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 ...

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—...

Here's something we should all be doing with a seller at the beginning of our relationship:

When we take that listing, we should be resetting expectations on the number of live showings that will occur.

Last year, when we took a listing, we'd have 20, 30, 40, 50 showings in the first week. Today, that number maybe two or three or four or five. It will not be the same as it was last year at the same time.

So how do we reset this expectation?

One thing we need to talk about with the seller is the way the average buyer looks at homes. So last year in 2021, the NAR measured this and they found that buyers, on average, that purchased a home, looked at homes for eight weeks. And during that eight week period of time, they viewed eight homes. But of the eight homes they looked at, they looked at three virtually. And in the buyer's mind, that was a showing.

So we need to educate our sellers about what people consider to be a showing today. And then when we're talking to them...