Shifts happen.
Or is it, sh*t happens?
Well, both actually. And many times it feels like both are happening at the same time.
What’s most important when things happen, is what we do next. That will determine what happens next.
The real estate market is changing big time right now. So, what are you going to do about it?
If you’re a newer agent, or an agent that entered the market after the last big market shift back in 2008, it might feel a bit scary and unnerving because it’s different from anything you have experienced this far in your career.
But, if you want to have a truly successful real estate business, one you can depend on and one you can build a successful career on, you’ve got to learn how to succeed no matter what the market is doing.
The market does not determine your results. YOU determine your results.
Back during the last big market shift in 2008-2010, better known as the Great Recession and coinciding real estate market “crash,” my real estate business finally took off after years of spinning my wheels and going now where.
Why was I able to finally be successful when the market crashed when I wasn’t successful when times were “good.” And why was my business exploding in a good way at the very same time so many agents were getting out of the business and the majority of buyers and sellers were sitting on the sidelines?
I credit my results to three big pivots I made during this time:
#1.) I committed to being successful no matter what the market was doing and no matter what other agents were doing. I didn’t allow myself to have an out. I HAD to figure out how to make my business work.
#2.) I focused on HELPING people instead of trying to SELL people anything.
#3.) I got REALLY specific about who I could help and how I could help them accomplish what THEY wanted to do.
There are huge opportunities during a market shift.
The agents that will succeed through the shifts are the ones who see a sliver of opportunity and open that door wide enough for them to walk through it. Once they walk through the door, they decide to own the room.
You have this opportunity right now.
But, you might be wondering HOW. Or saying, “Yeah, but what should I actually DO?”
That’s why I invited a good real estate agent friend of mine and fellow brokerage owner–Lindsay Dreyer–to today’s podcast. She was also very successful back during the last market shift and we discuss what we both did and continue to do during a shifting market.
We also talk about what’s happening in the market right now, why you shouldn’t be confused, and give you strategies that will help you see the huge opportunities you have available to grow your business right now.
The reality is people buy and sell homes every single day no matter what the market is doing. Your job is to find those people, become known by those people, and offer them something they need. That’s truly all it takes to succeed in any market.
Listen in to today’s episode to learn how we did it and how you can too.
To your success,
Jennifer
To learn more about how Agent Grad School can help you have a successful real estate business in any market, go to AgentGradSchool.com/FreeClass.
To learn more about Lindsay go to CityChicRealEstate.com.
Episode Transcript
How to Successfully Handle a Shifting Market
On today’s episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent, How to Successfully Handle A Market Shift. Welcome to this episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent. I’m your host, Jennifer Myers, listen in, as I share exactly what I did to go from not being able to sell a house for years to becoming one of the top 1% of agents in the US. So even opening my own brokerage full of agents helped me serve all the clients that were coming my way. I taught those agents the same strategies I used and day two became top Producing agents. Now through this podcast in agentgradschool.com, I’m sharing those same modern marketing and business strategies with you. Most of which I learned from looking outside the real estate industry, no fluff, no theory, no outdated sales techniques or paying for leads, just the exact steps to get you the real estate business you’ve always wanted.
And the life outside your business, you’ve always wanted to. Let’s make it happen. And dive into today’s episode. The market is shifting interest rates are higher and the pendulum is swinging from sellers to, I, I think right now is kind of a normal quote-unquote “market”. Obviously, a huge change from where we’ve been the last two years. But you know, at interest rates just below are right around 6% and a more balanced, you know, things lasting maybe a couple weeks on the market that really reminds me of the market back in like 2018.
Now, depending on how high rates go and other factors, you know, the pendulum might swing even further into the buyer’s court, who knows what’s gonna happen. But here’s what I know has to happen. If you want to weather, the shift is first and foremost, if you’re a newer agent, this could, this time could feel super scary. And you’re probably running around trying to figure out what to do. And what I keep hearing is a lot of seasoned agents don’t know what to do in this market, which I find super interesting. Here’s the number one thing to do. Don’t be confused by the market. The shift that we’re feeling right now makes total sense and frankly it’s needed.
