This is a continuation of my last post - Are You Going to Survive this Real Estate Market Shift?
In my last post, I spoke about shifts in the real estate market and whether Realtors were prepared for a different environment. After years of tremendous buyer demand, very low mortgage rates, and few people wanting to sell, there’s a change happening in our real estate markets, and it’s happening fast.
I need to clarify one thing. I do not think our current real estate market is bad. It appears that we are just heading back to a more normal market. It is not as insane as the "FOMO Market" that we experienced earlier in the year. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) buyers were driving the market. I actually prefer this market over the auction-like environment that we were previously in.
Buyers' Market?
We are not in a buyers' market.
View July Sarasota/Bradenton market statistics. Many real estate experts believe that a balanced market is about 6 months of inventory. Less inventory means a sellers' market, and more means a buyers' market. Right now, in Sarasota and Manatee counties we are between 1.6 and 2.5 months depending on the county and property type.
How to Survive Every Market
Booming market? Down market? Sellers’ market? Buyers’ market? It doesn’t matter if you consistently perform activities that drive success.
Let me repeat - activities that drive success.
Let's face it. All of us do some activities that really don't drive success but mostly just passes the time. You can't be productive every second of your working day.
Take an inventory of your day
One of the best things you can do for your business is to track your day to see if you are really spending your time on activities that drive success.
Do you check social media every 7 minutes? I have had days like that.
Are you watching YouTube videos that have nothing to do with your business? I do it.
Are you chit-chatting with co-workers for 30-minute stretches? It happens.
Take an inventory of your work day and see what your output is like.
Is finding clients a priority?
There are many activities that drive success and far more that do not. One activity crucial to our success is finding clients (aka prospecting, marketing). We need clients - plain and simple.
One common thing that you will notice about all top-producing Realtors is their focus on building and nurturing relationships that generate income. And they do it day in and day out. Consistently.
Doing it consistently minimizes the peaks and valleys in income. Agents who haven't built this will experience up-and-down income as it takes time to develop relationships.
One mistake I see newer agents do is that they find a potential client or two and then stop any type of prospecting. What if the potential client doesn't buy or sell? Not only did the agent not make any money from them but they now have no new clients because they stopped prospecting.
It makes for a very stressful life. This is one of the main reasons 87% of licensees quit the business within 5 years. It isn't because they struck it rich as a Realtor and retired.
In conclusion, two things you might improve your business today - 1) figure out what you are truly spending your work time on and 2) develop a long-term plan that consistently creates new relationships (business) as well as nurtures your existing ones.
Good luck!
Marc Rasmussen
Broker/Owner of Corcoran Dwellings
Comments