1. Buyer Love Letters Aren’t Working? Try a Love SONG

Brock & Lori Harris, Realtors, Los Angeles, CA

The Los Angeles real estate market is one of the busiest in the nation. “In some markets, it’s causing absolute chaos! No agent wants to have to sort through 50+ offers, but it’s happening often.

“We’ve routinely had buyers who’ve written on homes with 40 to 60 offers, and these have resulted in some pretty creative strategies to get their offers noticed. One musician client of ours wrote and recorded an original Buyer Love Song to accompany their offer, and guess what—it worked!”

2. This Duplex’s Value Jumped by 6x in a Single Month

Marina Vaamonde, CEO of HouseCashIn, Houston, TX

“A few months ago, someone bought a rundown, uninhabitable duplex just down the street from my house for $10,000. This property was practically a tear-down. A month later, there was a For Sale sign up in front of it. List price? $55,000. They didn’t do a single thing to it. I don’t even think they set foot in the place.”

“It eventually sold for $65,000; not bad for an investment held for about a month!”

3. Remember When Sellers Were Asked to Pay Closing Costs? Lol

Jimmy Hughes, Realtor, Oklahoma City, OK

“This market has completely flipped who pays for what when it comes to closing. Buyers are now paying for closing costs—it’s practically expected in offers! Prior to this year’s market, many lenders I’ve worked with literally didn’t even have a way to account for this in their systems because it happened so rarely.” 

4. An Offer So Good the Clients Decided NOT to Sell

Martin Orefice, Realtor, CEO, Rent To Own Labs

“Recently, clients of mine approached me with questions about selling their home—not uncommon with the astronomical prices we’re seeing right now. At every stage of the preparation process—running comps, getting an appraisal, evaluating competition—our best guess at the home’s value kept going up.”

“These clients were torn between the options of selling and trading up, or building an addition on their current home. Throughout the process I was never sure which way they were going to go. They eventually decided to go ahead and list the house, and the showings with offers started pouring in immediately. The offers were well above our sky-high asking price. As they were considering those offers, all of a sudden, they decided not to sell.”

“They took the offers they were getting to the bank, applied for a cash-out refinance, and completely transformed their very modest starter home into a dream house.” 

5. Showings Limited to 10 Minutes & a Line of Buyers Out the Door

Rob Kittle, Broker, Fort Collins, CO

“I can’t overstate how elevated the supply / demand in Colorado has been. It’s not uncommon for homes and property to be selling at unprecedented prices, often for all cash, often with no contingencies.”

“For really desirable properties (in a great location, with great schools, and with excellent community amenities), things are amplified. We recently listed a home where the demand was so strong that in order to give everyone who wanted to see the house a chance, we literally had buyers lined up outside, a time limit of 10 minutes per showing, and over 70 showings in a single weekend.”

6. Coming Soon = Under Contract Before the List Date

Cassie Alongi, Co-founder, We Buy Any House in California, Riverside County, CA

“In my local market (Riverside County, CA), we have the option of listing properties in our MLS as “coming soon” just before they actually hit the market. If these listings are in a highly sought-after price range ($350,000 to $600,000), it is practically a guarantee that you’ll get multiple, sight-unseen offers, many without inspection or appraisal contingencies, before showings are even allowed.”

7. Yes, Perfect Transactions Really Do Exist

Ryan Braswell, Broker, Bohemia, NY

“It seems like there’s nothing but stories of the outlandish and unbelievable from our market, and despite all of that, I still found a unicorn client. One showing, one offer, one contract, one inspection, one closing. No delays, no drama. The bank said our deal was so clean they didn’t even need an appraisal.”

8. Neighborhood Prowler? Nope, Just a Desperate Buyer

Lauren Reynolds, Realtor, Fairfield County, CT

“Last summer I was unlocking the front door of a house that was off-market to show a client, and a woman with a New York license plate stopped me asking if I was interested in selling my home. She thought I was the homeowner and she had been prowling the neighborhood looking for houses to buy that weren’t on the market yet. I think that shows you how competitive, and aggressive, some homebuyers have become!”

Your Turn

Got a wild story about your local real estate market! The Close wants to know! Tell us in the comments below.

The post 8 Stories That Illustrate Just How Ridiculous the Real Estate Market Has Been in 2022 appeared first on The Close.

Get Free Infographic Template

97 Infographics Designed for Buyers, Sellers & Real Estate Agents in 2022

Our collection of infographics is designed to inspire you, giving you examples of how shared with clients can position you as a subject matter expert (especially if you use graphics customized for your market). They’re ideal for sharing with clients to explain the various processes involved in buying or selling a home. 

Have a client who’s starting the buying process? Send one about the mortgage process. Have clients who are thinking about selling? Check out the infographics on staging a house. We even have some humorous real estate infographics that only agents will appreciate.

14 Infographics for Buying Real Estate

6 Infographics for the Mortgage Process

10 Infographics for Selling Real Estate

4 Infographics for Closing

5 Infographics for Moving

14 Infographics for Homeowners

9 Infographics for Real Estate Marketing

10 Infographics Just for Agents

25 Non-Real-Estate Infographics for Inspiration

Why Real Estate Infographics Work Well for Realtors & Brokers

Are you not entirely sold on real estate infographics yet? Do you think your plain Jane emails and blog posts are going to work better? Well, here are a few extremely persuasive reasons you should be using infographics as part of your marketing arsenal.

Colorful Visuals Are More Engaging to Readers

Picture this. You’ve just spent a long day plowing through emails and sitting through endless meetings when you get an email from your real estate agent.

You like her, but you’re still not quite 100% sold yet. Curious, you open the email and are presented with a wall of text. Do you read it or quickly close the tab and jump back on Instagram?

If you’re anything like the rest of us, that text looked like homework. More to the point, it looked like totally optional homework.

Infographics Can Inform, Teach, Entertain, or Persuade

Here’s a helpful analogy to understand the power of real estate infographics: if your email is a book and your video is a movie, infographics are comic books. They’re handy instructions with useful diagrams: easy to follow and remember, and useful enough to save for later.

Infographics Can Go Viral & Help Build Your Brand

Savvy real estate agents are always looking for content to share—and what better than a colorful, helpful infographic. Here’s the thing, though. Most agents have no clue how to make one. 

How to Create Real Estate Infographics for Real Estate Quickly & Easily

Now that you’ve got dozens of sweet infographics you can share with your sphere, you probably think you’re all set, right? Not so fast.

While these real estate infographics are pretty amazing, they’re not helping your brand, are they? Many of them are promoting someone else’s brand. 

Well, as promised, here is our quick rundown for creating your own eye-catching infographics that you can brand as your own.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. A good topic for an infographic. What common questions do you get that would make a compelling infographic? Think about what pain points your buyer and seller leads have and create something to help them.
2. A free account or subscription―around $10 per month―to an online design service like Canva. A subscription allows you to access more templates, images, fonts, and more. It’s a small price to pay for professional-looking infographics.
3. An outline of what big ideas you want to share and the background information you think your audience needs to know. 
4. About 20 minutes.

Canva is generally considered the easiest to use and is our pick when it comes to design options. However, all the sites listed here offer templates, tools, and other bells and whistles you might prefer.

• Visual.ly
• Canva
• Piktochart
• Infogram
• Visme (can embed videos)
• Snappa
• Venngage
• Animaker (can make animated infographics)
• Easel.ly
• Picmonkey

Once you have an account set up, choose a template, and start designing your infographic. Remember to keep your text small, but not too small. Otherwise, it will be tough to read on smaller monitors and phones.

Keep images and colors bright and eye-catching. You want your audience to read your infographic, but also save it and send it on to their friends.

Once you have a design you’re happy with that is in keeping with your branding (font, colors, etc.), add your logo and contact information to the bottom, and save your infographic as a PNG.

Remember to save a copy in Canva or whatever application you use so you can edit and update it later if your information changes.

6 Customizable Infographic Templates

You can also use these Canva templates to create your own custom shareable infographics. They are perfect for social media and even listing presentations. Clients will learn some real estate basics and you’ll look super creative and tech savvy. 

