Due to the slowdown in real estate, I have been looking for a new carreer.

Garritt Hampton
Director of Sales, Marketing, and Operations

Creative, entrepreneurial leader with experience in the areas of marketing, sales, and operations, with a strong track record of performance in business development and turnaround in high-paced organizations. Exceptionally disciplined and focused on quality; possessing well-developed interpersonal skills and the ability to motivate and direct others in a supportive, cooperative team environment. Successful in capitalizing on growth opportunities, implementing promotional and marketing strategies, and upholding fiscal integrity. Available for relocation.

Professional Strengths and Abilities include:

• Corporate Vision & Strategic Planning
• Business & Technology Infrastructure
• Continuous Process Improvement
• General & Operations Management
• Trend Analysis & Market Planning
• Policy & Procedure Development
• Team Development & Performance Improvement
• Sales & Marketing Leadership
• New Business Development
• Presentations & Training
• Profit & Loss Management
• Customer Service & Satisfaction

View My Resume (PDF format)
View my LinkedIn Profile and Recommendations

I love to read. At any given time, I might be reading 3 or 4 books. In order to keep a record of books I have read I recently put together a running list. I includes books I have finished and books that I am still reading or use as reference materials. I was pretty happy to get the list posted, but when I did I realized what a nerd I am. After looking at the list, I am convinced that I have spent an aggregate total of approximately 3 years reading. To see the list click here. Enjoy!

In-Depth Market Analysis

There are currently 3388 active residential listings (a record) in the Greater Antelope Valley, an increase of over 50 homes in a week. There are also 1168 pending sales. from these numbers, you might get the idea that listings aren't selling, or are not selling very quickly. In fact, that is the general feeling among local Realtors right now. While it is true, that listings are sitting a little longer than they did last year, houses are still selling at an enormous rate.

In order to get some perspective and an accurate picture of the current market, last week we did an in-depth analysis of listings and home sales from 2000-2006. Our findings were very interesting and have serious bearing on the investment market.

We found that while 2005 was a record year for sales, 2006 has been an excellent year as well. January, March and May of 2006 registered the second highest numbers of sales in the past 6 years with 503, 672 and 651 closed sales in those months. (2005 lead every month). These are encouraging numbers, because they tell us that while there is increasing inventory on the market, that inventory will sell. 2006 may very well end with the second highest number of sales in the past 6 years.

Local Housing Prices are Changing

We also analysed the data for average days on market of homes in different price ranges, and in different areas in our MLS. We found that there is a very clear bell curve showing a majority of homes, both being listed and selling, in the middle of the market (and that middle segment is moving down in price). There are currently 767 homes in escrow, between $250,000 and $399,999, with 282 between $250,000 and $299,000, 285 between $300,000 and $349,999, and 200 homes in escrow that were listed between $350,000 and $399,999. Outside of those price ranges, you see an enormous drop in pending transactions, with just 96 homes in the $400,000-$449,999 range and 93 in the $200,000-$249,999 range and more dramatic decreases the further you get from the middle.

We are also starting to see prices make a noticeable move downward. This week there are 87 homes on the market below $200,000. Last week there were only 79. The low, average and median prices of those homes fell as well, with the lowest priced listing on that list, priced $20,000 lower than the lowest priced listing last week. This is a significant trend that will continue.

Commissions are Changing

With inventory at record levels agents are doing everything they know how to do, to get houses shown. It is a very common practice to offer a 3%-5% buyers agent commission (sometimes higher). That might be the biggest change in the market over last year. When houses were selling the day they were listed, sellers could offer reduced buyers' agent commissions and know that their house would still sell. Now, without offering a significant buyers' agent commission, there is a very good chance that your home will not even get shown. When there are hundreds of houses on the market that meet the needs of your buyers, agents will be much more likely to show houses that will bring in a larger commission for their work.

What does this mean? First, it means that sellers are going to be paying more to sell their houses. If a seller lists with an agent who takes 3%, then offers a 5% buyers' agent commission, they are paying a total of 8%. This bodes very well for an office like Realty Response. We only ever charge 2% to list a home. That gives our sellers' the opportunity to offer 4% to the buyers' agent and still only pay 6% total commission.

For investors and buyers, it means vastly increased opportunity! Buyers are lowering prices and increasing commissions in a desparate act just to get their homes shown.  Look for listings that have been on the market for a long time, and listings that have had price reductions, without increases in the buyer's agent commission. These are sellers who are wondering why no one wants to buy their house. These are prime opportunities for buyers to negotiate price and terms. As this trend continues, prices will continue to drop and sellers will be more willing to help with closing costs and other allowances.

More good news this week!

