Real Estate Trends Report 2008

Real Estate Trends Report 2008

Author: Stefan Swanepoel

A cold chill has blown on the real estate market and sales are down acrossthe country. When the market was hot, every Tom, Dick and Harry wanted to be inthe kitchen and sell real estate. Why? Because it did not take any skill orpremier quality customer service. Now that the housing market has been on asteady decline for just over two years we have an opportunity to separate thegood from the bad and the ugly.

There are actually agents that expanded their market share, added moreclients to their portfolio or received higher customer service acknowledgmentduring the last year. Those are the agents that understand that in a down markettrue real estate professionals actually can do better.

According to the Swanepoel Trends Report, published by RealSure, there arefive strategies that will not only keep the real estate agents afloat until thenext upswing but could actually place them in a better position for rapid growthwhen the market turns. In summary they are:

1. Maximizing Technology and the Internet

Google should be a part of every real estate professionals online leadstrategy as placing high on organic search results has become very important toany serious agent. At the same time integrating your key activities such asmarketing, MLS, customer management, etc. need to be integrated into one easilyaccessible web-based system. Agents should use this year to make sure that whenthe next boom arrives they will be able to process the entire home buying andselling transaction digitally.

The Report discusses dozens of new innovative Web 2.0 initiatives,encouraging agents to explore these services and see which may be added tostrengthen their online portfolio.

2. Building Teams Correctly

The creation of smaller more effective business units or teams within largercompanies has been around for awhile, but during the last decade the concept hasgained momentum. RE/MAX now estimates that 27% of their affiliates are workingon a team. According to the Report there are basically two different kinds ofteams. The first is where two or more producing agents combine their practicesunder one banner to provide greater coverage for themselves and their clientsand the second where a lead agent starts building a business inside thebrokerage operation. The lead agent then hires administrative staff to increasehis or her time in more productive and income generating sales activities.

No matter what the size or how a team is structured, the key to building asuccessful team requires following the correct steps, getting the rightchemistry between all team members and executing on a deliberate businessplan.

3. Solidifying Your Business Plan

In todays competitive and complex marketplace, an entrepreneurs success isfar from guaranteed. Moving into 2008 or 2009 without a well thought out andimplemented business plan is a disaster waiting to happen. Yet so many agentsfly by the seat of their pants.

A good business plan should include:

• An assessment of your current situation.
• A definition of your business focus and strategic intent.
• A clear vision of what results you want to achieve by objectives.
• A list of action steps that you will utilize to achieve your goals.
• An understanding of why you need regular analysis and occasional revisionsof your game plan.

4. Using Virtual Assistants

The ways in which Virtual Assistants (VAs) can help real estate agents becomemore productive are limited only by ones imagination. And there are few, if any,support functions that cannot be handled by a VA - including functions suchas:

• Transaction Coordination
• Listing Marketing Coordination
• Staying in Touch
• Online Lead Management
• Operational Management
• Screen Email and Phone Messages
• Ad Writing
• Website Maintenance

5. Diversifying Your Business

Diversification is the order of the day. For our industry there are two typesof diversification - geographic and product or service. In these slow times itmay be wise to view the needs of your customer base to see if there are otherprofitable products that may be a good fit to offer past clients. It is also aperfect time for agents to expand their skills and knowledge by getting educatedon other transactional aspects such as mortgage, escrow, home owners insurance,home warranty, remodeling, repairing, painting, landscaping, etc. The advantageof bringing some of these services in-house is the ability to eliminate theexpense of redundant overhead and to derive additional income from the sameclient.

The Report is available at www.Amazon.com