List with Me

Contract-to-Closing

Mortgage Pre-Approval Checklist

Staging Advice

Local Housing Market

Information on Your Brokerage 

7 Tips for Making Great Infographics

While the applications you need to make real estate infographics are relatively easy to use, making an infographic that will go viral and capture the world’s attention isn’t. Here are a few tips to make sure your designs not only look great but actually do their job.

1. Don’t Crowd Too Much Text in a Small Space

One of the biggest mistakes people make when creating infographics is to jam tons of information into too small an area. Unless you think your audience will have magnifying glasses handy, make sure you don’t use too much text.

2. Learn the Basics of Color Theory

Some colors just look terrible with other colors, so take the time to learn about complementary colors and the basics of color theory before you start designing.

3. Use Illustrations Instead of Photos

Illustrations generally work better than photos. First, because photos are rectangular and hard to place, and also because illustrations are easier to “read” at a glance.

4. Understand Sizing for Social Media Posts

Infographics will shrink to fit your social media feed which means they may not be legible when downsized, especially on mobile phones. There’s not much you can do about it, so just try to make them look sharp so people will want to click to make them bigger.

5. Don’t Try to Use Shapes Other Than Rectangles

Infographics are rectangular, so they fit onto mobile devices, including phones and tablets. If you try using large squares or horizontal rectangles, they’ll be too hard to scroll and read on both. 

6. Hire a Pro for Listing Presentation Infographics

Canva works well for infographics, but when it really matters, hire a professional graphic designer who can take your design and ideas to the next level. Of course, if you’re going to spend the money on a pro, you probably want to create evergreen infographic content that you can use again and again.

7. Make Sure They ‘Flow’

The best real estate infographics explain complex processes in a simple, visual way. Step-by-step instructions, for example, flow from one to the next and work well as infographics.

Where to Share Your Infographics for Maximum Impact

Want to share some of the infographics in this article or infographics you’ve created on your own? Here are a few places to share them where you’ll get maximum engagement.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a massive social media site and “visual discovery engine” with more than 440 million active monthly users (and counting!). It’s also 100% visual, so your infographics will be shared like hotcakes. Even better, Pinterest has a search function, which means other users will find your infographics if you add the right description and title.

Your Email List

Include infographics in your emails, and to increase your open rates, signal to your recipient list what they’re getting if they open your email. For example, if you want to share info about closing costs, a good email subject line would be: 15 Things Every Buyer Needs to Know About Closing Costs (Infographic).

  Pro Tip

Send the right infographic to the right segment of your audience. A 65-year-old homeowner will probably not be interested in a first-time homebuyer’s guide.

Twitter

If you want lots of retweets from coworkers and industry contacts, tweet your latest (useful, usable, and easily digestible) infographic.

Instagram

Because Instagram will likely replace Facebook and Twitter to become the social media channel of choice for millennials, your infographics will be a welcome change from the boring and repetitive listing photos your competitors are posting.

Your Blog

Using bold, colorful real estate infographics in your posts will greatly increase the chance your audience will read them. Even better, it gives them an excuse to download something from your website that also has your URL and branding on it. Now, instead of being in the back of their mind, your branding will be in their download folder.

Where to Find More Real Estate Infographics

Want more compelling infographics or don’t have time to make your own? Here are a few sources for impactful real estate infographics to share. However, don’t put your logo on them, as they are copyrighted content. 

• NAR.realtor
• Keeping Current Matters
• Florida Realtors
• Pinterest (don’t forget to follow The Close on Pinterest!!)
• Theclose.com

If you love infographics, then bookmark this page. We will be updating with new and awesome infographics periodically. Stay tuned.

Over to You

If you’ve made it this far, you’re either stoked about real estate infographics or bored. Either way, there is a 100% chance you have questions, and we have answers. So, go ahead and ask us in the comments section below.

The post 97 Real Estate Infographics + How to Make Your Own & Go Viral appeared first on The Close.

These days, instead of getting asked about how to win bidding wars, my clients and friends constantly ask me if we’re in a real estate bubble that’s ready to pop. That’s why I decided to write this article explaining what a real estate bubble is, if we’re in one now, and most importantly, if or when I think the bubble might pop. 

I’ll wrap up by providing some key resources I used to survive and thrive through the recession of 2008. 

Free Template: Housing Market Infographic

What Is a Housing Bubble, Anyway?

A housing bubble, or speculative bubble, is defined by a steep rise in housing prices that is not supported by common or logical economic factors or fundamentals. The first recorded speculative bubble occurred in the 17th century in Holland and is now known as Tulip Mania, a period during which prices for some newly introduced and fashionable tulip bulbs climbed precipitously and then collapsed dramatically. More on this later.

2022 Market Factors Indicative of a Coming Housing Bubble Pop

Ask a real estate CEO or economist and they’ll tell you that there are many factors contributing to the current and massive housing appreciation throughout the U.S. Factors such as the sudden growth in remote work, changing migration patterns, and supply shortages are contributing to an already under-supplied housing inventory.

Increased demand and low inventory is causing regular homeowners, like you and me, to have to bid 10% to 20% over asking price to secure a deal on a home. These basic economic forces have caused home prices to rise in some areas by more than 40% in just the past year!

While these factors are indeed important, there are other factors behind the scenes that may be causing even bigger problems for the American housing market. 

Institutional Investors Are Changing the Market

Real estate speculation is at an all-time high. However, unlike in 2008, this time it’s not from unqualified buyers who are buying property with subprime mortgages. Instead, massive institutional investors are buying single-family homes by the tens of thousands. 

Looking to cash in on the high rents and a housing shortage that likely will take 20 to 30 years to resolve itself, these firms have raised BILLIONS (yes, with a B!) of dollars and are often using those funds to pay market price or above to buy homes throughout the United States.

It gets worse. With limited existing home inventory, some institutional investors are hiring homebuilders like Lannar to build entire neighborhoods to turn into investment rental properties.

This practice will put further strain on the already short-handed new home industry and prevent more new homes from being built for individual homeowners. 

The primary concern with institutional investors is that not only are they buying housing that is further diluting housing inventory, causing inflation, and increasing rents, but when we do have an economic downturn that impacts housing values and rental income (and we inevitably will), will those investors hold the homes and developments or dump them like a truckload of bad fish?

If that happens, we could see a few hundred thousand homes hit the market in a short period of time and the housing market will have officially burst, possibly to a greater degree than we experienced in The Great Recession that began in 2007. However, I suspect that those running these institutions are smart and have planned for a future market correction.

So, Are We in for a Housing Bubble in 2022? When Will It Pop?

With low inventory and pent-up buyer demand, we are not likely in a catastrophic housing bubble in 2022… yet. However, it is still possible for values to slow and the market to correct without causing a total housing market collapse. 

The main factor that could change the trajectory of housing appreciation is interest rates. With inflation still on the rise, the government has announced it will raise interest rates throughout 2022. This is highly likely to have an impact on rapid housing appreciation but not enough to make home values fall.

As we know from history, war can also slow the economy. With Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, even the threat of a U.S. war with Russia could negatively impact the rising housing market.

Overall, I agree with what Gary Keller, founder of Keller Williams, recently announced at his annual conference, “We’re not in a bubble, but we may be blowing one!”

5 Ways Realtors Can Prepare for a Potential Housing Bubble Pop

Just because I don’t think we’re in a bubble ready to burst doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared for one. World events like the war in Ukraine, rising gas prices, and inflation might put a damper on the confidence and qualifications of buyers. 

In 2007, the market had more buyers than listings. Builders were selling homes by lottery, and real estate agents were living large—and so was I. Like many others, I owned multiple properties and I was building custom homes on the side for big profits.

As agents, we knew that 100%, no-document lending was wrong, but we didn’t know the consequences. One year later, in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers—the nation’s fourth-largest investment bank—filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it signaled the start of the largest real estate crash of our lifetime.

It was like someone turned off Niagara Falls. One minute you are selling 10 homes a month, the next you have 20 listings and no buyers. The clients you just sold homes to start calling and saying that they could no longer afford their payments and had to sell—ASAP. Short sales and foreclosures quickly became the norm.

I was fortunate. Unlike the million-plus real estate licensees that left the business, I pivoted to working with distressed homeowners and became a Real Estate Owned (REO) agent. An REO agent represents banks and loan servicing companies to sell the homes that they foreclosed upon. 