Otherwise affordability would be even more out the window as prices continue to rise. So what ha what’s happening right now, even though it may feel painful, even though it may feel scary is actually supposed to happen. It’s a way to correct that big run up and that big demand with no supply. Nobody liked that market. Okay. So here we are in a different market. So welcome. So here’s what you have to do. If you are going to make a career out of being a real estate agent, if you’re going to build a business that you can depend on, rely on you inevitably will have to go through some shifts and you have to be, be able to figure out how to handle them.
Now, if you’ve never been through a shift, you’re probably wondering, well, I don’t actually know what to do, what shouldn’t I do? And in this episode, I, myself, had been through a huge market shift back in 2008, 2010. And you know, what’s funny is that is when that is the moment my business really skyrocketed. I mean, it kept like doubling every year. And the reason is because I saw it as an opportunity. I committed to being successful. I committed to focus on truly helping people and who needed the help. Right, right then. And a lot of people needed help right then.
And I also focused on my own, like kept my eyes on my own paper. And I didn’t worry about what every, every other agent was saying or all the agents that were leaving my office. I did not let me let that like, take me out of what I was there to do, which was actually help people. And so my business boomed in a good way and then kept going up from there when the market actually recovered. And I want you to know that You have this opportunity right now, is it harder than, you know, the robust market full of demand and low interest rates that we’ve been used to the last couple years? Yeah, it is harder, but it’s an opportunity to hone your skills and really make sure that you know, how to help people who you wanna help and how you’re gonna help them.
If you’re able to figure that out. And I give you so many ways to do that in every episode of this podcast. And of course my students here at every single day as well, once you click that in which it took me a while to do, but once I clicked that in, and once you figure that out for yourself, you will grow a huge business, no matter what the market is doing. And one thing that I’m really focused on recently and will continue to focus on in, in the future is I don’t wanna be the only example. I don’t want to feel like I’m your only example. And so my goal is to introduce more and more people who can inspire us and help us and motivate us and give us a different perspective.
So on today, I didn’t want you just to hear what I did in the last market shift and what I’m doing during this market shift. I wanted you to hear from somebody else who also Successfully transitioned their business during the last big shift, and then talk about what they’re doing now. And so I invited my friend, my fellow real estate, broker Lindsay, Dreyer to today’s conversation. And we’re gonna talk through what’s really happening in the market right now. Why there’s no need to be confused and how to, I know it sounds cliche, not just survive, but truly, truly thrive in this different kind of market that many of you are used to.
And all of us aren’t used to from the last few years. So listen in, as we share how we survived the last crash and what we’re doing now to adjust as this shift is happening. I hope this helps you being Here again. Hey Jen, thank you. Thanks for having me. I’m so excited to talk shift today. Yeah. Shifting market. So you and I started our real estate careers right around the same time we started our brokerages right around the same time you and I Successfully went through that last huge market shift and are still alive and well in real estate to live, to tell about it. So I, the goal of today’s podcast is for us to talk about what’s happening in the shift and how to handle it if you’ve never been through a shift.
Yeah, let’s in, I love this because I think shifts are so filled with opportunity. And I think by the end of this podcast, or at least my goal is at the end of our conversation today that people are going to feel revved up optimistic and excited about this market shift, because that’s how I feel about it. Same, same, same, same. Okay. So let’s go back to, let’s go back in history and then we’ll come to today. So let’s go back to when you and I were both selling real estate, you know, I started in 2003, you started, I think in 2004. Yep. We had a couple good years of just normal, you know, market similar, not totally different than what happened the last couple years, we had a huge run up and then all of a sudden, and this is not what’s happening in this case.
