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REality
Welcome to the REality podcast--the best podcast for real estate agents. Join us each episode as we talk with industry experts and top producing real estate agents to peel back the curtain and reveal what it takes to make it in today's ultra competitive real estate business. This is real life, in real time, sharing real experiences of industry professionals to help both new and seasoned agents achieve their goals and realize their potential. Are you ready to take your real estate business to the next level? Let's get started now. Sign up for Gary's weekly FOCUS newsletter, delivered right to your inbox each Monday morning: https://mailchi.mp/e3771e6a2516/focus-email
REality
Navigating Today's Real Estate Market: Insights from Industry Experts on Trends, Opportunities, and Strategic Planning
Unlock the secrets of today's real estate market with insights from esteemed panelists Katrina Richards, Adam McCall, Matt Good, Stephanie Gossett, Brian Cagle, Tony Jarrett, and Neal Hanks. We promise you'll walk away with a newfound understanding of how to navigate the shifting landscapes of home buying and selling. From interpreting key market indicators like days on market and inventory supply to setting realistic expectations for clients, our discussion covers essential strategies for both seasoned professionals and newcomers eager to make their mark.
Our conversation then turns to the lasting effects of the pandemic on real estate, addressing the rush-induced regrets of many homeowners. With interest rates poised to moderate and a wealth of equity at stake, real estate agents have a golden opportunity to guide clients through market changes and transitions. Highlights include the exploration of buyer agent compensation, strategic communication with sellers, and how well-positioned listings can create competitive advantages even in turbulent times.
Discover how open houses, data-driven strategies, and a proactive mindset can open new doors for real estate professionals. With anecdotes and success stories from seasoned veterans and fresh faces alike, we underscore the importance of preparation, strategic planning, and keeping a positive outlook. Join us in acknowledging the tireless efforts of our team and in embracing the opportunities that lie ahead in this constantly evolving market.
This is the reality podcast and I'm your host, gary Scott. With more than 35 years of experience in the real estate industry, working in 10 major markets from New Jersey to South Carolina and now as the president of the largest real estate company in the Carolinas, allenentate Realtors, I know what it takes to be successful in this business. This is real life in real time, sharing real experiences of industry professionals to help both new and seasoned agents achieve their goals and realize their maximum potential. Allentate Realtors is a proud partner of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, the largest independent, family-owned real estate company in the country, with more than 13,000 sales associates and staff members across the combined companies. You'll have the opportunity to hear from the absolute best in the business from the absolute best in the business. Join me each episode as we unpack the reality behind what it takes to make it in this great business.
Speaker 1:Welcome to November, tate Talk Live. There we go. It's good to see everybody. I want to welcome all of those tuning in to November Tate Talk Live. I'm going to go around the room. No one on this Zoom Tate Talk Live needs introduction, but we're just going to go around and say hello and then we're going to get started Our topic today conversations with home buyers and home sellers in today's real estate market. So how about we say hello to our esteemed group that are here, and we'll also get over into the chat box and the Q&A to find out who is joining us. Let's start out with Katrina Richards. How is Katrina today?
Speaker 2:I am great Happy Veterans Day. Everybody, Thanks for joining us. I am great Happy.
Speaker 1:Veterans Day. Everybody Thanks for joining us. Great Thanks for being with us. Katrina from the upstate of South Carolina, mr Adam McCall.
Speaker 3:Good afternoon everybody. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, buddy.
Speaker 4:Matt Good from the Triangle. Hey, gary, thanks for having me. Welcome to everybody from the Triangle.
Speaker 1:Thanks to all of those who have served and who we are celebrating today. Happy Veterans.
Speaker 5:Day yeah, absolutely, stephanie Gossett.
Speaker 1:Hello everybody, thank you, it's good to see you From Asheville Mountain Region. We got two one with a background that looks amazing and the other one that looks less amazing. We're going to start with the one that has an amazing background Brian Kegel.
Speaker 6:Hello from the mountains of western North Carolina.
Speaker 1:Awesome, it's good to see you, neil Hanks. Awesome, it's good to see you, Neil Hanks.
Speaker 7:Good afternoon everybody. Happy Veterans Day. Thanks to all who have served.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I want to say a shout out to all of you that recognize Veterans Day, and to Neil's point and to the others. It is a day for us to reflect on those who make our country the best place in America to live, so it is good to see everybody today. We've got 82 on, which means we've got a lot more on because there are viewing parties from across the footprint. Again, our topic today is conversations with buyers and sellers.
Speaker 1:I do want to share a little funny story that a week ago, this team had a prep meeting for today's Tate Talk Live. I happened to be in an airplane and missed it, and so with today's enhanced Zoom AI feature, we get this recorded and then we get it sent to you by email. And as I was preparing for today's Tate Talk Live, everywhere in it it said TED Talk Live, and so I thought a couple of things Number one, that AI is not familiar with Tate like it needs to be. Number one, that AI is not familiar with Tate like it needs to be. And number two, I thought these guys, in my absence, changed the name to TED Talk Live. So anyway, it is Tate Talk Live, and AI will get it right sooner than later.
Speaker 1:So conversations with buyers and sellers. I'm going to start with Mr Tony Jarrett, and I know that many of you have heard about the rule of seven. The rule of seven is us adults need to read, see or speak seven times before we remember. So we're going to refresh our memory on something we've talked about time and time again over the past two years really relevant today TJ, the five stats you must know.