If you want to get ahead of any possible market shift, you can learn more about how I not only survived the recession, but how I thrived in a shifting real estate market in this course offered in The Close Pro.

Visit The Close Pro

In the meantime, here are a few more resources to help you prepare for a shifting market: 

1. Diversify Your Lead Generation Strategies

As a rule, generating leads is going to be harder. That means you might have to change how you get leads.

2. Follow Industry Thought Leaders

Of course, watching and learning from industry thought leaders or top producers in your city can be helpful too. Chances are they have weathered recessions before, so look to see what they’re doing and how they change it up in response to the market.

3. Try Working With Investors

Contrary to popular belief, investors generally increase their buying activity when prices soften. If you want to get ahead of the game, learning how to work with investors can help.

4. Conquer Your Fear of Cold Calling

The days of business just falling in your lap might be coming to an end. The agents who thrive will be the agents who are fearless and relentless cold callers. Learn some tricks to get ready.

5. Keep Yourself Motivated

If you’re down in the dumps all the time, it’s going to be very hard to attract much new business. Learn how top agents bounce back, and copy their strategies so you stay fresh and confident no matter what happens in the market.

Market Bubble History: What Houses & Tulips Have in Common

In the mid-1600s, tulips were imported from the Turkish Empire to Europe for the first time. They were so delicate and rare that the people of Holland saw them as a sign of great wealth and prestige. This made the already scarce but very fashionable tulip bulbs quickly rise in price.

The desire for this status symbol quickly spread throughout Europe. With millions of new buyers, a shortage of bulbs arose as growers could not keep up with demand. With limited supply and high demand, tulip sellers raised prices, then raised them again and again. The more the prices rose, the more the Dutch believed tulips were a wise investment. Sound familiar?

Eventually, the demand was so great that the Dutch set up a futures market to allow investors to buy and sell bulb contracts on end of season bulbs. The frenzy continued with premium tulip bulbs selling for over 5,000 florins, or $150,000 in today’s dollars!

That is, of course, until the bubonic plague reached Holland and kept bulb traders away from the crowded bulb auctions. Lack of trading caused prices to rapidly fall. Wanting to cash out, contract holders began to sell.

Tulip contracts then flooded the market and the more that were available, the lower the prices fell until values were below their previous “non-bubble” market value.

Citizens of Holland lost millions of dollars, leaving some in complete financial ruin. While Tulip Mania is the most famous bubble story, there’s a lesser-known bubble story you may not have heard of.

---

Lincoln’s National Debt: America’s First Real Estate Bubble

The first recorded real estate bubble in the newly formed United States was just after the Revolutionary War. The war caused some serious damage to the existing housing supply. After the war, much of the nation’s focus fell on rebuilding the infrastructure, but not rebuilding the housing supply.

By the early 1800s, life began to normalize and young families desired a home of their own. This caused housing values to rise quickly and helped spark the movement to homestead the west.

At this time, Abraham Lincoln was a young man living in Springfield, Illinois, and working as a land surveyor. Lincoln had inside knowledge that the railroad was planning to build tracks through his small town.

Believing that a railway would bring tourism and a bustling economy to his sleepy town, he borrowed money to buy the properties that would be directly across from the train station.

Lincoln wasn’t alone in his desire to get rich quickly from real estate. Property speculation was rampant across the country. Unregulated by the federal government, banks allowed for easy financing for properties and land. Real estate values skyrocketed as more and more people saw the opportunity to build wealth by speculating on real estate.

That is, until 1837. In an effort to prevent the banking system from collapsing, the federal government refused to allow banks to accept anything other than gold or silver for land purchases. This caused The Second Bank of the United States to foreclose on heavily mortgaged lands and farms. Does this sound familiar? A little like Lehman Brothers in 2007, right?

Values then began to rapidly fall as speculators sold off their lands before banks foreclosed on them—some for literally pennies! This caused “The Panic of 1837.” This recession put a temporary halt to western railway expansion and the tracks never came to Springfield. Lincoln’s dreams of being a wealthy real estate investor crumbled.

To make matters worse, when Lincoln couldn’t pay his debts, the properties were repossessed along with his survey equipment, cart, and donkey! Young Lincoln was left to repay his debt for the remainder of his life. As President, he would jokingly refer to it as the “National Debt.”

---

Past Housing Bubbles & Why They Popped

Like the tulip bubble, when housing bubbles burst it may not be just due to the buyers running out of money or getting scared out of the market, as you would think. Bubbles can burst due to unrelated events, like a plague or war.

Real estate bubbles were commonplace in the U.S. during the expansion to the west from 1821 through 1857. Land speculation was fueled by unregulated banking, agriculture (mainly cotton), and the Gold Rush, until this pattern was interrupted by the Civil War in 1861.

Large real estate speculation bubbles likely couldn’t occur for nearly 150 years due to four major wars and two depressions, leaving the U.S. economy and housing prices to mildly fluctuate with smaller booms and busts. Of the 50+ recessions and depressions that the country had seen, only three were caused by actual real estate bubbles.

Until 2008, when the country was on the tail end of an unprecedented 20-year economic boom that coincided with the introduction of subprime mortgages, creating a perfect environment for real estate speculation—and a massive housing bubble so large that when it burst, it disrupted the entire world’s economy.

The important point here is that while real estate bubbles are not a new occurrence, they are not very common, either. With the massive appreciation of the past two years, it feels like we may be in one now.

---

Over to You

Do you think your local market is approaching bubble territory and is ready to pop? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The post Warning: Housing Bubbles Tend to Burst. Here’s How Agents Can Prepare appeared first on The Close.

In this article, we’ll review the most significant takeaways from our reader survey and provide recommendations about how to level up your business this year. Finally, we’ll share our comprehensive infographic to give you a handy overview of all of these exclusive findings and stats from The Close.

Social Media Reigns Supreme

Social media is the #1 channel that agents say they plan to use when growing their business this year; 80% of agents said they planned on doing so. Email marketing was a close second, and emerging in the top 3 was video marketing (which, to be fair, is often a component of social media thanks to Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube.)

Note: Agents were allowed to pick more than one channel when responding.

The #1 reason agents want to maintain a presence on social media is to stay top of mind amongst their sphere of influence. Generating leads and referrals were the 2nd and 3rd most popular reasons for engaging in social media marketing efforts. 

While I initially scratched my head as to why social media ranked above email (despite email having a 30-40x ROI), our readers’ choice makes sense when viewed under the lens of wanting to stay top of mind. As The Broke Agent recently tweeted, agents sometimes email leads for superfluous reasons. However, on social media, these topics can actually be fair game. 

In terms of what social networks are important to agents’ marketing, Facebook is at the top of the list. And yes, there has been a lot of sentiment that sounds like this: “Facebook is dead!”. However, Hootsuite recently released The Global State of Digital 2022 report, and they too hit home that “Facebook is still the most popular social network—by a long shot.”

Hootsuite also reported that 2.91 billion people on Planet Earth are on Facebook. With ​​4.66 billion people having access to the internet, well over 60% of internet users worldwide are on Facebook. So, yeah, Facebook is most certainly not dead. And Instagram, now owned by Facebook, is the second most popular social network for agents.

Suffice it to say that agents seem pretty sold that they need social media marketing to grow their businesses. Two-thirds of agent respondents said that posting great content on social media is more important than having a blog. Organic posting on social media was the second most popular way agents got clients in 2021.

Our survey revealed a couple of roadblocks from agents who struggle to maintain a solid social media presence. First, many agents get distracted with other core business duties and, therefore, post inconsistently and without a solid strategy. Also, according to our survey data, only about 47% of agents feel confident with their social media skills.

That’s why one of the most popular real estate marketing tools amongst our community of agents is Artur’in. They take the heavy lifting out of maintaining a social media presence. So if you want to do more social media marketing but know that you won’t have the capacity or skill set to do so consistently, then Artur’in is worth checking out.

Try Artur’in

Are Agents Backing Up their Marketing Confidence with Results?

The oddest result we got from this survey (in my opinion) spoke to how confident agents felt. More than half of agents (53%) said they felt confident with their marketing skills. However, less than half (45%) said they got leads from their marketing. That had me scratching my head a bit because one of the main marketing goals many agents have is getting high-quality leads.