We are not in a crash. So I wanna make sure we say that, but if you and I can survive, the crash agents can survive a shift. And that’s I think the point, yeah, The mortgage market is not imploding. The foundation of mortgages just completely imploded. And we also had a glut of supply. So there were so many homes on the market. And so those two things and in conjunction with the recession and people losing jobs and not being able to afford their mortgages and it was a huge mess. And so we are not in the same situation. Thank goodness. But it does kind of feel like that to some agents who maybe didn’t live through the previous crash.
And it definitely feels like that for some buyers right now, or potential buyers because they were younger millennials maybe, and they didn’t understand exactly what was going on and they weren’t real estate professionals like we were so I can see it clear as day, but newer agents or agents who entered the business after the crash or our clients who really didn’t live through the crash in a real estate context, I think are just confused and scared about what’s going on. Yeah. So we’re about what’s going on today, here in a second, but I want people to understand that first and foremost, how do you weather when the market changes?
However, it changes. And so I guess, can you share with us, how did you thrive? Not just, but how did you actually grow your business during that last huge shift? The best advice I got from, and I forget who gave it to me was that people buy unsell real estate in any market. So you basically just have to find who’s transacting and find those people and get yourself in front of them and figure out a way to work with them. And so when the market crashed in 2008, 2009, you were with me in the DC market, you knew affordability came back to the market and buyers realized they could now buy a house or a condo in the cool neighborhood that they were renting in.
And it was actually cheaper than their rent. A lot of times they’re also a ton of great first time home buyer incentives. So for me, that target market became my niche because that was who I was familiar with. It was who I was, and it was who really was back in the marketplace because they could get homes now and they could actually afford them. So that’s how I survived was just getting out there as the first time home buyer expert. And it was a wonderful way to build my business in that time. Yeah. And even though, you know, we didn’t necessarily like call each other every week. We knew each other, we knew of each other, but I had the same exact experience.
So what I had learned, and I can tell you exactly who told me a man named Dan Kennedy. I always say as the godfather of marketing, but he said to me, especially right now in this kind of market, you have to answer that question. Why should somebody choose you among all the other options, including, and this is what’s important in a shift doing nothing at all. And once I understood that, I didn’t have an answer to that question cuz I was trying to be everything to everybody. I was trying to be a real estate agent who could sell any house to anybody which was not working. So even though the market was really great in 2003, four and five six, I couldn’t sell a house to save my life.
But once I realized that I had to answer that question, it took me a little while, but I ended up in the same place helping first-time home buyers take advantage of a new market, one in which that they could afford one in which I found first-time, home buyer programs and removed the obstacle of what was standing in their way. Exactly because it wasn’t like the market crash. And all of a sudden people woke up and was like, I can afford a house now. That’s not what happened. What happened was people were panicked. The news was panicked and many, many people left the market, real estate agents and buyers alike. But we, you and I had the strength of our own conviction to say, this is actually who has the opportunity to buy.
And our job was to make it known why it was opportunity. Exactly. I remember the, there was a DC public school teacher and she found me from my blog and we sat down, had our initial buyer consultation. And she’s like, I don’t even know if this is possible. And I’m like, well, let’s crunch some numbers. Let’s see if it financially is even possible. And so luckily from my new construction days, they had taught me how to pre-qualify people because we had to do that at our model home. And so I sat down crunched, the numbers, figured out what her monthly payment, she could afford figured out what that translated to a sales price.
And she was shocked. She was like, I can afford a $220,000 condo with no down payment. And I was like, yes, you can. And she, to this day still thanks me. And it is 17 years later or something like that. She’s still like, I so grateful that you sat me down and showed me how to make this happen. And she’s still living in that condo by the way. So it’s like incredible that well made that work. Yeah. And she probably is pretty on a bunch of right now too. Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. So I think what a couple things that you said that I think I want agents who are listening to take away from this conversation is you weren’t selling people on the fact that it was a great time to buy you.