Speaker 8:Well, the five stats you need to know for both buyers and sellers. So it's both sides, and I will tell you. One of the questions somebody on this call asked the other day is even before you start with your clients, ask the question what have you heard about the market? Tell me what you know about the market and then go down the stats that make the most sense. Number one is the speed of the market, which is the days on market. I will tell you across the board, in every region, it appears, our days on market is increasing. I think what's really important in these conversations with the clients is they probably heard what their best friend did two years ago and they've got it in their head that this is going to move at the speed of sound. Like it did in 21 and 22 when we were 7 to 14 days, we are now getting up to 30 to 45 days. So everything I'm going to tell you today that we're starting to get healthy again. Normalize. So speed of the market is the first thing you should talk about.
Speaker 8:Second, monthly supply of inventory. That is, if we did not list another home today, when would we run out of inventory. This is the biggest conversation piece around just competition. This is the biggest conversation piece around just competition. I will tell you, a normal, healthy market is usually around four months supply of inventory. We've been looking at around two to three months. In most of our regions Two to three months would mean more of a seller's market. So describe what a seller's market means. My words this last few months have been a soft seller's market, which means I'm probably going to get your price. But you got to do things like remember those things called repairs, remember those things called concessions. You got to start talking in those terms to set some expectations, especially with sellers. Or if you're representing the buyer, how would you negotiate in getting those terms? Representing the buyer, how would you negotiate in getting those terms?
Speaker 8:Number three is number of showings. Now I will tell you what number of showings. It depends on your MLS. Most of our MLSs have a tool called InfoSparks. I would encourage all of you, if you've not used InfoSparks, to think about looking into that. And I always like to say show, don't tell. Show don't tell meaning show more visuals to your clients. The number of showings has dramatically reduced in the last six to 12 months. That's a big expectation because two years ago we were used to 15 showings in the first 24 hours where now it's taking one to two weeks to get one or two showings. You need to set those expectations and I would show that client that, especially on the seller side.
Speaker 8:The number four stat is list price to close price ratio. In a healthy market we usually get around 97, 98% of list price to close price. This is without any showing. I'm sorry, any reductions, but the last two years we've been over 100% in our markets but for the first time this last six months I'm starting to see that get below 100% about everywhere. It's probably a whopping 99% is the average, which is still high compared to past real estate markets. But again, setting that expectation to make an offer or, if you're the seller, to receive it.
Speaker 8:And last but not least, the number five is appreciation or depreciation, and we haven't had depreciation in years. So it's all about appreciation. When you think about this one, we probably are getting back to a healthy single digit appreciation. But again sellers are thinking about what their neighbors did, you know, two years ago. You always talk about when you should have bought Amazon, when you should have bought Apple when you should have bought stocks you should have bought a house in 2019, 2020, because the return on investment was between 15 to 25% year over year in the years 21, 22, and then it started shifting in 23. It's getting back to that 3% to 5%. So a couple of thoughts for everybody on the call.
Speaker 8:Today, when you're meeting with a seller, I am seeing one indicator across the board in all our MLSs. It's the lead indicator. It's price reductions. We are triple what we were just 18 months ago.
Speaker 8:Sellers are still trying to be too aggressive, in my opinion, and when you miss the mark, it causes less price, offers, worse terms. It's just you're missing the mark. It's like dating First impressions matter is what I always say. So another technique around that, when you're talking to your sellers, get off of price and get on to proceeds. Get off of price and get on to proceeds. So think about the proceeds. Get very good at doing proceeds, which I'm sure you are but when a seller gets fixated on a price, start talking about now. This is what you need on the bottom line to move to the next one and just get the conversation moved in a different. It can help in many cases get a seller off that price.
Speaker 8:And then, last but not least, as far as another thing I would encourage all of you to think about is put price reductions in writing in your listing agreements, is put price reductions in writing in your listing agreements. Most of the agents are telling me that 7 to 14 days is the number, some say one month. We're coming up to the holiday season, so I know that this could be stretched out a little bit between Christmas and New Year's, but get them in. And then that buyer agency compensation may be another thing to add back into that listing agreement. That you want to go in a little lower if we don't get showings, offers and all these five stats connect and you want to connect the dots to really get a seller in the right mindset and the right expectations to hit the market. That was a lot in a very quick time. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know you do such a great job of explaining how they all interact. So my two comments and you just ended your statement with that and that is you know, set clear expectations up front to buyers and sellers, and you talked about adding the price change in the listing agreement. Like that's setting the expectation. And then number two is the reminder for all of us markets are hyper, hyper local and it's important to make sure, when you go find your five stats, that you're drilling down to the subject properties Because sometimes we make general statements that may or may not relate to a particular segment of a particular subdivision. You know, and I think it's really important to make sure that the numbers that we share are relevant to the properties the buyer is looking at or the one that is subject to the sale.
Speaker 1:So Tony made a comment and your comment was people should have bought a house in 2020 because of the appreciating home values and the building of equity for anybody who purchased during that time frame, which sends me to Asheville Mountain region, mr Brian Kegel, which is the concept which we've heard interest rate lockdown. I bought a home in 2021. I got an incredible interest rate, far different than today, but maybe, just maybe that house I bought doesn't work for me today and I've got this quandary of interest rate versus functionality or utilization of the property that I bought now four years ago. Brian Kegel.
Speaker 6:Thanks, gary. Yeah, so I was on an idea exchange a couple of weeks ago and I heard one of our enterprise regions had coined a question to pose to their clients and it's are you living in the right house? And I just instantly gravitated to it. I thought, man, that is fantastic. Those are great words. So I noodled on it all day, went home to my wife, sean, and was telling her a little bit about it, and my wife Sean hates change. She does not like change, just set it up that way. And I looked at her and I said do you think we're living in the right home? And she said no. I was like holy cow, this thing works, this really works, and she can tell me why. And so I think that there are as you pointed out, gary, there's several factors involved that I think that question is relevant to unlock some inventory in 2025.
