How to Protect Your Real Estate Business

In today's episode, we are talking about how you can Protect Your Real Estate Business You are the extension of your business, and it is your responsibility to protect you, your business, your family.

Hello and welcome to today's episode how you can Protect Your Real Estate Business.

We are already at episode nine and I'm very happy about it. This is the time of the year, actually, it is always the time of the year, to Protect Your Real Estate Business. Operating out of your business or operating within your business at the end of the day you are your business. You are the extension of your business, and it is your responsibility to protect you and your business.

It is actually a good time at the end of the year to take a look at several of things. It s a good time while business sometimes is slowing down at the end of the year. During the holidays, there is more time to take a look what works. How you can move forward to better protect your real estate business.

You always want to move your business in an offense mode. Instead of being defensive. Many of you running their real estate business and defending what is coming. You should act pro-active and taking steps that you and your business is protected during your business operation.

At the end of the year, we are able to take a look of many things,. We want to check to better Protect Your Real Estate Business looks like. Look what your business looks like. How are you protected as a business owner. Is your family, your kids and your health protected?

Protect Your Real Estate Business

Health Insurance

It is time to check your health insurance. If you don't have get one. Life can hit you everyday. You want to make sure that you have health insurance for you, for your kids and your family and place.

And think about the protection you can gain. With COVID still around you want to make sure that you are protected and not losing your business. Especially when you take a look at your coverage with your health insurance. Many of you are having 20% deduction, a deduction where you have to contribute to the insurance or to the cost before your insurance kicks in.

Unfortunately with hospitals you can end up with $1 million in expense. Take that expensive, your deductible of 20%, meaning that you need to contribute $200,000 before you health insurance kicks in.

Make certain that you understand the coverage that you have adequate means to cover the coverage.

E&O Insurance

You also want to take a look into other insurance policies,. If your broker has an E&O insurance for you and also for general liability. Do you gave E&O insurance and also a general liability insurance,? so that you are protected when you are showing homes and something happened to your clients.

Business Systems

Take a look at your business where you not depending your business on other systems. You want to make sure that you own your systems, that you own your base data. If you are deciding to change brokerages or run your business a different way who is owning your database? Are you owning your systems, you are operating out? Do you have access to the information that you need to operate your business.

Email

Many, I see are still using the email of their brokerage, which maybe is a requirement of the brokerage. At least make sure that you forward all the emails you are receiving. Make copies of your own emails so that you are having access to the emails, text messages. Whatever you are communicating you want a copy, not only of the communication, but also a copy of your costumer.

Contact Information

And client's contact information that brings me to who is owning your CRM. Many brokerages are giving you a CRM. And if you don't know what the CRM is, it is a contact relationship management. Most likely many have all the information of your costumer and clients and interact with them out of the CRM.

Lets assume your brokerage make the decision that they no longer want to work with you. Who is owning that system and who is owning all the content. So make sure, and even if it is just an Excel sheet, that you have all the information you need within your contact information with you or the contact information of your costumer inclines. So then some systems shut down and that you at least have access to the information so that you can provide still a business, stay in communication and go on with your business without interruption.

Tools

That is something real tools need to sync about it. So make sure that you are owning your systems. At least if you are using your brokerage CR and make sure that you have copied all the data, maybe you are able to download an Excel sheet, which I would do once a week, download it in safe place, where you have access. Also, you want to make sure if you will have downloaded information, you want to store them and different platforms. You could use Google drive.

You could use a hot drive and also a joke party where you are now using Dropbox. They are, you can stop those or two of those information on different platforms.

Sometimes we are not able to access one platform. So you want to make sure that you have a way to gain access to the information on a different platform so that you are not depending once again on one platform, but spread your information on different platforms so that you can access it. Then you need it and where you need it. For example, if you are storing everything on a hard drive and you have no access to a hub drive,

you want to make sure that you have access from your phone online or with some sharing information, make sure that you store your information on different platforms, through different devices so that you never depend on one thing only. It is also time of the year where we need to go in and take a look. If our contracts are up to date, if you are a broker or your independent contract,

contracts are up to date, if you are an agent and then broke off as well, or your contracts, you are having buyer seller contracts, addendums, are they up to date? Are you using the newest forms that your MLS or your realtor us as the agent is providing to you? So we here in Florida, we just had a November 1st, a huge update to our us east contracts.