Our staff is growing and really strong right now. We have had 3 new full-time agents start this month. Marc LeNorgant was formerly a lender, and will take his broker's exam this summer. Marc just got his first listing on monday. Dick Jones comes to us after 20 years in the aircraft industry, most recently as a Director at Lockheed. Mike Flatt, who started with us yesterday, brings a decade of Retail management and Entertainment Industry management experience to the company, which translates perfectly to the high-touch world of real estate. We are excited to have all of them on staff. My dad (Robert Hampton, Broker) commented the other day that this is by far the best staff the company has ever had. I couldn't agree more. We have a great team.

To view our current listings, or to search the entire GAVAR MLS (Greater Antelope Valley Association of Realtors® Multiple Listing Service) click the link below.

As the momentum of Realty Response Connections builds, we are seeing amazing things happen. I recently received an email from a Realtor® in Orange Park, Florida, Named J.D. Weisenburger. He wanted to know what our referral cards were. We use these cards to collect client information so that we can refer them to a full-time Realtor® in their area. They are an important part of the Realty Response Connections system, and it was good to see that there is growing interest in the company.

What is more exciting to me though, is the fact that agents as far as florida are finding out about us. We are extremely exited about the opportunities we offer to agents, and we look forward to rapid growth and continued success.

Because we refer clients to full-time Realtors® in all 50 states, We hope to soon send work to Mr. Weisenburger.

To visit his website, go to www.teamweisenburger.com.

Earn Money On The Internet! I am actually earning money with my personal website! How, am I doing that? With Google Adsense. Visit www.Hampton-Family.comand look for all of the Google Ads. Click them and I get paid. Pretty simple huh?

If you would like to earn money on the web then click the Generate revenue on your site with Google Adsense link. Sign up for an Adsense account, then get paid. It couldn’t be simpler.

Tips:
Promote your site - You won’t earn a penny unless people find you.
Feature your ads prominently - People won’t click what they can’t see. Place multiple ads on every page. Not only does this make your ads more visible, but it might help your Google ranking. Google will find it’s own ads on your site. The more places you have ads, the more pages google will want to index. You scratch their back…
Create multiple Links - Give people options. Promote Firefox and Adsense and host links to other businesses.
Have a ton of great content! - This one is most important. Google Adsense creates ad content based on the content of your site. Google indexes your site based on content. People find you , read your page and return because of your content. If you don’t have good content you won’t have good conversion.
Create multiple sites - Search engine optimization 101 here. One of the factors that contributes heavily to your Google ranking is outside links. Many times, depending on the type of site you have, getting outside links is difficult. This is where multiple sites comes in. If you own three websites that all link to eachother it looks like each site has multiple outside links.
Create a free page - This goes along with the last tip. You don’t have to spend a bunch of money to have multiple websites. Check out Spaces.MSN.com, Yahoo 360 and myspace. These all will be found by Google, as readily as a hosted website with a unique domain name.
Remember that only Google matters - If you notice, the only search engine I mention in this posting is Google. Google OWNS search. If you are not being found on Google, chances are, you are not being found. Work to maximize your Google exposure. Read articles on seach engine optimiziation (SEO). Follow the directions. You will see a difference.

Blog -There are few easier ways to get content, than to write a little each day. Blogs are a simple way to populate your site, and you don't have to be a web genious to use them.

If you can follow these simple tips you can earn money with your website too.

Well, it was bound to happen. There are numerous reports, pictures, and screen shots floating around, of the dreaded BSOD on Apple hardware. There are definite benefits to running Windows XP on a Mac right now, but you have to remember, it is still Windows! I have every intention of running Boot Camp as soon as I can get my hands on an Intel Mac, but I also fully expect it to vastly diminish my computing experience. Let's hope that this move by Apple ushers in a new wave of inteligence in buying, and that software companies take note and start developing business applications and games for OS X.

I would say that we can only hope, but we can also buy. Go out and Buy a new mac today, and be happier for it. While you are at it, check out this great video from YouTube. It will put everything in perspective.

Apple released "Boot Camp" today. This public beta software allows users to run Windows XP on Intel Macs including the Mac Mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro. This software is available as a download from www.Apple.com. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing says, “Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple’s superior hardware now that we use Intel processors, We think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the switch.” Apple plans to include this program as a standard feature of OS 10.5 "Leopard".

While this is an exciting development on many levels, it does raise some new concerns for Mac users used to the stability and security offered by OS X. Some of these concerns are exemplified by a comment on the apple website "Windows running on a Mac is like Windows running on a PC. That means it’ll be subject to the same attacks that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the latest Microsoft Windows security fixes."

EFI Vs. BIOS
Apple also took the opportunity of this release to level some well-deserved criticism at Microsoft. The apple website states "Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries."

I used to say that I would never work in Real Estate. I also used to say that I would never work with family. Now I think that God has a great sense of humor.

