There's a question that we've had for a while now, which is: When are listing is going to come back in full force?

When can we have that expectation that we're going to start to see listings en masse start to come back to the marketplace?

We know there's been hesitancy because of COVID, but now that people are getting vaccines and the economy is strong. So when are we going to start to see people coming back and saying, Hey, I'm ready to make a sale. I'm ready to make a change.

There's an answer for us.

Zillow just did an extensive study talking to industry experts across the country. And the consensus is that it's going to be in the second half of 2021.

So we're coming right up onto that pretty soon here. And we're going to be right in the middle of 2021, which means we're going to start to see an acceleration of listings.

The question is: Are you ready for it? Are you out there lead generating to start stacking up that business now?

So here...

How do you compete in the San Francisco Real Estate Market? Watch this podcast to learn how Rockstar REALTOR Melissa Kirk approaches her conversations with clients, negotiating in multiple offer situations, and dealing with a highly competitive market to attract buyers and find new listings.

Melissa is not only a REALTOR but hold degrees in both business and psychology!

"Should I wait to buy a house?"

The real question behind that is, do they think prices are going to go down or are they going to go up?

Buyers are always debating this in their mind. They think that there's going to be some kind of dip. But statistically, according to every model we're looking at today, that's not likely because this isn't a "housing bubble." This is a "housing shortage" that we're in.

This is a supply versus demand issue more than anything else. And actually, the experts in the industry have just upgraded their projections for what they anticipate sales prices to do in 2021.

Here's the latest update:

I'm going to compare this to what they said in January. In January, Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Zelman & Associates, and the National Association of REALTORS consensus was that home prices during 2021 would go up 5.3%. Somewhere higher, somewhere lower, but the consensus was 5.3%.

Now,...

Why do offers get rejected?

This is an important thing to listen to because we're out competing against other offers all the time now. It's almost always a multiple offer situation and your buyers want to know why they lose.

The first thing you have to realize is that about 21% of the buyers that are out there in the market are cash buyers. That's the latest stats from NAR. That's a little bit up from where it was a few months ago, but it's not like it's all the buyers. Only 21% of the buyers are cash buyers. So that means of 10 buyers, two might be cash buyers. Something to be aware of is that when you're competing with a cash buyer, it can put you at a disadvantage. But it's not the only thing that sellers are considering.

A recent study that was done by NAR found these were the biggest reasons why people's offers were rejected:

1. A low offer

They didn't offer enough compared to the competition. It was not because it was cash or not...

Land is the last thing to heat up in any market. And it's the first thing to cool off.

Why is that?

Because everybody takes the low hanging fruit. If you think of the real estate market like a tree, land is at the top of the tree. Everybody takes the low-hanging fruit before they get to land.

But now that everything is sold out in most markets, people are wondering what they can do. And that's when they decide to build. 

That's why land is starting to heat up. Also, developers are starting to buy land so they can subdivide it and build more homes. Which is another reason why why land is starting to heat up.

As an agent, you can actually go after land as a prospecting method. It's an effective method because very few agents are going after land right now.

But as you drive around in your neighborhoods, you'll see a piece of land in a subdivision that's not developed. Or you'll see a piece of a lot that's an infill lot...

Grow your business by leaning how portfolio lending and SBA loans can help your clients win more deals. Join this amazing conversation with lending expert Mark Ritter as he explains some key advantages to working with a local credit union especially when serving investors and commercial clients.

How are you positioning yourself on social media to have impact?

A lot of us are doing a lot of social media, but is it having impact? Are people remembering you or are they just scrolling past your posts because they're filled with meaningless fluff?

If you want to have impact, here's one technique that'll really help you shine in your marketplace:

Storytelling.

Telling a story about your client's experience and what your clients are going through will help you build a relationship with people that are in your audience. It positions you as the expert, as the authority, as a trusted figure, as an advisor, as a counselor. But it will also help people remember you as a REALTOR.

Why?

Because stories are remembered. Stories create resonance and connections with other people. People love reading about people.

So I'm gonna give you a couple of examples of that:

I've got a couple of my great coaching students that I work with in my company....

In 1918, a guy named Ivy Lee was approached by Charles Schwab. Now, when we hear the name Charles Schwab, we might think of the Charles Schwab we know today who invested and traded stocks. But this isn't the same Charles Schwab.

Charles Schwab at that time was one of the most wealthy people in the world. He owned Bethlehem Steel and steel was, of course, a huge deal. So he was a hugely successful entrepreneur.

And so what happened with Ivy Lee and Charles Schwab was Ivy was a consultant — like how we have consultants and coaches today.

Anyway, Schwab came to him and said, "Hey, I want to increase my managers' efficiency and productivity as well as my proficiency and productivity. I want you to give me your best idea. What's it going to cost me?"

So Ivy being a smart salesperson, did a couple of things.

First, he said I'm not going to charge you anything. I'm just going to just give you the idea and then you can pay me what it's...

Hey guys, quick question:

Are you a global REALTOR or a local REALTOR?

What do I mean by that? I just had a phone call from a guy that I worked with years ago. His name is Dick and he's an amazing guy. He called me and said, Jim, I've got a referral for you. He's living down in San Diego now. But we haven't seen or talked to each other in 15-20 years, but he has a referral for me.

Now, keep in mind: Dick is 83 years old and still out there selling real estate — so congratulations to Dick.

But when he referred that client to me, it just made me remember this concept of being a global realtor versus a local realtor.

Sometimes I have agents come to me that are in coaching and they say: 

"I've got my database, but it includes some people from my hometown or from a town I moved away from years ago, maybe in Texas, Florida, LA, or New York. Should I keep these people that are not local in my database? Why would I spend money...

Should your buyer float their interest rate or lock now?

Interesting question. Some of you really gotta be working with your lender to have that conversation with them. But let me give you a little bit of what's been happening to date in January through roughly March 2021:

Let's look at the numbers and dig into them that I got from one of my lenders — who is an incredible rockstar in the lending world. His name is Brian Case and his team at Guild Mortgage gave me these numbers:

For the entire year of 2021 so far, a floating borrower — or somebody that took the gamble and threw the dice to see if they can get a better rate tomorrow than
they can get today — would've won 41% of the time. And they would have lost 58% of the time.

Because 48% of the time rates went down and 58% of the time they went up. So it's a gamble that may not be paying off.

Overall interest rates have gone up about a half percent since January....