Hey guys, is there one giant national real estate market? The answer is no. Real estate, like politics, is all local. One market is going to be different from the next, and what drives conditions in every market across the country is supply and demand.

Supply and demand determine what sellers can ask for a home and what buyers can ask from sellers. This is true in every market in America.

If we broke the national market down, we could look at it in four distinct regions, as often done by NAR: the South, the West, the Midwest, and the Northeast. These markets are wildly different.

I live in the West, where there are currently more sellers than buyers. Sellers here are feeling the pressure—reducing prices, offering concessions, and being more aggressive to attract buyers.

In the Midwest and Northeast, it’s the opposite. There are more buyers than sellers, giving sellers pricing power. Agents in those regions might say, “What are you talking about? It’s completely different here.”

He...

Brokerage owners and team leaders — I have a question for you: What problem are you solving for agents?

If you're not solving a problem for them, there's no reason for them to come work for you.

The number one problem you can solve is helping them unlock the door to more transactions. Most agents are struggling here, so giving them a roadmap, tools, strategies, and techniques to close more deals should be your top priority.

But there are other problems we often overlook. Maybe they’re struggling with time management, technology, client management, building out a CRM, or having a reliable way to evaluate potential listings.

Agents have many challenges, and if we’re not addressing them, we’re giving them no reason to join our company.

All great businesses — especially industry disruptors — solve problems.

Think about the great companies you do business with today. They’ve solved a problem.

You need to be the problem solver.

Take a moment to reflect on your market. What are four o...

Hey guys, we're coming up on the end of summer. That means it’s time to have a specific conversation with one key group of clients: sellers.

If their home hasn’t sold yet, it may be time to reprice—because fewer and fewer buyers are entering the market. Many buyers want to be settled before the school year starts. Not all, but a large percentage.

We know the bulk of real estate activity happens in spring and summer. But once we hit late summer—August and September—the market begins to slow down dramatically.

So, what do we say to our sellers?

Here’s how I’d frame it:

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"Mr. and Mrs. Seller, we’re entering September, which means we’re approaching the end of summer. Buyer activity is beginning to taper off, and there’s a lot of competition right now. Many other sellers like you are working to attract a smaller pool of remaining buyers.

"What we typically see this time of year is a wave of repositioning. Sellers begin to get more competitive—especially with price and buyer incen...

Hey, brokerage owners and team leaders. I’m going to do a quick role play with you right now.

Let’s pretend you’re an agent who just had a failed transaction with one of my agents. I’m going to call you—not text you, but call—and say:

"Hey Jim, I just wanted to reach out. I know you had a transaction with Bob that didn’t come together this morning. I got the bad news, but Bob told me you were an absolute pro throughout the process. This has nothing to do with you or your client—sometimes things just happen. I just wanted to say thank you for your professionalism. We look forward to working with you again in the future. And if there’s ever anything I can do to help, I’m here."

Now, imagine making that kind of call after every failed transaction where the other agent handled things well. What do you think is going to happen on the other end of the call?

Do you think that agent will appreciate it? Absolutely. No other broker is making that kind of call.

What you’re doing is laying a ...

We have a lot more listings nationally on the market than we’ve had in many years. That means we’re going to see a lot more expired listings, especially since pending sales are also dropping.

Pending sales are soft—we're on track for about 3.94 million sales this year, very similar to last year. This is all driven by interest rates. As they hover around 6.5% to 6.75%, the sales pace will likely persist. When interest rates drop, we’ll see a big surge back into the market. But for now, expect more expired listings.

If you're an agent looking for more listings, it's time to focus on expireds—especially as we move from summer into the fall and winter market.

So what can you do to engage these potential sellers?

The #1 strategy: Work with an active buyer.

We all have buyers. Use that active buyer to farm three key categories:

1. The Neighborhood – Target the neighborhood your buyer wants. Use that buyer as a conversation starter with homeowners there. One in 20—at least 5%—will have ...