Similarly, while almost three quarters of agents (74%) feel confident that they can turn leads into clients, only 53% felt confident with their ability to get motivated leads.

And I get it—many agents are relatable, experienced, and legitimate subject-matter experts in their community. So, OF COURSE, they feel like they could convert leads… if only they could get leads. However, data has shown that agents are generating more leads than ever. And yet, many agents are still closing the same number of deals.

So while agents might think the problem is getting motivated leads, perhaps the issue is that agents aren’t nurturing the leads that they’re getting properly. Just because a lead isn’t ready right now doesn’t mean they won’t be prepared to buy or sell in a few months (or even years).

If you’re interested in converting more leads, step 1 is making the work you put into your CRM’s data and nurturing programs a labor of love. And if you don’t have a CRM, we highly recommend LionDesk (which we ranked best overall real estate CRM in our 2022 guide). LionDesk is low-cost, easy to use, and you can even try it for free.

Try LionDesk for Free

As we already discussed, social media is an important channel for agents. So much so that almost half (48%) of agents say that social media ads are their most effective form of advertising.

And as a graph I included earlier in this article pointed out, Facebook Ads were a more popular channel for agents in 2021 than “old school” approaches like cold calling, door knocking, and print ads.

I anticipate Facebook Ads will only increase in popularity among agents as a lead gen channel in the year ahead, and we expect that number to increase when we send out our annual agent survey in early 2023.

The Support & Help Agents Get and Need

The good news is that most agents set goals and an action plan for 2022 and get adequate support from their brokerage.

However, despite understanding the importance of video marketing, our reader survey revealed that it’s an area where agents feel significantly less confident. Only 32% feel confident with using video marketing in their business.

Yet marketing videos ranked as the third most popular way agents plan to get clients in 2022. Plus, 37% of agents said YouTube was important for their marketing, and another 18% pointed to TikTok as being important to their efforts.

As we recently discussed with Eric Simon on our Close Weekly podcast, video is essential for agents. Simon, who has 350,000+ Instagram followers with his Instagram account, The Broke Agent, even went so far as to encourage agents to appear on camera.

If that feels daunting to you, we hear you. That’s why we often recommend Parkbench. They help agents create a video-rich online presence. And they offer excellent support for agents who are just getting started with video.

Check out Parkbench

Key Takeaways + Full Infographic

Overall, it’s clear that social media continues to gain momentum as an essential marketing channel. However, while agents feel confident with their marketing skills overall, they need to make sure they have clear, measurable goals they can tie to these efforts—whether those are lead generation goals, growing their SOI or online presence, or simply gaining referrals.

Based on this data, it’s clear that Facebook isn’t going anywhere for Realtors. I anticipate the data will show that Facebook Ads will grow in importance as a marketing channel. Here’s why: Agents already got more clients from Facebook Ads in 2021 than they did from more traditional types of prospecting and outreach (i.e., door knocking, cold calling). As agents become more sophisticated with Facebook Ads, their ROI will only improve.

Email marketing was ranked the second most popular way agents will grow their business in 2022. With the ROI on email marketing being as high as it is (around 30-40x that of social meidia), agents have a lot to gain by putting their energy into their CRM.

Lastly, agents are great at setting goals and seem to feel supported by their brokerages for the most part. However, video is still a sore spot for agents. Agents might have to get out of their comfort zone and get in front of the camera to chase their marketing goals in 2022.

The post Real Estate Agents Rank Social Media As #1 Marketing Channel in 2022 (+ Infographics) appeared first on The Close.

If you sold real estate over the last two years, you know why this passage came to mind. If you’re a journalist just looking for a scoop, I can break it down for you: massive change, lightning speed.

A Historic Year for Realtors

From his perch on the National Association of Realtors (NAR) stage, our real estate coach and technologist Chris Linsell noted just some of the trends that switched into ludicrous mode—seemingly overnight. Zillow stumbled while suburbs boomed. Remote workers reshaped markets and bidding wars became front-page news.

Inflation, supply chains, and spending bills either spelled doomsday for the market or a historic boom—depending on which pundit you listened to. With all this change, predicting what 2022 has in store is daunting, to say the least, but it’s a challenge we signed up for.

We reached out to the smartest real estate thought leaders we know and asked them a simple question: “What’s the biggest trend real estate agents should look out for in 2022 and how can they pivot their business to meet it?” Here’s what they told us:

Agent Branding Will Matter More Than Ever in 2022

Ryan Serhant, Founder & CEO of SERHANT.

About Ryan Serhant

Better Tech Will Widen the Gap Between Top Agents & Everyone Else

Alyssa Brody, ESQ., Co-founder of Development Marketing Team

Inventory, Drop in Value Investments & Interest Rates Will Continue to Shape the Market

Michael Nourmand, President of Nourmand & Associates

About Michael Nourmand

Successful Realtors Will Make Their Business Social, Surprising & Should Focus on the Scarce

Chris Linsell, Real Estate Coach, Speaker & Senior Close Staff Writer

“2022 is likely to be the year of innovation via acquisition, which means that we’ll see major players like Zillow take off the gloves and actually declare themselves actual brokerages (and officially a competitor with most agents). If agents want to remain solvent (and even accelerate) in the face of these major competitors, they need to be:

• Social: It’s really difficult for mega-brokerages to be as ingrained in the neighborhoods they’re competing in as you, the local expert. Lean on this strength, both digitally (hello, social media strategy) and in person (the coffee date should be a weekly thing this year).
• Surprising: Zillow’s (and others like it) success is based in large part on consistency and automation, but they fall short when it comes to spontaneous, surprise-and-delight opportunities. Look for ways to get the wow factor of the unexpected this year; it will pay off in spades.
• Scarce: The major real estate corporations focus on mass markets. While you want to be visible to all, you want to be the expert to your specific niche. Get into and dominate a scarce niche (condos, especially those with short-term-rental options are my pick this year) and be the master. You’re never going to compete for the entire city’s business, and you don’t want to.”

About Chris Linsell

WATCH: Inman Connect 2021—Real Estate Tech Leaders Predict Trends for 2022

When he isn’t coaching agents or presenting at NAR, Chris Linsell heads to real estate conferences—so you don’t have to. This year, he interviewed five real estate tech leaders to get their take on what 2022 will bring for agents.

Realtors Who Create Local Content That Highlights Lifestyle Will Get More Leads

Krista Nickols, Associate Broker, SERHANT.

Agents Who Focus on Short-Form Video Will Thrive

Eric Simon, LA Realtor, Founder of The Broke Agent

About Eric Simon

Consumers Will Have More Access to Data Than Ever Before

Sam DeBord, CEO at  Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO)

“Agents and brokers should be prepared for consumers to have more information about their work and their compensation. More information about commissions offered by listing agents to buyers’ agents will be forthcoming on consumer-facing internet websites. The services that brokers offer will become more transparent to consumers, including which agent provides which role in a transaction. This trend will continue to pick up, and agents need to be able to succinctly state why they provide value to their customers in describing the service they offer and the fees they charge.”

About Sam DeBord

Understanding Blockchain Will Be More Important for Realtors

Erin Sykes, Luxury Real Estate Advisor, Chief Economist, Nest Seekers International

“In 2022, we will begin to experience using NFTs in real estate to improve and streamline the closing process and work toward instantaneous settlement by using blockchain to register title, surveys, transfer a property, and complete all background diligence, thus ensuring the transaction’s integrity. Smart agents will ramp up their understanding of blockchain and how the technology can affect their business.”

Agents Will Need Deeper Market Knowledge to Compete

Lisa Lippman, Associate Broker, Brown Harris Stevens, Manhattan

About Lisa Lippman

Capital Investment From Overseas Will Increase

Pierre Debbas, ESQ., Managing Partner of Romer Debbas LLP

Over to You

What do you think 2022 has in store for real estate agents? Let us know in the comments.

The post 2022 Will Make or Break Most Agents: Here’s How 10 Thought Leaders Are Preparing appeared first on The Close.

We’ve researched multiple sources to bring you 83 of the most compelling real estate stats from across the industry—covering everything from market performance, agent demographics, marketing, teams, brokerages, and more. If you want to understand the trends, you’ll first need to know the numbers. 