So we want to make sure that those, our clients only using those as is contract so that we are up to date, to the newest contract information and then domes so that we can best serve our costumers and also have less liability that could cause an interruption in our business. Again, we always want to focus on being proactive instead of being reactive. If something happened to our business or in our business,

the next thing we want to take a look is our listing presentations. Are they up to date or are you still using paper presentations when you are doing your listing presentation or maybe it is time to update those presentations onto an online platform where you now can use a computer or where you can use your iPad, then you are presenting to your sellers, your service,

you to do some stuff. I believe it looks much, much more professional, but just imagine somebody is calling. You want to list their property and you don't have access to the print out information. So now you can again be proactive and have your listing presentation and an online platform you can use. When you are presenting your listings to also take a look all at your emails,

do they have to curate information or the current to the laws or the current to the rules and regulations of fair housing, everything. What could affect your business, where you need to take a look, what you can do and what you may be have to change. Then we are talking about branding. One thing is in real estate, we need to present a perfect picture.

And when I'm telling you the same pictures, now, I want to make sure that it is an eye ability. If you are using your profile picture on your social media, in your presentation, that not clearly represents you in the state right now, that could get, get you in a little bit, hot water again. So you want to make sure that you are proactive and have the newest picture of you all over your presentations within your business.

If it is online, if it is on your listing presentation. So make sure that you are representing your headshot at the newest headshot. So take once a new year, a new headshot and update, or your information like information, email, and phone numbers, texts. Maybe now you have a messenger, but you can introduce. So make sure these are all up to date and make sure that people know that you have them so that you can interact with them as well.

Then we are sending out expired letters, make sure that they are up to date, conform to the requirements we have within our real estate businesses. Also, your branding should be streamlined. Your branding should be all over the same. So that consumer and clients clearly can pick you out out of the crowd so that they know it is you. Even if they don't see your headshot,

but from the colors, from the presentation, they can recognize the style you are at presenting throughout so that they are concurrent to your offline and online presentation. We, in our business, we are using lines and maybe that is something that people recognize us when they are seeing certain colors and seeing zone structure. Now they probably can put us together in that presentation,

even if they don't see any information of us, you want to make sure that, you know, your colors, your funds and Canva is a great place to stop getting your funds and your Carlos uploaded the via Hexcel sheets so that you know exactly what to use through out your branding in your business. You also want to see into your storage. They are ever used store your client information.

Here in Florida, our brokers are required to keep all transactional related information from offers to written contract. So they need to store them for five years. And at the end or the beginning of the year, we are going back five years and deleting all the information we had from those past ones. Action. So that we are protecting us for us. Well,

our consumer, we are, we no longer have information stored somewhere that could cost a liability because when we are still having them in something happening, then we are liable. If somehow client information gets released. So you want to make sure as well, then we also going in and checking our systems. There, we take a look, what we are using and what we are not using are those systems all up to date so that we have stored everything secure.

If it is to deregulation back our require, or our emails sent out under the, under the rules with a unsubscribe. Make certain and check everything, your websites, your lead generation pages, your Facebook pages and your CRM. So make sure that that it's nothing, anything that could be a red flag to you. So again, you want to protect your business.

You don't want to relieve information. You don't want to use systems that are outdated and no longer work in the new technology where we are always wanting fast for walk. There are updates are coming daily. So we want to make sure that we all stay up to date, check your tools. You are using your twins up to the lake. Them, you don't need more,

any, and make sure that you own everything you are using so that you can want your business this hour. Any third party dependency are, if something let's say you cannot access the internet, at least make sure that you have access to all the information on some place offline, so on your computer, on a hard drive. So when you need access that you have access,

that is for us today, we are, we are looking always in to, by the end of the year, beginning of the new year, we are, we can make changes where we have to make updates so that we stay in one-on-one to the rules and regulations and to the laws. And we recommend you do this too. We gave you great examples,

Business Entities

how you can protect your business, because you want to make sure that your business doesn't become a liability, but you all the extension of your business. Do you understand how you are running your business? or are you dividing your private myth, your business, or are you running as an agent without some kind of formation of LLC and PA and P LLC, so that you are not private liable for the action of you doing business in real estate. We see a lot of real estate professionals are running their business without protection for their private assets. Talk to a professional, take a look, how you can Protect Your Real Estate Business and how you can protect your private life and your private assets from the action of your real estate business.

I hope I opened your eyes to take this serious because of the end of the day, you are your business. You are the extension of your business, and you want to Protect Your Real Estate Business, your family, your health and your business. Thanks for listening to our episode Protect Your Real Estate Business today. Take some action, look into what you can change. Be proactive until next time.

Thanks for listening, Dankeschoen and Auf Wiedersehen.