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With so many distractions, its a wonder real estate agents are productive at all. Working to become a highly productive real estate agent is an ongoing process. Creating habits that produce consistent results allows you to achieve your maximum potential.

Time management has always been a real challenge. Between phone calls, a barrage of emails, listing presentations, prospecting calls and buyers appointments, how do you stay productive?

Keep yourself focused, alert and on track with these 5 Habits of Highly Productive Real Estate Agents

Top Productivity Habits

1. Focus on Your Most Important Tasks

The first part of every real estate agents day should be spent focused on the most important tasks. Why bother spending hours on time-consuming/low-payoff tasks when you could focus on tasks that actually generate income and produce results?

Schedule time on your calendar and then list out everything you will work on. Once youve done that, number each item and work through your list. Complete what you can during your scheduled time without any interruptions or distractions. Rinse and repeat the next day.

2. Remove Distractions

Between the phone, email, Internet, employees and all other interruptions, our day can quickly get away from us if we allow it. Turn it all off and stay focused on your task at hand.

Do not allow for a quick vacation on Facebook or a stroll down memory lane with an old friend. Cut yourself off from all distractions, work down your list and take a break once complete.

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5 Habits of Highly Productive Real Estate Agents

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) May 06, 2012

Top real estate sales agent George Arvanitis, who previously worked for Coldwell Banker, @Properites, Sudler Sothebys, and most recently Conlon Real Estate Company, has joined RE/MAX Premier Properties, located at 1205 N. Dearborn Pkwy. in Chicagos Gold Coast neighborhood.

Arvanitis is excited to start this new phase of his real estate career and has already had record breaking sales in his first 60 days with RE/MAX.

I looked at all the major companies but was most impressed with RE/MAX, Arvanitis said. It had all the qualities I was seeking: a strong support staff, a commitment to technology and global reach. RE/MAX has a multitude of tools for its agents. I thought coming to RE/MAX would give me the opportunity to expand on what I am already doing.

During the last 15 years, Arvanitis has seen real estate markets both strong and sluggish. In the current market environment, he has put an increased focus on short sales and foreclosures, with half of his transactions during the last three years in one of these two categories.

Ive learned that it doesnt matter what kind of economy you are facing. You have to continue to work hard, Arvanitis said. You must stay in constant contact with your buyers and sellers to make sure each transaction closes, which can be a challenge in this market. Agents today have to be on top of everything to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks.

It is critical that both buyers and sellers understand what kind of real estate market they face, Arvanitis said

The current market represents a great opportunity for buyers, and it will for years to come, added Arvantis. Sellers have to be educated about the market so they know what a solid listing price is today.

Selling has long come naturally to Arvanitis. For more than three decades, he worked in the advertising sales field, holding the position of director of advertising sales for MTV Networks and serving as account director for Ted Turner Media, which included the properties of CNN, TBS and TNT. Arvanitis was also vice president of advertising sales for CNBC network.

Attracted to the challenges and rewards of working for himself, Arvantis moved into real estate sales 15 years ago. He immediately thrived in this new career, regularly ranking among the top 1 percent of real estate agents in the Chicago area.

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Top Real Estate Agent George Arvanitis Joins RE/MAX Premier Properties in Chicago’s Gold Coast

The best real estate investment in the past decade was found at the opposite end from trophy resorts and office towers, in 5-foot-by-5-foot lockers.

Self-storage companies, which rent units to small businesses and consumers, produced the best risk-adjusted return among 10 U.S. real estate investment trust indexes in the past decade, according to the Bloomberg Riskless Return Ranking. They had the highest total return and the third-lowest volatility, for a risk-adjusted gain of 10.6 percent. Owners of offices, hotels and warehouses fared among the worst, hurt by price swings.

Public Storage, CubeSmart, Extra Space Storage Inc. and Sovran Self Storage Inc. attracted investors with low debt ratios and steady cash-flow growth in a decade that saw commercial-property values soar to records along with sales of mortgage-backed bonds to finance a wave of takeovers. The debt-to-assets ratio for Public Storage, the largest in the group, is 22.5 percent, half the average 45 percent for REITs, said Michael Knott, managing director of real estate research firm Green Street Advisors Inc., making the stock less susceptible to large price swings if the economy worsens.

"Public Storage has incredibly low leverage compared to the average REIT," Knott said. "It's typically not as volatile."

Demand tends to be driven by life changes, which often entail moving, such as college graduation, job changes, divorce or death.

"If you get married, you don't necessarily throw your couch away, you don't necessarily throw away the buffalo head, what have you," said Clemente Teng, vice president of investor relations for Public Storage. "You put it in storage."

Public Storage has about 1 million tenants at any given point in time, with the average lease of existing tenants running about 36 months, Teng said. More than half its tenants have rented their units for more than one year, he said.

"People always think, 'I'll just house it for a couple of months and then get it all out, but the problem is once you get all your stuff in, the last thing you want to do is spend a Saturday cleaning it out," Teng said.

Storage units are relatively cheap to build and "when we re-rent a space, all we have to do is sweep it out," said Teng. "We don't have to change the carpeting, paint the walls."

