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CONTACT WALTER

559 S. Washington Ave., Kankakee,IL 60901

P.815.929.9258 P.815.929.9200

walter@waltersanford.com

"I think we had a great meeting in Savannah. The comments received in your presentation were all positive. Thank you so much for what you did for us. It was a big help to ensure a great meeting for us. You always go the extra mile." Maurice Johnson,Realty World

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Hi Walter,

I am currently studying to take the Real Estate exam and become licensed in Florida! I have been working in Real Estate for over 10 years, but mostly on the back end of things: listing data, virtual tours, helping agents create ads, etc. After all this time I finally decided to go for it and I wanted to thank you. I came across your coaching articles several  months ago and have already learned so much. You’re truly an inspiration, I share so many of your view points and know that your articles will continue to make me a successful Real Estate professional.

Thanks again, and keep the good stuff coming!

Ted Weihe


Terry Paranych commented on your note “A Desperate Plea.”

Terry wrote:
“Your plan has made me millions.  People do not reinvent.


I wish all of the agents I just took through a 6-week business planning cycle would take this post to heart! You have made my day.

Beth Thoma Robinson


Excellent information. I love your stuff.  You need to get these articles on the public site so that we can share them on Facebook and Twitter. 

Rob Arnold


Thanks, Walter!  This is the perfect refresher to your remarks at our convention last year, and the perfect reminder to my agents, noting what they can truly become.

Best regards, Gary Thompson


Hello Mr. Sanford,
Love your tips on Realty Times! I have been a Realtor for 4 years so still fairly new…but struggling in this economy. I need all the training I can get!!  Do you have a book????

Thank you!
Joyce Sipple
Titusville, FL


Walter,

Thanks for the great article! (Six Percent is Dead for Loser Agents)

As a manager for Coldwell Banker for the past 10 years I believe what you state in the article should be THE manual for any agent that wants have longevity and success in our industry.  It’s sad that there are too many lazy, complaining agents out there and we all have some of them in each of our offices.

I have done as much as possible to convince each agent that smart, organized prospecting is the only way to keep a steady stream of leads coming in but they don’t want to hear it!  They look for every reason not to prospect and then they wonder why their business is in the toilet.  There are agents who are charging up their credit cards to buy another web site when they haven’t sat an open house or door knocked in years!  Always looking for the shortcuts…

Also, I agree with you about the naysayers who will tell you that there is a “new” way of doing business and that old methods just don’t work anymore.  The bottom line is that you MUST add value to the client if you expect to get paid a full fee.  People aren’t fooled by fancy talk or high tech if it doesn’t answer the question, “So what!  What’s it going to do for ME!”

I know you teach all of this but I just had to throw in my 2 cents worth and to say thanks for writing the bold articles.  Keep pushing the subject.  More agents need to hear it.  I’ve seen you speak and I use your materials in my training.  When the market turns around I will jump back into sales again.  I really miss it!

Thanks again,
Jeff Haring


Walter,

This was an excellent article; I printed this out for my boss to read.  I think that you have the best advice and the most creative ideas for getting the job done! In fact I believe we have all your books and we read them on a regular basis to help us create more leads, motivate our sellers, get out of the way of the sellers who are not motivated and satisfy our buyers by getting them exactly what they need.  You have provided honest guidance that has never failed us!! Thanks!

Lindsay Allen
Assistant to Pehr Black
Century 21


I just read your article on Broker Agent Pro, “19 Low Profit/Priority Real Estate Activities.”  It was/is fantastic!  I feel like I should hang it over my bed and review it every night and morning.  Thanks for the blunt yet sincere presentation of these universal truths.  I am getting this out to all the agents in my office—AND the mortgage consultants, too!

Karen Boyd
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.


Hi, Wally!  Every morning in my new attempts at better time management, with my tea or coffee, I read my pile of NAR and REBAC magazines (from the last two years!), and I really find your articles to be very helpful….