Speaker 6:We had COVID. We had people panic buying. Nar did a study and I don't remember the numbers exactly, but it was a very high percentage of people that bought right in that COVID period that regret the house they bought. They say I shouldn't have bought this house. This is not the right house you have, as you were talking about people in love with their rate and not their home. Well, rates are moderating. We had a little uptick, but we think they're going to continue to moderate through 25.
Speaker 6:The other thing is that people tagging on with Tony's comment people have massive in most cases massive equity in their house. A lot of equity, and so you've got all of these things kind of coming together. A lot of equity, and so you've got all of these things kind of coming together and people have delayed making changes because of their lifestyle. The kids are out of the house, they're entertaining more, the list goes on and on, right. So you've got. You know, many of us have big databases of people and customers that we have. And as you're making your forward calls, as you're making those calls, checking with people, some variation of that question may really be insightful for your people to start thinking about process. And you know that's what we do, right. We help people to the next stage of life, and there's a lot of people that have put that on hold and that's only going to. You know they're only going to do that so long. So let me know if you got something in my wife.
Speaker 1:My wife, that's a dangerous statement I want to say, brian, every panelist needs to go home, because I think there's six listings on this call right, look at Matt Good saying no way, no, how, you know? It's interesting. You know, I think that both Tony and Brian, and I'm sure as the rest of our guests or our panelists, share their answer to the first question. We're going to come around to real estate reviews and home physicals. We're going to come down to educating people on the marketplace, and so one of the opportunities I think that we all have is to execute the plans that we know, and it's about determining what I have to do when I have to do it.
Speaker 1:But I think about the five stats. I think about Brian Cagle talking about I wrote down here massive equity. It's not just good, I mean, it's massive. In the last four years, you know, I looked at a study from 19 to 24, equity buildup across this country was like 73% when you take all the appreciation plus the pay down right, and that gives people a unique opportunity. So great stuff, brian and TJ. So I'm going to go to Stephanie Gossett, I'm going to shift gears just a little bit. So we've got a change which our company talked about, the new approach. Again, we could not be more proud of everyone tuning in on how well you have gone to market. We knew we would be the best prepared, and it has proven out. So I just want to say thank you from all of us to all of you. And so let's talk about a strategy of offering a proactive Steph buyer agent compensation to eliminate the perceived barrier or friction. Let's talk a little bit about I'm at that listing and we're having that conversation from a seller, steph, okay.
Speaker 5:Sure. So I'll just say that in my conversations across my region, which is Charlotte, northwest Central, our agents have been surprised, as I'm sure everybody else has to across the footprint, with the lack of confidence and competence, I would say, on the part of a lot of the co-broke community in navigating how to address their compensation now. So what I'm hearing from our listing agents is that they are starting to position a proactive offering of buyer agent compensation as a strategic marketing play in this time of uncertainty where we're sort of peeling back the onion across the table from our co-broke community and realizing that most of them are not doing a great job of setting the buyer's expectation about how their own compensation can be paid. So that's translating to a perceived barrier on the part of the consumer because the agent is sort of catching up to what our agents have really embraced exceptionally and are killing it out there on, which is all the new approach conversations and all the new approach expectation setting and guidance navigating this new world for our buyers and sellers. Why not take advantage with our sellers of hey, it is clear to us, having done this for the past four months this new approach that most of the buyer agent community has not been able to really articulate how they're going to be paid. And so we're getting all these calls from the showing agents before they even show our listings, mr Seller, saying what is the seller offering? What is your firm offering to share in the way of compensation? I want to be sure my buyer can buy this house if they like it. Well, we all know that that's not when that conversation is relevant, but they are clearly struggling.
Speaker 5:So translation our listing agents are saying I have just started at the dining room table saying a really good marketing strategy right now, based on buyer agent and consumer behavior, is to make a proactive offering of compensation for a buyer agent so that we are going to remove that perceived friction for the agent and perceived potential barrier for a consumer who doesn't want to come see a house only to learn that they don't have enough liquidity, for example, to come out of pocket and have to pay their agent A lot of the listings that are starting out with.
Speaker 5:Well, maybe I won't make a proactive offer of compensation out there through a shared listing firm commission, because let's see what we could get, perhaps, perhaps, right, maybe they won't ask me for 3%. Maybe they won't ask me for 3%. Maybe they won't ask me for two and a half, so is that not putting me leaving money on the table? What our agents are finding is actually. That's going to set you apart, because these people out there that are trying to play coy with buyer agent compensation are creating friction and barriers for the agents out there, which is the majority of the agents who are not real clear on how to navigate this new conversation with buyers Awesome, I thought it was great.
Speaker 5:Our agents are just like you said, gary. They are blowing me away with how deftly they are having these conversations and they're raising their hands to the branch leaders when they're just not sure how to navigate and we're helping and it's just. It's a beautiful thing. But unfortunately, you know, a lot of the Cobricks community out there are not having the same support and coaching and guidance and so they're sort of struggling with how to navigate and when to converse and how to set the buyer expectation up. So it's a strategic marketing distinctive advantage for our sellers if they go ahead and make that upfront proactive compensation offering according to our listing agents out there competitive compensation offering, according to our listing agents out there.
Speaker 1:Excellent, so excellent insight. And, you know, really every conversation we have here kind of goes back to the five stats. Right, how do I impact days on the market? How do I impact percent list to sale, how do I impact the number of showings, like those are the things which kicks me off over to Matt Good from the triangle, which is, you know, tony shared that for a couple of years it was 100% list to sale and one of the things that's going to happen, we believe, in 2025 is we're going to also have to dust off some terminology from the past, which, when I get to Adam McCall, we will shift to that. But, matt good, let's talk about how and why it is so critically important today, maybe more than in recent past, to make that listing a showplace.
