The Grand Opening...Part II

A lot has happened since my decision to transition from a corporate drone to a truly independent consultant.  Here is my story of the past 25 days, the 25 days that I said was to be devoted to updating my web site and concentrating on my new consulting business.  Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men...

On September 21st, 2010, at an ACE Consulting Expeditors, Inc. sponsored table at the AITP "Battle of the Operating Systems" meeting on September 21, 2010, I officially "launched" my consulting company & its corporate website TheConsultingAce.com .  I boasted that I bought, created and updated the site in 25 hours and imagine what I could do in 25 days.  The meeting and launch went great, I collected business cards for a contest to give away a free 6 month subscription to web page on my site for either my ACE Coupon Express page for businesses to advertise their specials and coupons on the Internet, starting at under $20 a month or my ACE Career Expeditors page for people in transition and looking for a new opportunity.  I have not yet priced the ACE Career Expeditors page yet, but I'm thinking it's worth at least a $9.95 a month.

Alas, here we are 25 days later and I'm getting ready to take my daughter to the Sayville Fall Fest, and my website is nowhere near what I expected it to be and here's why...

The first few days after the launch, I spent going to networking meetings, planning for an October 16th Share-a-Day in Merrick, meeting with possible partners for my consulting company, working Real Estate leads, meeting business owners to sell websites, celebrating Punctuation Day on September 24th, (My sister Carole's birthday as well), moving out of my Syosset apartment that I was only using 1 or 2 days a week anyway, joined 2 racquetball leagues at Sportime in Syosset (Monday's at 8:30 & Thursdays at 7:00 in case anyone wants to come down and watch), arguing with my WebSite Sales Business Partner and Possible Future Girlfriend (WSSBPAPFG) about not being focused enough on selling Websites  (as if our EBS relationship issues were not enough),  having similar focus "discussions" with my family, going to court to battle my future ex-wife's (FEW) support payments and visitation rights and taking my daughter to see "Legend of the Guardians", which was a great movie and one that I highly recommend for all ages.

I got tired just re-reading what I was doing, so I decided to focus on 3 things, rather than being a jack of all consulting trades.  I had a meeting with my parents and Sally, my WSSBPAPFG, all of which thought I was crazy to start my own business and ignore corporate America.  Sally wanted me to just concentrate on Website Sales, stating that it was the fasted way to produce income for myself.  My parents wanted me to keep looking for a "real" job and forget this silly business thing that I was doing.   After a very interesting dinner conversation, I made the following recommendation...

I would concentrate on Website Sales, Real Estate and IT Recruiting, spend my week as follows...
MWF: Work on Web Site Sales, visit businesses, do cold calling, update my website, create flyer's and create processes and procedures for Website Sales, including cold calling scripts, prospecting logs and cards and organizing my A/R's & A/P's.
TuTh: Work on my Real Estate leads, update my Real Estate Website, Social Media Campaigns, Open Houses and training.
Saturday: R&R, networking meeting in any, visiting with my daughter.
Sunday: Have a Century 21 Open House or go to a Website corporate training session.
* The recruiting work would be sprinkled throughout the week as opportunities arose.

It's now October 1st and I haven't even looked at my website, but I now had a plan and could start focusing, or so I thought.  I started to work on my new plan when I get an email from Time Warner Cable at 1:04 pm, stating that they already scheduled me for interview on Monday morning at 11:00 am, and wanted to confirm that I could make it.  My first instinct was to say no, but I figured, what the heck, it may turn out to be a great opportunity and if not, I may be able to use my recruiting business to fill the spot and get a referral fee.  So I relpied that I would be there Monday at 11:00 am.  I spent the weekend going to an all day seminar on Saturday and Sunday doing something, but my CRS is kicking in and I didn't write it down. (CRS = Can't Remember Stuff, but don't worry, it''s not contagious) 

Running out of time now, but I'll continue this blog this weekend, in the meantime, remember that Life is too important to take seriously....

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie, Realtor, MBA
Licensed Sales Associate
Century21 Prevete Real Estate

70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(W) 516-433-5777
(F) 516-433-5490
(C) (H) 631-374-1698
Email: RealtyACE@Optimum.net

Search listings like a Realtor; visit my listingbook site at...AlexCElie.Listingbook.com

ACE Consulting Expeditors, Inc.
Alex C. Elie, MBA
Principal / Senior Project Manager
169 Commack Road - Suite 374
Commack, New York 11725-3442
(C) (W) (H) 631-374-1698
EMail: ACE@TheConsultingACE.com

Visit TheConsultingAce.com for all of your consulting needs…
Expediting your consulting needs since 2009...

