Being a real estate agent is strenuous, time-consuming and extremely physically and mentally demanding to say the least. If this wasn’t enough, the industry is filled with intense competition with over 2 million registered and active real-estate agents as per the data bank at HomeLight, 2020. Of this figure, the National Realtor Association (NAR) reports that there are currently 1.3 million realtors present as of June 2020.

What makes operating in this industry more tedious is the fact that it is fragmented with top agents bagging all lucrative properties and their associated commissions.  NAR reports that top realtors affiliated with resourceful agencies sold 348 houses a year compared to an average agent selling only 43. The top percentile also was able to sell properties listed in their portfolio 1.5X faster and made approximately $12,753 more than an average real estate agent.

While these stats may be bleak, there are numerous ways that you as a real estate agent can position yourself for success by optimizing your business model, which includes how you position yourself, your portfolio, and your client listings. Here’s how:-

 

1. Go Social

A growing number of American’s consulted social media and online real estate portals for browsing property listings and researching real estate agent profiles. Post-pandemic this growth has been exponentially aggravated. If you’re not on social media then you’re losing out on large amounts of prospective leads. When we say “going social” we mean actively engaging and conversing with each and every query that comes your way regardless of the platform you’re on. No longer is a real estate limited to Facebook or Linkedin. Pinterest, Instagram, and Google local business have become lucrative platforms for home improvement and renovation ideas and are thus teeming with property buyers and sellers alike. Thus, spread your reach to each and every single platform available and consider employing a variety of paid and organic marketing tactics to make yourself and your portfolio visible.

Check out Dubai based real-estate agents who’ve taken to video blogging on Youtube to showcase their listings in fun, engaging and wholesome ways! Creating such viral content not only gives them global reach without spending a dime but also is a great way to establish an additional stream of income via Google AdSense.  

 

2. Keep Your Friends Close and Your Competition Closer

Information is key, especially in a down market. Tactfully monitoring your competitors in terms of their online and offline presence will enable you to similarly scale your offerings. Evaluating the effectiveness of competitor sales pitches, social media strategies, collaborations and affiliations with supporting agents/ agencies will enable you to either avoid mistakes or replicate successful tactics. You can find out all registered competing realtors on the National Association of Realtors (NAR) website.

 

3. Engage in Niche Marketing

Consider specializing in selling a specific type of property that caters to a specific audience group to gain more traction and carve a unique identity for yourself. Single-family detached homes were the most popular home type sold or purchased as per the National Association of Realtors in 2013. While gravitating towards such a popular segment seems viable, however, in doing so you are setting yourself up for intense competition as a majority of other real estate agents also cater to a similar clientele market.

A relatively underserved niece on the other hand is the Millennials market- people born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s. Though they currently make a significantly smaller proportion of homebuyers, however, their ever-growing dominance is apparent as more and more enter the industry. Understanding the needs of this booming demographic group is key in properly serving them. Unlike their Gen X and Baby Boomer counterparts, Millennials have extremely distinguished and peculiar preferences while purchasing a home such as energy efficiency levels, and require a lot more information and assistance in making home purchases due to most of them being first-time purchasers. Furthermore, Millennials prefer working with real estate agents who enjoy a similar level of a youthful and contemporary world view as theirs, and thus positioning your image to be “relevant and relatable” is key in such a market.

 

4. Register Yourself on Dealty

Making your presence and profile on a national property listing site such as Dealty will not only allow more people to view you and your listings but also enable you to build credibility and repute as a real estate agent by being associated with a well-established listing site.

 

5. Follow Up on Leads

With countless agents and agencies available, losing a lead is easy. However, meticulously following up on each lead that you obtain, specifying a subsequent action on a conversation that you’ve had and thereafter setting a timeline on the execution of said action will allow you to retain leads and successfully close sales. Whether you chose to record leads via an excel sheet or via an easy to use customer- agent interface such as that at Dealty, monitoring your interactions and then successively, professionally and persistently following up with clients will allow you to tie together any loose ends that may exist.

 

6. Pick the Right Brokerage and Affiliate Agency

Most novice realtors dive into the market with their eyes set on commission and commission alone. However, there is a myriad of other aspects that need to be taken into consideration such as your personal training and development, opportunities available for you to grow, referrals to group real-estate clients, current and future projects available to work on and a variety of tangible and intangible sources. Considering all these important factors will enable you to partner up with an organization that can allow you to grow your business poised towards long term success.

 

7. Set Communicable Time Lines

According to NAR, the national average time a home in the USA will be in the market for (from listing to closure) will be over slightly over 70 days or 2 months. Homebuyers entering the market in such a volatile time period might be irate, impulsive, and emotional to say the least. As a real estate agent, being able to communicate realistic timelines to your client is pivotal in ensuring that you leave your clientele happy and satisfied. This means sharing valuable information regarding the market, establishing trust, and building credibility. Furthermore, setting contingency plans in advance that allow for immediate change in course of action will reassure your customers regarding your adaptiveness and responsiveness as an agent.

 

8. Web Networking

In the post-pandemic world with limited personal interactions, the next best thing to building personalized relationships are zoom meetings, webinars along other web-based interactions. As a real estate agent, getting comfortable in front of a camera is key. While not everyone’s a natural in front of the camera, there are numerous steps that you can take and online resources that you can learn from to pace yourself, maintain eye contact and keep a steady speech rate so that you come off as an engaging and enthusiastic professional from behind the screen.

 

9. Be Open to Working Pro-Bono

The success of the freebee business model in 2020 is indicative of a value-oriented customer who has numerous options at his/her disposal. As a real estate agent by offering certain parts of your services as “free”, you not only become more distinguished relative to your competitors but also establish a sense of trust with your client. Remember at the end of the day that no good work goes unpaid so be willing to offer free-information, access to your connections and your professional skillset and you might end up with a hefty commission. E.g. employing a cross-selling approach, just by offering a free professional inspection on a property, you might increase your chances of being selected as the designated seller or buyer agent and thus secure a much more lucrative commission on the eventual sale of the home.

 

10. Exude Patience and Consistency

Real estate is trickier now than ever before, buyers and seller preferences have become what some might say as unrealistic. Whereas the tacit knowledge of selling a home is plastered everywhere, veteran realtors say that the true challenge in selling a home in a turbulent market lies in the abstract and somewhat covert details of personalized interactions that are based on patience in waiting for clients to respond positively while maintaining a consistently professional outlook as a real estate agent.

While this may be the most cumbersome challenge to overcome, it is the most crucial one too which we at Dealty work every day to help you overcome. Visit us at Dealty today where we make real-estate simple and effective for buyers, sellers, and agents alike!