Weren’t saying it’s a to, because We dunno, we dunno if it’s a good time to buy for you. I mean, who know? Like it’s a personal thing like it has. Yeah. Oh the blanket it’s a good time to Exactly. And so that’s just the thing, right? It’s like, it’s never a great time to buy. It’s never a great time to sell the time is now only if you do what Lindsay did, which was like, educate somebody, show them the light. And if it makes them, regardless of what the market’s doing, this homeowner, when didn’t Changing, it’s so good to be able to show somebody that home ownership is possible when it’s a goal of theirs and that it can fit into their financial picture.
So I think that going to our conversation about shift is you have to become so good at explaining mortgages and advantages of mortgages and how they work. Some people don’t even understand that your monthly payment pays your principal balance down. They think they’re just paying that payment. And it goes nowhere. And it’s like, no, no, no. You’re like, you look a little picky bank that you just keep like chipping away at every single month, which is incredible. So you have to find out what people don’t know and then help educate them. Exactly. So if somebody comes to you and says something like doesn’t make more sense for me to rent or buy, you cannot just look at the payment.
No, because nine times outta 10, well, who know rent are exploding also, but nine times outta 10, it kinda on the surface level looks like it makes more sense to rent than to buy. But it’s your job to go a layer deeper and say, well, this is what it looks like on the surface, but here’s all the other benefits. You get tax, you get the little piggy bank that Lindsay just talked about. You get a tax incentive and Lindsay, you shared something with me yesterday that I keep thinking about, if you have a 6% mortgage after taxes, if you’re in the 40% tax bracket, it’s an effective interest rate of 3.6%. Yeah. That is so huge that I feel like is what everybody needs to be talking about.
Not like it’s a, We’re just throw out these quippy phrases that I think alienate our clients with like marry the house, date, the rate. What does that even mean? Like I get, it’s cute. It rhymes. It’s adorable. But like I, as a client, I’m like, what does that mean? I don’t understand. Like, can you explain that to me? And so I think we do a disservice to our clients by just assuming they know everything. And like, I think there’s a way to find out what they know and then hopefully fill them in. You don’t have to be condescending in a jerk about it. But real estate is actually pretty complicated.
It’s a lot of moving parts. And so they’re relying on us to be the expert, to remove the fear and confusion of the process and the market and everything that’s going on. So if you can’t provide that clarity, you’re not gonna survive the shift because they’re just gonna stay confused, which means they’re not gonna do anything. Right. Yeah, exactly. Well, it also requires agents taking a step deeper and being able to assess the situation, the answer isn’t always yes, by yes style, but assess the situation and say like, well, let’s look at what are you trying to accomplish? Why are you trying to accomplish it? And let’s see if it’s accomplishable and it’s not now let’s put you on a path so that it is eventually Exactly with sellers too.
So it’s like they wanna get a certain amount of equity from their sale. And it’s just not possible in this market right now because interest rates have gone up, the affordability has gone up, like it’s just not happening. And so we have had a lot of sales listings flip to rental listings because they don’t wanna sell right now because they can’t make what they thought they wanted to. So they’re just fine being a landlord because they’ve locked in that super low-interest rate. They can make money because rents have gone up. And so to them, it’s this investment. So I think it’s important to know that there isn’t one size fits all. And sometimes you even have to adjust course midstream. Like sometimes you have a property listed and you have to be like, all right, guys, don’t think we’re getting that.
What we thought we were gonna get. So what are we gonna do? Maybe it goes back to being successful in a shift, flexibility and creativity. That is so key is being a problem solver, but also on the same team as your client. And really demonstrating that to them because they don’t wanna be talked at, they don’t wanna be told what to do. They wanna be on the same team and you guys figure out what’s the best thing we can do together because we are on the same team. And I have your best interest at heart. Yeah. Not my best interest, your best interest. Cause that’s what I’m here for. Yeah. And here’s the thing, like, let’s say a listing flips to rental, like, well you just, if you stay in touch correctly and you provide value, number one, that person’s probably gonna be like, oh my gosh, you have to go to her or him because they’re gonna do right by you.
