you sign it). Be careful here. Don’t leave something out just because you feel squeezed for space. Figure out a way to get everything included, even if it means attaching a handwritten Addendum. Tell it all, Brother! Believe it or not, most Contracts have Contingencies in them. A Contingency is something which must occur before the Contract is binding. A typical Contingency in most Real Estate Contracts is Financing. The terms on most houses Susie sells are cash to a new loan. That is, the Buyer must go out and secure financing on her own. The Contract is usually contingent on the Buyer being able to secure Financing. It would be hard for most people to buy, even if you tried to force them to buy, without some type of Financing. So Financing becomes a Contingency. Another widely accepted Contingency is Insurable Title. The Seller, in most Contracts, agrees to deliver good and marketable title. If any defects are found in the title (and left uncured) the Buyer can request his Earnest Money be refunded and be released from the Contract. These are just a few Contingencies. Read and become familiar with the Real Estate Contract that’s accepted in your part of the world. It won’t take you long to become an expert if you know what to look for. And speaking of Contingencies... We may want to put in a Contingency or two for our own protection. This is another one of those choices we can make. Contingencies can help you or hurt you. It’s your responsibility to insure they help you. Contingencies can have the effect of turning a Purchase Contract into an option of sorts. They can give you control over a piece of property without the corresponding liability. What if, in Susie’s Contract w Web Design Essentials ng a Contact on the fly, make any changes under the “Special Provisions” section of the Contract. Generally, you will find the space allocated for “Special Provisions” to be inadequate. Susie’s Company and the maker of the Contract really don’t want a lot of Special Provisions (they would just assume Susie fill out the contract and you sign it). Be careful here. Don’t leave something out just because you feel squeezed for space. Figure out a way to get everything included, even if it means attaching a handwritten Addendum.Websites are created for many different purposes, such as, selling products, offering services, or sharing information. The one thing all websites have in common is the need to attract visitors and keep them coming back on a regular basis. In order to accomplish this you need to have a web design that is pleasing to look at, easy to navigate, and offers good content.The first thing any visitor to your website sees is the home page. This should be your design starting point. You can expand on it to create other pages, but you always want to keep the design consistent from page to page. In other words if your home page is black and gold, you don't want to do your other pages in red and green. Any graphics you use specifically for your site should blend with the color choices you make. Pleasant colors and graphics will help make your site memorable.Easy Navigation is a must. Going from page to page needs to be as easy as possible. Each page should have a link back to the home page. Visitors want to know where they are and how to get back to where they were without having to use the back button. Nine times out of ten they will close the page rather than continuously using the back button to try and find their way back.Content is the backbone of any website. Spelling and grammatical errors do not look professional. Have someone proofread all content before you add it. Offer content that is specific to the theme of your site. If I do a search for jungle animals and find your site, then I Tell it all, Brother! Believe it or not, most Contracts have Contingencies in them. A Contingency is something which must occur before the Contract is binding. A typical Contingency in most Real Estate Contracts is Financing. The terms on most houses Susie sells are cash to a new loan. That is, the Buyer must go out and secure financing on her own. The Contract is usually contingent on the Buyer being able to secure Financing. It would be hard for most people to buy, even if you tried to force them to buy, without some type of Financing. So Financing becomes a Contingency. Another widely accepted Contingency is Insurable Title. The Seller, in most Contracts, agrees to deliver good and marketable title. If any defects are found in the title (and left uncured) the Buyer can request his Earnest Money be refunded and be released from the Contract. These are just a few Contingencies. Read and become familiar with the Real Estate Contract that’s accepted in your part of the world. It won’t take you long to become an expert if you know what to look for. And speaking of Contingencies... We may want to put in a Contingency or two for our own protection. This is another one of those choices we can make. Contingencies can help you or hurt you. It’s your responsibility to insure they help you. Contingencies can have the effect of turning a Purchase Contract into an option of sorts. They can give you control over a piece of property without the corresponding liability. What if, in Susie’s Contract we put in a provision that said “Buyer to have 30 days to inspect and approve of said property or this contract shall be null and void.” Isn’t this just like a 30 day option. Now, I know what you’re thinking. What kind of seller would agree to that? Well, a Motivated Seller would, if you sold them on the idea correctly. You see, it’s hard to tell from walking through a house if it has structural damage, or termites, or bad plumbing, or whatever. You really need more time or the help of experts to make these determinations. Aren’t “Home Inspections” becoming more and more a part of the home buying process? There are a lot of different Contingencies and different ways to mask them. Don’t get too cute with Contingencies. The best way to use them is to be up front and honest about what you are trying to accomplish. Oh yeah! Consider making your Contingencies “self liquidating”. In the clause above, if you don’t do anything, you don’t incur any further liability. The Contract just becomes null and void. As opposed to requiring action on your part which for some reason (like you forgot) you fail to perform. And always disclose, disclose, disclose... Being open and up front with Sellers and their Agents will not only let you sleep better at night but it has the effect of negotiating people’s expectations. Once people understand what you’re trying to accomplish (and like and trust you), they will actually do the negotiating for you. They expect certain things and they accept them more readily. Your biggest Advantage Think about these basics. Your biggest advantage as a Real Estate Entrepreneur is being able to make the right choices. It’s your quickness and agility. It’s your maneuverability. But you have to be responsible. You have to learn to represent your own best interest. Be proactive. In the process, we’ll strive to accomplish our goal of Creating Value.
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