Here's an amazing number you should share with everyone in your sphere of influence:

The average American homeowner now has $298,000 in equity, a record high!

This presents a fantastic opportunity to update your clients on their equity growth over the past year. We should do this every year with our clients, and if you haven't done it yet, make a point of doing it now.

Consider shooting a quick video and saying:

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"Hey, good news! Across the country, the average homeowner now has $298,000 in equity. If you're curious about your equity position, I'd love to do a PAYER report for you.

What's a PAYER report? It stands for Personalized Equity Analysis Report. It provides a quick update on your home equity and where you stand. If you're thinking about selling, I'd love to help you. Or, if you're considering investing in more real estate and building even more equity, I'm happy to assist you there as well. At the very least, get a copy of that free PAYER report.”

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That's the...

A question you should ask every seller when you’re about to list a property is: "Do you have an FHA, USDA, or VA loan?"

These loans are often assumable, making the property highly valuable. If they have an interest rate below 5%, the house can fetch a premium price.

For example, if current interest rates are at 7% and a buyer can assume a 4.5% loan, it's a fantastic opportunity. There are some caveats, though. Be cautious about locking up veterans' benefits, preventing them from using those benefits elsewhere. If the seller is retiring or doesn't plan to own another home, they might be okay with someone assuming their loan.

For USDA and FHA loans, the buyer must qualify. They can't be a deadbeat; they need to qualify for the loan. Most buyers in a position to assume these low-interest loans will be thrilled, and your sellers can get a premium price.

Start asking sellers, "Do you have an FHA, USDA, or VA loan, and would you be okay with it being assumed?" There are many...

Here's a massive opportunity for you when you're looking at your sphere of influence. If you've got a list of people in your sphere that own businesses or are entrepreneurs with locations, we’re in a unique position with the commercial market right now. In many areas, the commercial market is really struggling.

The script for reaching out to these business owners in your sphere of influence is straightforward. Start by asking, “Do you rent or own your current location?”

Most will be renters, some will be owners.

If they say they are renters, you can respond with this:

“If you'd like to own, this is one of the best times in the last 10 years to buy commercial property. There are several factors at play:

• Vacancies are high
• Rents are declining
• Rental prices and commercial real estate prices are stable, with some areas seeing decreases

There’s a real opportunity to get a bargain in today’s market.”

Or if they already own their property, ask,...

Have you ever wanted to work with more residential income investors? If so then this podcast is for you! During the show we dive deep into the world of residential income investing with Ed Matthews founder and CEO of Clark St Capital, a company that helps C-level executives diversify their wealth by investing in real estate. We dig into key information, an investor's “Buy Box”, the differences between A,B, and C condition levels. One negotiating sentence that is an absolute must know – if you want to unlock creative deals. Spend 30 minutes and walk away with a ton of key information on working with investors!

Dani Hampton is an expert in using social media as a key part of her lead generation strategy. Listen as Dani outlines what she does on a daily basis to build relationships with her online “sphere of influence”. Explore her journey from being on a team to building her own 10 person team while overcoming health challenges and building a family. Everyone should take her advice on how to have work life balance even while closing over 140 transactions in one year!

If you are building a team or Brokerage don’t miss this conversation with Sisu CEO and Founder Brian Charlesworth. Brian brings insight into how the best teams and office leaders manage performance and add value to their teams with systems, lead management, and measurement tools. Growth in the real estate industry is essential to building profitable organizations and Brian has his pulse on the highest performing teams in America!

Question:

Let's say you have a seller that says, “Jim, I watched the news this weekend, and I understand that I don't have to pay a buyer's rep.”

What will be your response to that?

Now, if you get that, I would say that they’re right, and they really haven't had to do that for years. The only difference is that the buyer rep fee is not going to show up in the MLS as of July.

But should you choose not to pay a buyer's rep?

Here's my personal thought on this:

When you offer to pay a buyer's rep, what happens is you’re going to attract more showings and thereby get more offers and more exposure for your property because there's not many buyers that have the money to write a check at closing to their buyer's rep.

So when a seller says they’re not going to pay it, a lot of times they're just going to eliminate that house from consideration. They'll just go look at the houses where the buyer's rep is being paid.

Now, if they choose not to pay a buyer's...

The NAR settlement, which will happen in mid-July (but you’ll start seeing this already): You're going to see a rise of unrepresented buyers.

These will be buyers knocking on your door as a listing agent and saying they’re unrepresented and that they want to make an offer on your listing.

Are you going to, as the listing agent, treat them the same as if they're represented? Or are you going to treat them differently?

Well, I just saw a top agent that did an internal study with his team and found…

70% of the deals that came from unrepresented buyers in his market failed.

So think about that, and I believe that to be true because they just don't have somebody walking them through the process. When you’re sitting with your seller, you need to have an unrepresented buyer conversation going forward. And here's what that conversation might look like:
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“Mr. And Mrs. Seller, there's been some changes with the way that we're selling real estate based on an...

Okay, guys, here's an important question regarding this NAR settlement and everything around it:

We are going to have to start having buyer representation agreements. In that agreement, it's going to say how much you're going to get paid, right? You’ve established what you charge sellers a long time ago, but now you've got to do it with buyers.

What's going to be your minimum commission standard with a buyer?

First of all, accept the fact that you have value and that you are worth more than some other agents in your community. So, you're not going to base your number on what another real estate agent is doing. Maybe they're brand new or barely active.

Instead, you need to base your numbers on the services you provide and your experience.

But here's a bad tendency with a lot of agents: They're going to undershoot their value.

They may say, "I don't want to be greedy, so I'll come in lower."

But don't go too low. There's still going to be sellers offering buyer agent...

What's going to be your approach in having conversations with buyers about this idea of writing you a check or potentially writing you a check at closing? It feels scary, doesn't it?

I'm going to give you a script focused around what I call a success fee. Just remember, we're never paid in general. The vast majority of us get paid at closing and only if the buyer's successful.

So my starting point will be:

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“Hey guys, I just want to point out that today we work under a buyer representation agreement… You don't pay me until you found the perfect house, got it at the right price, financing sorted, inspections done, deal closed. That's when I get paid. If I don't help you get to the finish line, I don't get paid a dime. My fee for representation, if you get to the finish line, is X. In many cases, we negotiate with the seller to have all or part of that fee paid on your behalf.

It's going to be super transparent. I’ll give you a net sheet on each transaction,...