Speaker 4:Well, I think, tony, first of all, I don't have the guts of Brian Cagle to ask that question in my house because I don't want to know the answer. I can't afford to know the answer, but I think setting the stage with Tony was ideal, because so many of the things are intertwined, right, when we talk about positioning. Positioning is also pricing and in order to go down that path, you need to have the data right. But there's also the positioning of the property right and the expectations that we set for those sellers. When are we having price reduction conversations? Is Tony or Brian or somebody said put it in the listing agreement so we know when the expectation is set, you know if it's so hyperlocal, right, you've got five properties listed in the same neighborhood, you know.
Speaker 4:I think it's imperative that our listing agents go out and tour those other properties so that, just like they're using data to to prove their point, they can actually go and say hey, listen, I was at one, two, three West street and here's the difference right now in that property in years, and here's what I think that does to to our pricing and where we're positioned in the market. And I just think it's more important today to ensure that we are the most attractive in that hyper local market. And that's price, obviously, but it's also condition, right. It's the staging In the triangle and I can't speak for everybody else, but we got a lot of great people to do some great staging and I think that positions these property extremely well, you know. And then, of course, as Steph mentioned, you know the buyer agency concession conversation. You know, and how do we use that to get the most people through the front door?
Speaker 4:You know, as Eddie Cash once said, my job is to get people fighting over your property. And that's true and that's all about positioning. If you're out of position, nobody's fighting for your property, and I would suggest that the whole list high for a couple of weeks and then we'll reduce it. Strategy does not work anymore Because by the time you get to day 10, day 14, people are thinking your property's distressed and all of a sudden you're chasing the market and I don't think that's good for anybody. So I just I appreciate being on this panel with this awesome group of people. So thanks, awesome.
Speaker 1:Thanks, matt, we'll come back. So you know, matt just talked about list high. You know how about? List it realistically and let the market take the price. I think that when you look at the multiple offers and the sales above asking price, it's because it was realistically priced, but it's also because it was in great condition.
Speaker 1:I will share an anecdote. Last week I went and looked at two properties that were identical, at two properties that were identical, and one was totally staged and one was not. But not only was the one totally staged, but that agent, that listing agent, before I went to look at it, turned on all the lights and they got a leaf blower. I know this sounds crazy. They cleaned everything off the other property exactly the same floor plan, everything Lights were off, not staged, pretty cluttered, and there were leaves all over the place and it was a little wet. So you just say to yourself, if I were to have bought one of those two last week, I would have bought the one and it was more expensive.
Speaker 1:But it was that experience that I had in allowing myself to feel like this could be a place one could live, which we're going to talk about a little bit later, about, you know some, the lack of interest in creativity and sweat equity. The other thing I would say, matt, number one, I am passionate about previewing every competitive listing. I would also call the listing agent of the most recent sales to understand them just a little bit better. Right Now I go out on my listing appointment and I've toured the five plus, I've calledred the five plus, I've called the last five and I actually have a little more intelligence, or intel, if you will, than maybe my competitor does. Set ourselves apart. Katrina Richards setting expectations and communication. So we listened to Brian and Matt and Stephanie and Tony, but properties are staying in the market a little bit longer. Sellers are impatient because they are reminded of their friend two years ago and this whole communication cadence to sellers particularly different today than it was not that long ago.
Speaker 2:For sure, and I think you know we've pretty much ingrained it in people's heads to ask how would you like us to communicate with you? And I think when we're talking to our sellers we also need to add in how often would you like for us to communicate with you? And for those who are ninjas, one of the ninja things is don't let them call you before you us to communicate with you. And for those who are ninjas, one of the ninja things is don't let them call you before you call them. So you've got to determine how that's going to look, and I think a challenge that I've heard most in the branches would be along the lines of not having any showings and what do I do and how do I do it and what's going to be next. And for those of us who haven't been in the market, the 26 years and 30 years, it's been 10 and 11 years of greatness and we haven't had the need to fill people in regularly or communicate with our sellers other than transactional. So I think we're seeing this shift from transactional updates and communication and it's having to shift back to marketing what I'm going to do next. So I think we've really got to be mindful of not front-loading all of our plan and talking with our sellers on how often and what you're going to communicate to them.
Speaker 2:We had a listing agent that she communicates every single morning with something important to every single one of her sellers. But don't ever promise it and not deliver it. That's the other thing. If you can't stick to three times a week, don't do three times a week. The five stats Tony talked to up front are really good ways. Every week or every two weeks, you can communicate those statistics to your sellers. Week or every two weeks you can communicate those statistics to your sellers. But the key is we've got to educate them on what's happening in our market and not globally. It's what they're hearing online versus what's happening here.
Speaker 2:A lot of them will say well, my friend sold their house for 102% or 3%, 5% over asking price. We need to be asking where was that property located? What price point was that in? I mean, it could not even relate to the house that you're sitting in getting ready to list. So now more than ever, I think a marketing plan is key, and that is a very visual marketing plan. It can be by the day, it can be by the week, it can be a grid, it can be however you want it, but we need to have this in our arsenal to pull out, because I would challenge you to do it.
Speaker 2:I highly doubt a lot of other of our competitors have formal marketing plans laid out with what they're going to show. That's different week by week. To update our sellers, because we are looking at 30, 40 and longer. I pulled up one today to help an agent. It's been on the market 126 days as of today. I mean, and that's you know to Matt's point starts to get stigmatized. What's going on with it? So, really, open communication and, guys, sometimes it's not the easiest. They're difficult conversations if we're not positioned properly, if we're not in the best condition. But I think, based on all of that, you've got to be upfront from the beginning with your sellers.
