How To Be A Successful Agent In One Of The Worst Real Estate Markets Ever

Several years ago, the real estate market was booming and sellers and buyers were abundant. Real estate agents were selling homes with ease and there was always a buyer around the corner. Since then, the market has come to a grinding halt (relatively speaking). Traditional sellers and buyers are on the sidelines and many agents are quitting the real estate biz and getting "real jobs".

But why should you? If you understand what opportunities there are in this market and take advantage of them, you will be just as, if not more successful than years past.

Here's how:

With foreclosures on the rise, agents should be reaching out to lenders and banks to get on their "approved list" in order to sell their foreclosure listings. Foreclosures are going to be a key part of every successful agent's business strategy over the next few years.

For example, in Loudoun County, Virginia, fourty percent of all homes that have sold so far in November have been foreclosures or short-sales. Twenty-three percent of all active listings in the county are foreclosures or short-sales. And both of these percentage figures have risen significantly since the turn in the market and continue to rise.

This growing source of listing business is filling in the void left from traditional sellers that are on the sidelines. Without foreclosures in your listing portfolio, you're missing out on a growing source of business while holding on to a diminishing source of business.

And in case you're saying "but I'm in a very affluent area so that couldn't be the case here", check this out - Loudoun County, Virginia has the second highest median household income in the nation. Just because someone makes a lot of money doesn't mean they're immune to being foreclosed on.

That's the listing side. Now let's take a look at the buyer side:

Traditional buyer traffic has decreased significantly over the past couple of years, especially over the  last several months. But investor traffic has started to increase. Investors have been circling in the sky  for a while now and are finally starting to dive in to for the kill. Agents should be focused on investor clients to take the place of the missing traditional buyer traffic.

Though investors are different from traditional home buyers, they are not any harder to work with. In fact, if you're a "number's person", investors may be more appealing to you than traditional buyers. Investors are typically level headed, focused on stats, ROI and numbers in general and don't make decisions based on emotion. And though they make take their time doing their homework and crunching the numbers, they act quickly once they see something that works for them.

In addition, once you do right by an investor and earn their trust, they can turn into a great source of continued transactions and commissions for years to come. Many investors buy and sell multiple properties per year while some do that per month. Some investors conduct more transactions per month than the average agent does per year (which has just fallen from six to four).

The moral of the story is that the opportunity to be successful is always there regardless of what the market is doing. You just have to realize the opportunity and take advantage of it.

So what will you do, take advantage of the opportunity or quit and get a "real job"?

Note: We have the honor of saying that this is the featured post at the 67th Edition of the Carnival of Real Estate (CoRE) being hosted by 3 Oceans Real Estate.

Comments

[Jeremy Hart]

Good reminder ...

[Noel Freedman]

I retired a year ago after selling homes for 43 years. It is matter of fact that the real estate housing market runs on the sale of contingencies. Every listed Seller is going one rung up or down on the housing ladder. In this down market, where equity has shrunk below the resale costs to bail out, Sellers are stuck to roost on their rungs. The only way off is through foreclosure. I smell it will take years to grow out of this mess. And least we forget,the intent of the computer (according to Bill Gates) is too eliminate the middle man/woman. Well, folks, that's us.

[Steve Ramirez]

I am also a strong believer that as Realtors we need to work even harder to assist distressed sellers. The shift in the real estate economy and the adjustable rate mortgages have had a tremendous in our local economies. Be persistent and don't give up in the entrepreneurial journey.

[Roger]

With foreclosures on the rise, the agents are reaching out to lenders and banks to get on their "approved list" in order to sell their foreclosure listings. Foreclosures are going to be a key part of every successful agent's business strategy over the next few years.

[betina]

Nice Article but successful agent always hit the market when seems the home prices going to low and they purchase for future profit .

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[socorro sultan]

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