Interview Questions for Real Estate Agent Keith Berry

1. How old were you when you first found your interest in real estate?

Follow-up question: What sparked your interest in it, and why?

2. What specific field do you work in with Coldwell Banker?

Follow-up question: And why did you choose that field?

I know there are many artifact with the real estate business the pertain to reading and writing:

3. What are some hidden details that are in a house contract when buy and selling a home aside from the obvious price, address, interest rate, ect…?

4. Is there a lot of writing involved when someone who leases a home from you?

5. What about after some one whom owns a property passes away but has no one in their will to give the property to?

Follow-up Question: What kind of paperwork on your end is there to complete?

6. Whom designs and makes the ads for the properties that you have on your website for sale? There sure is a lot of writing and organization there as well.

7. When you created your personal/ mission statement what sort of guidelines did you follow to make it so appealing?

8. What are some key tips you have learned over the years to keep your email professional with clients or others in your workforce?

9. What are some other important artifacts that help you do the job of a real estate agent that I am missing?

10. What are some good readings you would recommend to me that have helped you better understand specific laws or procedures in the real estate business?

11. Out of all the different artifacts we have talked about what are some of the most annoying/ bothersome readings and writings you have to complete in real estate?

12. How would you recommend I get started/ get my foot in the door as I finish school and continue on the path towards a successful profession in the real estate world?

Follow-up Question: What is different now about becoming a real estate agent from what it was when you got started over forty years ago?

Artifacts (Real-Estate)

            I have an interview on Tuesday morning with real estate agent Keith Berry. In order to have a little insight on what it is I am getting into when I go into the interview I have done some research on what the job of a real-estate agent entails. I know there are tons of unseen artifacts that agents contribute to for their job. Nevertheless some of the more common ones in the real estate business include house contracts (when selling or buying a home), real estate leases, transfer of property at the death of the party performing the contract, and real estate ads.

            A house contract is something that the agent and the seller or buyer will create in order to do a transaction with the opposing side. Some of the information in the packet go without any say but other things like the price, property lines, interest rate, and so on are what the agent writes up. A mortgage is something that needs to be discussed in great detail as well as it needs to be agreed upon by both parties. If the one buying a home can only afford to pay 6% interest then don’t let the offer say 7% because that is how you can get yourself in a real pickle. All of this has to be presented using a certain tone that appeals to the readers. Also know as the clients to the real-estate agents.

            Real-estate leases spell out the terms of a residential tenancy between a landlord and a tenant. They are perfect for landlords, property managers, and real-estate invertors. These are for all residential property types, including homes, apartments, condos, basement suites and many more. Leases are created uniquely for the customer, by an agent and lawyer, depending on the situation. All fifty states in America use this in order to buy or sell a home.

            Transferring a property after the death of the owner. This can be an extensive amount of paperwork depending on the situation. If a house is left to somebody then it becomes very easy to transfer the home. In this case there is a name that the property can be transferred to. There are legal contracts that need to be written up by the agent and then the home goes into he name of the new owner. They can do with it what they wish after this happens. If there are two owners to a property and one of the owners passes away the property automatically goes into the name of the other owner. The laws are set for each individual state so the agent must know the laws for the state in which they are selling the property. This is extremely important so that the agent and the buyer or seller don’t get themselves in any legal trouble by doing things they are use to doing in different states.

            How do we think that we are aware of the homes that are out there for sale? Well there has to be somebody that makes the ad and properly advocates for the property in a way that will appeal to the viewers. This takes time, organization, planning, and knowledge of the property. Putting up ads takes a photographer to take the pictures of homes, people to clean the home, knowledge of the neighborhood and the it surroundings, a selling point for the home, and so on. This is not easy work and the agent might work with multiple people on this in order to make it happen.

            What I am getting at is with any change in the real estate market there is paperwork. One may think that real estate agents just sell and buy homes but there is a lot of writing and reading that goes along with it. Doing the proper reading and writing will reassure the agent that they are making the best decision possible for their clients.

(Week 3) Everything's an Argument and Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis

          Everything’s an argument has many good proposals about finding evidence, what’s credible, and how to look for it. Evidence when supporting an argument should match the time and place in which you make your argument. Quantitative data may be the best evidence to use. Students often overestimate their ability to use data, books, films, documents from sources located in libraries, databases, and online. Ask the librarian to guide you through these resources. The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are standardized words and phrases that are used to classify the subject matter of books and articles. Advanced search is another great way to maximize using the internet, and don’t just search for data in the first box. Understanding the difference between academic and popular sources is key.