Speaker 5:Katrina, I just talked to an agent in the Lake Norman kitchen a moment ago who had picked up two listings that had expired, with sellers that she also knew when was a builder. And the reason why the seller was changing listing agents is because not only had the property not sold, but they also did not know what the agent had done for them during that term, that initial term. So rather than extending, they switched agents.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's a great point. And for us who sit in a branch and deal with some clients who may call in and say I need to switch, I want to be terminated from my listing agreement. It hasn't sold, they've done nothing for me. It's great when we can pull out all of the examples of all the marketing plans and all the stuff that's been done on behalf of of the sellers. So, um, you know, just, I would challenge you in your 2025 now we're in business planning to have a communication plan and have one that you can modify, because your marketing plan, in my opinion, should not be the same for every seller and for every price point and for every situation.
Speaker 2:You got to find out the motivation of the sellers in order to put a marketing plan in place. One size does not fit all, so don't take the easy way out and just have one. You can have the basics and that might be what is a company provided tool for you the boost, the ad works, the just listed, the just solds. That's just your basic 101. But how are you going to fill in based on the motivation of each and every one of your sellers in their price points and what their end goals. Are you got to help them see how to get there the best way possible?
Speaker 1:Chad, great job. I wrote down something as you were speaking. It was don't assume. And what I mean by that is we can't assume that either a buyer that we're talking to or a seller that we're talking to knows what we're doing. Like don't assume that they know, or they think they know all that you are doing for them, Like. I think we have to be so diligent and consistent in letting them know what we're doing, when we're doing it, what the outcome is and you know what's next.
Speaker 1:It goes back to the topic in the beginning of setting crystal clear expectations. Now we are going to talk about conversations with the buyer, but I do think that, while we have focused the first half on conversations with sellers, so much of it translates to that consistent communication with a buyer about the market the five stats, as Tony said. So what I don't want to do is think that we're not appreciative and understanding about these buyer conversations are super critical today and we do have about half of our Tate Talk Live and or TED Talk Live to go talk about that. So, Adam McCall, we've talked. A couple of our panelists have shared. Days on the market are moving to higher, not lower. With that comes challenges and opportunities Share with our viewers. What would they be, so that? How do I leverage this market to grow my business?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So for those guys that know me, I like to look at the positive side of things, so I like the opportunities of this, and more days on markets equals an incredible opportunity, right. And what is that opportunity? More exposure for our listings. What do real estate consumers look at? They look at houses, right, and the longer that listing is gone, the more opportunities we have to connect with people.
Speaker 3:And what we've noticed from the new approach is buyers are coming to the listing agent more often, right? So we've got an incredible agent, a good friend of mine for years. She has said I expect in our budget for two clients for every listing that I have. I expect that number to go up with the new approach. And so what systems and processes do we have in place that will allow us to capitalize on that, allow us to be successful in that opportunity? Right, do we have a system and process for how we're holding open houses? Do we have a system and process for how we respond to online inquiries? What about sign calls? Right, every call is an opportunity, every contact opportunity, utilizing Spacia for an open house? Right, we're adding to our database constantly, every day, and these days on markets with our listing give us an opportunity to add one more name to the database, one more phone call, one more forward conversation to make a difference in the lives of the people that we're serving every day.
Speaker 1:Excellent. I love taking the nuggets from each and every one of you. Every contact is an opportunity. I love that from every listing. My goal is to get two buyers and you think that's going to expand and grow. I love that too. So lots to take away from our viewers.
Speaker 1:Today, as Katrina mentioned, we're putting final touches on our 2025 business plans, and I think Adam said three or four times do you have a system and a process for? Do you have a system and a process for? I think that's a really great phrase to wrap your head around as you finalize your plan. Do I just have this idea or goal or strategy or tactic, or do I have a system and process to ensure a system and a process to ensure that I can execute it throughout the course of the entire year? Good, good stuff. So, neil Hanks, it's never easy to go last, my friend. It is never easy, and this crowd here has, from my perspective, hit it out of the park. So, neil, the topic for you is let the market tell the story, so just share. I know you have always analyzed yesterday's market, today's market and what you think tomorrow's market is going to do to help the decisions you made to drive your company and now to represent us in the Asheville Mountain region.
Speaker 7:Yeah, gary, we've always kind of coached that. You know, the most frequent question we all get, once somebody knows we're in the real estate business, is how's the market? And you know Ninja teaches us, and of course our beliefs here, that we need to ask follow-up questions. You know what part of the market are you interested in and then be able to deliver some good data or some actionable data. I want to take a little bit different twist on that today, in that you know, as realtors, we get the same questions frequently and a lot of them have common themes. One that we're getting frequently now is you know how's real estate business posed to lean, and so if you know the questions that you're getting repeatedly, I think it's important that you have some data that supports that.
Speaker 7:Usually, when somebody asks us a question, they have an opinion, right, they have an opinion that the market is good or bad and they're asking for affirmation. So we've been tracking. I'll give you an example We've been tracking market activity since the hurricane week by week, tracking market activity since the hurricane week by week. And one of the things that I've been doing lately is when somebody says, hey, man, how's the real estate market post-Haleen, I can respond and say well, you know what?
