The Three BEs of Building Client Loyalty
There's no question that loyal clients are the key to your success as a real estate agent. In fact, 80% of your revenue is likely to come from 20% of your most loyal customers. Here are three strategies to build lasting, lucrative relationships with your clients:
1. BE receptive.
Become your client's go-to person from the beginning. It will help build trust from the start that continues throughout the transaction. Buyers and sellers need to know your availability. Make sure you're available or quickly follow up to client questions or concerns at those times since follow-through is vital to success.
2. BE memorable.
Always lean into your strengths, whether they include a dynamic personality or top-notch customer service. If budget allows, provide memorable extras like professional cleanings after closing for buyers, or staging sellers' homes for free.
3. BE reassuring.
Keep in regular contact with your clients. Buying a home in today's environment can be stressful, so reassure them often and prove you're in their corner. Your thoughtful support could make the difference between their choosing you or another agent.1
Transition From a Seller's to a Buyer's Market with Style
Sellers have dominated the real estate market for the last few years, but today's climate is seeing a transition. Ensure clients know you're a seasoned agent and share your extensive market knowledge. Explain how you can help them navigate this new climate. You may not have a crystal ball, but your expertise and knowledge will set you apart from other agents so you can stay ahead during the coming market transition.2
Tips to Help Manage Client Expectations
Managing client expectations is critical. Unfortunately, it's often overlooked in the agent/client relationship. The goal should be for customers to say you prepared them in advance for every step in the process. Here are a few tips to help you manage client expectations:
Most consumers don't have in-depth knowledge of real estate transactions. Instead, they get their information from the internet and TV. The best thing you can do for new clients is to walk them through the entire transaction before it begins, as this will prevent unwelcome surprises.
Expectation 2: Explain the financial impact.
Prepare full seller-net sheets that include a prediction of how long it could take to sell their property in the current market. Advise buyers to work closely with their lender so they'll be aware of possible situations that could impact their credit or ability to close on time.
Expectation 3: Share possible roadblocks.
Make sure to prepare sellers and buyers for potential roadblocks that could appear. For example, explain that transactions can be slowed down due to property faults identified during inspections, repair negotiations, and appraisals that come in below expectations.3
Rising Mortgage Rates Take a Breather
The rapid rise in mortgage interest rates has taken a welcome breather, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 5.7% as of the beginning of July.
That's a drop from the last week in June when the same rate averaged 5.81% based on Freddie Mac data. Experts say this pause is the result of balancing forces like high inflation, plus concerns about a possible future recession. This may help "reset" the housing market overall by cooling the seller's market and creating a slower pace for home price appreciation. Eventually, this could end low inventory, increase affordability, and add more buyers to the market who have previously been on the fence.4
A Guide to Home Architectural Styles
from Prairie to Pueblo
REALTOR® Magazine has compiled a guide to the most common home architectural styles. Each has its own character, history, and more. Here are three architectural styles you may have been unfamiliar with until now:
Prairie Style
The first Prairie-style house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in suburban Chicago in 1893. It's a common architectural style in the Midwest that often incorporates brick and clapboard with one-story porches and huge square supports.
Pueblo Homes
Getting their look from Native American and Spanish Colonial styles, Pueblo homes became popular around 1900 in California. Pueblo style includes flat roofs, round edges, earth-colored stucco and straight-edge window frames.
Spanish Eclectic
The Spanish Eclectic architectural style is most common in the Southwest and Florida. These homes typically have low-pitched tile roofs, with white stucco walls and rounded windows and doors. They also often have decorative tiles around doors and windows — and a bell tower or two is common.5
Sources: 1rismedia.com, 2rismedia.com, 3mckissock.com, 4magazine.realtor, magazine.realtor5
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