            Taking steps towards Rhetorical Analysis is not all about always making assumptions and running with it. The more we know about how to analyze situations and draw informed conclusions, the better we can become when making judgments, the people, situations, and media we encounter. Understanding Rhetorical messages is essential to helping us become informed consumers. When one posts a blog or tweet we are using rhetoric. What we decide to wear gives off an image that we are trying to portray to others. Asking questions about the writer can help the reader determine whether she or he is credible and knowledgeable. The purpose of a piece of rhetoric helps you understand what the rhetoric is trying to achieve through discourse. Logos is commonly defined as arguments for a reason and it usually appeals to an audience’s intellectual side, with organization being the real contributor to ethos. The tone of the writing and weather the tone is appropriate for the context helps build a writer's ethos, as does the accuracy of the information or visual presentation of the rhetoric. Take into consideration the visual appeal of the rhetoric, like the font, page layout, types of paper, or images. Rhetorical analysis asks how discourse functions, in the setting in which it is found. Persuasive discourse is political cartoons, scholarly articles, speech, photograph, and PowerPoint presentation.  

Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking), Writing Identities, and Effective E-Mail Communication

            This weeks readings were connected to last week's reading but took a different approach. When reading, Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking) by Boyd, there were a few things that stood out that I plan on using in my future writings. If you leave a short caption one might not be able to fully understand what the message is that is trying to be relayed. Make sure to be clear and just because it makes sense to me doesn’t meant that everyone else can understand it. Nevertheless every piece of writing needs a starting point, a perspective, and a genre that will be unique accordingly. It is easy to be objective when writing in first person but once you have a few facts about your topic it is time to start writing, and the only person you can turn to is yourself. A really important part is to acknowledge or know what it is that you don’t know about academic writing. Know our audience in whom we are writing to and use different rhetorical tools that carry different weight given the rhetorical situation.

            Some good writing identities are presenting a character that the audience will trust that is inspiring and passionate about what the message is they are conveying. It will change in order to meet the needs of the audience and the writer must be clear on their perspective. Using the right tone of voice when writing will either get your audience to listen and pay attention or not. Always address the audience appropriately and demonstrate the right ethos depending on the audience. The performance in your writing expresses the fundamental features of your authorial identity. Last but not least when you are trying to impress your instructor use rhetoric a lot with meaning.

            When using effective email communication I should be aware of the formality I am writing the email in, the intended audience, and the desired outcome. The formatting expectation will vary depending on the audience and make sure that the emails contain the main points or ideas. Make sure that the subject lines are informative and that they reflect the tone of the message that is being conveyed. These tools will help the email flow, have meaning, get your point heard, and insinuate that you want a response.

Navigating Genres, Understanding Rhetoric and Academic Arguments

     During this weeks readings I was able to learn a lot while enjoying the content of what I was reading. The article Navigating Genres showed me that genres go far beyond a simple discussion type. They can apply to my own writing endeavors and one can use a different genre to describe a different situation. Genres develop, then because they respond appropriately to the situations writers encounter reality. Knowing what a genre is used for can help people accomplish their goals. Understanding Rhetoric, Spaces for writing, talked about people writing and gathering ideas in different ways. Some are by themselves thinking until they come upon an idea and others surround themselves with an abundance of ideas and activities going on around them. Writing comes in all forms, outside on the wall, in a diary, in a classroom either professional or not. People communicate differently and it is the way in which they express themselves and get what they want to say to the groups of people they want to be talking to. This comic discussed the importance of getting someone else to look at your writing assignments to read and give some feedback before the final draft. Visual literacy is how a message is conveyed by photography and illustration and for me it makes me want to read and learn more.

       Understanding Rhetoric, Why Rhetoric first discussed a question being rhetorical. This is when no answer is actually expected and is meant to shut down a conversation and debate. Plato’s philosophy on writing is ridiculous. He believed that Rhetoric was a word used to hide flaws instead of encouraging self-improvement. Aristotle found rhetoric to be one of the foundations of education. In order to have democracy many different viewpoints need to be acknowledged. The last article I read was everything’s an argument. Their definition of an argument or academic discourse is the use of evidence that can be documented, clear compelling point, follows agreed upon conversations of format, and uses professional citations. Academic writing draws upon sources and builds arguments from research done by experts and is reported in journal articles and books. One of the hardest parts of producing an academic argument is finding a topic narrow enough to be manageable in the time you have to work on it but also rich enough to sustain your interests over the same period. Good claims are controversial and any academic argument is only as good as the evidence that supports it. It is also important to remember to not only gather information that is going to support the position that I believe in but also gather information to support the opposing side.

About me

Hello,

My name is Travis Frohlich and I have grown up living in Santa Barbara for most all of my life. I am a very outdoors person whom loves being involved in action sports such as surfing, mountain biking, riding and racing motorcycles, snowboarding, skateboarding, ect. I am very happy to be here at Antioch and I am excited to see what this school is all about. I am an extremely hard worker in whatever I put my mind to and I know that school is my job right now so that I where I am applying all my attention. Over the next year and a half I hope to build my reading and writing skills to a more comfortable level in order to achieve my lifelong goals. I went to Santa Barbara City College for about four years and completed my AA-T in communication studies before transferring to Antioch. I loved SBCC but that school can only take you so far which is why I am at Antioch now. Life is good and I hope to make new friends, explore my strengths and work on my weaknesses as I continue the life of an Antioch student.