Yesterday I promised to share some ideas to become a Master of Your Market so you can capture more of that business that crosses your path in your day-to-day wanderings!
First, if it's customary to "preview" in your market, do that. A lot. (If previewing IS customary in your market, you might be surprised to hear that it's frowned on or flat out not allowed in some! If that's the case in your market, you might want to move;-])
I advise all new agents to spend some serious quality time previewing in their first few months. By "serious," I mean every other day if they can. The best way to effectively preview is to practice what I call "Opinionated Previewing" or "Previewing with a Purpose." That means to look at somewhat similar homes and compare them to each other or against your "subject" property. You would practice both when you preview in preparation for an open house, or preview for a new buyer. If you don't have a new buyer or an upcoming open house, go preview all the houses in a certain price range or architectural style. Whatever your excuse, being able to compare homes to each other helps you internalize the data you're gathering (so you can spit it out intelligently if the opportunity arises).
A great side benefit of pro-active previewing is that karma always seems to provide you with an audience to share your newly-found expertise with. What I mean is that if you go out and preview all the Bungalows between $250,000 and $350,000, within a week or two, you'll almost certainly meet someone with one of those to sell, or who knows someone who'd like to buy one! It's previewing magic!
Another way to Master Your Market is to always have your antenna up for opportunities to show properties to buyers. Even buyers who probably won't ever lead you to a paycheck. It's one thing for you to go out alone and preview, but quite another to have someone else with you to provide feedback on what you're seeing. And if you make conversation with this person, you'll get to hear their impressions of neighborhoods and styles and features, which will help you better understand what's important to the consumer. So, drive across town for a sign call. Take a buyer out to look at properties even if she says she won't buy til next spring.
If you've chosen to master a particular geographic market, you'll want to learn about the flow and amenities of the area as well as the housing stock. Drive the area using a variety of access points. Visit the grocery stores and the neighborhood parks. If you have friends who live there, ask them what they like and dislike about their neighborhoods. Read local neighborhood newspapers and subscribe to other agents' newsletters who specialize in your new favorite neighborhood.
Do open houses in that neighborhood as often as you can, even if you have to do them for an agent in a different office.
The job of "becoming" a market master is never really done. Markets change (duh) and in order to truly be a master, you have to keep up with the changes. Don't go overboard - you do have other things to do besides preview (I hope!), but try to keep Market Mastery on your to-do list. You'll feel awfully smart the next time you capture a great new client at a party because you knew how much that Victorian down the street sold for!
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Tips & Inspirations to Generate Business from the Very Important People Who Know You
This is a very important post.
The benifits of "knowing your market" cannot be measured. It will raise your competency level up quite a few notches.
Know the market values in different communities.
Know the inventory.
Know the pricing trends in your market.
Just think of how good you look when prospective buyers or sellers ask questions and you have facts at your fingertips.
Jennifer, thanks for this post. This is great advice. There's too many new agents (and some more experienced ones) without a good grasp of home values.
This is common sense, Jennifer, and beautifully stated. I live ina very rural area in Tennessee so there aren't alot of open houses or opportunities to preview but am always pleased to co-show a house that I haven't been in before, so I can add it to my stock of knowledege.
Jennifer:
Thanks for sharing this. I agree with Gabe in #2 above, many a new agent does not spend the time to learn thir market.
With the changing market it is hard (just flat wrong) to depend on past experience.
Jennifer, Great points. I also take my camera and make up a flyer of neighborhood amenities. The park, the stores, (here at the beach, the ocean and sound.) No pictures of the property without permission, of course. Now I'm ready when I get that call. I plan to bookmark this blog for the agents in my office.
Absolutely! And I've not seen this topic done before. A good read with good points.
Marian - oooh, that's a great point I forgot to mention (well, I ran out of room). I often try to my previewing on pretty days and as I'm cruising around, I take neighborhood photos to use in my advertising when I do get listings in the 'hood.
Judi - Thanks!
Bob & Gabe - I'm always surprised when a new agent is willing to go on a listing presentation with no real knowledge of the neighborhood. They must have more confidence than I ever did. I gotta know my market before I'll open my mouth about it.
