When you're sitting with a seller for the first time, I like to have what I call the “Red Flag Conversation.”

I'll say, “Hey Mr. and Mrs. Seller, one of two things is going to happen now that we've listed the property: either we’re going to get showings—or we won’t. That alone gives us valuable insight. If we put your house on the market tomorrow like we're planning, and we get a surge of activity, that tells us something important.

“It means that the backlog of buyers—hundreds of buyers waiting for the next listing—have turned and looked at your property. If they like what they see online—the photos, the condition, the price—they’ll come see it in person. So if we see a surge of interest, a spike in calls and showings, that’s a signal we’ve nailed the price and did our job right.

“But the opposite can happen too. If we don’t get much activity in the first week or two, that’s a red flag. It’s the market telling us we probably missed the mark on pricing.

“There’s also a third scenar...

Hey guys, right now we have an incredible opportunity to talk to our clients. They’re nervous, frustrated, and anxious. What are they anxious about? They’re worried about the trade war, the stock market, their 401(k)s, their ability to retire on time, and even the possibility of losing their jobs.

There’s a lot of anxiety in the market right now.

You can sit back and hope everything gets better, or you can take action. Your game plan should be to reach out to everyone in your database this week—either with a call or a text. I prefer a call.

You can say, “Hey, I know you’re watching the stock market like I am, and you’re seeing all the turmoil with the trade war. How are you feeling about it? I’ve been talking to a lot of my clients, and some are thinking about diversifying their portfolios by investing in real estate. Real estate is a safe, stable, and secure investment. It went up 5.2% last year, and it has a baseline value. The baseline value is whatever you can rent the property ...

This is the season of open houses. We should be doing more open houses than ever. When you’re hosting them, think about incorporating curiosity questions into your conversational strategy. Curiosity questions can unlock the door to continuing a relationship after someone leaves your open house.

Let me give you an example. What if I said, "Hey, feel free to walk around the house. I’ll answer any questions you have and point out some unique features. But one quick question for you— the seller has authorized me to give anyone who’d like a copy of the CMA we used to price the property. The comparative market analysis—it's almost like an appraisal. Would you like a copy of that?"

This is catnip to most buyers. They usually can’t resist wanting it. Often, they’ll say yes. I’ll respond, “Great! I can text it to you or email it to you—what would you prefer?”

Now I’ve gotten permission to continue the relationship.

Of course, before I make this approach, I would’ve cleared it with the selle...

Hey guys, with the trade war heating up, renters are concerned about inflation. This is a great opportunity to have a conversation with them, and really put it out there on social media. You could do a video, or send out mailings about inflation likely rising again.

We can say, "Hey, if you're concerned about the trade war and inflation starting to rise again, remember we all lived through COVID when rents skyrocketed. A lot of experts are starting to say that this could happen again. So, if you're worried about that, one of the best ways to hedge is to buy your own home."

I know buying a home can seem like a stretch if you’ve never explored that route, but here’s what buying a home does for you. Even though you might have to stretch a bit for that payment, it locks in your payment for 30 years.

Your payment might seem expensive today, but five, 10, or 20 years from now, it won’t be. If you stay a renter, your rent is guaranteed to increase every year. It’ll keep getting higher and ...

In my second year as a real estate agent, I took 150 listings. Managing that as a young 20-year-old was a lot, but I knew early on that I needed to systemize my business. That's when I implemented something I called the "auto price reduction."

When I met with a seller, I'd say something like:

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"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, as part of my communication strategy, I like to do something a bit outside the box. Every two weeks, you'll receive a message from my team—back then it was a letter, but today it would be an email—asking if you want to consider adjusting your home's price if it hasn't sold yet.

I don't want you to be offended by it. If you're not interested in a price reduction, just disregard it. If you want to think about it, set it aside. But if you're open to having a deeper conversation about possibly adjusting the price, we can discuss it. It's simply a prompt to keep the conversation going every two weeks.

