Drive With NAR XX
[0] You're listening to Drive with NAR, the Realtor to Realtor series, powered by Realtor Magazine.
[1] Tune in as real estate professionals talk tools of the trade and share stories of inspiration.
[2] Get ready to step up your business.
[3] I'm your host, Markey Lemondrow.
[4] It was almost accepted as a truism that the real estate business cycle could expect a spring surge after a winter lull.
[5] In today's business cycle, however, we know that we can't take anything for granted.
[6] This episode features two experts who will share their tips to prepare and manage the ebbs and flows of the real estate business cycle.
[7] And they'll discuss how smart preparation and great systems can help you and your clients stay ready so you don't have to get ready.
[8] I'm joined by Kat Berry, a real estate broker and team leader at Modern Living at Compass, and Latifa Neal, the founder and managing broker of NTS Realty Group.
[9] And she was featured on season four, a first -time buyer by the National Association of Realtors.
[10] Thank you for joining us.
[11] Thank you for having us.
[12] Thanks for having us today.
[13] Well, you know what?
[14] Over the years, things like COVID and inventory shortages have shifted what might be considered a normal real estate business cycle.
[15] How can real estate professionals prepare for unpredictable shifts in the real estate market and stay ready for market surges?
[16] We'll start with you, Kat.
[17] Well, I think, you know, like you said.
[18] staying ready so they don't have to get ready.
[19] And what I mean by that is having good systems in place.
[20] When you have your downtime, get organized, get your scripts together, get your template emails ready to go, have checklists, have action plans for each transaction or each type of transaction that you do, have those resources on hand, have all of that ready to go so that you're not scrambling to put things together when that business that you've been waiting for does come.
[21] And you know what?
[22] We're coming out of the Christmas season into the new year.
[23] And I took one month just to do exactly what you stated.
[24] But I like to leverage the profile of buyers and sellers from the National Association of Realtors.
[25] In addition, this year, I brought in the Opportunity Report to make sure that we're heading in the right direction based on the most recent numbers.
[26] Oh, that's really smart.
[27] Yeah.
[28] Latifa, what have you done?
[29] I like the opportunity report option.
[30] That makes me think about educating, educating your buyers on the changes in the market.
[31] As we know, being veterans of this real estate industry, that the market is constantly changing, constantly changing interest rates, new laws, new rules, and buyers need to be informed of those things.
[32] So I think it's a great opportunity to inform your clients of what's to come so they can also be ready.
[33] And look, doing that annual update, because this is the time of year for everyone that we closed last year to make sure that they have their closing statement for any potential tax benefits and write -offs that we can plan for way in advance.
[34] Exactly.
[35] There's always opportunities to reach out to your clients about something that's going to benefit them, right?
[36] And so that's one of the things you want to do in your town time to get ready is to sort of have these set it and forget it.
[37] touch points, if you will, of like, oh, here's your, you know, don't forget that you need your closing statement for your taxes.
[38] Don't forget it's time to change your air filter.
[39] Any of those types, you know what I mean?
[40] Like those seasonal types of things that it's an opportunity for you to reach out and say, remember me, but also like I have this thing for you that benefits you and I am your resource for all things real estate.
[41] Sure.
[42] Also reminding them to take advantage of their homeowner's exemption if they've been in their home for over a year.
[43] Yeah, that's another great touch point.
[44] Long -term resident exemptions are also good options, reminding the seniors to take advantage of their senior exemptions if they've reached that birth date that they qualify.
[45] And actually, that's great because one -third of all properties in Cook County, those homeowners do not get their homeowner's exemption, which can save them up to 28%.
[46] It always blows my mind when I see that they're not claiming an exemption when they live there.
[47] Yeah, I'm thinking we can add some things to our arsenal, right?
[48] What processes do you put into place to manage the busy periods and the down times during your real estate business cycle, Latifa?
[49] So for busy periods, lately I've been co -listing almost all of my listings with someone in my office just to have that extra set of hands available to help in my absence.