Brokerage owners and team leaders, how do you establish trust with agents in your market area?

The number one way to build trust today is through social media. Specifically by recording video daily. The most effective way to build trust is by letting people get to know who you are.

Thanks to video, people can now get a real sense of your personality, your energy, and your overall vibe.

Think about an agent who’s never seen you on video and hasn’t met you in person because everyone’s so busy. All they know is that you're the owner or leader of XYZ Company. You’d be surprised how many agents feel intimidated. Not because you’re intimidating, but because of your title, experience, and success. They might think that they could never talk to you, let alone calling or texting you.

They don’t know you because you haven’t made the effort to show up.

And the way to break down those walls is to consistently show up on social media and post videos daily. Post them to your personal page. Frie...

Okay, guys, do you ask the seller what they want to list the property for?

When you walk into that listing appointment, do you say, “Hey, do you have a price in mind?”

If those words are coming out of your mouth, it’s a mistake, and I’m going to tell you why.

Because when the seller voices that number, I believe they start to solidify around it. They begin to take a position. And if they feel like they’re being backed off of it, they may feel like they’re losing face. So they start defending it even more—especially in front of a significant other, a spouse, husband, wife, whoever.

They feel the need to defend that number.

So what’s the alternative?

Don’t encourage them to state a price.

Sometimes they'll volunteer it anyway, but don’t prompt them.

Instead, try saying this:

“Hey guys, I brought in a lot of data for you. I’m a data person, and I believe that to make a really good decision, you just need really good data. So I bring in all kinds of information that helps with pri...

Here’s a key question when it comes to pricing: Who’s influencing who in a listing meeting?

When you walk into a house, remember you’re the expert. As a real estate professional, you're looking at homes every single day. You’re showing properties, scanning the MLS, reviewing the hot sheet, and touring listings. That’s why clients hire us and pay tens of thousands of dollars. Because we know the market.

Most of us walk into a home with a gut number. You know what I mean. You look around and think, This house will sell for $454K or $625K. And you’re usually pretty close.

But here's what happens: You walk in with that gut number... and then the seller starts talking.

They show you every improvement, tell you why they love the house, and explain why they think it’s worth more. Before you know it, you're moving your number toward their number.

But it should be the other way around:

You should be influencing them. You are the expert. And if you want to price a home where it will actual...

Question: how fast do you pivot on price when you list a property?

Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes even the best of us get it wrong. When we get it wrong and don’t pivot quickly, we risk missing the opportunity to sell the property for top dollar.

So, how fast do you pivot? Do you wait two weeks, three weeks, a month, two months? Are you setting that expectation upfront with the seller?

Here’s a study from ShowingTime. They’re integrated with many MLSs across the country and help schedule showings. Because of that, they have their finger on the pulse of showing activity.

Their study, based on tens of thousands of showings, shows that after the first five days, showings plummet on most listings.

Why? Because when a listing hits the market, all eyes are on it. Most buyers—probably 95% to 99%—are set up on portals like Realtor.com, Zillow, or your website. When that listing hits the MLS, the entire backlog of active buyers sees it almost immediately.

Hundreds of buyers look...

If I asked you—as a brokerage owner or team leader—what are your top five differentiation points, could you answer clearly?

What makes your company different from every other company in the marketplace? In other words, what’s your value proposition?

If you can’t answer that, no one else in your market can either.

Some of you might rush to say, “Well, we have the lowest commission plan in the market.” But that’s a terrible value proposition.

If a commission plan were all it took to recruit agents, then the brokerage with the lowest commission would have the most agents. But that’s rarely true.

Why?

Because commission plans are not the single greatest motivator for agents.

The #1 motivator for an agent to join your office is this: Will you help them grow their transaction count?

If your value proposition doesn’t clearly communicate how you’ll help agents do more deals, you’re going to lose—every single day—to competitors who can.

So here’s my challenge to you:

Take some time to...