Real Estate Agent Statistics

1. More than 40% of active Realtors in the United States are located in California, Florida, Texas, and Arizona.
2. Nearly 2% of the adult population in Florida has an active real estate license.
3. The number of active Realtors in Arizona has grown by nearly 10% from 2020 to 2021.There are currently more than 3 million active real estate licensees in the United States.
4. As of October 2021, there were 1.56 million members of the National Association of Realtors®(NAR).
5. More than 65% of active Realtors are women.
6. The median age of all Realtors in the United States is 52.
7. 45% of Realtors have completed a bachelor’s or graduate degree.
8. 20% of Realtors have had their license for a year or less.
9. 82% of licensed Realtors own their primary residence.
10. 37% of licensed Realtors own at least one secondary property.
11. There are more than 1,100 local Realtor associations in the United States.

[READ MORE: Are Leadership Roles in Luxury Real Estate Still an Old Boys’ Club?]

Looking for a Realtor? These Four States Have Plenty!

12. 68% of all real estate licenses in the United States are held by agents, the rest are held by brokers and associate brokers.
13. The median experience level of licensed professionals in the real estate industry is five years.
14. There are approximately 120 million occupied housing units (by renters and owners) in the United States.

[READ MORE: How to Become a Real Estate Agent in California in 5 Easy Steps]

Real Estate Market Statistics

15. There are approximately 120 million occupied housing units (by renters and owners) in the United States.
16. 92% of homes sold in the U.S.in 2021 were sold using an agent or a broker.
17. The average listing price for a home in the United States has risen more than 32% since March 2020 to $374,900 as of June 2021.
18. The median sales price for a home in the United States in 2021 has increased by 416% since 1980.
19. U.S. homes spent a median of 31 days on market in 2021—the lowest median selling period in more than 15 years.
20. The median days available (before a contract) was nine, also the lowest in more than 15 years.
21. Interest rates have literally never been lower than in 2021—at one point hovering around 2.68% (as a national median).
22. Gen X became the largest homebuying cohort last year, purchasing nearly one out of every four homes that sold in 2021.
23. The number of homes sold in 2021 (to date) was up by nearly 10% over 2020 to 6.29 million as of September 2021.

[READ MORE: This Buyer Presentation Converts Leads to Clients in 15 Minutes]

Real Estate Business & Income Statistics

24. Realtors typically make more than 95% of their annual income from real estate commissions.
25. The median gross commission income for Realtors working 19 to 40 hours per week in 2021 is $43,300, down from $46,000+ in 2020.
26. The median gross commission income for Realtors working 40 to 60 hours per week is $87,550.
27. The median gross commission income for Realtors working more than 60 hours a week is $145,347.
28. Realtors with 15 years of experience (or more) have a median gross income of $75,000.
29. Realtors with 20 years of experience (or more) have a median gross income of $101,633.
30. The median number of annual transactions for a licensed real estate agent is 10.
31. 71% of Realtors specialize in residential real estate.
32. Realtors earning $100,000 or more in gross commission income are more than twice as likely to use advanced technology tools like a CRM than agents who earn less.

[READ MORE: Real Estate Broker vs Agent: A Head-to-Head Analysis]

Real Estate Social Media Marketing Statistics

33. 74% of Realtors use Facebook for business purposes.
34. 56% of Realtors use LinkedIn for business purposes
35. More than 30% of Realtors report closing at least one transaction a year as a direct result of their use of social media.
36. Americans now spend, on average, more than an hour a day on Facebook and Facebook-connected platforms.
37. Facebook Live watch times have, on average, quadrupled since 2020.
38. The average American Facebook user clicks on eight ads per month, and that number increases to 10 ads a month for women.
39. 60% of agents surveyed by The Close list active social media as more important than a website.

[READ MORE: 15 Social Media Mistakes All Agents Should Avoid]

Real Estate Video Marketing Statistics

40. Nearly 80% of active listing agents use drone photography and videography to market their listings.
41. More than one out of every five commercial drone shoots are now done for real estate purposes.
42. 73% of homeowners say they’re more likely to list with a Realtor who uses video to sell property.
43. Homes with drone photography as a part of the marketing plan sell, on average, 68% faster than those without.
44. Recent sellers reported only 10% of their agents effectively used video to market their property.
45. 78% of real estate professionals surveyed by The Close say that video is important to making agents stand out on social media.

[READ MORE: 11 Real Estate Videos Smart Agents Are Using + Examples]

Other Interesting Real Estate Marketing Statistics You Need to Know

46. In 2021, 68% of home sellers reported finding their agent via a referral from friends or family.
47. In 2021, the typical Realtor earned 34% of their commission income via repeat clients and referrals.
48. 70% of licensed real estate professionals have a website.
49. On average, the third most viewed page on a real estate agent website is the “About Us” page.
50. 69% of recent home sellers surveyed said that they would gladly write a review for their sales agent, if requested.
51. When asked about the most important trait they look for in an agent, prospective home sellers chose “professional reputation” more than any other trait.
52. Less than 1% of homebuyers reported finding their new home via print advertising.

[READ MORE: 6 Emails to Send to Clients to Drive Repeat & Referral Business]

Real Estate Brokerage Statistics

53. There are currently more than 107,000 brokerages operating in the United States.
54. 32% of all real estate licenses in the United States are held by brokers or associate brokers.
55. A typical real estate agent stays at a brokerage for five years.
56. Real estate brokers and associate brokers close a median of 13 annual transactions.
57. 45% of brokers report that “keeping up with technology” is the biggest challenge their agents face.

[READ MORE: 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Real Estate Brokerage]

Home Selling Statistics

58. More than 5.64 million existing homes are projected to sell in 2021.
59. More than 800,000 newly constructed homes are projected to sell in 2021.
60. The median available days on market for a home in the United States in 2021 was less than 10.
61. The typical FSBO home sold for 17% less than a home listed with a Realtor.
62. Homes listed for sale on a Thursday typically sold for more (and faster) than homes listed on any other day of the week.

Who is Selling? A Home-Seller Statistical Snapshot

63. The typical home seller in the United States is 45 years old.
64. The typical home seller has owned their home for eight years.
65. The typical size of a U.S. home sold in the last year was 1,900 square feet.
66. The typical home seller bought their home using a mortgage.
67. The typical home seller will cash out 30% of their purchase price in proceeds from a sale in 2021.

[READ MORE: How to Get Listings: 21 Luxury Listing Agents Spill Their Secrets]

Home Buying Statistics

68. More than 20% of homebuyers in 2021 were single females.
69. Less than 10% of homebuyers in 2021 were single men.
70. 34% of home purchases in 2021 were made by first-time homebuyers.
71. The median age of a first-time home buyer in the United States in 2021 was 33.
72. The median age of a repeat home buyer in the United States in 2021 was 56.
73. The median household income for a first-time home buyer in the United States in 2021 was $86,500.
74. Repeat U.S. homebuyers in 2021 earned a median household income of $112,500.
75. 11% of homebuyers in 2021 purchased multi-generational homes due to children above the age of 18 moving back home, for cost-saving, or to care for their aging parents.
76. 3% of homebuyers in 2021 were active-duty service members.
77. 29% of homes purchased in 2021 had a sale price of more than 100% of the asking price.
78. 41% of buyers report their first step in the home buying process was looking at homes online, while only 19% of buyers contacted a real estate agent as their first step.
79. The typical buyer in 2021 visited eight homes before making a purchase.
80. In 2021, the typical first-time homebuyer financed 93% of their home’s purchase price, compared to 83% for repeat home buyers.
81. 28% of first-time homebuyers reported using a gift or a loan from family or friends for some or all of their downpayment.
82. 60% of Realtors report that in 2021, lack of inventory was the most important factor limiting potential clients from making a purchase, overtaking 2020’s “finding the right property in the right price range”.
83. Nearly 60% of home buyers under the age of 29 don’t expect to be in their home for more than 10 years before selling again.

[READ MORE: 15 Powerful Timesavers Top Buyers’ Agents Use to Close Deals Faster]

How Many Realtors in Each State?

Over To You

Was there a real estate statistic we didn’t cover that you’d like to hear about? Leave us a comment below. Let’s keep the conversation going!