Leslie - I'm sure your market offers very special challenges in learning it! Care to share?
Thanks, Lenn! Did Kelly contact you yesterday?
Learn the market and be prepared at all times to talk about statistics, prices and homes in your target market(s).
One key advantage a realtor has in the real estate market over any buyer or seller is the ability to preview houses. This is so important to grasp.
I talk to buyers and sellers who will say to me they have "seen a house" when they have never actually stepped inside the home. Clearly, the internet allows them to "see the house" through pictures, but that pales in comparison to actually seeing the house from a visual inspection walking through the property.
Take advantage of this priceless option that only realtors can have and make it a point to get inside the house. Seeing is believing as they say, but don't always believe what you see until you have been inside the home.
Combine what you have seen through touring these properties with the data you have available through your local MLS and you just may become the market master.
Thanks for the post. I am really enjoying following this series. We do a 2 times a month multiu agent caravan here and that helps us learn our inventory
Funny I have just re-started doing this, now I have more time, and out of the blue an old client called to list his equivalent. Karma, luck or just meant to be, whatever works as they say.
Jenneifer - this is almost a lost art the last few years. I know many agents who don't take the time to master their market and that's a mistake. Great post - one I will share with our agents as a reminder!
Great advise & great post. I am going to start encouraging new agents in my office to do this. Sometimes it's the things we take for granted that new agents don't really think about doing!
Sometimes I get a call from a client asking about a home and I can say I know that property or neighborhood or price point. To be able to inform on an initial contact is priceless. Beats the heck out of, let me look it up and I'll call you back.
Knowing the market certainly is helpful when working with buyers and sellers. It makes you look like the expert and is definitely helpful when trying to determine a price for a home for a seller. Keep your articles coming.
I like the idea of showing buyers props that you know that they're not even buyers. It's great exposure. The real exposure is your ability to serve. Needless to say, word gets out and when word gets out, not as a result of your mouth, but as a result of the mouth's of others, it's a good thing.... a real GOOD THING for the agent.
Larry - in the interest of space, I didn't mention that benefit, but it's HUGE! Being willing to "waste your time" is a tremendous relationship-building tool.
Susan - And it's so freakin' fun to look like an expert!!
Frank & Jodi - I love that feeling. Being able to speak intelligently about the market, off the cuff, is a rush. (yeah, we're easily entertained, eh?)
Julie - I was lucky - my first broker was huge on previewing. My second day on the job I was out with other agents checking things out.
Anna - I find myself losing touch with my market because I'm not on the MLS as much as I used to be before the general public could do it themselves. Previewing is even more important to KEEP your finger on the pulse!
Corinne - I swear - it's magic.
Charlie - Ugh - I have to say I hate caravan - I'd much rather go myself and bang out 12 houses an hour instead of 3 with the crowd!
Dan - You are so right! Buyers always sound as if they've "seen" houses when all they did was MAYBE drive by.
Jennifer,
I would think agents who target expired listings would want to apply your advise and preview the listings that are about to expire to formulate a game plan and then act if the listing expires.
Jennifer,
Putting all the information with regard to your geographical area into a Buyers Book is a great way to show prospective clients you are the neighborhood expert.
Great advice thank you for posting.
What a great post. I agree with you 100%. When I started, I did exactly what you suggest re previewing homes. I made a list daily, and headed out; Get to Know The Inventory!
Jennifer: Great post! I still preview … it’s important to know the inventory. I have picked up a few clients previewing as well … people who were driving by to look at the same property I was previewing … nice!
Thanks Jennifer~ Great post. I preview every chance I get. When I first started I was doing open houses for all the other agents until I started getting listings of my own.
So true, Jennifer. As a broker who has just returned to working with buyers and sellers full time, that's exactly what I've been doing - previewing. If you are not prospecting or already showing houses, you should definitely be previewing. It's the best way to become super educated about the market and makes those prospecting calls so much easier to make. I'm already working with an investor who came from my web site and was able to immediately talk to him about the best "deals" in the area - because I had just seen them!
