At the recent Inman Connect conference, Stacie Staub and Jeff Lobb talked about challenges agents face to generate more listings in inventory-starved markets. For buy-side clients, the market can be “heartbreaking,” said Staub, the founder and CEO of West + Main Homes in Denver. “Especially with COVID-19 restrictions, it’s hard to even get a showing […]
Zillow’s New Competition?
CoStar Group announced last Sunday that it will buy Homesnap, an app and technology provider for residential real estate agents, for $250 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. And just like that, the tilt of Zillow’s trajectory changed overnight. The acquisition would mark CoStar’s first major step into the single-family-home market, which dwarfs the size […]
7 Bad Buyer Agent Behaviors
As a buyer’s agent, what do you do to get your offer accepted? If you are doing any of these seven behaviors listed below, it’s time to stop now. 1. Stop being aggressive People want to deal with who they like. They also want to deal with individuals who make things easy because they’re skilled […]
Top Producer Playbook Steals
What differentiates top producers from other agents? The differences are much smaller than you might realize. Your job description as a real estate agent comes down to six words: “generate leads, convert leads and close transactions.” To become a top-performing agent, exactly how much time do you need to spend doing lead generation each week? […]
HUD’s Alters Fair Housing Rule
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officially repealed the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, replacing it with a rule titled “Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice.” The 2015 AFFH rule required all local, state, and public housing officials to use the Affirmatively Fair Housing Assessment Tool, which uses HUD data and questionnaires […]
Scripts & Strategies for Prospecting
Because you can’t door-knock, hold traditional open houses or attend face-to-face networking events, now is a great time to consider how to make phone prospecting a key part of your business plan. Greg McDaniel, with over 20 years in the business, has made nearly 500,000 cold calls. If you use the phone to prospect, his […]
Why Put iBuyers, Zestimates in Your CMAs
by Jay Thompson Why in the world would an agent include iBuyers and Zestimates in their CMAs? An Inman piece titled “Most agents aren’t including Zestimates, iBuyer info in CMAs” elicited a lot of negative response from real estate agents. But because there is interesting data and insight in this report, agents would be well-advised […]
SoCal Agent Fired for Showing Home of COVID Couple
Compass parted ways with an agent after the company says he held showings for a home in Altadena, where the sellers were allegedly infected with COVID-19. According to a Compass spokesperson, Gary Wat was aware the household had contracted the virus but failed to disclose the infections to prospective buyers who visited the home, and […]
John Legend: REALTORS® ‘Fix the Real’ Problem
Singer John Legend asked the real estate industry to focus on housing discrimination instead of fixing ‘fake’ problems, like removing ‘master’ from multiple listing service descriptions The Houston Association of REALTORS®’ decision to ditch the terms “master” in multiple listing service descriptions went viral last Saturday, June 27, after singer-songwriter John Legend publicly called the […]
7 Real Estate Trends That Represent the New Normal
by Bernice Ross, CEO BrokerageUP We have moved through the “great pause” and now are in the midst of the “great reinvention.” As an agent, you have a unique opportunity to reinvent yourself and create the business you want in the “new normal.” If you’re ready to thrive in the midst of all the upheaval, […]