Speaker 7:I was just looking at some information this morning and our written sales are actually only off about 30% over the last seven weeks, and that includes those couple of weeks immediately following the hurricane, and most people are a bit surprised by that. That's better than what they anticipated. So, even though the market's down, I think by giving them some data you can actually position things in the light that you want. Obviously, the light that I'm trying to present things in is that, yes, the real estate market's down right now, but it's a temporary phenomenon that we expect to rectify itself very, very quickly. So I think you can do two things. One, if you anticipate a little bit, what are the questions that you're getting frequently, and then you have some talking points around. That it's much more natural and it flows more naturally into the conversation Positions you as the expert and, as I said, either affirm or maybe change somebody's opinion slightly, just by having a little bit of data.
Speaker 1:But I think that also piggybacks off, I think, something Katrina said, which is, you know, so many of the people we communicate with are reading or listening to the news and you know we as professionals, you know, need to take the time to disarm and interpret the media, for those are our clients and for our sphere of influence, because, you know, the media is portraying it in a certain way, typically in either a really global sense or in a unique sense, but not necessarily relevant sense to the people that we're talking to. So I think that's really important for us to take the data. And you know and I think the other piece is anticipation of the question I love what you said, neil. When they ask you a question, when people ask you a question, they have an opinion. I love that. Well said, guys.
Speaker 1:Let's shift gears Buyer, buyer conversations. Let's talk about getting the buyer agency contract signed before we show a house. That is a shift. I'm not going to call on anybody, I'm going to let anybody take that and then we can run with it. We've got 20 minutes buyer conversations. We can run with it. We've got 20 minutes by our conversations.
Speaker 1:Again, we've got a great crowd here today viewing Tate Talk Live. We appreciate you guys joining. I'm going to do a real quick shout out Rock Hill, joni Walker, brett Schoen from Simpsonville, betsy Cobb from Raleigh, mark, mashburn, high Country, julie Rogers from Waynesville, lori from Oak Ridge Commons, julie Rogers from Waynesville, lori from Oak Ridge Commons, steve Bove from says good afternoon, cindy Ryan, christy, andrea, tanya and Andrea has said great job twice, so thank you for that. Let's talk a little bit about buyer agency, and then I also want you to mix in the value of buy and borrow bundle. As of today, howard Hannah Mortgage in the Carolinas has invested over $400,000 in closing costs to our clients. That is meaningful in a challenging affordability time. Stephanie is off mute, therefore I'm going to pick on her and talk a little bit Dang.
Speaker 5:That's what I get for getting off mute, huh.
Speaker 1:I'm going to mute right now, yeah okay, hey, that is not guys, that's not an out forever. That was a simple way that I had to pick the next speaker. So, Stephanie, let's just talk about that conversation with the buyer.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Kind of what you're Well, I have to say I've been very you know, once again, just very impressed with our agents and as I walk around and chat with people and they have had, you know, their first experience. They have had, you know, their first experience, maybe sitting with a potential client and explaining agency up front and they're just doing a great job and I think the major takeaway that I've had is that they're very surprised that the consumer is very receptive to them actually having an employment contract up front before they start spending time and resources and expecting to actually get paid for their services. It's mind boggling, but it's really something that the consumer understands and you know they're just doing great. I mean, honestly, most of the feedback is I'm so glad that you know, I had my first opportunity. It went really well.
Speaker 5:I was scared of all the things that I thought they were going to say or thinking.
Speaker 5:None of it happened.
Speaker 5:And I realize now that I can do this and I can, and maybe I should always been doing it this way, but at least I'm doing it now and I feel confident doing it this way, but at least I'm doing it now and I feel confident.
Speaker 5:So I can very, very much tell you that I've not talked to one person who has not had that kind of experience, which is super exciting. But those who did have to maybe navigate with you know, a buyer where maybe they were just kind of a cold contact and had no referral and wasn't a past client and didn't know the person at all, those they handled very well with the steps that we had talked about during the new approach, which was, well, you know, we could make this property specific for these three houses and then decide, if you're comfortable moving forward with me, you know that kind of thing. So they've really navigated those situations where they couldn't just get a six month buyer agency agreement, you know, right before the first showing. But they've sort of eased into it and it's gone really well and our agents have done a phenomenal job.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Thank you, brian Kegel. He is the non-muted I'm up status. Let's talk a little bit about the buyer agency conversation, listing the buyer and what your observations are as you work with your team up there and what insight can you share with the folks on our call today.
Speaker 6:Team up there and you know what insight can you share with the folks on our call today. Well, I think that you know, one of the big advantages we've had is being a ninja company. We were already pretty educated about a buyer consultation and had the words. You know, we had the language and the script and while not everyone was doing that, we had some real champions who have done it for years and I think you know their input to the rest of the team is, you know, an example of always doing that before you go, jump in a car and run off to meet some stranger in a dark back alley was a big advantage for us and so you know the team's gravitated that way pretty quickly.
Speaker 6:I did want to share also a story. An agent recently called me about using the showing agreement had kind of an unusual situation. It was a friend of a really good friend. He's coming into town to see a property and you know we elected to use that showing agreement and I think that once in a while it's okay. The thing that this agent did so well is that they talked to that client about buyer's agency as they were signing the showing agreement, so that the client understood that there was more to come. They understood buyer's agency and you know, at the end of the day, that client called them back and said I want to sign a buyer's agency with you, and that's it was beautiful, right. But you know we don't want to use that agreement and not talk about buyer's agency, right? That's, we want to talk about buyer's agency. This whole thing is designed to help the customer understand the process right up front, and so I just thought I would share that with the group.
Speaker 6:Gary, can I tag on one more sidebar? Absolutely yes, sir. One of the things that we're seeing open house attendance is up across the country in a big way, and we kind of surmise that some of that's being driven by, you know, buyer's agency changes and that sort of thing. We are seeing people go to listing agents more and more, and I just want to encourage everybody to make sure and put this as part of your game plan. You need to be on, you need to be in houses meeting people, and we had an agent that's joined us probably six months in the business brand new agent and they sold their first two houses at open houses their first two, and one of them was $3 million. So if that won't motivate you a little bit to get on an open house bus. I don't know what you need to hear.
Speaker 1:So, brian, thanks for taking that path. If you listened about September, I think, interviewed Jared James on the podcast and one of Jared's biggest takeaways was I would do an open house every Saturday and Sunday. I think that is the most significant opportunity with this change. So that was him kind of predicting it 30 days in. And you know, brian, you just said you know the data is proving that out that the buyers are going there, and you know, one of the things that our company is going to hear more and more about is, you know, our laser focus in 2025 on listings.
Speaker 1:Like, we are going to talk about them over and over again. How do we get them? How do we market them? How do we? How do we get them sold? How do we get them closed? You know we as an organization are absolutely going to spend time, effort, energy, resources on the listing game, Because you said earlier, if, for every listing, adam McCall says I get two buyers, if you dominate the listing market share, you dominate the market, and so we're excited about some of the things that we're going to do next year. As a matter of fact, we're going to talk about that on the Tate Talk Live in January. I will give a little promo to the Tate Talk. Live in December is going to be 2025 predictions and a little look back at how poorly we did in the 2024 predictions. I usually call it nailed it or failed it. This might be called failed and failed worse, but all good. Anybody else want to talk? How about somebody take a shot at botting that good?
Speaker 4:Gary, I just wanted to talk just really quick about you know, this was really running kind of parallel. When you think, when I got in the business 28 years ago, it was kind of that first migration to have somebody pre-approved before you put them in your car. Right, you used to do a pre-qual, but we were the first ones that started. Hey, before I put you in my car, I want you to sit with my loan officer, and we had to fight about the value of that, just like now we're fighting with buyer's agency, because they could go down the street and drive all over America and never have the ability to buy a property, and so the conversation was very similar. So we're kind of reliving that.
Speaker 4:And the other thing that I would just urge is you know, we practice tennis and pickleball and golf and the guitar. Do we practice our vocation? Are we practicing our buyer's agency consultations? Are we practicing our listing presentations? I know the answer to that, but I would still throw it out there, because the more we do it, the better. We're going to be at it and pull somebody in the office aside and just practice. And the final thing is Friday night I visited a couple of open houses, so they don't have to be just on Saturday and Sunday, they can be on Tuesday or Thursday or Monday. And so I asked the listing agent have you had much traffic here tonight? And she said no, but it doesn't really matter, because I get listings from my open houses, because people see my sign lit up in the balloons and it's Friday at five and everybody else is out having cocktails and I'm holding an open house, so awesome.
Speaker 1:No, that's great and social media is a great thing. So just FYI that I saw a social media post Friday night that Matt Good was at that open house and you know that our team member out in the market was super appreciative of Matt and everyone else showing up Right Again, I think the other piece of it is and I think we got this from Jenny Barber and others is you know, do the preview open house on a Friday night invite the neighbors and she said that in her interview and even when neighbors don't show up, they've all been invited Like and that's an opportunity to plant the seed for everybody in that community that I go above and beyond. Again, it goes back to Adam's phrase earlier you have a system and a process. Adams phrase earlier Do you have a system and a process? Do you have a system and a process? Tj, you always have great insight. Talk a little bit about buyer agency and if you've got anything about, is there some language you can share regarding getting buyers to want to know more about buy and borrow bundle.
Speaker 8:Well, I would simplify it down to the numbers on the stats with BBB. Jeff's statement the other day said that on average the savings to a buyer is roughly $1,800 or 20%. That's the average. He said it could go as high as 24% off your closing costs. I have to believe that if you looked at me and said I think we could probably save you 20% on your closing costs, would you like to hear more? I just I can't believe a consumer would not want to hear more. So to me that's the simple approach on that BBB to add value. And remember it's optional. So even if we're competing against some other products, 20% off might be an option that helps me, makes me look better as an agent, makes a client feel better, or we gave the client all the options and they feel good because I've given you all these options. So I would simplify it that way.
Speaker 2:Can I tag on to that, Tony, Because I think I mean I'm going to be fully transparent. I think that one of the things that I've heard is there's hesitation to getting the buy and borrow bundle signed, and to me that's one page right. If we're sitting down actually doing a consultation to Matt's point and practicing it and able to get eight and nine pages of a document signed, this is a one pager, that's a no brainer, and I think I think you can't go any further without having any type of a pre-approval or pre-qual to begin with. Let's start there.
Speaker 2:So what I always love, and I'm encouraging agents to do and say is hey, listen, I'm going to have so-so reach out to you For peace of mind. It's my responsibility to make sure. I know you're talking XYZ credit union, but we don't have a point of comparison. Without a point of comparison, we don't in fact know if you're getting the best rate. I have a great partner.
Speaker 2:I'm going to ask them to reach out and call you, because they're going to be up front with me and let you know if what you've got on the table is what you need to go with or if we can help you out in a different capacity.
Speaker 2:What I would like for you to do and now I'm teaching agents is I would like for you to tell me what day or time works best and, on this form, I'm going to ask them to contact you in that capacity at that day and that time. Will that work for you? And then, having them right on that, buy and borrow, bundle how they want, what time and day they would prefer, a call and then agents, that's a part of your proposition, your value proposition. Send that to your Howard Hanna contact. Send it to your mortgage rep right away. Get that call done, because you don't want to promise it and then not deliver it because it just gets uploaded through. You know it's in sky slope, but it's sitting there. Let's get it to our LOs to make those calls sooner rather than later awesome, awesome, uh.
