My Blog

Have you ever wondered about the best practices and techniques of your fellow real estate sales professionals? Do you think about which solutions might be working for them that could also be helping you? Do you sometimes come up with unique questions or ideas and wish you had a sounding board you could trust? The answer to these questions and more can be found through masterminding. In my experience, you should not look at your colleagues as adversaries, but as valuable resources. 

If you’re a new agent who hasn’t yet experienced the benefits of masterminding or a slightly more experienced agent who may have forgotten the continued value of it, keep reading!

I host quarterly mastermind groups ? called Regional Roundtable sessions ? where I get together with a small group of select sales professionals and their regional manager to have an open discussion about … anything! A mastermind is a group of professionals who meet to share what’s working in their business, what’s not working in their business, encourage one another, share insights, and float ideas. Every member grows in their knowledge and belief of what is possible for themselves and their businesses. 

If you’re serious about working on your business, I believe that participating in a transparent, engaged mastermind is a must. When you surround yourself with other growth-focused people, your business can’t help but continue to flourish. 

If you’re a Fox & Roach sales professional, talk to your sales office leader about recommending you for a Regional Roundtable session. You could also search for mastermind opportunities through your affiliations. Otherwise, you could start your own group. The key is to have a clear vision of the expectations and benefits for others who may want to join. Depending on your goals, you may want to invite other sales professionals from your own region or surrounding areas. You could choose to invite those with similar production levels or keep it somewhat varied. If you don’t have an office environment and aren’t sure how to build your mastermind group, consider posting invites in an existing agent Facebook group or even starting your own Facebook group. 

Masterminds can have specific themes or be wide open ? anything from new prospecting ideas … to what you’ve heard in listing appointments … to social media strategies. The best part is that it’s up to you and your fellow sales professionals to take the topic at hand anywhere that may be beneficial. 

So, although you can always turn to your managers and brokerage executives for advice, don’t ignore another valuable resource right in front of you: your peers. Make up your mind to mastermind! Your business will surely thank you. 

Do you participate in a mastermind group? If so, what are the benefits? Share with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Use #joansjots.

At our latest Fox & Roach Friday Forum, we welcomed Heather Hansen — an accomplished keynote speaker, attorney, author, and podcaster. She talked about how we, as real estate sales professionals, can use the tools of a trial attorney to “make the case” for our buyers, our sellers, and ourselves. It’s all a matter of credibility and perspective. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the latter, especially as it relates to how we engage with clients. How does your choice of language show that you’re on a client’s side? What role does curiosity play in your interactions? When you meet for the first time, who does most of the talking? Here are some of my thoughts and suggestions when it comes to perspective. 

Avoid jargon.

When you meet with your clients, you may be tempted to use technical jargon to sound like an experienced professional. Resist the temptation. When trial attorneys like Heather Hansen argue to a jury, they are sure to use words that everyone can understand in order to make their case. The same applies to you. Because you’re around a lot of sales professionals every day, it’s easy to slip into “agent speak” without even realizing it. This can be alienating. Make a conscious effort to talk to your clients on their level, whatever it may be. This shows that you are viewing the situation through their lens, not your own. 

Show curiosity. 

Unlike when a trial attorney speaks to a jury, you have the added advantage of being able to ask questions. You get to be curious! Asking a lot of questions does not make you appear less credible. It actually helps you see the sale from their point of view. Once you put yourself in their metaphorical shoes, you can work to prove you are on their side. 

Listen more. 

You can and should be asking your clients what they need, what you’re missing, and what makes them happy. And then comes the part that can be surprisingly easy to forget: listen to their answers! Especially in a first meeting, you may be eager to impress a potential client with your own thoughts, stories, and ideas. Yes, of course, you have to talk — informing them of the state of the market and setting expectations. Otherwise, active listening will not only help you see things from their perspective, but also make them feel special. This is important both in the beginning and throughout the process.

 In today’s frenzied market, I can see how it might be easy to forget about perspective. You may have fallen into the habit of being purely transactional: getting it done and keeping it moving. However, as I’ve said often in this blog, real estate is still a relationship business. For a long and successful career, how you engage with your clients really matters. Just like with trial attorneys, people get to choose who represents them in the buying and selling of their homes. Unlike with trial attorneys, it’s a very good thing when people need us to represent them or their families again and again and again! 

What does this year hold for the housing market? Here’s what experts project for 2022 along with my thoughts. (Hint: It isn’t wildly different from 2021 and, if you work hard, the outlook is bright.)