The reality is, the longer a home sits on the market, the harder ...

Hey, guys. When you're sitting with a seller and you've taken the listing, it's important to have what I call the "red flag conversation."

Here's how it goes: I say, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, now that we've listed your home, I want to explain the next steps. We're going to get your property into the MLS, turn on my marketing engine—yes, I call it a marketing engine—and your home will be exposed to every buyer in the market. In the first couple of weeks, all those buyers will take a look, and one of three things will happen."

Scenario A: We get a ton of showings, which is great. That means buyers in large numbers accept the price and want to see the home.

Scenario B: The buyers look, but there are very few showings—a small trickle. That's a red flag, signaling that buyers don't think we got the price right. If that happens, I'll reach out to you in the first five days because I'll be monitoring the showing reports in real time. If I don't see significant activity, we'll discuss this...

Here's a question for you:

If I were to look at your website today—pull it up and review it together—would it truly represent the market or niche you serve? Would it showcase what you actually sell?

Or would it just be a big, beautiful picture of you, with no clear indication of your market? If your website doesn’t clearly reflect your niche, that’s a mistake. Your website should visually and contextually align with the market area you serve. The photos, the language, and the messaging should all match your target audience. This is key to becoming a hyperlocal agent.

A hyperlocal agent is someone people immediately associate with a specific market. So take a moment today and analyze your website—does it truly reflect the area you serve? Making this small adjustment can significantly improve engagement.

Now, let’s take it a step further. Look at your social media. Are you a strong representation of your market there? Are you showcasing all aspects of your local area? Do you have a Y...

Guys, I’ve got a great strategy for working with buyers. One of the biggest concerns buyers have is understanding the paperwork involved in real estate. It’s a real fear point—not just for buyers but for sellers too. But let’s focus on buyers for now.

Let’s take a different approach when handling paperwork with buyers. Here’s the worst thing you can do as an agent: You take a buyer out, show them homes, and they get excited about a specific one. Then, you bring them back to the office and say, “Okay, it’s time to write the offer.” You pull out 30–40 pages of paperwork, and suddenly, that excitement turns into hesitation. It feels like a bucket of cold water being dumped on them. They start second-guessing everything.

So, how do we prevent that? You take the sting out of the paperwork early. Here’s how:

During your initial consultation with the buyer, you say:

"One of the biggest value points I bring to the table is guiding you through the paperwork. There’s a lot—typically 30+ page...

Okay, guys, here’s some great language to use with buyers who are on the fence. When you’re following up—because we should all be following up—you can say something like this:

“Hey, I just wanted to touch base with you and let you know I’ve been thinking about you. Now that we’re in a new year, I wanted to talk to you about all the new listings starting to hit the market. February, March, April, and May are when we see the most listings, which means the most opportunities. In fact, we have 10% more inventory on the market this year compared to last year. So, I wanted to reconnect and see if we could start looking at some properties together.

“Now, I know you might have some concerns about pricing and finding the right value. Here’s the key message: When you work with me, we’re not buying the market—we’re buying a specific home. My job is to ensure you get the absolute best pricing and value on the home that fits your needs.”

You can also add a personal story to connect with them, li...

Do you think your buyers have unrealistic expectations about the homes they’re seeing because of TV shows about housing, fixing up, and flipping?

The answer is absolutely yes.

In fact, 73% of homebuyers have unrealistic expectations based on their TV viewing habits.

So, what can we do about it? We can either do nothing and have them feel disappointed every time they walk into a house, or we can reset their expectations and shift their mindset. Here’s how we do it.

Many of us are already using buyer questionnaires before meeting with clients—sent via text, JotForm, or Google Forms. These questionnaires help us understand their needs. One useful question to add could be:

"Do you watch reality TV about housing? If so, what are your favorite shows?"

When you get this feedback, it gives you insight and lets you address the issue during your first meeting.

For example, in your buyer presentation, you might say:

"Hey, I noticed you like to watch reality TV about housing. That’s great—...