Best Practices - Winning The Day

What Happened To The Real Estate Market?

07/10/202307/10/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

It’s that time of the month… for the real estate market update.

If there were 2 slides out of the 84 from this month’s KCM updates plus 1 from Altos, which ones would I share? … you will see the 3 below, plus a link to all the slides.

Do you want to attract more people to your brokerage, team, or office? Then help your team translate what all the information and data means and how to act on it. We can help, HMU.

Key updates for this month:

247 years later, Adam Smiths’ laws of supply and demand are still working: 99% of US markets had a DECREASE in available re-sale inventory for sale.
- Let’s look at 2 markets, for the past 7 and 90-day period
- You can type in your own market for real-time results
  - Washington D.C.
  - San Fransico
A supply-constrained market with no relief in sight
- Large institutional investors have indicated no reason to sell – residential is providing higher ROI than commercial. Follow the money.
- Consumers are unwilling to trade a 3% mortgage for a 6%, opting instead to remodel or upgrade.
- New construction is growing – especially in the South – yet not nearly enough to close the gap.
- Freddie Mac survey: In the next 6 months = 18% of consumers indicated a desire to buy while 16% of sellers indicated a desire to sell.
While affordability is always an issue consumers have never been in better financial condition
- Average credit score the highest in 23 years – 714 Average
- For those applying for a mortgage: 765 is the median credit score
Consumers have more access to data, and information YET lack knowledge
- YOU are the knowledge broker for local market activities
- AFTER speaking with a knowledgeable HYPER-LOCAL agent, 64.5% of homeowners were MORE likely to sell than before.
- Creating a conversation with value-added content makes a difference – NO SECRET AGENTS!
A few of the top 20 markets with the most listings sold are in Texas: Houston; San Antonio; Austin, and DFW. Some of the tightest pricing is seen in CA, with less than 12% of listings (the national average is 32%) taking a price decline in cities like La Mirada; Cypress; Fremont; Placencia & Garden Grove.

Key takeaways:

Enabling Homeowners and Investors with value-added information does create listing opportunities. Especially non-owner-occupied and 1031 exchange opportunities.
16% of homeowners indicated a desire to sell in the next 6 months… that is your opportunity
Sales and Rates Normalizing – housing prices continue to show stronger growth than what was previously expected.
Homebuilders continue to add to supply, but years of meager homebuilding over the past business cycle means the imbalance will likely continue for some time.
Seasonality has returned
Prices rebounding

Confidence is contagious, and so is a lack of confidence. There is plenty of actionable data to be confident about.

PS: Recruiting and retention has never been more important. In all types of markets, we continue to see 10% of agents leave the industry; 10 %to 15% join the industry, and despite an 85% satisfaction rate with their broker 32% switch firms. Need some help? Let’s chat.

—

The Year Is Half Over

07/01/202307/01/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

50% of the year is over… it’s time for a quarterly business and operations review!

Is it scheduled?
I have a powerful 23-question business review – [email protected]

Are you ahead, behind, or on track with your goals? In any case, “declare it perfect and move forward powerfully.”

Review what’s working, and what’s not. Make the adjustments, and keep moving forward.

Basic agenda:

Mission, vision, values, and stakeholders – any adjustments?
Key KPI s
What’s working. What’s not.
Start, stop, more, less!
Action steps (no more than 2 or 3.)

The results will happen – as long as we are all willing to execute the daily activities, track the results, make the changes to the behaviors, and engage an accountability partner.

Are you interested or committed to what’s left of this year?

Up Your Work Game? Get Moving!

06/28/202306/28/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

Up Your Work Game? Get Moving!

In a recent HBR article, professors Bonnie Cheng and Yolanda Li conducted original research on how physical exercise impacts outcomes in the workplace. The benefits of physical activity on general well-being are widely acknowledged, yet there has been a lack of research on how it impacts outcomes at work, including job performance and health.

As emerging work modes have allowed for greater flexibility and convenience at work it seems we are finding ourselves sitting more and moving less. So, what were some of the key findings?

Motivation for physical activity predicts physical activity.
Physical activity improves next-day job performance and health.
Job self-efficacy shapes the capacity to gain resources from physical activity.

Well, that is compelling, yes!? So how do I get more physical?

Focus on building a habit of daily physical activity.
Some is better than none.
Motivated or not, just get moving!

In a separate study, a lack of time was cited as the most common excuse people give when asked why they don’t exercise. Here’s the truth — we don’t need a lot of time to exercise. All we need is the desire and 10 minutes. Walking just 10 minutes a day is one way to get started.