MORTGAGE RATES AND HOME PRICES TO INCREASE IN A CONTINUED SELLERS’ MARKET

Dr. Lawrence Yun - chief economist and senior VP of Research at the National Association of REALTORS® - has predicted that there will be a 2% reduction in sales in 2022 as mortgage rates increase. However, the increase will be modest, with rates remaining at historic lows under 4%. Increased mortgage rates, when coupled with inflation impinging on savings, will affect lower and median-priced home purchases.

While we won't see the double-digit gains that were made in the past year, home prices are expected to keep rising in 2022 at a slightly more moderate pace. A group of twenty top economic and housing experts brought together by NAR projected that median home prices will increase by 5.7% this year. 

How’s it possible that home prices could still continue posting solid growth despite a jump in mortgage rates? The answer is an ongoing mismatch between supply and demand. We're currently in the middle of the five-year window when millennials will hit the important first-time average homebuying age of 30. At the same time, those potential buyers are plunging into a market in which active homes for sale are at the lowest level in more than four decades. In total, Freddie Mac estimates the nation is four million homes short of current buyer demand. That dynamic, even in the face of higher mortgage rates, will likely keep this a sellers’ market throughout the year.

INVENTORY TO SLIGHTLY IMPROVE

While there will still be a shortage of inventory, the industry will begin to turn the corner on the dire shortage of housing supply, according to Dr. Yun. New construction of single-family homes has been moving steadily higher. People are likely to list their homes now that federal support and mortgage forbearance programs are either ended or are slated to end soon.

Realtor.com predicts a growth of 0.3%. Buyers will become accustomed to the lack of choices and will want to aggressively compete, causing the aforementioned continued rise in home prices.

MORE SALES PROFESSIONALS TO COME, ONLY THE STRONG TO SURVIVE

According to Buffini & Company, this year, there will be a surge in the growth of REALTORS®— now at 1.52 million members. “We have more agents in NAR than ever before and almost that same number of people with a license not affiliated with NAR,” says Chairman Brian Buffini. He’s also noted that experience among agents has dropped from nine years in 2019 to eight in 2020.

Both Dr. Yun and Mr. Buffini have issued a warning to agents, particularly new agents, of another challenge ahead in the coming year: If you look at the total number of home sales and the total number of agents, you’ll see that not everyone will succeed.

PATIENCE AND STRATEGY REQUIRED

This year is going to require patience and strategy. People will be looking for experienced negotiators and allies in their quest to own their dream home. Some of the challenges will be similar to 2021, but it’s best to look at this new year as a fresh opportunity to meet those challenges head on. And for you hard-working sales professionals out there, I am very optimistic that you will be successful in making dreams come true in 2022. 

What opportunities and challenges in our industry do you anticipate for this year? Share with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Use #joansjots.

This month, our Fox & Roach Friday Forum featured Brian P. Moran, author of the New York Times best-selling book The 12 Week Year. Brian talked about his groundbreaking time-management principles, which teach people how to accomplish more in far less time. During his presentation, he mentioned a quotation from Thomas Edison — one of the most well-known, prolific inventors of all time — that I’ve been thinking about ever since: 

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Do you feel regret when you read those words, thinking maybe you haven’t been fulfilling your true potential? I believe it’s natural to feel like you always could have done more. I find it helpful to remember that you can’t change the past. It’s history. You can, however, change your next decision. While we may not always feel remarkable, our potential to accomplish remarkable things is always present. Acknowledge that the potential is there and your goals will feel reachable. Barriers usually have more to do with thinking than anything else. 

Once you’ve acknowledged your potential, what else will help you accomplish more? Think about action steps to achieve your goals. Maybe you want to read a book like The 12 Week Year or take a class to learn how to maximize your time. Maybe you want to identify a list of steps that will get you closer to your goal — actually write them down or print them out to stay motivated. Or, you could work with an accountability partner. This means forming a partnership in which you mutually agree to coach each other on a regular basis. You speak daily or weekly through feedback sessions, where you share wins and talk about your current challenges. Your action steps are up to you, but should be specific efforts that you see as the best path to your goals. 

Even if you haven’t astounded yourself lately, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t capable of astounding things in the future, starting today. Okay, so I don’t recommend that anyone directly compare their accomplishments to those of Thomas Edison … but I can assure you that you have potential and you can be truly remarkable. 

How do you feel when you read Edison’s words? What steps have you found helpful in working to reach your potential? Share with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Use #joansjots.