Key Highlights

  • “Great Pause” is over…”new normal” in real estate here now
  • Seize “new normal” by embracing these seven trends and action steps

Change, the only constant, is happening faster and faster. Rather than being overwhelmed by the amount and pace of change, embrace it and utilize it to reinvent yourself and your business.

Download Your FREE Ultimate Agent Survival Guide Now. This is the exact ‘do this now’ info you need. Learn NOW How to Access All The Bailout Program Cash You Deserve. Including Unemployment and Mortgage Forbearance Plans. To Access the Ultimate Agent Survival Guide Now Text The Word SURVIVAL to 47372. 4 Msgs/Month. Reply STOP to cancel, HELP for help. Msg&data rates may apply. Terms & privacy: slkt.io/JWQt

Consider these trends and action steps as create your “new normal” you and real estate business:

  1. Economists tend to look at supply and demand as they forecast future Mike DelPrete, real estate tech strategist and wizard, focuses on what he calls “high intent” metrics to pinpoint current prices.
    1. DelPrete looks the current number of listings in order to understand the supply side of the equation.
    2. He looks to the current number of pending sales to understand the demand side…NOT the number of closed sales because closed sales numbers are between 30-90 days past tense.
    3. Action Steps – Watch for changes in these metrics.
      1. When there are more pending sales than listings, prospect for sellers.
      2. When there are more listings than pending sales, prospect for buyers.
    4. Movement towards the Suburbs and Beyond
      1. For many, the pandemic has translated into remote working.
      2. For many, remote working will become at least a part, if not all, of daily work routine.
      3. Remote working translates, for many, into moving away from city centers to take advantage of more space and less expensive housing/lifestyle costs.
      4. For many, the once loved, once scorned McMansions are making a comeback to accommodate both remote working and multi-generational households.
      5. For many, second homes in places close enough yet far enough from major metros (2-4 hours) are in high demand.
      6. Action Steps – Become a referral agent
        1. Generate and massage good collegial contacts who can help your clients in areas they want to be and where you aren’t
        2. You’ll earn a referral fee.
      7. Movement from Apartment Living to Single-Family Homes
        1. The COVID pandemic has made homeownership a top priority due to concerns for privacy, safety and space.
        2. Single-family homes and rental prices are holding steady, according to Matt Gardner, chief economist with Windemere Realty.
        3. Action Steps – Prospect high-end rentals for first time buyers
          1. Know the in’s and out’s of down payment assistance programs
          2. Bernice Ross, President and CEO of BrokerageUP and RealEstateCoach, suggests a card campaign such as “Are you ready to stop paying your landlord’s mortgage and own your own home?”
        4. Movement towards “Rightsizing”
          1. com defines rightsizing as utilizing and enhancing “…the quality of the space you need to meet your needs – not the quantity” of the space.
          2. Rightsizing is relevant for all demographic groups
          3. It can mean more than one generation selling their current homes and buying one larger home for all to live together – buying a large lot to build multiple living spaces as a family and/or friend compound
          4. Action Steps – Mine your database for those who may be interested in rightsizing.
            1. Reach out to those potential candidates to brainstorm their needs and imaginations.
            2. If nothing’s currently on the market as a rightsizing option, prospect owners of off-market options.
  • If nothing else, you may get a listing out of your outreach and brainstorming efforts.
  1. Movement towards even lower interest rates?
    1. Home prices currently holding steady.
    2. If they drop, Zillow predicts prices won’t drop more than 2%-3%
    3. Interest rates are historically low AND may go even lower…perhaps into the neighborhood of 2.5%.
    4. Action Step – Reach out to your sphere of influence AND referral database so they all know about historically low interest rates and steady home pricing.
  2. Movement towards consolidation
    1. 79% of brokerages have 6 or fewer agents, according to Tami Bonnell, CEO of EXIT Realty.
    2. One-stop shopping to facilitate entire real estate transaction is more and more ubiquitous
    3. Action Step – Time to consider merging your brokerage with a firm that would enable you and your agents to operate as a team within a brand that allows all transactional services under one umbrella?
  3. Cash flow is the name of the game, not unnecessary costs or office leases.
    1. At Inman’s Connect, Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist with the California Association of REALTORS, said 39% of their realtors were reducing their unnecessary costs AND 69% were reducing their physical footprint.
    2. Action Steps
      1. If you’re not using services related to “automatic renewals,” cancel them
      2. Follow the 80-20 rule – focus your time, energy and money on the top 20% of your business activities that generate 80% of your bottom line.
  • Follow the 80-20 rule – forget about the bottom 20% that generates, at best, 1% of your bottom line.

 Very Special Thanks to Bernice Ross, President and CEO of BrokerageUP and RealEstateCoach.com and writer, and to presentations/ideas she synthesized at the latest Inman’s Connect NOW.

Also read: Podcast: What To Expect In 2020? 10 Key Points!, Help Your Clients Become Real Estate Investors in 2020, Is Remote Working the “Extension Cord” Buyers Need for Suburban Living?

Claim Your FREE Real Estate Treasure Map!

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR