7/28 - The Market Is Shifting, But Top Performers Aren't Feeling It

We're more than halfway through the year, and it's time to assess our goals and business strategies. Top-performing agents with solid foundations are hardly feeling the market shift, continuing to receive steady referrals and leads while creating their own economy regardless of market conditions.

• Interest rates have settled back into the mid to high six range for 30-year fixed conforming loans
• Mortgage applications are increasing as buyers return to the market
• Pressure is mounting on Jerome Powell to decrease the Fed rate
• Many agents pride themselves on being available 24/7, but this approach leads to burnout
• Challenge yourself to unplug incrementally, starting with just 30 minutes away from your phone
• Embrace automation and AI to scale your business without scaling your time commitment
• Eliminate distractions that prevent you from completing high-value tasks efficiently

If you need help finding automation tools or resources to improve your business, reach out to us directly. Until next time, go sell something and have an amazing one.

Chapters

• 1:12 Welcome & Market Check-In
• 1:45 Creating Your Own Economy
• 3:06 Interest Rates and Market Update
• 4:54 Recharging Your Battery
• 7:40 Embracing Automation and AI
• 10:56 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

Welcome to the Monday Market Update. It is July 28th and I cannot believe we're days away from August already, so we are more than halfway through the year, as July 1st was halfway. So take a look, think about your goals. And Nikki is actually out and about enjoying her summer. She's at a national park, so not too good of service for the call, but she did send a video, so I'm going to share that in one moment, and before I do, I want you to start thinking about your business.

Speaker 1: 1:10

I know we talked a little bit last week about showing up and what we can be doing as agents, and I want you to think about your local market and what you're doing, because I'm on calls with agents across the country and I can tell you it's shifting in many markets and what I do know is the top talent and really great agents are hardly feeling the shift.

Speaker 1: 1:39

So if you are one of those agents, kudos to you for building a solid foundation in business and the referrals just keep coming in, the leads keep coming in and you are the go-to. Now, if you're not that agent which some of the agents that I'm coaching to be that to become, that you know I'm meeting them where they're at. So if you're not that agent, I want you to think about what you're doing to combat your market and not fall victim, but become a leader in your market and don't let the economy dictate how you feel or how you show up. It's about creating your own economy and that's what the pros do. So be thinking about that while I share this video from Nikki, and then we'll come back and touch base on that and wrap it up.

Speaker 2: 2:31

Good morning and happy Monday. Hope you guys had a great weekend. I just wanted to send a quick video with an update in the market for you. So today interest rates are settling back down. We had a bit of an increase late last week but they've settled back down into that mid to high six range for 30-year fixed conforming loans, which is wonderful news.

Speaker 2: 2:49

The big news this week is the trade deal that the European Union made with the US and how that's going to affect the numbers and the bond market and the stock market, at least temporarily over on this side.

Speaker 2: 3:01

So what we do know is that when these tariffs are set and they start to go into effect, there is a slight increase in the bond rate and a slight decrease in the stock market, which basically means that temporarily mortgage interest rates will rise a little bit on the inception of the tariffs and then settle right back down over the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 2: 3:25

So we're hoping that, because the economy has been used to these tariffs implemented now and kind of used to this cycle, that it'll be a short cycle to increase that bond rate. Overall, there's a lot of pressure on Jerome Paul now to decrease the Fed rate All the things that he has wanted to take into effect and have settled down before he decreased the rates have all been taken care of. It's just a matter of willpower now and whether or not he's going to fall in line and drop those interest rates, like Trump wants him to do. Other than that, things from a second opinion or have questions about the type of product that they're in, or any questions regarding anything that has to do with a mortgage, I'm always available. Happy Monday.

Speaker 1: 4:12

All right, there you have it, nikki in the flesh, so thinking about your business. And again, she said that the applications are up. So what does that mean? That means that buyers are coming back around, things are settling down and now that the pressure's on, hopefully we'll see movement from Powell before September, from Powell before September. However, what can you be doing in the meantime? You can be doing quite a bit, so I want you to, first and foremost, since we're wrapping up summer and I don't know your market I'm in Minnesota and I know that the 4th of July and right before school starts, so end of August, it's kind of quiet and again, I don't like to speak that over people because they're still buying, selling, investing, going on every single day. I've sold homes on Christmas Eve, you know. So it's always a market, but I want you to be thinking about you and your battery and if you need to recharge yourself.

Speaker 1: 5:11

So what so many agents do and they actually pride themselves on this, is I work 24-7. I'm always on, and that's okay to a degree and once in a while, I truly believe there is an unplug aspect that needs to happen with anything in life, with taking a break, taking a vacation, whatever it is. So I really challenge you. If you're one of those agents that has their phone through dinner when you're with your family, or is the one pacing around every single ball game because you can't shut it off, think about that and figure something out. And really, why can't you, when you're on, be on and go 100% in and then switch it, and when you're off, be off? And if that's a challenge for you, start small, because it was for me at one point in time. I fell trap to this more times than not and I still can fall into it every once in a while. But think about that. Even just start with a half hour and an hour where you just walk away from your phone. Nothing's going to blow up. Everything will still be there. And if you start incrementally separating yourself, it will become easier and you will train yourself to give yourself the time away from your business. Really think about that, because so many agents burn out. So many agents that I'm coaching, that have been doing this 20 plus years, are burnt out. They're asking me again where to get leads and I'm like you have a 20-year-old business. You should just have referral after referral after referral coming to you. Which brings me to my next point AI and the technology. I almost get introduced to a new opportunity or a new option or a new way to run my business at a very high level, while being very hands-off, again, every day.

Speaker 1: 7:18

So if you are not tapping in to some form of automation, to some form of CRM management automation, to some form of CRM management, lead management, all of it you know your sphere, people that know you like you, trust you past clients, potential clients, customers, all of it you are really, really missing the mark and I promise you you will get left behind Because, as my amazing first coach and mentor, bob Proctor, said and he got this from another gentleman you need to be able to learn, unlearn and relearn to stay relevant in just about any business. So, if you are resisting automation and AI, if you are oh, I can't do this, I'm not tech savvy, or or I'm too old, or that's too complicated, or I don't have the money those are all excuses and you need to look into it and you need to find someone. If you need someone, I have some opportunities and options for you that I can forward to you, and it doesn't have to break the bank. You can start small Again. Implement one thing, get that going and then you can implement the next thing.

Speaker 1: 8:37

I mean, there's so many options and opportunities and I encourage you to really look at your business and figure out a way where you can automate things and you can step away a little bit more, especially if you know it's not anything that's going to blow, you know, like a deal, that's really the only emergency. If you have a closing this afternoon, that if you don't do something right now it's not going to close, well then that, that, yeah, that needs your time and attention right away. But think about what you're making an emergency every single day, because many of the things that we let take our attention and distract us are that just that, they're distractions and you need to figure out a way to focus in. Get done in 20 minutes to half hour what takes many people over an hour or two because of all the distractions, the dinging the texts, the calls, the emails, the door opening in your office, because people aren't respecting your work time at home or in your office.

Speaker 2: 9:43

It happens everywhere.

Speaker 1: 9:44

A lot of people don't even go into the office anymore because it's such a distraction and so many people are there to talk and to catch up and it's just not going to move your business forward. So take the top one to three things that are going to move your business forward. Get those done right away. Look into automation. If you need tools and resources, look me up. I will get you in contact with people. There are solutions out there that have a monthly fee of less than $20 or $30 easily, so don't let that cost be a barrier to entry for any of this. But that's it for today. Nikki and I will be back next week, August if you can't believe that and we'll get the Monday market update. Then In the meantime, look Nikki up, look me up if we can be helping you or your business in any way. Until next time, go sell something and have an amazing one.