Good advices in your psot today. Each market area is different that's for sure. It's important to know the inventory in "your own market area" and then be knowledgable on that!. The pricing is key also.
Patricia Aulson/portsmouth nh homes
The good thing about working with a lot of buyers is that I do get to view tons of homes! It has been helpful when a seller calls because I can tell them what all of their competition looks like as well. Great post!
Jennifer - absolutely :) even when we are busy we try to get out and preview, well mostly me as Brian looks at so many houses anyway LOL. What we do is if we are going to do something in a particular neighborhood anyway we do a couple of previews at the same time. Lately we've concentrated previewing bank owned homes has everybody and the cousin is interested in them. ~Rita
I will still get in the car with buyers who I am not certain about if they are going to an area that I want to learn more about - this is all so true!!!
Jenn - Do you mean to physically go out and look at houses that are the same style or are in the same price range? Or are you suggesting a less time consuming method for doing the same thing (if it is possible)?
the benefits of knowing your market are unlimited. I have gotten listings just by having open houses, and by knowing the market. Walk your market place too and get to know the people, be visible and the business will come to you.
Absolutely agree!! thanks for sharing.
Yes, Kelly contacted me. We had a lovely chat. Once I get started. . . . . .
Thanks. I greatly appreciate the thought. The lady is out of my personal market area, but I know some wonderful agents all over, depending on where she finally wishes to be.
Lenn
And look at this, here is part two, just waiting for me! I agree with doing open houses for agents, even if a different office. I had a featured post earlier this year that was highly debated about letting an agent from another office hold your house open. But, I agree, you do whatever you can to get your name and face out there, even if you don't have any clients.
Nice. This is the bread and butter of the business.
You are absolutely right. I try to see every house in my market but because there are so many for sale now, I can't remember details. Every month I pull up the MLS and go through every single house that's on the market and refresh my memory.
Thanks for the great advice. I never thought of previewing as a way to drum up new business.
Jennifer,
Thanks for the tips. I am a new agent and sometimes I get frustrated when an open house is slow or I take people around and they don't buy but I need to always put that positive spin on it. I need to give myself a pep talk and realize I am learning inventory out there, keeping myself current and am learning.
I am a native Oklahoman. When I started 20 years ago I was shocked about how much I didn't know about my city. I had a certain section I moved in but the next two years covered a lot of territory. Then 7 years ago I started to get out of state investors who asked about who is the biggest employer for instance. Again I had to start studying. In real estate you are always in college.
Great ideas, Jennifer! There is ALWAYS something to do to better educate ourselves, and those little reminders are helpful!
Back to basics...all good ideas. I have worked a geo farm since 1988 and am very well known there. I sit all of my own open houses, and ask other agents to let me do so as well. I market to both buyers/sellers and potential buyers (those I know and renters in the 'hood) by inviting people to my open houses, which I hold at standard Saturday and Sunday times, as well as my favorite end of the day around 4-6...lots of people are out walking the dog, or on their way to Trader Joe's which is anchored at one end of our lovely neighborhood. They spot my signs and make a point of dropping in. Social hour, fun and a nice way to end my day.
Kathleen - Samarkand Neighborhood, Santa Barbara, CA
Great blog. Previewing is a good idea.
Hi Jennifer...Excellent advice for all agents, new or seasoned. Saying we know our area and really knowing it can often be two different things.
Kate
Hi Jennifer,
Sent you testimonial for your new book - Did you get it?
Stefan
Jennifer - I have found it to be such a great advantage in knowing as much as I can about the inventory in my market. It's a great feeling to immediately recall all of the details of a listing when you have a buyer looking in a specific neighborhood or price range.
Jennifer, do you tell the listing agent or call service, that you are previewing the house? Otherwise you get a bunch of hungry agents looking for feedback.
It is hard watching other agents that do not go Realtor Caravans or preview homes for sale, the more you know about the inventory for sale the easier it is to talk to buyers about homes they are asking you about, after all isn't it our job to know the inventory we are trying to sell.
Jennifer this is great advice. Knowing your market always make you more professional to buyers and seller and will lead to more business.
I think this makes a lot of sense. It's good to know what's out there.