SOURCES:

Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO), National Association of Realtors, Realtor.com, Real Estate Agent U, Contactually, Real Estate Express, Hootsuite, Carrot, RIS Media, U.S.Association of Unmanned Aerial Videographers, Autel Robotics, 60% of Real Estate Pros Say Social Media Is More Important Than a Website (+ Survey Results)        

The post 83 Shocking Real Estate Statistics You Need To Know appeared first on The Close.

Our team at The Close has attended many Inman events over the years, and this one definitely didn’t disappoint. I donned a mask, mixed it up on the expo floor, and sat through hours of presentations. These are my top 10 takeaways from our week in Sin City.

1. Most Realtors Claimed 2021 Has Been Their Best Year in the Business

While 2020 and 2021 were full of anxiety and frustration thanks to COVID-19, many real estate agents are looking at their balance sheets for the last fiscal year and doing double-takes. According to a straw poll conducted by MCs Kymber Menkiti and Amie Quirarte on day one, 2021 was the strongest year of business ever for nearly three-quarters of the agents in attendance.

Both Menkiti and Quirarte acknowledged that it was difficult to celebrate milestones like these amidst the challenges our communities are facing during the ongoing global pandemic, but the fact remains–many of us have done more business in the last 12 months than in any other year of our careers.

[Related article: 9 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan + Templates]

Download Agent Business Plan Template

2. There Is No Real Estate Bubble. Here’s Why.

A recent Redfin survey (something we’ll talk about in a minute) showed that nearly three-quarters of the homeowners who participated believed that we were in some sort of housing bubble, but Dave Jones of Windemere Abode believes otherwise. Here’s what he had to say:

“We’re not in a bubble-burst scenario. What has caused the last two real estate bubbles to burst? A sudden, dramatic flood of inventory to a nearly saturated market. In order for our current market to turn into a bubble (and then burst), we’d have to flood it with new listings. Anyone working as an agent right now knows that just isn’t going to happen.”

[Related article: The Pivot: 3 Ways Smart Realtors Can Thrive in ANY Market]

3. The No-regrets Offer: The Secret to Being a Successful Buyer’s Agent

Buyers’ agents have had a tough time in 2021. Ultra-competitive markets, all-cash offers, and crazy seller expectations have been the source of more than a few sleepless nights and grey hairs. All-Star Compass agent Dee Dee Guggenheim Howes and new Million Dollar Listing star Tyler Whitman have the answer: The No-regrets Offer.

The No-regrets Offer is a threaded needle—an offer that, if your buyers win the listing, they are comfortable with the price and terms, and if they lose the listing, they don’t feel like they left any room for negotiation.

[Related article: 18 Top Real Estate Negotiation Strategies From the Pros]

4. We Learned a New Buzz Word: Natural Sphere Selection

I’ll admit it, I was wrong. Close readers and YouTube watchers have heard me say on a number of occasions that no contact is a bad contact; that if you’ve done the work to get somebody into your sphere of influence, you should market to them, no matter what.

Katy Day, team leader of the MOVEMETOTX team, changed my thinking by saying:

“The fact is, not everyone is someone you want to do business with again. You’re in charge of your own referral and repeat business generation. If a transaction isn’t worth it to you, don’t reach out and connect with people you don’t want to work with again. This is natural sphere selection. Curate the sort of business you want.”

[Related article: 15 Things Realtors Would Love to Tell Our Clients (But We Don’t)]

5. The Future of the Real Estate Business: Three Diverging Paths

One of the most interesting conversations of the entire conference took place between Mark Johnson, CEO of JPAR, Will Holmes, General Growth Manager at OpenDoor, and Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of Propy. The question posed was simple: “What does the future of real estate work look like?” Amidst the conversation and debate, three possibilities emerged:

1. A typical real estate agent’s responsibilities will balloon; the 150+ tasks we complete right now will turn into 300+ tasks.
2. A typical real estate agent will be a niche specialist, completing 10-15 highly specialized tasks and outsourcing the rest to other specialists.
3. A typical real estate agent’s superpower will no longer be multitasking—it will be customization, creating an ultra-personalized real estate experience for every client.

6. If You Have the Chance to Make Someone’s Day, You’d Be Crazy Not To

In a session titled “Marketing Trends Impacting the Modern Brokerage,” Client Giant co-founder Jay O’Brien dropped perhaps the best quote of the entire week:

“Real estate marketing generates a feeling. When you consider marketing strategy, keep in mind your goal. If you have the power to make someone’s day, you’d be crazy not to.”

Client Giant focuses on creating curated closing gifts and thoughtful experiences for your clientele after a transaction is closed, but the quote has us thinking about all our marketing and what sort of feelings it creates for our prospects, leads, and clients alike.

[Related article: Jay O’Brien: How to Deliver 7-Star Service in a 3-Star Industry]

7. The Percentage of Online Leads That Actually Convert Is Plummeting

Glenn Kelman, President and CEO of Redfin, took to the stage on day two of the event with a review of one of Redfin’s signature studies of the real estate industry. The presentation was packed with a ton of information, but one major fact stuck out to us:

In 2016, 4.4% of online leads created transactions within 180 days of first contact. In 2021, that number was down to 2.1%.

These leads may take months (or even years) to turn into clients, so persistent, thoughtful work to keep them in your funnel is required if you want to be successful.

[Related article: The Best Real Estate CRM: In-depth Reviews & Pricing]

8. Could a No-commission Real Estate Model Be in Our Future?

There are a lot of stars in the real estate universe, but not many shine as brightly as Inman Editor-at-Large and all-around real estate rock star Clelia Warburg-Peters. With an educational pedigree that includes an undergrad from Yale and an MBA from Columbia, plus a ton of hands-on experience running one of New York City’s most recognizable indie brokerages, she’s an industry powerhouse. She’s also a founding member of the venture capital firm MetaProp. When Warburg-Peters speaks, we listen.

Moderating a session called “The Transaction of the Future,” the conversation turned toward what the commission models of the future could look like. Warburg-Peters suggested that as services continue to bundle together and companies consolidate, real estate commissions could become a loss leader to get clients in the door to sell them other services.

Does this mean that salaried real estate agents might become the norm? Only time will tell.

[Related article: What’s the Best Real Estate Company to Work for?]

9. The Third Revolution of Real Estate Is Here: Transaction Digitization

The term “revolution” gets thrown around a lot in the real estate industry, but at Inman Connect Las Vegas 2021, Sean Black, CEO and founder of Knock, finally clarified exactly what it means. According to Black, we’ve been through two major shifts already, and we’re at the doorstep of the third right now.

The first revolution occurred in the late 1990s, as platforms like Zillow emerged and listing data went online. All of a sudden, real estate buyers had access to all the information they needed to at least start the real estate transaction process.

The second revolution occurred right around 2015 as iBuyers began to enter the market. With this revolution, property sellers now had more than just the open market as an option for the sale of their homes, kicking off the “buy-before-you-sell” movement.

The third, happening right now, is all about the digitization and streamlining of the transaction itself. Black rightly pointed out that there is a lot of friction in the real estate process. Buying and selling a home is HARD, and it doesn’t need to be. With new technology, new bundled processes, and a new approach, Black envisions a world where buying and selling a home is as easy as booking an Airbnb.

We found ourselves wondering, “Is some of this friction actually a good thing?” An Airbnb is for the weekend, but a house (can be) forever. Shouldn’t we want to take a little more time and add a few more checkpoints along the way with such a large transaction?

10. You Can Draw Bees With Honey (or Money!), But to Retain Agents, You Need to Recruit With Value

Another member of the “Holy s%*t impressive” club at Inman Connect this year was Natalie Hamrick, Vice President of Growth at the Chicago-based brokerage @Properties. In a session titled “A Broker’s Guide to Growth and Expansion,” Natalie expertly walked us through some of the finer points of recruiting and retaining the sort of agent pool that won’t just make your numbers this year, they’ll create a culture of excellence for decades to come.

“When you’re recruiting agents, you have to wow them with value, not with money. Recruiting with money is shallow and temporary; everyone has dollars to spend. Recruiting with value shows how you’re different and how an agent can be successful as a part of your team.”

[Related article: The Ultimate Guide to Recruiting Agents for Your Team or Brokerage]

Your Turn

Did you attend Inman Connect Las Vegas 2021? If so, what were your favorite sessions? If not, are you planning on attending any real estate conferences this year?

