Real Estate Agent Discovers How to Prosper in a Down Market
I was talking to a real estate friend of mine the other day and asked her how well she was doing in this down turn market that I hear and read about everyday? I was waiting for the standard "moan and groan" answer, when she surprised me by saying that she has never been so busy ever.
Wow, that sounded so refreshing after hearing so many negative comments everyday.
I asked why she was doing so well and most of her colleagues were doing so poorly? She said that I decided that even if the business may be off 25%, there were still 75% left and I would work with those remaining buyers and sellers.
The second thing that she decided to do was to not to follow what everyone else was doing, and to try a few new ideas to assist her clients since the economy had so changed.
She only had so many hours in the day and decided to use them more wisely than the past few years when times were easier.
With her buyers, she decided to have each and everyone get a written and exact pre-approval prior to showing any properties.
The lenders have radically changed the approval process and what worked last week no longer works this week.
Next, she looked for programs that assisted first time homebuyers with incentives that worked in their favor.
She researched out all the sold properties in her area that had sold in the past 60-90 days to determine real value of worth and what kind of offers and appraised values may be anticipated? This research would also help with her sellers.
Instead of guessing, she could now speak with much more authority.
With her sellers, she decided that if they were not realistic with listing at a price that was not in line with today's current values, that she was not interested in wasting her time of theirs.
If the seller was being realistic about list price, she was also a real stickler about the property being presentable for showing.
This would mean that each seller had to clean, organize, de-clutter, repair and do whatever was required to have the property in the best showable condition.
Some properties would also need to be professionally home staged and or whatever it took to make it standout to the discriminating buyers.
There were just so many properties for sale and the amount of buyers had been greatly reduced, so the odds had to be improved to favor her listings.
She also took some continuing education programs that permitted her to represent her sellers that were facing foreclosure and how to correctly handle for a win-win.
She noticed that so many sellers that were in foreclosure with agents that had no idea of what to do, other than list it for what was owed, and most all of these properties went back to the bank.
The fruit of her efforts slowly paid off.
At first she was not able to get as many listings as she had hoped for, and some buyers chose not to be so honest, but she held tight with her plan and had faith.
It wasn't long before her listings all started selling quickly just as she had planned, and those sellers told their friends.
With the buyers that did as she had instructed them and listened, she found them all some really great buys, and they in turn, told their friends.
I can now see why she is smiling and so happy.
She decided to go back to basics, get a plan, implement some new ideas, gain some continuing education and have faith to confidently apply it now.
Wow, that sounded so refreshing after hearing so many negative comments everyday.
I asked why she was doing so well and most of her colleagues were doing so poorly? She said that I decided that even if the business may be off 25%, there were still 75% left and I would work with those remaining buyers and sellers.
The second thing that she decided to do was to not to follow what everyone else was doing, and to try a few new ideas to assist her clients since the economy had so changed.
She only had so many hours in the day and decided to use them more wisely than the past few years when times were easier.
With her buyers, she decided to have each and everyone get a written and exact pre-approval prior to showing any properties.
The lenders have radically changed the approval process and what worked last week no longer works this week.
Next, she looked for programs that assisted first time homebuyers with incentives that worked in their favor.
She researched out all the sold properties in her area that had sold in the past 60-90 days to determine real value of worth and what kind of offers and appraised values may be anticipated? This research would also help with her sellers.
Instead of guessing, she could now speak with much more authority.
With her sellers, she decided that if they were not realistic with listing at a price that was not in line with today's current values, that she was not interested in wasting her time of theirs.
If the seller was being realistic about list price, she was also a real stickler about the property being presentable for showing.
This would mean that each seller had to clean, organize, de-clutter, repair and do whatever was required to have the property in the best showable condition.
Some properties would also need to be professionally home staged and or whatever it took to make it standout to the discriminating buyers.
There were just so many properties for sale and the amount of buyers had been greatly reduced, so the odds had to be improved to favor her listings.
She also took some continuing education programs that permitted her to represent her sellers that were facing foreclosure and how to correctly handle for a win-win.
She noticed that so many sellers that were in foreclosure with agents that had no idea of what to do, other than list it for what was owed, and most all of these properties went back to the bank.
The fruit of her efforts slowly paid off.
At first she was not able to get as many listings as she had hoped for, and some buyers chose not to be so honest, but she held tight with her plan and had faith.
It wasn't long before her listings all started selling quickly just as she had planned, and those sellers told their friends.
With the buyers that did as she had instructed them and listened, she found them all some really great buys, and they in turn, told their friends.
I can now see why she is smiling and so happy.
She decided to go back to basics, get a plan, implement some new ideas, gain some continuing education and have faith to confidently apply it now.