Good stuff, we are not even to the end of 2009 and already I am pumped up for 2010!
James - FANTASTIC! Me, too.
Christine - Once you become a Market Master, you can't imagine working any other way...
Jennifer - Absolutely - imagine if you hired a real estate agent and she didn't know anything about the area. You'd lose faith in her pretty quickly, I'd think.
Alan - I'd say so!
Deborah - In Denver, previewing is 100% accepted. In fact, when we set the showing (we have showing services), they ask if it's a showing or a preview. The agent still wants feedback, of course, and that's okay.
Donna - I know - I love that feeling! I like looking smart...
Stefan - No! I didn't get anything - where did you send it???
Kate - So true. All real estate agents fancy themselves to be "experts" or "specialists" but very few really are.
Marilyn - It's always worked for me.
Kathleen - You're right - it's so much fun to be recognized in your 'hood.
Jessica - Glad I could help!
Joe - That's why I encourage new agents to start previewing right away. They THINK they know their town, but they're stunned at how little they do know.
Alyssa - I always say - there's very little "wasted time" if what you're doing either teaches you more about your market or puts you in front of people...
Sybil - It really works!!!
Margaret - I have a great memory for houses, but the goal really is to have a good overall sense of an area... and be able to toss in a few specifics to seal the deal!
Tim - I agree!
Todd - I'd love to read that blog - feel free to post a link!
June - I agree- activity tends to lead to business, so if you're "active" in your chosen 'hood - well, there you go!
William - Yes, go out and look at houses in the flesh. Just cruising the internet trying to learn the market doesn't even come close.
And if I might add one thought, please? :-)
As you learn the homes and the neighborhood, make an effort to learn the local personalities, too. Maybe it's the volunteers at a community garden, or food coop, or a neighborhood council, or chamber of commerce, or a service club. Whatever.
Just go get acquainted with them, learn about whatever projects or issues are important to them .... and that neighborhood knowledge and information adds to your expertise.....
Thanks to the internet, prospective clients believe they have "seen" a house online when we all know there is a lot more to it than just looking at pix, particularly since they vary greatly in quality and perdspective. Our true value is in knowing so, so much more than just what is readily available. We must know the market so well, we are able to talk about it ad nauseum when the need arises, without reverting to that feeble, "oh, but I can ask!" response when asked a question for which we don't have an answer.
I don't know about you, but I don't want someone who "can ask." *I* can ask. I want to KNOW and I assume my clients do, too. GREAT post.
Jennifer, as always, you are right on the money. I LOVE previewing, although sometimes I wonder if sellers feel "put out" with a preview (My requests have been declined a few times). I always tell my sellers to be thankful for previews because they DO work.
I love being able to talk about houses that I've previewed. Really builds the confidence levels!
Jennifer...A buyer we were workiing with "Just had to see " this home they saw on the web. We know they want mid-block, cul-de-sac, and must be off a main road. The house they wanted to see was just off the main road with the side of a gas station on one end, and a post office on the other. Luckily, we previewed the home for them first!
Larry & Sheila - don't you LOVE that?
Melissa - I try to preview during the week when the sellers are more likely to be at work.
Susan - what a great descriptive word - "feeble!" I always cringe when I hear trainers advising rookies to smile brightly and say "I don't know, but I'll find out for you!"
Cheryl - Absolutely- great point!
Jennifer, I got into the habit of previewing when I was a newbie and have made it a habit ever since. I constantly get asked about houses in my neighborhood and these people want to know more about the houses than they can pull up on the internet. Great advice! And, I love your idea about developing a neighborhood fact picture book to take with you on listing presentations (or buyers looking in the locale) - as part of marketing yourself as the neighborhood expert
Great post. I always pre-view my market - but I have now started pre-viewing outside my immediate area. (I would love to get some of those listings as well!!) The more homes you see the more knowledgeabel you can be for a seller or buyer!
Jennifer - great post and GREAT reminder re the importance of previewing. Think I'll grab my MLS key and tour a couple of vacant homes tomorrow. :)
I have never just went out and previewed. I will give it some serious thought.