It seems straightforward that the study concluded that being motivated to partake in an activity would lead to doing the activity, but anyone who has ever made and then abandoned a New Year’s resolution knows this isn’t necessarily the case. Noteworthy is the finding that the more autonomous the form of motivation — in other words, the more people consider physical activity to be a fun and enjoyable activity rather than something to dread — the more likely they are to engage in daily physical activity.

In addition, the study found that daily physical activity generated a package of next-day resources, called “resource caravans,” that contributed to work-related outcomes.

The first resource immediately afforded by physical activity is quality sleep or a person’s degree of satisfaction with their daily sleep experience. Physical activity promotes protein synthesis and facilitates quality sleep as a homeostatic feedback process benefitting the body and brain. The second resource gain is vigor, a resource associated with energy and vitality. The third resource gain is task focus, a cognitive resource that supports enhanced information processing, attention, and concentration.

Interestingly, the study found job self-efficacy, which reflects an employee’s perception of their capacity to perform their job, amplifies the resource-generating benefits of daily physical activity on sleep quality and task focus. People with higher levels of self-efficacy tend to hold stronger positive beliefs in their motivation and ability to acquire work-related resources from daily physical activity.

So, there you have it; if you are looking to up your game at work, become more intentional and disciplined by including more physical activity in your days. Your body will thank you, and your mind will reward you with more energy, better task focus, and improved creativity.

Images Can Make Your Day

06/26/202307/06/2023 Mark Johnson 1 Comment

Ever have one of those mornings where you wake up and don’t feel like getting out of bed?

WSJ contributing author Joanna Grover recently published an article about new psychological techniques that aim to use your imagination—and all of your senses—to help overcome trauma and achieve goals.

Functional Imagery Training (FIT) was born from research on addiction, specifically, what’s called the “elaborated intrusion theory,” which focuses on the role of intrusive thoughts in addictive behaviors. This theory suggests that cravings and intrusive thoughts about substance use or unhealthy behaviors can disrupt self-control and increase the likelihood of relapse.

FIT works by helping individuals develop alternative mental images to counteract intrusive thoughts and build themselves a more positive narrative. It goes something like this:

When your alarm goes off and you see the weather outside, imagine the patter of the rain, the cool breeze on your face, the sound of your footsteps hitting the pavement, your muscles working as you run, the taste of sweat on your lips, and how good it feels to have finished a morning run. Finally, imagine your warm shower afterward. That feeling of immersive accomplishment and reward makes it harder to hit snooze!

Imagination is a powerful tool. It can help you see the future and make it happen.

When participants in studies were asked to imagine – with multisensory imagery – their ideal body, they were five times more likely to achieve it. The reason? They had already created an image of what they wanted, and when they imagined themselves achieving it, their brain went into action.

The best way to harness this power is to combine visualization with multisensory imagery—that is, using all five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel) together. This will activate your limbic lobe (where emotions live), your frontal lobe (where critical thinking happens), and many other areas of your brain that help you focus on what’s important.

When you’re seeing yourself in your mind’s eye—and hearing yourself say “yes” or “I can do it”—you’re preparing yourself for success by activating the right parts of your brain so they’ll be ready when challenges come up later on down the road!

If you’ve ever tried to focus on something, only to find yourself thinking about something else entirely (like how hungry you are), then you know how hard it is to keep your mind on task.

The good news is that there are ways to train your brain to be more focused—and it all starts with mastering the art of mental imagery.

Let’s say your goal is to run a marathon and you’re training for an upcoming race. You could create a mental image in your head of what it will feel like when you cross the finish line and get that medal around your neck. As long as this image is in your mind, it will keep you focused on what matters most: crossing that finish line!

Physical cues can also be used as reminders, like placing a picture or object related to your goal in a prominent place (for instance, putting your last race bib on the fridge to motivate you to push through marathon training). This visual reminder can activate your mind to focus on your goal and not your negative internal chatter.

Mastering the art of mental imagery, you can unlock a wide range of benefits, including resilience, enhanced problem-solving abilities, and improved focus.

Imagine that.

What’s Happening In The Real Estate Market?

06/09/202306/09/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

What’s Happening In The Real Estate Market?

We are still in a supply-constrained market with more demand than supply, meaning in most US markets, it’s still a seller’s market.

The facts are the facts: there is not enough inventory of homes for sale to meet the demand of buyers. Check out your local market stats on this link – click here.

Why?

