Let’s discuss the second part of the real estate success triangle (Leads, Listings and Leverage). LISTINGS!
We’ve all heard it, “If you list, you last”. I tell new agents that if they don’t have a listing they’re unemployed.
Everything starts with a listing. It gives you the ability to accomplish and implement many other actions that will generate more leads and income. Put up a sign and get name recognition, do an open house, contact neighbors, place an ad and get calls, get a lead from your website, and on and on.
Listings many times can mean two or three commission sides. Your seller buys another house from you. You get the buyer for their house. Oh, and maybe that buyer has a house to sell.
There’s one thing that I’m absolutely sure of, you’ll never become a Millionaire Real Estate Agent if you’re not a great listing agent. You’ll never become independent unless you have inventory. “You can’t sell apples from an empty cart”.
How many calls do you think a real estate company would get if it had no listings? Right, none. The company would be out of business. Now I want you to face reality. You are a real estate company. Your earnings are really dependent on your own abilities, actions, initiatives, knowledge and skills. The more listings you obtain, the higher your income. But the truth is, a very small percentage of agents in our industry are truly great listing agents.
Great listing agents don’t have a lot of listings in inventory at any given time, they have a lot of sold listings. They have the knowledge and skills to make sure that they right price their listings. A listing that is priced right is sold when you walk out the door.
There’s a higher rate of pay from listings. It’s estimated that you make $300 to $400 per hour for the time you have to invest on a listing and about $150 when you find a buyer a home. And you get a written guarantee that if you get it sold before the expiration date you get paid.
So now we’re in a real estate market that is going to become controlled by the highly skilled agents. If you’re not investing a significant amount of your time in training and skill building, you’re not going to survive the next four or five years. There is no more order taking. If you continue to operate the way you have in the past your life is going to become very stressful. You’re going to have a lot of unhappy sellers. And that’s not fun.
We went through a very good market for a very long period of time. Any agent could take a listing and the market conditions would compensate for their lack of knowledge and skills. Not so now. When I look at the year to date production levels of top agents from all different companies I see strong examples. For instance, one top agent has 29 listings in inventory, but only seven sold listings year to date. You won’t remain a top agent for long with that type of performance.
Most agents think they know everything they need to know. Well I’ll tell you of what I’m certain. “You don’t know, what you don’t know”. I’ve spent thirty years in this industry and survived markets far worse than this. I know where the bodies are buried and I know what it takes to capitalize on the great opportunity this type of market offers the education based agents The market of the past is gone and the market of the future is going to humble a lot of previously successful agents.
Agents are complaining about this market. Let me tell you, this is a great market. In 1979 there was a usury ceiling in New Jersey of 8%. Lenders could not charge more than that. Well the market hit 9.5% and the only way to get an 8% mortgage was to buy down the rate. Could you get your sellers to pay 12 points? I did, and my listings were selling.
In 1981 interest rates hit 18.5%. Do you think that might cause you a problem today. Well I was still selling houses.
Knowledge can provide you with incredible opportunities. You better commit to gaining as much knowledge as you can if you want to survive the coming changes!
Best wishes for a profitable and productive day,
Bill Wagner
609-432-8005