So you’ll get referrals in the meantime. And then you’re building a business for a couple years from now. Like it’s not about just focusing on right here right now. And yes, we have to pay our bills. So I totally get that. But you also then have to go find people. There are still people who have to buy, who have to sell and you need to find those people as your clients and have the confidence to go this layer deeper, have this confidence to really lead the transaction and like take them with you along with you. Exactly. Take a little bit of going the extra, the layer, deeper with them, Which we haven’t had to do as real estate agents. We’ve let clients drive the ship because we’ve been order takers.
We’ve just been like, oh, you wanna write an offer on this house? Awesome. Just whatever, like how high do you wanna go? Yeah, We’re gonna put no contingencies. Okay, great. And then you lose it or you win it. And same with selling. Like we haven’t had to have skills. What are you talking about? People just like take some pictures or in the MLS, don’t have to do a CMA cuz you just are like, what price do you want? Sounds great. And In, And so I feel like all of these skills that are required or are that we have definitely honed over the years. It’s like, they’re now back in play and agents who’ve gotten into the business in the past five, six years are like, what is going on?
Like this is hard. And it’s because it is hard. They have been lazy or just haven’t needed to use the skills so they didn’t learn ’em And I think that’s one thing that, you know, truth be told real estate isn’t easy being real estate agent is not an easy job. So just pull that outta your mind. And if you hear yourself saying this is hard. Yes. It’s hard. Keep going, keep going. The other thing that, what you’re saying brings to mind is not only did it not require us to build skills, but it actually didn’t provide truly any value to our clients. Totally. And I think that that is what the opportunity is here.
And it does require a certain set of skills that you, you have to learn. So think of this as, opportunity to learn the skills of how to add value to your clients. Because when the market’s just doing whatever it’s gonna do, yeah. Buyers had a tough run, but there was really no value there. And now we get to really, truly help our people and that creates value. And that is how you create a business and create opportunity for both you and your client in the side of market, A hundred percent. I don’t think they needed us as much as they need us now, like now is when you really need a skillful professional expert, real estate agent.
Yeah. And I think we’re gonna see a lot of people get outta the business because of that. They’re just not gonna have what it takes to thrive and succeed in this market. So I mean, I still have people asking me, can you do real estate part-time and I’m just like, I mean you can’t, but you’re probably going to do it poorly. And I think it takes a rare person to be able to have a successful real estate career. Part-time I just, I don’t believe it’s possible. I have seen a few people do it, but they literally worked two jobs, two full-time jobs basically. Yeah. And the other thing about part-time agents is again, it’s hard to provide value because if you’re not available and you’re not like in it, how do you add value to your client?
If you’re not really in it, if you’re just part half in it. Yeah. And the other thing I would say is we’re gonna talk about a few strategies for buyers and sellers very quickly just to kinda give people a takeaway that they can apply to their business, but any strategy that you’re given, in my opinion, it all starts with how you think about what’s happening. So for example, you said there’s gonna be agents that leave the business. That is a circumstance that is gonna happen. The question you have to ask yourself is what is your thought about that? So when half the agents or who, however many it is in your office, leave the business, you have an option. You can either think that all, you know, the world is crashing and nobody’s doing real estate anymore.
Lindsay’s laughing. I can see her, but you guys can’t hear her. Or you could say, oh, more for me. Exactly. It’s more for me. Are you kidding? That is the answer. Like, please, please, all of you, the building, I will here answering the, or send in the emails and holding the open houses and I’ll be the one that’s gonna be selling all the houses. So thank you. Yeah. So I think those are just example. That’s just one example of circumstance and you’re gonna see all sorts of things happening and you get to choose how you think of it. And one of the reasons that Lindsay and I were able to grow our businesses in the crash, and then we both opened our brokerages right around 2010 before really the crash was really over true.
