Market Shift? Here’s How to Thrive & Not Just Survive

After years of high buyer demand, low mortgage rates, and insane competition, there’s a change happening in real estate, and it’s happening fast.

Rising mortgage rates had many buyers dropping out of the real estate race. Then there are sellers, who were sitting on the sidelines waiting until home prices peaked so they could get the most bang for their buck. But recently, we’ve started to see mortgage rates ease, home prices moderate, and inventory rise – which is changing the game. Then there’s the NAR Settlement that gives you one more thing to juggle.

That’s a lot of change. And change is scary.

But change is also inevitable. Over the past five, ten, twenty years – you’ve been through tidal waves of shifts in this business, and you’ve made it through. If real estate is the name, then resilience and adaptability is the game. There is, however, one unwavering piece of what you do that never changes. It’s the life preserver you hold onto when the waters get choppy: your #1 job as an agent is to help people.

So, while the future right now may seem a little uncertain, there is one thing to be 100% confident about: communicating your value and being the educated agent have never been more important than they are now.

So, if you’re feeling fatigued, frustrated and uncertain about the future, imagine how your clients feel.

But if you don’t evolve with the industry and with what today’s consumer demands, you will not survive. That’s the bottom line.

The good news is there’s a blueprint top agents who use KCM have been following for the past 15 years that helps them stand out as the expert and grow their business no matter the challenges in the market. Here’s how:

The first thing you have to remember is the market we’ve grown so accustomed to over the past few years has been anything but normal.

Record-low inventory and mortgage rates coupled with record-high buyer demand and price appreciation turned the real estate market into a feeding frenzy and everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

But even with a shift in the air that’s creating more opportunities for your clients, we’re still seeing an extraordinary amount of confusion from consumers and agents about what’s happening and where the housing market is headed.

On any given day, if you type “real estate market news” into a search engine you’re going to get bombarded with conflicting headlines about what’s happening in the housing market.

And while some of it is local, a lot of what pops up first covers the nation as a whole.

If you really want to help your buyers and sellers make it through the market shift, you have to get in front of the noise and constantly share the latest insights. We make it easy to do that, so you can create your own real estate videos – backed by trusted data and insights.

In addition, you have to explain how those insights reflect your local market.

This is no easy feat. Real estate data can be extremely difficult for the average consumer to digest and even easier to misinterpret (see headlines above as proof of this).

By educating yourself first and foremost on the latest market data and insights, you can then explain what’s really happening in real estate to your clients and have the cold hard facts to back it up.

People don’t like to be sold to. That’s a tough pill to swallow in a sales-based industry.

What they do love to be is educated.

And if you’re not saturating your marketing with the latest market data and expert insights right now, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to outshine your competition and help you and your clients succeed in a shifting market.

Remember, you have to get in front of the noise and confusion. And the best way to do that is to fill your social feeds, your blog, your emails, and your follow-up texts with information that shows you’re knowledgeable, personable, and professional. That’s how you truly prove your value.

For real estate agents, this means addressing the national trends with clients before talking about the local market trends.

It can be as simple as stating:

“This is what’s happening nationally… and this is how it’s playing out in our local market …”

Taking this approach adds to your credibility and helps your buyers and sellers feel more confident in the market with you as their expert advisor leading them through it.

No matter how big or small your market is, you can be assured that there are many potential buyers and sellers just as skeptical and scared about what’s ahead as you might be.

However, when you educate yourself and stay connected to the latest relevant market insights, you’ll not only survive this market shift, but thrive through it – and even close more deals. And instead of being scared, your clients will be thanking you (and bringing you more referrals) for years to come.

To get the steps you need to succeed in today’s new market reality, you can download our free eGuide: How to Succeed in a Changing Real Estate Market below. It’s the plan you need to unpack the shift, understand your new role as an agent, and prove your value so you can thrive in this business.