Speaker 1:So we've got five minutes left. I love, uh, wrapping a bow around Tate Talk Live, particularly when we got a great panel that we have today of our regional vice presidents and Neil Hanks, president of Allen Tate. Beverly Hanks One bit of advice from each and every one of you for the folks on our call today. So Katrina looks like she's no, we have a question.
Speaker 2:So we have a question in the Q&A.
Speaker 1:So I was going to take that offline. So no, no. So thank you, emily asked the question. Just take that offline, but I will reach out to you. I think it's a. It's a great question. I was concerned that we would be going to about 215 on it, but thank you. So, emily, we'll reach out and share kind of a perspective and a strategy on that out and share kind of a perspective and a strategy on that.
Speaker 3:So thank you, adam McCaw one final takeaway for November from you. Yeah, so I'm just going to be repetitive. Every challenge is an opportunity. Take advantage of it, look for and have the positive mindset, and I just have to say I'm grateful for these guys giving a lot of great information today. So thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you. Great stuff, Brian Kegel, take away my friend.
Speaker 6:Your most valuable asset is your mindset, and it's been rough and tumble for a while. We had a tough election. We had, you know, here in the mountains we've had Helene in a big way and you know, make sure and think about where you're at in your head and if you need to take a little time off, spend some time with some good, upbeat friends, do it. Get your head on straight and you know, good things will be in front of us Awesome.
Speaker 1:Great, great advice, neil Hanks.
Speaker 7:You know, Gary, my parting comments would be this you know, one of my favorite ninja sayings is that flow fixes everything. Right, we're in flow with our sphere of influence, our friends, our database. Flow fixes everything. So often, as we approach the holidays, people think about enjoying a little bit of time off, which we all should do. But what I remind everybody is is, man, you talk about an easy time to be in flow with our customers and our sphere of influence. Pick up the phone, call your customers, call your sphere of influence, wish them a happy Thanksgiving, Tell them that you're thankful for that relationship. It will create conversations that will often lead to a referral or to business in the future. So just remember, as we head into the end of the year flow fixes everything. It's an easy time to be in flow, you know. Lots of social gatherings, lots of opportunity for cards and letters and phone calls.
Speaker 1:Excellent, excellent, not good. Thanks, neil.
Speaker 4:I would just you know what, gary, I'd say focus on business generating activities right now. At the end of the day, is it generating business for you? Because the activities we're doing today is 2025 income. So if you want that first quarter to get off to a great start, it's the activities that we're doing today that will impact that the most. So thanks for letting me speak.
Speaker 1:No, great job TJ.
Speaker 8:Whether it's a buyer or seller, lead with what. Tell me what you know about the market. Position yourself as the expert. Listen more than talk and find out what they know, then lead the conversation. You know you can't time anything in the real estate market, so everything's about life. But if you tie in the expert, you're you being the expert and lead them. They're going to trust you more and they're going to listen to you more and then your consultation, whether it's a buyer or seller, is going to be a home run Awesome.
Speaker 1:Great job, TJ Stephanie.
Speaker 5:Yeah. So I think this time of year is really a good time to be intentional about talking to people about real estate. Everybody hey, here's the good news Everybody's interested in real estate. We don't sell vacuum cleaners, guys. I mean. Everybody wants to know about the real estate market, so it's an easy softball.
Speaker 5:But, like Neil said and like Tony said, with the five stats you know, be prepared, just grab a couple of nuggets before you walk out the door every morning that if somebody asks you how the market is, that you're able to first answer with well, what have you heard? Like, like somebody said here just a minute ago, but then also follow it up with a couple of data points that might be interesting to them and might actually serve to dispel some of the things that they may have been hearing out there. Such as well, we're seeing the houses that sold last month were on the market about a month, and that's really much more healthy than our 15 days on the market that was two years ago where everybody was, you know, clamoring for all the properties that were not listed, right. So just kind of like natural but intentional about talking to people about the business and that will be, to Matt's point, your business generation opportunity out there right now.
Speaker 1:Awesome, I love it. Natural and intentional, that's a great combination, katrina.
Speaker 2:So I'm a big believer in having fun while you work, and I think that we're in a very serious world and I think a lot of people take things way too seriously at times and I think you can have some fun and still be professional. And I would encourage everybody to figure out how to go through these forms with a story. Talking through it, you can touch every single point, everything that we go through with a story, and then tie it back in versus paragraph by paragraph, by paragraph, by a paragraph, and you got to figure out what your personality is and you've got to bring it to your presentation. At the point of practicing it. It needs to roll off your tongue, naturally. You've got yes, you've got to feed off of whether you're in front of a type a, at type b, at type c, but you can still deliver it in a fashion where they're going to be engaged in it and not just feel like you're robotic when you're going through it. So have some fun with it.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome. My final takeaway is I want to thank Matt, adam, neil, stephanie, tony, brian, katrina. Excellent information had a great turnout on November, so I want to thank everybody who tuned in, sharpen the saw. How do I get a little better today than I was yesterday and move forward in tomorrow? So I just want to say thanks to everybody. We'll not see or speak to everybody before Thanksgiving. I want to wish everyone a wonderful November holiday season and just say that we could not be more proud of each and every one of you. You have responded as we anticipated, but what you have done in the last 90 to 120 days has been outstanding and we appreciate the great work. We appreciate the great work of our leaders and for all of the folks in our company behind the scenes that help us each and every day do what we do and what you do better than anybody. So with that, tate Talk, live November 24, in the books. Thank you, guys.
