Real estate agents are getting beat up in a different way these days. Do you need listings? Yes, provided they are not overpriced. Maybe we’re heading back to the type of market that will bring move up buyers back into the real estate market. That would be sellers who also want to buy a home. That maybe great news. It’s been awhile and may take some time. Right now, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty and prospect for good inventory. If not now when?
Steve Murray of Real Estate Trends indicated that the Inventory crunch is hitting markets nationwide and especially in the lower end priced homes. Here’s what he said:
“So in the entry level and medium price points, where most of the buyers are, the inventory is the lowest, critically low according to numerous CEO’s we have talked to about this issue. New homes are coming back but not nearly fast enough to satisfy demand. And with over 8 million homeowners (CoreLogic) still underwater, that keeps an estimated 500,000 homes that might normally be available to the market off the table.”
Although we have been preaching since December to build that listing inventory, many REALTORS are now getting serious about going back to the listing basics. Coldwell Banker National rolled out a FREE training program for its 83,000 real estate agents to support building listing inventory through the Coldwell Banker University platform; it’s called: “8 Weeks to Listing Mastery with Zan Monroe”. It launched yesterday and is pretty impressive. Zan is a motivator, I had the opportunity to see him live a few times and highly recommend the CB agents take advantage of this great education.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said tight inventory is a major factor in the market. “Buyer traffic is continuing to pick up, while seller traffic is holding steady,” he said. “In fact, buyer traffic is 40 percent above a year ago, so there is plenty of demand but insufficient inventory to improve sales more strongly. We’ve transitioned into a seller’s market in much of the country.”
According to Realtor.org Total housing inventory at the end of January fell 4.9 percent to 1.74 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 4.2-month supply2 at the current sales pace, down from 4.5 months in December, and is the lowest housing supply since April 2005 when it was also 4.2 months.
Inman News reported today that the spring home buying season has kicked off with housing inventories in many markets at post-housing bust lows, creating a feeding frenzy that can make buyer’s agents’ lives as wild as un-mowed lawns.
So real estate agents, here’s 6 things you can do right now to get listings:
1. Knock doors and give sellers a one page FREE RPR report on their market
2. Mail postcards to target neighborhoods for a FREE Market Evaluation
3. Call 10 of your COI contacts to give them a 45 second market update with a by the way….
4. Visit all FSBO’s to build relationship. Give them something each visit. (Only 15-20% sell on their own)
5. Dust off the expired listings
6. Take a refresher course
OK, it’s your turn …add a few more action steps a REALTOR can take to build that inventory, and as always …
“Expect the Best” Mike