The real estate market has been on an incredible run for the past two years with real estate agents handily breaking their previous sales records.
Although Shaffer uses data to help buyers identify opportunities, Deaton said she uses her data stockpile to help her sellers understand the slight shift in the market sentiment that’s pushed buyers to back away from making exorbitant bids.
“I said, ‘Yeah, it did.
“I connect with a lot of agents in terms of, ‘So what have you been seeing? Just to make sure that it’s still what I’m seeing as well?’” she said.
After establishing baseline trust through showcasing your market expertise, Shaffer, Deaton, and Hellman said agents must put the pedal down on the basics of relationship building with clients and fellow agents.
Deaton said communication can include text messages, social media check-ins with past clients and other sorts of correspondence, such as emailed newsletters or handwritten cards.
In addition to building strong ties with clients, Deaton said it’s equally important to build robust relationships with agents inside and outside of your brokerage.
“I tell agents all the time, ‘You may not like the way this deal is going, but we also have to remember that listing agent is overwhelmed as well and they’re just as stressed as we are, you know, on their side,’” she said.
As they’re building relationships and their referral pipeline, Shaffer said agents have to remember the impact won’t likely be felt immediately.
“This is not a sprint, this is a marathon.
Although agents can’t totally control a buyer or seller’s decisions, Shaffer and others said they can do clients the favor of being upfront and honest from the get-go about where the market is and how it can impact their real estate goals.
“What’s happening now in 2022 is a level of entitlement and almost arrogance from sellers or maybe listing agents to where they’re the best game in town.
“It is tricky right now,” she said.
“A big thing that I’ve been trying to do, at least with inventory, is setting those expectations early on,” she said.
“I’ll oftentimes pull out the market stats from now in comparison to where were we at this time last year or even the year prior because I think that really helps build that context for folks who are not dealing in this every day,” she added.
But do you want a discounted commission? Or do you want to walk away with more money, what’s more important to you?” he said.
As the inventory shortage continues to worsen, Shaffer, Deaton, Hellman and Lucido said real estate agents have to sharpen their strategy skills and dig into their bag of tricks to create inventory opportunities for their clients.
“I’m constantly checking every resource possible to find a good match for my client.
Shaffer also said he’s subscribed to several platforms geared toward providing market insights for top-producing agents, which have also been helpful in his hunt for inventory.
Open houses took a backseat for most of the pandemic due to social distancing guidelines and some sellers’ fears about having scores of people in their homes.
Tell people you got 10 offers, got nine people lost out and you need more houses in the neighborhood.
Lucido suggests door knocking at the ten homes to the left, right, front and back of your listing since they’ve most likely been keeping an eye on the progress of the sale.
Shaffer said his open house protocol hasn’t changed too much from pre-pandemic and his main goal is to set the tone for buyers, who might become future clients even if they don’t make an offer on the listing he’s showing.
“It’s been really helpful to get as much traffic as possible with giving everyone enough leeway heading into the weekend,” he added.
For Deaton, the only change to her open house protocol is how often she does them.
“We do the ‘coming soon’ listings, and in Cincinnati, you’re allowed to do 10 days of coming soon up to when it goes active,” she explained.
In addition to navigating inventory shortages, real estate agents must refine their negotiation skills to help homebuyers make a smart purchase that helps them not only now, but in the long run.
“Buyers are willing to pay appraisal gaps in this market, but sellers wonder is it truly going to come true? Can you really afford that?” she said.
However, if you’re relying on extra cash to make the difference, Hellman said it’s not always necessary to offer four, five or six figures above the asking price to win.
Hellman said making an offer is ultimately an educated guessing game, but she’s been able to get more wins by flagging listings and making a note of the difference between the listing and closing price.
On the listing side, Lucido said agents have to some sharp negotiation skills as well when it comes to working with sellers on the listing price.
“Right now I have a particular listing and it’s not selling because the seller overpriced, and if I wanted to be really blunt about it, I’d lose the listing,” he said.
The real estate market isn’t only competitive for homebuyers — it’s become increasingly competitive for real estate agents too.
Lucido, who also serves as a coach for his more than 250 sales agents, said real estate agents must do an autopsy on their business and determine what is and isn’t working.
Lucido said doing a business autopsy will require you to be honest about where you are, which can be difficult to do.
“It’s been so easy for people to make money in this business that they look like heroes,” he said of the past few years.
“So whether it’s public speaking, whether it’s dressing better, role-playing your presentation, or recording what you do, do it.
“I said, ‘Do you have a prospecting challenge? Or a presentation challenge? Are you getting the meeting?’ And she said, ‘No, I’m not meeting people.’ I’m like, well, there’s your problem and she said she didn’t feel that confident.
“Sometimes we just don’t gel with the client and that could be you know, the bad experience,” she added.
Hellman said she’s shifted her budget to focus on her current sphere rather than trying to pull hordes of new people in.
“We spend our money on local sponsorships and some of the stuff that we will sponsor is just near and dear to our heart, like our son plays basketball and so we’re heavy sponsors of that organization,” she said.
“When we look at it back, and we say, ‘Hey, you know, we can’t even remember that event that we helped sponsor or we never heard anything more about such and such that we took out a page in there,’ those just don’t make sense to do again,” she added.
“It has been a vehicle that I use to help supplement my current business,” he said.
There’s no magic pill to all of a sudden put you at the top.
“I always tell agents always be learning; don’t ever cut yourself off from a certification or just going to a free marketing class because the marketing changes daily, the technology changes daily, and we have to stay on it,” she said.
“Another good certification from the National Association of Realtors is for short sale and foreclosure resource agents.
“I workout for both the physical attributes and the mental attributes, because I need to be able to take care of myself first and foremost so that I can take care of my clients and my family,” he said.