And the reason we were able to do that is I believe, yes, because you can learn skills, right? That’s just a matter of learning a skill, but you cannot apply the skill. You don’t even think about learning the skills. You don’t even get to the skill unless you have the right mindset. And that’s what I think you and I, at least for me, that is why I’m here is because when things happened, I didn’t think negatively. I saw it every time as an opportunity. I agree. And I think that most people gravitate towards, we call it like the victim and player mentality where it’s like, are you a victim of your circumstance? Or are you a player? And you are gonna play the game and win it. And so I have always been the player, like in my personal circumstances, like if a boyfriend broke up with me, I was like, you Get like three Hours to like mourn this and then it’s bye bitch.
Like you like, we’re moving on. So like, I think that you kind of have to know who you are deep down inside, and it’s not that you’re stuck with that forever. You can. There’s plenty of things out there on how to change your mindset, gratitude, practice, like exercise, listening to music. Like there’s so many things that you can do to improve your mindset. You just have to know what tricks work on you. And that is a huge key to having success as a real estate agent in any market. Nobody wants to work with somebody who is a miserable, sad person who thinks the world’s falling and hates home ownership and thinks your house is ugly.
Like you just, you don’t wanna work with that person. Like they’re just, you’re not gonna attract anything. You’re miserable human. So yeah, you gotta get your mindset. Right. And if you don’t have a, if you can’t get your mindset, right. You’re oh, I don’t even know if you can be successful. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. For me, the biggest thing I learned was having a choice on what happens and my choice on how I interpret what that means for me. Because I mean, I saw big wigs in my office, leave the business and I was like, Ooh, I could be really scared right now. Or who are all those clients gonna go to? Hey buddy, I know you’re leaving the market, but if you wanna spend anybody my way feel free, I’m here. Exactly.
What’s the big opportunity for people who are going to leave the business anyway, to leave the business. And so like, it may look like that big wig or that person you looked up to leaving the business was, that’s like a bad sign, but you don’t know really why they’re leaving. I mean, it’s like everyone has their reasons for getting outta real estate. And so it’s not necessarily a sign of the times or a sign. Everything’s horrible. It’s every career, every job there’s people who leave. And so it’s really like, why are you in it? Why do you love real estate? And why do you wanna be successful? And you can make it happen. Like you just have to want it and you have to be able to work it.
Like you just have to work. So now that we all have our mindset in the right place, we’re seeing things as opportunities. Not like, I mean, truly this market is not like what it was before. Nobody could get financing. Do you remember? Like lenders were just like disappearing and like, they’re like, no, we don’t give you money anymore. It’s like, wait, but that’s your job now? Like, well for us Condo market, no one would finance condos. It was Like, So you were just like trying to find somebody. So no, it’s great. Everyone can get mortgages still. Yeah. Like nothing is collapsed. So no, this is wonderful.
Like we can, at least people can finance. So that’s one. I’m happy. That’s good news. Okay. So let’s give everybody now that our mindset straight, what is one of, well, both share your biggest tip for working with buyers or getting buyers to move forward right now. And then we’ll do one for sellers. So what’s yours or do you want me go first? Why don’t first and gimme few Number one, two. Look, Dad already. Chad. No, no. You’re gonna come outta the gate with something big.
So anyway, you’ll be like something profound. So the first thing to me in order to attract buyers is again, answer that question. Like why shouldn’t they be buying a house right now. If they should, like who should be buying houses right now? And how can you actually help them? Like really come from a helpful place. And sometimes the answer is don’t buy right now. Right? Like be willing to be that person to say that. So that’s number one. And number two, the minute you have anybody who’s at all interested in doing anything when it comes to real estate, start the relationship, not by showing houses, not by asking if they’re approved, sitting down and having an initial consultation.
