Article – Real Estate Magazine
Region Served: Myrtle Beach, SC
Years in real estate: 18
Number of offices: 2
Number of agents: 44
Favorite Real Estate App:
Who has most influenced your success? Mike Ferry
Where does your market stand in terms of the real estate recovery?
The market in my area has recovered. Of course, the term recovery is very subjective. To me, recovery means the market is back to normal with modest appreciation each year. For some, recovery means that the price of their home has recovered all of the losses that it suffered over since 2006.
The key indicators that lead me to believe we have recovered:
1) Supply is down significantly
2) Boomerand Buyers and retirees are fueling demand
3) Interest rates are still low
4) Lenders are lending
5) New construction permits are on a sharp incline
6) Banks are approving short sales faster
7) Less foreclosures
8) Multiple offers on our listings
9) Average Days on Market is decreasing.
There are many neighborhoods and condo buildings where 2 years ago there were 15 properties for sale and now there are only 2 listed today. That is significant. It appears that we approaching an inventory shortage because the builders are not prepared to meet the demand.
What is the most signifcant trend positively affecting your business right now?
The most positive trend that is affecting my business right now is the decreasing supply. The last few years has been tough on sellers. They would list the properties at fair market value and a month later the prices dropped and they had to reduce their list price. A few months would go by and we had to do it all over again. With the supply of inventory decreasing, we are able to better ‘protect the equity’ of our sellers by selling their property for more money or holding firm in negotiations. Lately, we are getting multiple offers on our listings which means the market is shifting to a sellers market again. These positive trends allow me to report positive news to my clients.
As far as marketing new listings, what is one of the most unique ways you’ve gone about doing this?
Marketing new listings is not like it used to be. At one time, we thought that putting our listing on the internet was a big deal. Now, it is harder to keep the property off the internet then it is to get it on the internet. There is know magic pill for promoting a listing anymore. The consumer demands that we market their property in multiple areas. We choose to market on various channels. Combining these efforts is what gets our properties sold faster and for more money.
Here is my unique way of promoting our new listings:
1) Enter into MLS as well as full syndication to all popular websites. This can include over 1000 websites nationwide.
2) Call the top 10 agents in our marketplace who have sold similar listings in the past/ Focus on finding the agents who are most likely to cooperate in the sale and promote the listing directly to those agents. We want to take it to them…not just hope they find in the MLS. They may already have a buyer waiting on the sidelines.
3) Email promotions on our new listings to all prospective buyers in our database that. We have our databases segmented so we know which listings to promote to which buyers.
4) Call around to the neighbors of our new listings and give them information…They may know someone looking to move into the area. Great resource for referrals.
5) Don’t forget – pricing appropriately is one of the most important aspects of marketing a property for sale. So, we focus on education our client and making sure we match the list price along with their needs and expectations of getting it sold in a certain timeframe.
How are you working to keep buyers and sellers educated about the opportunities available today?
My intention is to Empower the Consumer by providing the proper information and education that will allow them to make informed buying decisions. The key with establishing a ‘relationship’ with the buyer is that we must ‘ADD VALUE’ ! We do not add value by giving them property updates, though we still need to do this. We add value by understanding what their goals are and then we must provide the proper education to help them acheive these goals.
My buyers leads go into a dynamic CRM system where I send them information via email in addition to the new listings on the market. Sometimes the information will include a link to a video about, “How to Successfully Negotiate with a Seller” or tips on “Three ways to Get your Offer Accepted…the first time”.
This is the type of information that the buyer sees as value. If I am associated with the content that they deem is value then I become the authority in their eyes therefore they want to do business with me. Everyone can send them listings…few people take the time to educate them.
What are your best strategies for keeping in touch with clients?
The best strategy that I know for keeping in touch with clients is by picking up the phone and calling them. Yes, I use a CRM program that allows me to communicate with my clients automatically through well ochestrated email campaigns yet it is the ‘ole fashion’ phone call that seems to make the difference. We must be carefull not to hide behind emails and avoid making the phone call. It is much easier to establish a connection via phone conversation versus email drip campaigns. I do have to schedule the phone calls to my clients just like I would schedule an email drip system. For showings, we use a great system call ‘Showing Suite’, this allows us to generate showing feedback from another agent and deliver it to our seller clients in real time. Our clients tell us how much they appreciate the follow up after every showing even though this is all automated.
It is the connection…not the communication that will generate future referrals.
What are you most looking forward to as we continue through 2013?
I am most looking forward to the changes that the real estate market will experience in 2013. The real estate market is shifting and for us to remain ahead of the curve, we must focus on the shifting trends and make the proper changes in our business models. I love change and I feel that it is our duty to monitor change, assess how those changes will impact our clients and then provide the proper information to the consumer so they will know what changes they need to make themselves. The next few years will be exciting. We must be ready for changes in supply, changes in demand as well as learning how to deal with multiple offers all over again. I am sure that there will be times when we are moving forward and times when we feel we are falling back. I accept the challenge and make it my mission to navigate safely through these waters.