Existing sellers will not trade a low-cost mortgage for a higher-cost one unless they have to (job change, death, divorce.) A boom for home improvement.
Homeownership remains the #1 feature of the American dream. 74% to 78% of Americans say owning a home is still a dream.
More than bonds, stocks, or gold real estate has been voted the best long-term investment.

Other thoughts?

Consider the median home price metric in this market is meaningless. Median prices are distorted by the mix and repeat sales. In today’s housing market, we are selling more of the less expensive homes, thus driving down the median price. It doesn’t accurately reflect the value of each house.
The median sale price measures the ‘middle’ price of homes that sold, meaning that half of the homes sold for a higher price and half sold for less. For example, if more lower-priced homes have sold recently, the median sale price would decline (because the “middle” home is now a lower-priced home), even if the value of each individual home is rising.
Outdated models aren’t working in this market. You’ve got to dig 4 layers deeper to be of real service to your clients and prospects.
For 50 years, the 30-year mortgage rate has moved in unison with the 10-Year treasury yield. The current 3.2 is historically high. It’s reasonable to assume that the spread and mortgage rates will retreat in the second half of the year, creating more affordability and demand in an already supply-constrained market.

Outdated models aren’t working in this market. You’ve got to dig 4 layers deeper to be of real service to your clients and prospects.

How do you grow in a volatile market with unit sales down from 23% to 31%?

Attract talent and recruit!

We have a proven system – 10X ROI – the fundamentals are the fundamentals.
It’s easy to make excuses.
Yet we know it’s the pain of discipline vs. the pain of regret.

Let’s have NO REGRETS in our recruiting efforts this week.
TCF+ no excuses.

Real Estate Market Update

Real Estate Advertising’s Greatest Hits

06/06/202306/06/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

By now, Real Estate Advertising’s Greatest Hits is an album all too familiar to us. The tracks unfold, on auto-repeat, in the background of our lives:

Find your place
Home is your shelter from the storm
Real estate made easy
Love where you live
Search to close
An exceptional experience
Going the extra mile

None of these are bad, necessarily. They hook into emotions that we understand to be real. But these archetypal messages may no longer ring as true as they once did and are, in all but exceptional moments of creative execution, woefully undifferentiated.

My friends over at 1000 Watt did some original research on Real Estate Marketing and this is what they found:

People are inundated by real estate advertising — 78% of respondents reported seeing real estate ads in the past 2 weeks. This indicates that the value of such information, being very abundant, is also generally quite low.
Messages that are broad (e.g., “we are your local real estate agents”) tend to be perceived as marginally more credible by consumers, but are not necessarily more effective. They are likely simply less impactful.
People don’t view ads that tell them that real estate can be made simple or easy as credible. They both know and feel that the process is neither simple or easy, and don’t believe assertions that dispute that reality. They “call B.S.” on such messages, to put it bluntly.
The findings above broadly align with peoples’ perception of the real estate transaction experience. 64% of respondents agreed with the statement, “buying and selling real estate is too complicated and should be made simpler.” Interestingly, 30% disagreed, and found that “real estate is too important to be simplified.” Almost all respondents recognize the fundamental gravity and complexity of buying or selling a home.
Men responded significantly better to forceful and specific claims (e.g., “We’ll sell your house faster and for less money”) or messages that communicate rankings or performance (e.g., “We are #1 in real estate sales”) than did women.

The principal conclusion?

Acknowledge the truth people hold within them, find a connection in candor, and build trust through recognizing reality as people see and feel it.
If buying or selling a home is complex and sometimes hard, don’t tell people it’s “simple” or “easy.” Make it clear you understand what they are likely thinking and feeling, then tell them how you can address those things better than anyone else.

The Greatest Hits may still be good to play once in a while but play them too much and people will tune them out. It’s time for some new music.

By design or by default — By design vs. by default?

When Desire Meets Confusion: What Prospective Sellers Are Thinking Now

06/04/202306/04/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

According to my friends over at 1000 Watt, current market conditions are, in a word, interesting. Great for sellers, hard for buyers, confusing for agents, and difficult for the supervising brokers. Check out the trends in your area on my Altos Research link.

The era of dirt-cheap money ended abruptly, causing many buyers and sellers to call a time-out. Others are proceeding with expectations of a prior market condition, with, as one agent put it, “sellers thinking it’s last year, and buyers thinking it’s next year”.

In recent research, “change of lifestyle” was the #1 reason respondents cited for considering selling. This suggests that while a change in jobs, death, and divorce will always strongly predict transactions, less definite, more aspirational considerations are always present and active. Information about price declines accelerating next year make 53% of respondents more likely to sell now.

