By Julie Harris

Taking a break from our routine, today was a very interesting day as most of you know, as the Feds did a surprise rate cut of three-quarters of a point.  A lot of people are saying there will also be a quarter point next week for a total of an entire point rate cut, which is very significant.

How does this affect you?  Guess what, this is going to stimulate many of your buyers to finally do something.  One of the most common things heard in coaching calls is that I have a buyer that’s interested, but they’re waiting on prices to come down, rates to come down but we are there.

There are two ways for you to use this information. 

Number one call all your sellers and talk to them about the fact that the buyers in the market are finally being stimulated, especially on the five, seven and ten year arms.  For example, these are the lowest rates in years.  On a conforming, which in most states is up to $417,000 in loan, the five year is 5.1%. 

Therefore, you should call and be relentless in doing follow-up with all buyer leads, open-house leads, sign calls, Internet leads whatever the case may be, call it today. 

You can check rates in several places such as CNBC, BankRate.com; on a jumbo rate over $417,000, five year is 5.8 and the ten year is 6.5% and these are as low as they’ve been in years.  Combine that with the fact there are many homes for the buyers to look at.

Sellers are finally adjusting prices and low interest rates that’s buyer nirvana, which is why they call it a buyer’s market.  It’s your job to call all possible buyer leads you have right now and get them into a house in the next week.

The second way you can do this is to call your sellers and make sure they know all these facts.  Remind them that this is a unique situation.  They can have their house positioned properly as we’ve talked about on previous calls, it’s got to show in the best condition possible and be at the most competitive price. 

Competitive price, great condition, motivated buyers; finally motivated buyers equals more sales for you and happy sellers.

Pay attention to what’s happening around you, the agents who know what’s happening and take advantage of the opportunities will win every time.  In this situation you can win big. 

Call the buyers who told you last November they were waiting until the first of the year until prices came down.  This is a situation where they can afford more house for the money and they have plenty to choose from.  When the market was hot there wasn’t much to choose from, rates were good, but they didn’t have choices.  Call those people because now is their time.