Mary
Windermere Real Estate


Walter,

Thank you so very much for taking the initiative to write your article “20 Positive Outcomes from this Tough Market.”  It was very wise wisdom to share with others like myself who needed more than a pep talk but actual suggestions on what needs to change.  Old habits cause more than a few of us to lose out on so many opportunites each day, which could have been ours if we would think outside of the box more often.

Wishing you many blessings and success,

Gayle Noel
Keller Williams Houston West


Walter,

I just finished reading your article regarding “Twenty Positive Outcomes from this tough market.”  I really enjoyed the article.  It contained some down home common sense advice and especially enjoyed #5 regarding faith.  Faith has always been #1 with me and the Good Lord has gotten me through some tough times….

Kindest regards,

Anchor Realty, Inc.
Kathy Kloetzer
Clear Lake, IA


Dear Walter,

I read your article entitled “Twenty Positive Outcomes from This Tough Market” as presented on www.ohiorealtors.org.

May God bless you for including number 5 in your article, especially in today’s social environment.  If everything fails, He never will.

Sincerely,
Berkley Rose


Walter,
I wanted to say thank you for your article in the last issue of the REBAC magazine. Your programs are wonderful. I purchased your books How to Manage Buyers and How to Manage Sellers about 11 or 12 years ago. Sometimes I still open them when I need a phrase for a letter.

You were motivational for my career. I was beginning a second career and I went from a rookie to a 10 million dollar + agent and now I am an instructor with Long & Foster in West Virginia .

You probably are too busy to read your emails but I wanted to tell how important your systems were to me and my success. In today’s market, it is about getting back to basics. Your systems are timeless, they are not a fad.

Thank you,
Carol Harold
Long and Foster Real Estate


Dear Walter,

Thank you so much for your article The Avenging Agent – Ten Ways to Have the Competition Take Notice – your article was the most succinct – and because of that – the most helpful thing I’ve read recently. As a fairly new agent who has worked recently with buyers instead of sellers, that frustration got me searching for ways to get more listings in higher-priced areas and to have an assistant to do the things that bore me to tears. Your article will help move me along that way and I thank you for taking the time to write it!

Blessings,
Gina Kay
Real Living Realty Services


Howdy Walter,

I am a 1 year seasoned real estate agent in Utah . I have however a slightly different background in that I have been self employed in Real Estate as an investor for 16 years.

My sole approach to my team is that I don’t do anything but work ON my team, my systems, etc. We are making plenty of money and our systems are pretty robust. I don’t show houses and have never taken a listing or written an offer.

But things do seem weird as I take our team to the next level:

Consider our brokerage’s marketing committee that elected to spend 10K on a website but didn’t want it to be “pushy” so there is no way to email or to even call the brokerage off of the site. And THAT was intentional!

Or consider a local “guru” who scheduled a large audience to teach about “branding” and missed her own lecture. The only branding I did was to brand her as untrustable!

Anyway- My broker said to me about a month ago “Hey, you sound like Walter Sanford- you should look into his stuff”.

Very sage advice indeed!

I am sure you get plenty of flattery and compliments, but from my heart, I am really thankful I found your site. You seem like such a rational voice of sanity in a bizarre, floundering, schizophrenic field.

I am glad to see that you are not ashamed or bashful about being in sales. I have started using some of your articles in our weekly strategy and accountability meetings.

KUDOS!

Karl Robert Hartley
The Franklin Group Foreclosure Prevention Team


Chris L. Johnson, J. L. Lutz and Company
Walter: I read your material when time permits and enjoy it almost all the time :). Your recent thread on traits of TP’s and especially those that aren’t gave me a chuckle or two. Thanks for quality information with a touch of humor along the way. Truth is, you hit the nail on the head all of the time. It’s just that today’s humor was just that much more fun to read while delivering the necessary message.