If you’re headed to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Annual Conference or Triple Play 2021, make sure to check out my featured presentations: 5 Bold Predictions From the Desk of a Real Estate Technologist for 2022 and How to Create a Bullet-proof CMA!

The post 10 Unexpected Takeaways From Inman Connect Las Vegas 2021 appeared first on The Close.

For many inside the real estate industry, however, the sudden dissolution of Zillow Offers was an abrupt surprise but not a shock. The writing has been on the wall for a long time that the iBuying model, specifically the one Zillow was using, was destined to fail. Why did this particular house of cards finally come crashing down? Here are five reasons.

1. Zillow Offers Was Market-Focused, Not Client-Focused

A sustainable real estate business grows organically at the speed of relationships and is built upon measured success and community adoption. In short, a real estate agent, team, or broker will only grow as fast as the trust the community has in them.

Zillow Offers was not focused on building this trust. Instead, it was focused on creating an artificial market via what can only be described as brute force. In the second quarter alone, Zillow purchased more than 3,800 homes nationwide. That’s an average of more than 50 homes per month in every market in which they operate.

In August, they sought a first-of-its-kind, ultra-aggressive bond initiative worth $450 million to push the envelope harder and faster. This strategy was about gobbling up inventory as fast as possible and was not about sustainably serving communities nationwide.

What Can Agents Learn From This Mistake? If your business is driven solely by numbers and not by people and the sentiment in your community, your foundation is broken. Zillow saw a potential profit margin on homes and said, “Well, how many can we buy?”. Ask yourself instead, “Am I serving my balance sheet or serving my community?”

2. An Algorithm Isn’t a Substitute For an Agent

The Zillow Offers iBuying model depended on complex algorithms to determine a home’s value and what type of offer could be made to purchase and potentially resell a property for a profit.

It turns out that algorithms, no matter how smart they are, simply can’t replicate an agent’s expertise, experience, and local exposure. Trust us, the Zillow algorithm was pretty damn smart, but it’s no substitute for an agent with their feet on the ground in the communities in which Zillow was buying and selling.

The specific effects a local market may have on particular inventory (something The Close calls “Micro-Market Trends” in our CMA Strategy Guide) are very hard for iBuyers to account for accurately.  Unless you’ve spent time on the sidewalk in a particular neighborhood, it’s difficult to price a home there with any precision.

Get Our Free CMA Guide

What Can Agents Learn From This Mistake? This is less of a learning opportunity (most of you are already nodding your head vigorously in agreement) and more of a business opportunity.

Take stock right now of the segments of your market in which you’re an expert. Then, reach out to your farm area tomorrow with a link to a story about Zillow Offers and confidently assure your contacts that you are the market expert and resource for all things real estate.

3. Zillow Misjudged the Strength of Its Supply Chain

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about supply chain problems in the US and across the world. But in the case of Zillow Offers, the supplies that were crunched were those of human capital.

The people Zillow needed to execute its strategy, including home inspectors, general contractors, and “last mile” agents to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, simply weren’t there to support the volume of homes Zillow owned and was continuing to purchase.

What Can Agents Learn From This Mistake? If you’ve got an office admin, a preferred lender, inspector, handyman—in short, anyone who you work with to solve problems for your clients, this is your sign to send them flowers and a gift card. Let these people know how much you appreciate them.

Agents are often seen as one-person shows, but we know that couldn’t be further from the truth. Take stock of the human resources you regularly partner with to meet your goals and solidify those relationships today.

4. Zillow Offers Depended on a Consistent, Linear Market Trajectory, But That’s Not How it Works

In interviews given following the announcement of the demise of Zillow Offers, CEO Rich Barton said, “We’ve determined the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated. We could blame the current losses on exogenous market events, but it would be naïve to predict that unpredictable events won’t happen in the future.”

Wait, you mean to say that local real estate markets are largely cyclical and susceptible to external forces? Ultimately, what affects the value of a home on one street might not affect the value on another, let alone another town, region, or state? Who could have predicted that? (All the Realtors in the room, please raise your hands.)

Each real estate market is unique in terms of when and how deep it cycles in either direction, making it nearly impossible for a generalized algorithm to make accurate predictions—a factor that Zillow Offers’ algorithm didn’t accurately take into account.

What Can Agents Learn From This Mistake? In due time, the seller’s market will transition to a buyer’s market. Don’t listen to the national pundits about when and where this will happen. Instead, listen to your local market, and prepare your business for the shift. It may not happen for months or even years, but planning accordingly will help you avoid Zillow Offers’ mistakes.

5. Zillow Offers Tried to Create a Frictionless Process, But Real Estate Needs SOME Friction

The real estate transaction is time-consuming and not always easy. iBuying platforms like Zillow Offers, OfferPad, or Opendoor would suggest that it is downright hard—a process ripe for disruption. One of the major value propositions of these platforms is that it makes a long, challenging process quick and easy.

What I’m about to say might not win me any popularity contests, but this idea is just plain wrong. The real estate process shouldn’t be seamless. Buying a house shouldn’t be as easy as booking an Airbnb. Booking a condo in Miami Beach for Memorial Day is a weekend commitment. Buying a home is a decision with a life-long impact.

The friction in a real estate transaction functions as a check and balance on the process, ensuring that you’re making the right decision at every step along the way.

For some buyers and sellers in certain circumstances, an expedited, frictionless process could make sense. But, for the vast majority of residential buyers and sellers, the much-maligned friction iBuyers hope to eliminate effectively slows down the process. It slows it down just enough to give buyers and sellers the chance to change course if they realize they’re heading in the wrong direction.

What Can Agents Learn From This Mistake? Own your process. Don’t look at the home buying and selling process as a burden. Look at it as an opportunity to demonstrate your value as an essential advisor for each and every one of your clients. As a Realtor, you make a commitment to act in the fiduciary best interests of your clients. When was the last time those best interests included the phrase “hurry up”?

Your Turn

Have iBuyers been present in your market? Have they affected your real estate business? Tell us your thoughts and leave us your comments below.

The post Destined to Fail: 5 Reasons Why Zillow Offers Didn’t Succeed appeared first on The Close.

We don’t have a crystal ball, but according to most brokers we spoke with, there are six real estate niches that agents can start working to take advantage of today’s historic market shifts.

1. Corporate Relocations

With the sudden popularity of remote working in 2020, many large companies left states they had been in for decades for states with fewer regulations and more affordable housing. For example, Oracle, Palantir, and Hewlett-Packard Enterprises all left California last year.

While the conditions that led to these moves might be temporary, we predict many more large companies will try to lower their expenses by moving their headquarters in the coming years. We predict the reputational return on investment (ROI) of being headquartered in an expensive city will continue to decrease.

How Agents Can Start Working Corporate Relocations

While many large corporations have established relationships with real estate brokerages for relocations, many are informal, and not all employees use them. That means adding a corporate relocations niche to your business can help you get more leads and close more deals.

LinkedIn prospecting is an excellent way for agents to dip their toes into the corporate relocations niche without radically transforming their lead generation strategy. It’s way easier to get our content in front of decision-makers, and since the platform is designed for professional networking, you can easily reach out to professionals in companies that are moving employees or headquarters.

2. Rentals

Since median home prices are up 17.8% year over year and job growth is stalling, more and more people are flocking to rentals, and rents are rising. The rise in so-called “digital nomads” means more people will be looking for housing options that allow them to travel around the country and the world. This means working rentals can become a lucrative niche for agents in 2022.

When I was an agent in New York City, I made $1,500 to $3,000 per closed rental transaction. Agents who worked high-end exclusive rental listings sometimes collected five-figure commission checks from one closed rental deal. While results like these might not be common in all rental markets, it proves that rentals can be very lucrative for real estate agents. There are two ways to do this in smaller markets: 1. Increase volume, and 2. Get exclusive rental contracts with developers.

How Agents Can Start Working Rentals

If you’re working in a hot rental market like New York City, just join a brokerage with exclusive rentals so you don’t have to rely on OLR. If you’re not, get licensed in property management if your state requires it and start pitching builders and developers.

One of the easiest ways to stand out in the crowded property management market is to sharpen your digital marketing skills. Learn how to build a WordPress website that can manage rentals and offer to build one for free for a local developer.