Check out my Blog at...TheBloggingAce.BlogSpot.com
Get 2-35% cash back on your everyday purchases at…CashBackAce.com
For the best Health and Wellness products on the Internet, click here…AlexCElie.MyArbonne.com

ACE Social Media Links...
Twitter: Twitter.com/AlexCElie
Facebook: Facebook.com/AlexCElie
Blog: TheBloggingACE.BlogSpot.com
LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/AlexCElie

How to sell your house without a Realtor

How to sell your house without a Realtor

July 15, 2010 by acerealty

In this section of my blog, I answer some frequently asked questions about the Real Estate Business.  If you need more information than I have provided, feel free to contact me at RealtyACE@Optimum.net or call me at 631-374-1698.
How to sell your house without a realtor?
This is a loaded question that I get asked a lot, both directly and indirectly.  Most people feel that they can sell their home without a realtor, and that’s true if they are willing to do the work, correctly price their home, pay for the advertising, find the right buyer, do a few open houses, work with the lawyers, negotiate a fair selling price, ect,ect.ect…  And after all that, they usually get a lower selling price than if they listed their home with a Realtor.  Realtor’s have a tremendous amount of resources available to them to sell your home, and most home buyers, especially new home buyers,  go to Realtors to find a home for guidance through the process.
But getting back to the question, here is how you can sell your home without a Realtor…
The first thing you need to do is to come up with a proper selling price for your home.  You will need to research your area and see what similar homes are currently on the market and find out how much similar homes in the area sold for.  This will give an idea of  how best to price your home.  You will be commonly be called FSBO’s, which is short for For Sale By Owner, and most Realtors will be willing to give you a free market analysis of your home, based on the competition and inventory in your area.  Realtors love FSBO’s, and are willing to help them, because after a few months, FSBO’s usually end up listing with a Realtor and usually go with the ones that have helped them in the past. 
After you have a selling price for your home, and are ready to sell, you need retain a Real Estate Lawyer and to put a sign on your front lawn, with your name and phone number so potential buyers can contact you.  Unfortunately, you can not avoid Lawyers in a New York State Real Estate transaction, so you should have one picked out so you can go to contract if you find a buyer for your home.
You will also need to make sure that your C/O, Certificate Of Occupancy, is current and that all permits for any improvements have been filled and approved so you can sell your home.  Many home owners build pools, decks, sheds, additions, bathrooms, finish their basements without filing any permits and then can’t sell their home until all their permits are up to date, or the improvements removed.  My parents had to remove their pool and 2/3′s of their deck in order to sell their home and it almost cost them the sale of the home.
A sign on your front lawn let’s your neighbors know that you are selling your home.  This is important, not because they will want to buy your home, but they may know people who want to move into the neighborhood.  Actually, my uncle move across the street because he liked the area and wanted a bigger home, so you never know.
Next, you need to build a website to showcase your home and make sure that your home is found when people are searching the internet for a home like yours.  If you don’t want to build a website, you can use Craig’s list, FSBO.com or other website’s to get your home on the web.  Some are free and some others will charge a fee.
Once you get potential buyers for your home, you will need to be available to show your home, ensure that they are qualified to purchase your home and close the deal.  Usually, as a FSBO, buyers know that you are not paying a commission and expect a better deal, so you will need to be a good negotiator.
Once you are in contract, you will need to work with your lawyer to get the appropriate paperwork and inspections completed to complete the sale.  Once you have sold your home, you also need to know where you are going to live.  Hopefully you have coordinated that and have either purchased another home or made arrangements to move somewhere else withing 1 to 3 days of the closing.

The Blogging ACE

Alex C. Elie, Realtor, MBA
Licensed Sales Associate
Century21 Prevete Real Estate

70 Manetto Hill Mall
Plainview, NY 11803-1302
(W) 516-433-5777
(F) 516-433-5490
(C) (H) 631-374-1698
Email: RealtyACE@Optimum.net

Search listings like a Realtor; visit my listingbook site at...AlexCElie.Listingbook.com

ACE Consulting Expeditors, Inc.
Alex C. Elie, MBA
Principal / Senior Project Manager
169 Commack Road - Suite 374
Commack, New York 11725-3442
(C) (W) (H) 631-374-1698
EMail: ACE@TheConsultingACE.com

Visit TheConsultingAce.com for all of your consulting needs…
Expediting your consulting needs since 2009...

Check out my Blog at...TheBloggingAce.BlogSpot.com
Get 2-35% cash back on your everyday purchases at…CashBackAce.com
For the best Health and Wellness products on the internet, click here…AlexCElie.MyArbonne.com

ACE Social Media Links...
Twitter: Twitter.com/AlexCElie
Facebook: Facebook.com/AlexCElie
Blog: TheBloggingACE.BlogSpot.com
LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/AlexCElie