84% of respondents who have a mortgage on their home are either “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” that high mortgage rates will impede their ability to sell. However, when presented with context that explained that refinancing to a lower rate in the future may be possible, 50% said this information made them more inclined to sell. 53% said that information about price declines accelerating next year made respondents more inclined to sell now.

91% of respondents report being “very clear” or having “a pretty good idea” of their home’s value

91% of respondents report being “very clear” or having “a pretty good idea” of their home’s value and indicate that an agent’s opinion, Zillow, and recent home sales contribute to that understanding. Notably, respondents who had yet to speak with a real estate agent relied much more on Zillow and recent sales to form their opinion of their home’s value. This suggests that if real estate agents leave an informational vacuum, others will fill it.

The results from 1000 Watts research show clearly that people who are thinking of selling are hesitant and concerned about the recent and dramatic changes in the real estate market. But these results show just as clear that personal engagement can have positive effects, both for the prospective seller, and the agent, broker, or marketer who reaches out to them.

We cannot control a great deal of the market right now. Yet I believe that professionals with a capacity for well-executed marketing are far from powerless in achieving their goals for the year. In times like these the listings are in David Knox’s 7 D’s:

Death,
Divorce,
Diplomas,
Diamonds (engagements),
Downsizing (10,000 people in the US turn 65 every day),
Daily Grind (job changes), and changes in
Discretionary income.

Willing To Eager

06/03/202306/03/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

So this just happened… my granddaughter was born yesterday (Maggie Rose), and Willing To Eager was finally published.

Please, but not satisfied: Several months behind schedule; looking at it now so many things I would improve. That means there will be a second expanded edition with many more success stories – from many of you – next year.

Willing to eager – the ultimate secret. In this collection of real-life stories, I’ll share some of the distinctions of those who thrive in adversity, using it as fuel to achieve, meet and exceed their goals.

Marketing, Awareness, and Opportunity

06/02/202305/27/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

1000 Watt Marketing recently completed some original research and asked people a range of questions to identify areas of opportunity and vulnerability in today’s real estate market.

There is intense competition for the attention of homeowners. While only 46% report that the agent they bought with has contacted them post-transaction, 28% receive “a lot” of real estate marketing, and only 25% report that they receive “little or none.” Moreover, 47% can recall the name of “one of two” agents from whom they receive marketing (who are not their own former agents), and 22% can remember “several” agent names.

Only 46% of home buyers report that the agent they bought with has contacted them post-transaction.

There appears to be little negative sentiment around how much agents are paid when context is provided. 63% of respondents said agents are “probably” or “definitely” paid too much. However, when provided with a hypothetical scenario involving the sale of their own home that involves specific dollar figures, 73% thought the agent was not paid too much. This suggests to us that stepping toward, rather than away from, specific conversations about compensation is a good idea. We also found that the appeal for discount real estate services was broad but weak.

Stepping toward, rather than away from, specific conversations about compensation is a good idea.

The biggest challenge with homeownership this group of recent homeowners expressed was “ongoing maintenance costs” (42%). This beat out “stress about my home’s value” (20%) and “affording my monthly payment” (34%). While engaging recent buyer clients on this issue could be a somewhat fraught proposition, it nonetheless underscores an opportunity we have identified in earlier research: people need help being homeowners, and real estate brokers and agents are uniquely prepared to deliver value in this area.

Desire, Sentiment, And Problem Solving

05/31/202305/31/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

My friends over at 1000 Watt recently completed some original research on home ownership with Millennials and older Gen Z individuals. 600 participated and were made up of 24% living with family and 76% renting independently.

Despite the daunting reality of high rates and high prices and the corresponding cultural awareness of an affordability crisis, 95% of respondents express a desire to own a home. This is up from 91% from the August 2021 survey.

Most respondents are motivated by emotional sentiments in their desire. “Pride of ownership” and “a place for me and my family to call home” outweigh “good investment or builds wealth” significantly. Moreover, only 26% view where they currently live as “home,” and 68% think ownership is required for a “place to truly feel like home.”

It is clear that marketing to this cohort should be directed largely toward the heart.

The challenges young people face – people who very much want to own a home – are nonetheless daunting. Good marketing can’t lower interest rates or build more houses. But it can help you connect with those among this cohort who become capable of surmounting those challenges.

Millions of Gen Z and Millennial Americans will buy homes in the coming years.

Those brokers and agents who take the time to understand them, help them solve their problems, and give them candid advice, will be their real estate professionals for life.