After working with my wife for over three years as co-owners of a high-end stationery store, I now find myself employed by my parents at a real estate office as the marketing director. Not only that, but I recently became a Realtor®. Even better, I am actually happy about this turn of events. I feel like I was meant to be in this position and I look forward to the opportunities ahead.
Strange...

Are you are a Licensed Real Estate Agent who is currently not working in Real Estate, or you are considering getting you real estate license to earn some extra money? Realty Response Connections wants to talk to you.

As a marketing specialist for Realty Response Connections you will earn over $1500 on a $320,000 dollar home sale, just for passing on a referral. We pay a generous 80% percent commission split for every referral given, and referral commissions are %30 percent for listings and %20 percent for buyers. That means that all you have to do is hand a homeseller a business card, and if they list their home with Realty Response you get paid at close of escrow!

Sign Up Now!

FAQ

How Much Will I Make? Well, on $320,000 listing you get paid $1,536.00, and on a $500,000 listing you get paid $2,400.00 at close of escrow. If you refer a buyer you make $1,280.00 on a $320,000 sale, and $2,000.00 on a $500,000 sale, at close of escrow.

What Do I Have To Do? All you have to do is sign up and transfer your license to Realty Response Connections, then pass any referrals that you make on to the company. It is as easy as handing out a business card. There are no sales meetings, no association dues, no floor time and no quotas. You never have to work with buyers or sellers and you can work from home! In fact you can do everything you need to do without ever coming to the office once!

What Does It Cost? There is a one time fee of $75 to enroll. For that fee you get personalized business cards and referral cards. The only time you would ever have to spend any more money is to re-order business cards.

Can I Refer Buyers or Sellers From Outside of California? Yes! Realty Response Connections can help buyers and sellers in any state in the country. There are no restrictions and your commission is not affected.

I Am Not Licensed Yet, Does That Matter? You must have a current, California real estate license. Provisional Licenses are o.k. We are happy to hire brand new agents.

Can I Work For Another Company Too? Yes! In fact this is a great opportunity for professionals. Accountants, Insurance Salespeople, Doctors and Lawyers all come in contact with buyers and sellers on a regular basis. The only thing you can't do is work for another real estate office or broker. All of your real estate business must be done through Realty Response Connections.

How Do I Sign Up? Just visit www.RRConnections.net or call 661-273-8838.

Robert M. Hampton, Broker
DRE License # 01232460

This site was created on a Mac. Why does it matter? Well, I have been dealing with growing frustration over the past few months. Late last year I started a new job at Realty Response as the Marketing Director. This is a position that I feel completely comfortable in, but as is often the case in small companies my responsibilities many times fall outside of my normal job description. A large part of the job has turned out to be technical. I have become the IT director, Webmaster, Voip phone system admisitrator and all around computer tech. This is a job I am less comfortable with.

I have been a Apple guy for years. When I owned my first business, a recording studio, we ran the business on a PC and did the creative stuff on Macs. About 6 months into the business, my Compaq PC with all of the business records on it took a dump. Big-time blue screen of death. Compaq spent 6 months trying to fix the problem then finally gave up and let me return the big paperweight for a full refund. This was the last in a long line of crashes and bugs that I had experienced for the previous decade as a PC user. At the same time I realized that I had never had a crash on an Apple that caused me to lose any information. Sure, they would lock up, but I could always restart and be back up and running in no time. (Side note: That was over 8 years ago, and the record still stands. I have never had a Mac crash that caused my to lose any information!) I swore that I would never buy a pc again and so far I haven't. I have successfully run two more businesses completely on Macs and I have never looked back.

Realty Response, on the other hand, is a Windows business. It is a dirty little secret, that real estate software just doesn't run on Macs. Realtors should revolt. Not is much of the software not cross-platform compatible, but the majority of it is TERRIBLE.

Because Realty Response is a Windows business, I have had to go through the painful process of relearning to massage Windows to get it to do what I want. Our network barely works, we are constantly at risk for malware, and it is nearly impossible to make the shared printers in the office work, and this is with constant supervision and tweaking. There is good news, though. Since I have been here, the computers have never worked better. The company actually used to pay someone to maintain the system, and at the time there were more problems. That makes me feel great.

Maybe with the advent of Intel Macs, and Windows on Apple hardware things will slowly improve. Microsoft is finally feeling the pressure of a real competitor, and at the same time they are experiencing more setbacks to Vista. Good. I would love to see the computer industry become a real two horse race. Both companies would be forced to put out better products. Competition is good. In the mean time, I will continue to relearn long-forgotten Windows tweaks and hope for an Apple presence in the real estate industry.

By the way, in addition to this site, these are some other sites I have built on a Mac for business and pleasure:
Realty Response
Realty Response Connections
Realty Response en Español
Paper Mulberry
Hampton Family