perfect practice
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Find sellers who didn’t know they wanted to sell
“You’d be surprised how often people tell If you’re cooling your heels waiting for the right you they’d been thinking about selling when listing for your client, try an alternative: Go you approach them with the idea,” Miller says. to a title company, find homes that meet your buyer’s criteria and do some good old-fashioned “There’s always something you can do. Don’t just sit back and wait for the market to get better.” door-knocking to find out how interested the If you’re an experienced seller, she also sugcurrent homeowner might be in selling, says Pat Miller, CRS, a Broker Associate with Century 21 gests going through your list of past sales and reminding those past clients how much equity NorthBay Alliance in Rohnert Park, California. they have now and how much their home is For example, Miller had a client who wanted really worth in the current market. Even if a home with a swimming pool. Through the title company, they hadn’t been thinking about selling, sharshe was able to run a ing the facts just may convince them to do so. search for every home Another avenue? Rental properties, says in the area with a Chuck Nichols, CRS, with Coldwell Banker swimming pool, then Burnet in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. If you know talked a homeowner an agent wasn’t able to sell a listing in a more into doing a 24-hour flush time and instead had it converted to a listing. That listing rental, ask if their client would be interested in turned into a sale selling on a one-time showing basis. “That way when her client you’re not competing with anyone, and you can bought the home. almost have your own private market,” he says.
Set your buyers’ expectations
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This market is brutal, and buyers will have to make concessions. Be up front with them right from the start, suggests Katherine Waters-Clark, a buyer’s agent with RE/MAX Leading Edge in Winchester, Massachusetts. REALTORS® should always educate their buyers about the current market and trends, and make sure the buyer is ready to compete in that kind of market, Waters-Clark says. “Prepare your buyers for battle,” Waters-Clark says. “Set their expectations for this competitive market. Buyers must be ready and willing to be aggressive. It’s painful up front, but all my buyers are prepared and resilient, and eventually end up in a home.”
a strong you for a tough market
In a particularly tight market, buyers may become disheartened and need a lot of encouragement. The best REALTORS® are coaches, too. But you can’t be a coach for your buyers if you aren’t taking care of yourself, says Katherine WatersClark, a buyer’s agent with RE/MAX Leading Edge in
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Winchester, Massachusetts. Her strategy? She focuses on nutrition and exercise when the going gets tough in the professional world. “This is a marathon way more than a sprint, so pace and sustainability are key. Packing nutritious food and water for your work day helps ensure that you are
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well-nourished,” Waters-Clark says. “Consistent exercise is a great stress reducer and increases stamina and endurance.” Waters-Clark spends time revisiting old leads, hunting through her database and being of service in the community and to her past and present clients in any
way possible, while also bal“This market will wear ancing her healthy eating and and tear on the buyer and exercise routine. She says the buyer’s agent,” she says. that while it’s challenging to “I think it’s important to keep a positive attitude when have a mindset of abunyou’re working harder with dance instead of scarcity, of each buyer to write several success rather than failure, offers before one is accepted, especially when things are keeping active, positive and scarce. Fight the temptation healthy keeps her attitude to be afraid and buckle in check. down instead.”