24 Jun Market Shift And Your Real Estate Career

Posted at 15:51h in keller williams careers by

“Aww, shift! What do I do now?”

Here we go! For those who haven’t experienced a market shift in your real estate career before this one, these will be some of the best years of your real estate career…if you do it right.

What happened?

The vote yesterday for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (commonly known as the Brexit) has had huge effects on the world markets.

  • The British pound immediately plummeted in value.
  • Both Ireland and Scotland announced plans today to vote whether or not to separate themselves from England and join the European Union as independent nations.
  • Northern and Southern Ireland may join forces as one independent nation.
  • The European Union leaders have called for Great Britain to immediately get out, instead of the original British plan to phase themselves out over the next two years.
  • The British Prime Minister resigned today.
  • There are some rumblings about London AS A CITY voting to leave England and do their own thing.

Interesting times, for sure!

Markets (real estate and otherwise) are always shifting. A “perfectly balanced” market isn’t something that exists in real life, other than in college economics textbook exercises. Markets are always in motion, there just happened to be a major world event that put the markets in motion today.

What should you do?

Ten Steps To Crushing It In A Market Shift

  1. Don’t freak out.
  2. When in doubt, refer to 1.
  3. Get ahead of this thing NOW. Don’t wait for your clients to contact you. TODAY, you need to be calling, emailing and texting every live listing client, buyer client and active prospect letting them know what’s happening, and why. TODAY. Do NOT wait for them to contact you or gather their own information. Position yourself as the expert before they get to the office and start getting advice from their know-it-all coworker down the hall who has never owned a property but reads obscure conspiracy forums online late at night by himself in his mom’s basement where he lives. It wouldn’t hurt to post something on your social media channels of choice making yourself available for anyone else who has questions about what to do. This is a great time to ask for referrals from all of your live clients. People need help! Be available to help them.
  4. Be prepared for questions from your clients about what they should be doing. Remember, they are watching the news, talking to their uninformed friends and thinking up all sorts of crazy things that are based on rumors, speculation and half-truths. You need to read a variety of news stories from a variety of sources so you know what your clients are reading and you know how to respond. I suggest creating Google Alerts for real estate news in your area, and spending some time searching Twitter for real-time conversations and links to relevant stories. Things move FAST on days like today, so you need to be extra-informed. If you don’t know the answer to something a client asks you, just say so, then go find the answer.
  5. Double down on education and lead generation. The fundamentals of the real estate business don’t change when the market changes. Lead generation and training need to occupy most of your time. This is a timeless philosophy (the best real estate agents do this all the time), but it’s worth mentioning because so many people in the business treat it like an option for a real estate career instead of a priority.
  6. Start reviewing your P&L on a DAILY basis. What’s that? You don’t have a P&L? No worries, today is a great day to create one. I have a template if you need it, just email me. [email protected]. It is absolutely critical for you to get focused on your expenses and make sure every dollar you spend is generating multiple dollars in return. A hot market (like the one we’ve been experiencing for the past few years) leads to laziness and sloppiness when it comes to expenses. I’m guilty of this as well. No more! Fix it today.
  7. Focus on action. Are your sellers worried because their house has been on the market for a while, they’ve had a bunch of showings and there are no offers? ACTION. Today is a great day to have those price reduction conversations you’ve been avoiding (yes, YOU). Are your buyers worried that they might overpay for a property because there’s a market crash in the near future? That’s a legitimate thought, so you need to recognize it and address it. ACTION. Focus on their motivation and make sure it’s strong. Make sure they understand that mortgage interest rates are fabulous right now and nobody has a crystal ball. If their motivation isn’t strong enough, that’s okay. Help them buy in a year or two when they’re ready and go find some properly motivated buyers to help today. Just make sure the punters are informed and aren’t making a knee-jerk decision to delay their purchase because their friends or in-laws or co-worker who reads the obscure forums has spooked them with misinformation.
  8. Ask for help. When the market shifts in a big way, it creates a fluid environment. There will be transactional situations that you haven’t seen before. Expect them and brush-up on your contract knowledge and some of the boilerplate legalese in those paragraphs in the contracts that you don’t usually read. It’s always wise to ask for help whenever you’re in doubt, and it’s extra important during turbulent times.
  9. Embrace the difficult deals. While you probably won’t appreciate them at the time, you will learn the most from the difficult deals. You will need some creativity and some tenacity. These will be growth opportunities for you.
  10. Take time for yourself and your family. This one is also timeless, but it is extra important when you’re feeling stress from tough deals or lower conversion rates or any of the other hard things that appear in a shifting market. No deal is worth your relationships or your health, so make it a priority to stay healthy and happy. Happiness is a choice, so choose it.

I love success stories! Send me your success story if any of these tips have helped, pretty please? If you’re struggling with a situation or need some help getting started with a real estate career, I will always make time for you. Post your message in the comments below and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Best of luck to you. Keep fighting the good fight.