If you want to work the sales side, start educating your sphere on real estate investing with an eye toward renting. You can get started with these deep-dive articles on real estate investing from Sean Moudry:

• 3 Types of Real Estate Investing Every Agent Needs to Learn
• How to Analyze Cash Flow Real Estate Investments + Attract Investor Clients

3. Vacation Communities

We think vacation communities like The Hamptons in New York will become a great niche for agents this year and beyond. First, because many of them saw the largest influx of new buyers and rising prices in 2020, and second because the vacation rental market is going to explode from pent-up demand as the pandemic fades.

How Agents Can Start Working Vacation Communities

If you work near a vacation community and have the listings in your MLS, start marketing them to potential buyers using an IDX website. The idea is to curate listings from a vacation destination to a page on your website using IDX widgets, then drive paid and organic traffic to that page.

If you don’t already have an IDX website, use this as an excuse to finally build one. You can learn how here: How to Build an IDX Real Estate Website: The Ultimate Guide

4. Luxury Buyers & Listings

Since economic downturns and inflation often lead to inflated asset prices, it’s no surprise that the wealthy people who owned those assets got even richer in 2020. We saw record highs in equity markets and even more explosive growth in cryptocurrencies. This is a big part of the reason prices rose higher and faster for luxury homes.

So if you live near a luxury area, chances are inventory is ridiculously tight, and most homes are selling above asking price. While there is some debate about when (or if) the luxury market will cool down, right now, it is still red hot.

How Agents Can Start Working Luxury Buyers & Listings

Finding luxury buyers to work in this market is relatively easy. You can advertise on Facebook or Google, network, or just join a luxury team. You’re going to want to give your branding and marketing materials a bit of a polish before you start, though. A strong brand is far more important for agents who are transitioning to luxury.

For listings, the road is rougher but not impossible. If you’re serious about transitioning to luxury listings, check Sean Moudry’s excellent article on the subject below. Sean has been in real estate for 27 years as a broker, coach, speaker, author, and consultant. He’s also one of our best writers here at The Close.

5. FSBO

While some agents get scared away from working FSBO because they think investors are snapping up all the inventory, Coldwell Banker CEO Ryan Gorman reminded us that it’s still a “very, very small percentage of the overall market.” It makes sense when you think about it. Just because the housing market is hot doesn’t mean homeowners suddenly learned how to sell houses!

So while the sharks look elsewhere for listings, pitching FSBOs can be an excellent niche for agents this year.

How Agents Can Start Working FSBO

Of course, none of these trends mean that pitching FSBO is easy. The market has left many homeowners with the idea that selling houses is simple. The trick is to find them when reality finally begins to sink in.

You can start by learning and practicing FSBO scripts. Chris broke down his seven favorite FSBO scripts here and explained why they work so well: The 7 Best FSBO Scripts & Why They Work.

6. Millennial Homebuyers

It may seem counterintuitive, but the fastest-growing segment of homebuyers in 2020 was millennials, many buying their first homes. Most agents have heard this before (more than once!), but there are indications that millennials are finally stepping up to homeownership in a big way.

The first reason is basic demographics; millennials are now entering their prime earning years. The second reason is the explosion in popularity of house hacking and millennial real estate investing influencers on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Cody Sperber, a 34-year-old real estate investing influencer from Arizona, has 1.2 million followers on Instagram.

How Agents Can Start Working Millennial Homebuyers

If you’re a bit older, you should probably start by brushing up on how millennials think and what they’re looking for in a realtor. We asked 11 top producing agents for their feedback in our article What Millennials Really Want From a Realtor: 11 Top Producers Weigh In.

Over to You

Know of an underrated real estate niche you think is poised to become more lucrative this year? Let us know in the comments.

The post 6 Red-hot Real Estate Niches That Can Double Your GCI in 2022 & Beyond appeared first on The Close.

In our Mid-2021 Real Estate Agent Survey—graciously completed by our readers in July—we uncovered that only 35% said they felt confident with their online marketing abilities. Yet, despite their lack of confidence, agents are getting more clients from online channels this year.

Let’s unpack the results.

Just How Important Is Social Media?

Here’s a question that many real estate pros ask themselves with increasing regularity: “Is social media more important than my website for my marketing?”

The majority of our respondents said yes—60% of agents said social media is more important.

This result got us thinking—when we ranked the websites of 25 of the best agents, quite a few of them didn’t have websites at all.

However, we know agents who dominate search engine optimization (SEO) and drive consistent traffic and leads to their website. Like many aspects of doing business, the importance of your website vs social media depends on your goals and strengths.

If you’re in the “websites are most definitely important” camp, here are SEO tips for agents who want to win Google rankings. No matter which camp you’re in though, social media is seriously impactful for a lot of agents’ businesses.

Boost Your Brand on Social

Social Media Success in 2021: What Does It Look Like?

Social media is an investment. And luckily, the majority of agents can tie their social media efforts to getting new clients. For example, 64% of respondents said they plan on getting more clients from social media this year than they did in 2020.

However, they’re not necessarily doing so on Facebook. In fact, only 34% of agents agreed with the statement, “Facebook is more important for my marketing than Instagram.”

That makes sense given how Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users. Instagram successfully captures your prospects’ attention (and agents are taking note). It’s a highly visual medium that’s practically custom-made for house browsing.

If you’re feeling behind on your Instagram marketing, check out our article about 9 Instagram Hacks to Get More Followers & Engagement. It’s written by The Broke Agent, a hugely popular influencer who boasts 300,000+ Instagram followers. He also has a free e-book for agents who want to stand out by creating Instagram Reels (which is Instagram’s main video competitor to TikTok).

Get The Broke Agent’s Free Guide to Instagram Reels

Agents are also taking note of video marketing. 79% of respondents said that agents who use video in their marketing stand out more than agents who don’t. That explains why 61% of respondents want to learn more about video marketing products and services themselves.

Get Some Marketing Video Inspiration

Are Real Estate Professionals Confident Online Marketers?

Despite 64% of agents who claim they plan to get more clients in 2021 from social media than they did in 2020, only 35% of respondents feel confident with their online marketing capabilities.

If you fall into that category, we hear you. Marketing changes all the time. It’s hard to keep up and know what’s important and how best to approach it.

That’s why we provide resources like the 47-Point Ultimate Listing Marketing Checklist. We’d love to know what in particular you’d like help with. Sound off in the comments!

Seller Leads vs Buyer Leads

The following set of stats will not shock most agents working in 2021 (but we’ll end on one stat that might).

93% of agents want to figure out how to get seller leads, while only 62% of agents want to figure out buyer leads. The low inventory in many markets, coupled with many eager buyers whose lives changed due to the pandemic (e.g., working from home, new jobs), has made seller leads all the more attractive to agents.

Here’s one statistic that surprised us: Less than half (47%) of agents know their target client and what their niche is as an agent. We feel particularly passionate about this topic since we concluded our Generating Leads to Build a Long-term Business course with Close contributor Beverly Ruffner.

This 4-part Close Pro course focuses an entire module on the importance of targeting. Here’s just a short clip from it.

Beverly recommends looking into what your brand stands for and who it’s serving BEFORE trying to pursue just any lead. The reason? “When your message is for everyone, it’s really for no one.”

Key Takeaways

With 64% of respondents saying they expect more clients from social media this year vs last, social media is now a critical channel for many agents. So much so that 60% of respondents also said social media is more important to agents than their website.

While only 35% of respondents feel confident with their online marketing, it’s clear that ambitious agents will bridge that skill gap to give their brand a boost. Video marketing, in particular, has emerged as a tool that agents feel they need to stand out on social media. 79% agreed that agents who use video stand out more than those who don’t.

While 92% of agents want to find seller leads, only 47% know who their ideal client is and what niche they’re serving. Agents can be so busy working in their business that they forget to work on their business. Defining a clear value proposition, knowing your ideal client, and what niche you serve can only help agents stand out in the crowd.

We predict many agents will end 2021 a lot more confident with their online marketing abilities. We anticipate video to continue to be a force for agents on social media, and expect Instagram’s importance as a channel to continue to grow.

Methodology:

135 real estate professionals were surveyed in July 2021 through an online survey.

The post 60% of Real Estate Pros Say Social Media Is More Important Than a Website (+ Survey Results) appeared first on The Close.