Right? That second one is definitely one of mine. The initial consultation is so key and has always been a huge piece of my business. So definitely a hundred percent. If there is one thing that you take away from this for buyers always do a face to face buyer consultation. If you can do it face to face, second place is a zoom, but try to get that appointment in person. Because as soon as people meet you, they’re gonna fall in love with you, hopefully. And you’re gonna be able to audition and show that you’re the best person that they wanna talk to and work with. So that’s a hundred percent. My first advice, the second one is, and I think I kind of already touched on it, which is be a mortgage expert.
Like you have to know mortgage. And I know that a lot of people are like, oh, I just send them to the lender and the lender figures it out for me. And we’ve been able to do that with this market. We’ve been in that is no longer the case. So know your products, know how much down payment they need to have. Know the credit score requirements know what a debt to income ratio is, know how to calculate a mortgage payment, know what goes into a mortgage payment and know what questions that you should be asking these lenders. Because if you aren’t all over the mortgage piece, it will kill your deals. It makes or break should Over and over a great, like we literally had this conversation today in our agent Grad school class.
And I was like, if you don’t have a good lender and you don’t have a lender who will work with you on all these things, you cannot be a successful real estate agent. I’m gonna also give a bonus one other bonus one. I feel like I just can’t stop. And neither can you, so this is great. So the other bonus is because every deal becomes that much more important in a shift, you have to control every step of the process. And that means controlling. Who’s the lender, who’s the title company, or at least vetting them before you’re using them. And so it is literally getting your hand in every pie that is involved in the real estate process.
So it’s like, I’m not saying like get kickbacks and be sleazy and weird about it. Yeah. But Like you wanna make sure that your client is using somebody who is gonna get the deal done because you will have so much wasted time and energy and you don’t wanna get under contract and you don’t wanna discourage your client because you don’t get this like barrage of people who are wanting to buy and sell. It’s like every person that comes to you is precious and you wanna make sure that you do the best job you can for every single one of them. And so part of that is being a micromanager of the process, For sure. For sure. It’s kind of like, I always think of myself as like project manager or even the wedding planner.
Like yes, the transaction is the wedding closing is the wedding day. And my job is to make sure that all my vendors do what they’re supposed to do. And if they don’t, it’s not the vendor’s fault. It’s my fault. Exactly. Because I am the orchestrator. I am the planner. So it’s my job to communicate. Make sure everybody knows where they’re supposed to go. What’s supposed to happen. And the wedding day slash day needs to go off like a hitch. And it means, so look effortless. The, no matter what it looks like in the, This becomes so much more important when contracts have contingencies now. And so it’s like, you have to be following up on, did the lender order, the appraisal, did the lender put the loan in underwriting?
Does the lender have all the documents from your client? Did the title company actually order title? I mean, it’s all of these pieces that you need to double check that everyone else is doing their job. And so many people are like, I don’t need to do that. I don’t Need that’s job. Do you need to do that? Yeah. So let’s move on quickly to seller. So let’s each get one we actually have, let’s get one piece of advice for helping sellers in a shifting market. Do you wanna go first? Do you want me to go first? I can go first. So with sellers expectation setting is the number one job in a shifting market because they are living in yesterday’s market, not today’s market.
So become a nerd, get good at dealing with data. And I don’t know, like our MLS provides awesome tools for this. So it depends on where you are and what your MLS provides, but really understand how to calculate inventory rates, absorption rates, like, look, today’s on market, look into sales, price ratios, and become a expert in your market. And like, you have to go back to previewing property like you have. Yeah, for sure. You have to know your inventory and know your market because that’s gonna give you the clues on how to advise your seller clients.
