Watching The Bottom Line

Baris urges his sales associates to work smarter and take advantage of the exploding number of free outlets to make contact with potential buyers and sellers.

''There are free Web networking sites like Facebook where you can reach lots of people. Twitter is another excellent choice for brokers. There are social networking Web sites that are fantastic for Getting your information up where people can see it, and the price is right.

"You can use-mail blasts. Offer your services to speak at local organizations. Create opportunity for yourself. Host Home-buyer seminars al the local library.
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Speaking engagements and free seminars, he says, are no different from holding an open house.

"Sellers think open houses are for only Them, but they really serve many purposes.

Agents make contact with potential buyers and sellers. Home-buying seminars do the same thing. You may have 50 'home buyers' come to your seminar, but you end up with a couple of listings from people who need to sell their current homes first."

Baris believes the public has lost its perspective on real estate and that it's up to real estate professionals to bring it back.

"Everybody has heard the story about John D. Rockefeller who stopped to get his shoes shined on the way to work and heard the kid shining his shoes giving stock tips. That' s when he sold his stock because he knew the market was about to crash. He knew that when everybody thinks they're an expert they have no basis for investing.

"The same thing happened in real estate. Everybody thought they were an expert and started jumping in. And the same thing happened. The market crashed.

Rockefeller went back in and bought up good companies for pennies on the dollar while everyone else was afraid. That's where we are now. People are afraid."