Increased usage of Internet marketing has helped storage REITs attract more customers from smaller operators during the sluggish economic recovery, said John Murphy, a vice president at Cohen & Steers Inc. The storage business is fragmented, with the publicly traded REITs accounting for just 10 percent of the U.S. market, he said.

Read more:
Self-storage packs top low-risk real estate return

By Hui-yong Yu - Wed May 02 04:00:01 GMT 2012

Scott Muthersbaugh/Burlington Times-News/AP Photo

Buyers look into a storage unit up for auction at Ray's Self Storage facility in Burlington, North Carolina.

A Public Storage rental office is seen in the Bronx borough of New York, U.S.

A Public Storage rental office is seen in the Bronx borough of New York, U.S. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

The best real estate investment in the past decade was found at the opposite end from trophy resorts and office towers, in 5-foot-by-5-foot lockers.

Self-storage companies, which rent units to small businesses and consumers under names such as Uncle Bobs Self Storage (SSS), produced the best risk-adjusted return among 10 U.S. real estate investment trust indexes in the past decade, according to the BLOOMBERG RISKLESS RETURN RANKING. They had the highest total return and the third-lowest volatility, for a risk-adjusted gain of 10.6 percent. Owners of offices, hotels and warehouses fared among the worst, hurt by price swings.

Public Storage, CubeSmart, Extra Space Storage Inc. (EXR) and Sovran Self Storage Inc. attracted investors with low debt ratios and steady cash-flow growth in a decade that saw commercial-property values soar to records along with sales of mortgage-backed bonds to finance a wave of takeovers. The debt- to-assets ratio for Public Storage, the largest in the group, is 22.5 percent, half the average 45 percent for REITs, said Michael Knott, managing director of real estate research firm Green Street Advisors Inc., making the stock less susceptible to large price swings if the economy worsens.

Public Storage (PSA) has incredibly low leverage compared to the average REIT, Knott, whose firm is based in Newport Beach, California, said in an interview. Its typically not as volatile.

The Bloomberg REIT Public/Self-Storage Index (BBREPBST) topped gauges tracking healthcare REITs and regional mall REITs, which returned a risk-adjusted 8.4 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, in the 10 years through April. Warehouse REITs (BBREINDW), which had the highest volatility and the lowest total return during the period, joined hotels at the bottom, with a risk- adjusted gain of 0.8 percent.

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Best U.S. Real Estate With Self-Storage: Riskless Return

NEW YORK, May 1, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reis, Inc. (REIS - News) ("Reis" or the "Company"), a leading provider of commercial real estate market information and analytical tools, announced that it will release its first quarter 2012 results on the morning of Thursday, May 3, 2012. The complete release will also be available directly at either of the following web pages:

http://www.reis.com/investors

http://www.reis.com/pressreleases

The Company will host a conference call. This call is for the benefit of existing and prospective stockholders, stock analysts, and other interested parties to discuss the first quarter results and other matters.

A replay of the conference call will be available from shortly after the conference call through midnight (ET) on May 17, 2012 by dialing (800) 585-8367 from inside the United States or Canada or (404) 537-3406 from outside the United States and Canada, and referring to the conference ID: 76380277. An audio webcast of the conference call will also be available on Reis's website at http://www.reis.com/events and will remain on the website for a period of time following the call.

About Reis

The Company's primary business is providing commercial real estate market information and analytical tools for its subscribers, through its Reis Services subsidiary. Reis Services, including its predecessors, was founded in 1980. Reis maintains a proprietary database containing detailed information on commercial properties in metropolitan markets and neighborhoods throughout the U.S. The database contains information on apartment, office, retail, warehouse/distribution and flex/research & development properties and is used by real estate investors, lenders and other professionals to make informed buying, selling and financing decisions. In addition, Reis data is used by debt and equity investors to assess, quantify and manage the risks of default and loss associated with individual mortgages, properties, portfolios and real estate backed securities. Reis currently provides its information services to many of the nation's leading lending institutions, equity investors, brokers and appraisers.

Reis, through its flagship institutional product, Reis SE, and through its new small business product, ReisReports, provides online access to a proprietary database of commercial real estate information and analytical tools designed to facilitate debt and equity transactions as well as ongoing evaluations. Depending on the product, users have access to trend and forecast analysis at metropolitan and neighborhood levels throughout the U.S. and/or detailed building-specific information such as rents, vacancy rates, lease terms, property sales, new construction listings and property valuation estimates. Reis's products are designed to meet the demand for timely and accurate information to support the decision-making of property owners, developers, builders, banks and non-bank lenders, and equity investors. These real estate professionals require access to timely information on both the performance and pricing of assets, including detailed data on market transactions, supply, absorption, rents and sale prices. This information is critical to all aspects of valuing assets and financing their acquisition, development and construction.

For more information regarding Reis's products and services, visit http://www.reis.com and http://www.ReisReports.com.

The Reis, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=7189

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Reis, Inc. to Announce First Quarter 2012 Results on Thursday, May 3, 2012