Because in this market, it’s pricing prep and marketing. Like those are the keys to success in selling a house in a shifting market. So if any of those things are not perfect and do not align, you are not gonna sell that house. Yeah. And I usually actually used to take my sellers and like when the market was really crashing and they were like, I have some obscene number that was never, I would take them with me to see property. And I say, here’s what this is selling for it on the market. 60 days. It still hasn’t, you, your is better or worse than this. And we, the conversation. And then it would slowly but get them. So mine also set expectations, but I have a second one because I wanna give another tip other than set expectations.
And the, to set expectations guys is way in the it’s on. And everybody’s pissed. That’s it’s in the, and truly, if you have a seller who, you know, you’re not gonna be able to sell their house because of what their expectations are. You either have to get really good at getting them to see why your expectation is what it is. Or you need to say no, Yes. Walk away, walk away. Which is so hard for people to do. They wanna hold on so tight, no walk away. Cause it does not make you look good, you know, when you have it. So my other one is other than setting expectations, which I think occurs, you know, it’s the very first step of the process, like when you’re meeting with them or right after the signing of the listing.
But the second is your properties have to look as good as humanly possible, or you need to price accordingly. And when I say price accordingly, I mean, if your property does not look like a model home, then you need to like, underprice it to get it sold A hundred percent. I agree, totally buyers are expecting it to look like HGTV more than ever because their monthly payments are more than ever. So I mean, I actually am calculating some mortgage payments on some of these listings and they’re coming out to 6,000 to $7,000 a month. And there is no way ever in my life, I would pay that amount of money to live in some of these homes.
And they previously were 4,000 to 5,000 a month when interest rates were lower. So there is definitely like if you are, I think that is a reality check to throw into your sellers too, is that I’ve been recommending for everybody to calculate a monthly payment based on 10% and 20% down and bring that to the listing presentation and ask your seller, would you be willing to pay this amount of money to live in this house? And that’s a Great one. And they’re like The way that it looks right now. And they’re like, oh my God, no way. I would never. And you’re like, yes, exactly. And so that’s unfortunately part of the conversation we’re having to have with people, which is, and maybe we’ll catch up at some point, maybe the buyers will be willing to pay six to $7,000 a month for that house.
We aren’t there right now. So we’re going through that shift and we’ll see where we land. But yeah, it’s something It’s fun. I love these conversations personally. I love this market. I love this kind of market. I think it’s a place where you can choose to shine and where I think real professional rises to the top, they Do, You’ll get so much business. You’ll get so much business. They do get so much business. If you know your stuff can give people great advice. You’ll get business. I mean, it’s the same with financial planners. Think about them when the market’s crashing. People need their advice more than ever. And so we’re basically like that.
Like we’re giving people advice on one of their biggest assets, one of their biggest investments. And so if you wouldn’t go to yourself for advice on like your biggest investment or biggest asset, like you need to bone up on your skills to make sure that you are of that caliber, that people can trust you and you give great advice. Like that is the best compliment a real estate agent can receive, which is she gives great advice or he gives great advice. Like that’s the chef’s kiss. Yeah. I love it. So Number one, get your mind, right? Number two, build your skills with buyers, build your skills with sellers. Don’t be afraid to have a conversation, go a layer, deeper, be the one to lead the transaction from day one.
And if you wanna know how to do all this, right, a lot of this is theory, but you’re like, literally, what do I do? That is what we teach you at agent Grad school. In fact, Lindsay is doing a whole class about how to work with buyers, how to work with sellers in a shifting market and so much more. So join us. Yeah. I’m so excited. Well, I go out there and dominate the shift because it is an opportunity, not a time to be sad. And I think if you can embrace it, you will sell so much real estate. It’s incredible. Yeah. Yeah, let’s do it. What, thanks. Thanks. Thank you for listening to this episode of Confessions of a Top Producing Real Estate Agent, we purposely keep this podcast sponsor and commercial free so we can focus solely on providing real estate agents with the content that will help them grow their real estate business and have a life they love outside the business too, but we need your help to get this podcast in the hands of other real estate agents.
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