I wrote this post back on July 24, 2012 and never posted it. It's still relevant, but the good news - knock on wood! - is the market appears to be picking up, at least in the urban Richmond neighborhoods where I work. AND on a purely personal note, I have hired an assistant, which has been AWESOME. Should have done it ages ago.
But, it is still the case that deals are stupid hard to get closed, leaving anyone with several active transactions going on at one time, way less time to market. The main culprits, in my opinion? The large banks. The underwriting criteria are ridiculous. The appraisal requirements are ridiculous. They suck. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Something has to change.
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I just read Rob Hahne's newest blog posting, "Magical Thinking vs. Boring Reality." His point: real estate agents quite often get it wrong when it comes to marketing, focusing on the hot, the new, the cutting edge, rather than just doing the boring old stuff that has proven results, like...oh...staying in touch with your past clients? Returning phone calls within a reasonable amount of time?
You know what? He is exactly right. And I resemble those remarks. But in defense of myself, and of real estate agents everywhere, let me provide a little insight into that behavior. And let me link some of my, at least, personal failings in this area to the vagaries and realties of the current market.
And might I say, this current market has been dragging on, and on, and on, since 2007. I got into real estate sales full time in February 2006, so almost my entire real estate career has been during the worst overall economic conditions since the Great Depression. So all of us that do this as our sole source of financial support have been hampsters in a wheel for a very long time now, And I personally am just overwhelmed and exhausted by it. Can it PLEASE end?
So, here are my defenses. Most of them come down to the simple combination of needing time and/or money. Here goes:
1. Every Deal Is Harder. Every deal requires twice as much effort to keep it all together. Getting the client under contract is not, in my opinion, the difficult piece. The difficult piece is getting a transaction from contract to closing. There are inspection issues. OR appraisal issues. OR financing issues. None of these things are our fault. These are just the realities of the market. But if you are spending twice as much time on a single deal to keep the wheels on the bus, then the available time that might be spent on marketing is substantially less.
2. You Have to Work Harder to Get Buyers and Sellers, Who Are Fewer and Father Between. Every working agent, except for those lucky enough to have established brands and stable books of business that are more than adequate to support them and their loved ones, is having to work harder to generate enough business.
3. There Is Less Time and Money to Invest in the Business. Client appreciation programs take time. And money. If all my time is spent keeping the active transactions I have moving forward, and if I have to count on a substantially higher percentage of deals falling apart for stupid, unreasonable reasons, I don't have that extra time. So my solution would be to get some help. Having additional help has been, for me, the chicken and the egg scenario. You need an assistant to make more money, BUT you need more money to hire an assistant.
So, not a comprehensive explication of all the reasons agents may not be marketing the time tested and proven ways - keeping in touch with past clients, actively seeking referrals from those past clients, maintaining and actively working a client appreciation program. But hopefully a glimmer of insight into the rationale of at least one full-time working agent.
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