Over the last several months we’ve seen the market beginning to cool. Whether the spring season greets us with another strong seller’s market with tight inventory and competing buyers is anyone’s guess. Most brokers we talk to believe the spring season will be busy again, but perhaps not as crazy, or sustained, as prior years. IF we did go into a modest recession over the next 12-18 months…What opportunities and problems would that create for your business? What things could you do now to prepare for that?
First Time Buyers:
For many of you, it might make sense to work harder now (make hay while the sun shines…). With the increased inventory and DOM over the past several months, buyers are finding the market very favorable. They can actually choose from several houses, and in some cases negotiate price discounts, concessions, and inspection items. Get your buyers in the car now to buy before the spring season.
Trade-Up Buyers:
If you have potential trade up clients, a mild recession is a mixed blessing. Easier to buy a replacement, harder to sell the old house. Do your clients know it might be harder to sell their house in a cooler market? Think about those houses that are normally difficult to sell, busy street, strange floor plan, etc. Would it be better to sell those homes now before the market cools further? Are there other reasons your clients might want to get off the fence now and take action? If financing gets tougher in a downturn, do they really want to wait? Many sellers may be looking at this spring season as the last time for the next couple of years to get a great price on the sale of their home.
Investor Buyers:
Many current investors are enjoying the increased inventory and DOM of late, especially buy-and-hold investors. This is a great time to engage with your investor clients.
This may also be prime time to engage with your “future investors” who might be waiting for “things to cool off?”
- Get them to define, in something measurable, what “cooling off” means.
- Can you get up to speed on your investing skills now?
- Can you bring these prospects with you to classes?
- If it is a short recession (I would expect that), the investor’s opportunity will not last long.
- Consider laying the foundation for action now.
Pro-Active Approach
The idea of a future recession (however mild or harsh) is certainly top of mind for many of your clients, which provides a lot of opportunity for engagement. How will you take advantage of this opportunity?
Techniques to Engage and Educate
We’ve created a new class, Thriving in a Changing Market, to provide concrete advice and techniques on how to engage and educate your prospective sellers and buyers in this changing market. If you’re looking for additional ideas to enable you to increase production as our market cools, check our Training Calendar or contact one of our sales executives for information about the class.