Rough Draft: Realtors Have To Write Too

Realtors Have To Write Too

Travis Frohlich

tfrohlich@antioch.edu

Writing 310

Professor: Zack De Piero

11/22/15

           Have you ever wondered how to become rich by selling something without having to necessarily buy the inventory? Many people think that real estate is a business that is difficult or hard to get into. I am here to tell you that although the business may not be hard to get into, it is hard to make a name for yourself and be successful in the industry. Here is the story of a real estate agent whom became successful in the Santa Barbara County virtually on his own. Keith Berry is a native Santa Barbara local with some of the most experienced knowledge in the field of real estate. He knows the area from Carpentaria to Goleta where he would start selling homes in the 1970’s. Keith has written many articles and been a guest speaker for the real estate industry with regards to many different areas of the real estate business. Currently, Keith is a real estate agent with Coldwell banker. Although the real estate industry seems like an easy buying and selling process, it in fact tests the realtor’s ability to read the fine print and write creatively.

            Keith Berry found his interest in the Real Estate business at age twenty-three. As Keith graduated high school he was drafted into the Navy, so he did that for four years. He was not educated and didn’t know what direction he was going to go in. As he explored his options on how to become financially stable independently he determined that he would have to be in sales.  Real estate was a business that, “one can get into and have the inventory without having to buy the inventory”(Berry, K). Keith describes the business just as easy to get into now as it was back when he got started. When Keith started he got into the title business. He would make sure that the title to a piece of real estate was legitimate and then issues the title insurance to the property. Title insurance protects both the lender and the owner from lawsuits or claims against the property. Keith says that he became a partner to the firm that he was working with and expanded that firm all over California very rapidly. Keith ended up with forty offices, 2,500 agents, in 5 counties in California. He then sold it all to Merrill Lynch. This would support himself, as he would raise his kids for the next twelve years. Retirement was too boring for Keith Berry so he decided to go back to what he did originally which was list and sell real estate.

            Rhetoric is used in many different ways in real estate and this should be understood before getting started (Understanding Rhetoric, Into: “Spaces for Writing”). One way that they use Rhetoric would be when a realtor tells a client how much they charge for doing a transaction. Usually it is a percentage of the total sale price that is non-negotiable. 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 agents write 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 into a lot of trouble. 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.

            Getting your name out there and building trust from the buyers is key. Who better to inform someone buying property in the Santa Barbara area than people whom have grown up here their entire lives? Something that Keith and I have in common is that we both are from Santa Barbara and know the ins and outs of our town pretty well. Now there is still no possible way for anyone to know that Keith is in the real estate business without advertisement. For a long period Keith would create his own ads for his website, but now that he is a bit older Keith has his assistant help him with all of that. There is a lot more involved in putting up an ad than would expect (Driscoll, D). A photographer needs to go to the home and take pictures that are going to be grab the buyer, or with the new technology of flying drones through homes and above the homes to capture the house entirely. Voluntary Participation from the current owners is something that the agents will have to mention when trying to take pictures, see the property, getting people to clean the home, gaining knowledge of the neighborhood and the surroundings, and having a selling point for the home. This isn’t an issue usually because the seller wants they’re home advertised. 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 is important because there is a lot that goes into this description like address, number of rooms, yard size, whether there’s a garage or not, and so on. This will eliminate buyers calling and asking the same questions over and over again as a result of an incomplete ad.

            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. A rule of thumb I have always lived buy is in order to buy something I either have to have the money and I will buy it and if I don’t have the money then I will not buy it. I see myself making an exception when buying a home in the future and leasing it is what I will do. Now understanding what I am going to be getting myself into is going to be very crucial for me. I will be critical with the fine print in the writing of my lease. I will rely on my reading and comprehension skills as I sign my way into the biggest purchase of my life. Once I purchase a home I plan on keeping it until I pass away. Whether I get another home will depend on what happens in life but I will make sure to sign an agreement that the home will go into someone’s name whom I love and trust if I were to pass away.

            Transferring a property after the death of the owner is a specialty that not many real estate agents get into. It’s a field that someone will specialize in and have many clients from all over. 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. This is a practice that Keith does not participate in but does know whom to refer someone to if they were to have questions.

            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.

Works Cited

            Driscoll, Dana Lynn. (2011) Introduction To Primary research: Observations, Survey’s, and Interviews. Retrieved from http://www.parlorpress.com/pdf/driscoll--introduction-to-primary-research.pdf

            Spaces for writing Retrieved from file:///Users/travisfrohlich/Downloads/Understanding+Rhetoric+p.+1-22%20(1).pdf

            Berry, Keith. (1997-2015) Keith C. Berry, Santa Barbara Real Estate Professional. Retrieved from http://www.keithberryrealestate.com/

Annoying Ways People Use Sources

There are many annoying ways in which people use sources. Some have their way that they are use to but isn’t grammatically correct. This in return shows your readers that you didn’t put the effort into making your paper or whatever you are writing. Having proper sources and addressing them the right way makes you a more credible writer. All outside sources must be introduced, punctuated, and cited accordingly. The more effectively you anticipate that pickiness the more likely it is that readers will interpret your quotations and paraphrases in the way you want them to. This is either critically or acceptingly, depending on writing context. Conventions of writing have a fundamentally rhetoric nature. It builds up to the quotation and then explains it. The fix is where the writer decides why each quotation is there and massages it in correctly to fit the surrounding text. Flow makes what you are trying to write sound good to the readers and keeps your readers interested.