Michael Oliver Warren, Tri-Bay Financial Group
My name is Michael Warren and I have very recently passed the California real estate exam. As I have to work part-time while also working on a profitable relationship marketing strategy, your article in reference to finding mentors has just kick started my imagination. Thank you.


Sharon Alters, Watson Realty

Dear Walter,
I have read with great interest and education many of your articles. None has been more salient than this one. (Article entitled “I Don’t Wanna Pay That Much”) THANKS!


Philippe J. Maman, Long and Foster
There are very few articles about the “ideal” week of a top REALTOR®. Your article on inman.com is great. I am just starting so most of my day will be prospecting. Keep up the good work!


Jordan Hart, Tamara Dawn Real Estate
Your latest article in the Broker Agent News was terrific. I have been a fan of all your real estate information for years. Thank you for sharing your experience and information. You have helped countless agents and brokers become better professionals and provide excellent customer service. Thank you.


Jack Keefe, Coldwell Banker
Walter, I just wanted to thank you for your article on out of town prospecting in the January issue of REALTOR® Magazine. I regularly prospect out of town for people who want to sell income properties but don’t know a good agent in my market. I was really impressed with your letter, and intend to use it as a model on future mailings. I like the menu of services you offered, which is an excellent tool for building trust at no expense to the agent but with dividends for the potential seller and eventually the agent, too.

The visits are a side benefit, but I can always use another trip to Chicago or St. Louis, especially when the Cubs are playing. Thanks again.


Jay Newman, Desert State Realty
Walt, I’m compelled to thank you for you thoughts and article! Thanks for your brainpower! It just reiterates things that have happened to me in the past seven months of being in the business and provides additional strength to my confidence. Thanks!


Walter E. Weld, Colorado

Mr. Sanford,
After reading your Inman article on mentoring I feel I now have a tool that I once thought unobtainable. I am a 48-year old geologist, who after several “corporate downsizings” has just passed his real estate exam in Colorado. I am working with a small team, three to be exact to try to break into this industry. Please add my e-mail to any list(s) that you feel will give me the edge I need to progress as quickly as possible in the remaining years of my new career.


Amy Bottke, Keller Williams
I’m a REALTOR® in Massachusetts. I think you are one of the ONLY writers for REALTOR® magazine who knows what he’s talking about: lead generation, niche marketing. All the other people are doing real estate “the old bad way!” I think I’ll look up some of your books at Barnes & Noble. Cheers! (side note for Amy: My books are only available at seminars or here on our website. Thanks for the kind words!)


Teri Seymour, Century 21

Dear Mr. Sanford,
I found your article on your mastermind group great. I’ve got one year under my belt in real estate and find the business so interesting, but sometimes I just don’t get it. I’ll lose a listing or something else will happen. I am going to read your books and gather knowledge and make it in this business because I like it. So, just a quick thank you and keep writing. Thanks!


“Barb”
Walter, don’t know you, but I admire your energy and willingness to share. Ever since I was a new agent, I’ve always paid attention to stuff you wrote. Thanks for being someone we can be proud of and look up to. I have a booming business, but you make me tired just reading all the things you do! (Article entitled, “Integrated Systems Still Rule Top Agent Business Plans”)


J. Stephen Miller, Shorewood REALTORS®

Wally,
Just read your article in Broker Agent magazine. Gotta say, you’ve done it again. I am still applying your techniques to expireds and making money from it. My last four listings (over $65,000 in commissions) came from your original expired watch program and three days ago I listed my first property in Rancho Palos Verdes (the first and only presentation I did up there) — all because they responded to your version of the hot expired letter! The voice mail said: “Mr. Miller, we got your expired letter which was so impressive we have decided to interview you for the job.” I got the job. SP of $750k, commission of about $35k. Wow! I still get excited every time I think about it. Thanks, Wally!


Jim Gillespie, Real Estate Speaker

Walter:

I read your article entitled, “20 Questions to Ask a Seller Before You Go to See Them” and I think the questions you have outlined are absolutely great. Thank you for sharing your list with the real estate community.

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