Final Paper Brief Outline

Realtors Have To Write Outline

Thesis: Although the real estate industry seems like an easy buying and selling process, it in fact tests the realtor’s ability to read the fine print and write creatively on a daily basis.

Topic 1: Using Rhetoric- meant to shut down a conversation or debate. Not always meant to have an answer.

-Rhetoric is used when a realtor tells a client the percent they charge to do the transaction. Its non debatable and the clients usually always understand that.

Topic 2: How reading and writing specifically obtains to the real estate business.

- Writing Ad’s

- Writing buying/ selling forms.

Topic 3: Reading all the fine print when selling a home to your client so that everyone is on the same page and nothing is misunderstood.

Conclusion: Recap and have a good ender

Creative Thesis statement

My thesis statement was created over the course of this entire interview process. In the real estate industry there are many pieces of paper to read over and comment/ changes are necessary most of the time. Some of the most important information can be in the midst of some of the least important information or obvious information. As a pondered on what to write I came up with this.

Although the real estate industry seems like an easy buying and selling process, it in fact tests the realtor's ability to read the fine print and write creatively on a daily basis.

So what? Who cares? and Using Rhetoric (Arguable Assertions)

          Using Rhetoric, Issue four talked about arguable assertions. Stating that speakers are always pointing out how circumstances have changed from one phenomenon to another. A good argument is a lot like a good conversation. This is when dialogs have been used to present arguments about many philosophical, social, and political issues. An argument also needs grounds or evidence to support your position. The four questions that need to be identified are what or (facts), how (circumstances), who (Relationships), and why (reasons). Think about the kind of evidence that will work in the correct context of your argument. When a claim is made make sure that you have supporting evidence to support that, and you will want to cite this to look more credible. Make sure that the claim has a firm connection to your evidence and present your reasons for making that connection. For each academic argument they are made up of paragraphs and in the paragraph there is evidence, analysis, implications, and/or context.

            So what, who cares is a funny article in the sense that it is very true what they are telling us, it's just relayed in a humorous way. Speakers don’t always address the crucial question of why their arguments matter. Rather than assume that that audience will know why their claims matter, all writers need to answer the “so what?” and “who cares?” questions up front. If we all do this while we are writing we might find some sentences that don’t fit as well as we would like with our proposition. We might realize that the message we are trying to relay doesn’t have the effect on others as we thought, and then we might consider rewording our statements. Who cares literally asks you to identify a person or group whom cares about your claims. So what asks about the real world applications and consequences of those claims!

Introduction To Research, and Learning To Read Like A Writer

            Introduction to primary research through interviews, observations, and surveys was about how research is defined and how it varies widely from field to field. People conducting research are producing the articles and reports found in a library database or in a book. Primary research is often based on principles of the scientific method, a theory of investigation. Voluntary participation gets permission from people before you involve them in any primary research. Next, Confidentiality and Anonymity are if the interviewees say something inappropriate but you wish to share it in your essay, then you want to keep the interviewee anonymous. Research bias means that things you think you know should be researched also to avoid bias. Create a timeline when conducting primary research. Start primary research with secondary library research to learn more about what it is you already know. Primary research is used and is appropriate for questions that can be answered through asking others and using direct observations. I understand that deductive reasoning is when researchers start with a hypothesis or general conclusion and then collect specific data to support or refute their hypothesis. Inductive reasoning is where researchers start with a question and collects information that eventually leads to a conclusion. Its important to choose data based on your research question that best addresses your research topic. Also make sure to write good questions for your interview while always trying to eliminate the bias. Most of the time we want to use open-ended questions but there is also a time to use close-ended questions. All of this information that I am sharing leads up to the interview and it is important to find a suitable location and record the interview so you can refer back to it later on.

            How to read like a writer was an awesome article because it helped me refer to writings that I have done, am doing, and will be doing in the near future. Writing is a word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence process and I find this quote to be very true when you really think about it. When reading we work to identify some of the choices the author has made so that we can better understand how such choices might arise in our own writing. We read to learn about writing. There are many different techniques a writer has in order to draw in their readers. Learn to read like a writer and then you will be more inclined to understand and participate in writing. I came across a few questions that are good to ask yourself before you start reading. What is the author’s purpose for writing this piece? Who’s the intended audience for this piece of writing? What genre is it written in? How does the author move from one idea to another? What is the technique that the author is using and is the technique effective? All of these questions really make me think about the message the writer is trying to convey and how it is being presented. I believe if we all ask ourselves these questions from time to time to remind us, we will in return be more aware writers.