[50] In terms of downtime, I try to do things that help me personally organize, like get my taxes done, clear up any sort of administrative tasks so I can be ready and available for my clients.
[51] Excellent.
[52] Oh, I love that.
[53] I think one of the things that I do too when I'm in the slower periods is looking over where my business has been coming from too, right?
[54] So I'm like strategizing with...
[55] how to keep in front of those people or how to continue to expand on that.
[56] So I think that's a really, you always have to use that downtime to continue to build your business, right?
[57] So I think that's really important.
[58] I also like to go preview properties when I'm slow or go on tours.
[59] I know this is a national program, so every market has property tours.
[60] In Chicago, you can go almost any day to tour a broker tour and see properties.
[61] And not only does that give you an opportunity to shoot something for your Instagram.
[62] to keep in front of your sphere, but it also educates you on the market and continues to help you learn like what new projects are coming up or what listings are in your neighborhood.
[63] So touring, I mean, that's what I, when I was brand new agent and I had no business of my own, I would just like schedule previews and go look at.
[64] at houses because I had no idea what you get for $500 ,000 in a specific neighborhood.
[65] I was new, you know, and I didn't have clients to show it to.
[66] So that's always been something throughout my entire 20 -year career that I've done in my downtime is really just go look at things.
[67] That's a great idea.
[68] One thing that I did this last slow season was I set up a chat GPT task to automate those redundant tasks.
[69] So now every single morning when I wake up, I understand.
[70] how I can celebrate that said holiday from tools like National Today.
[71] Also, it gives me my post for that day.
[72] Oh, that's great.
[73] I read it over, make sure to edit it, but it's already automated, saving me the 20 to 30 minutes per day with ChatGPT tasks.
[74] Set it and forget it or using technology to streamline this stuff is the key to staying.
[75] staying ready all the time.
[76] I mean, one of the reasons why I went to Compass, a big national brokerage, is because we have so many technology tools and I can set up these emails and things like that too.
[77] I mean, I have a different social media marketing plan, but they have social media posts prepared for people every day if you needed that.
[78] So it's like...
[79] You have to take advantage of the technologies that are out there and use the tools.
[80] There are so many things available to all of us to maximize our business.
[81] Oh, most definitely.
[82] How do you get your ducks in a row to prepare yourself and your clients when you know buyers will be entering the market and guiding them along the home buying or selling journey?
[83] Kat?
[84] Well, I think...
[85] Some of what, I mean, Latifah's touched on this too, knowing, and you did too, when you're looking at these reports, like knowing who your clientele is.
[86] So sort of getting ahead of what hurdles might they be coming up against.
[87] If you specialize in first -time buyers, you should have a database of programs that help first -time buyers available.
[88] I work with a lot of entrepreneurs that are trying to, small business owners that want to buy buildings to keep their business stable.
[89] I have to have portfolio lenders on hand.
[90] I have to, you know, have commercials that people that do small commercial loans available, not just multi -million dollar commercial loans.
[91] So you need to, you know, I always say that like a real estate business without a business plan is like a ship without a rudder.
[92] You have to have a plan.
[93] You have to know where you want to go, where your clients are coming from so that you can be prepared to help them the best that you can.
[94] I completely agree with Kat.
[95] Know your clients, know your buyers.
[96] Have resources available to them from the lender perspective.
[97] Additionally, if you have clients that are in need of homebuyers assistance, grants loan, have those resources available and educational tools.
[98] Many of those programs will require them to do a class for certification along with that.
[99] So have those options and opportunities available for your clients.
[100] And little guides too.
[101] Years ago, I made an outline of the home buying process with a timeline with each step.
[102] And it's just like a little brochure.
[103] We used to print them out.
[104] Now we mostly send them digitally.
[105] And the same thing for sellers and stuff like that.
[106] If you can have these types of things ready to get ahead of it, to show people at the beginning, here are some things that were going to come up.
[107] We'll go over it again when we're in the heat of it, but just so you're prepared.
[108] You know, getting them ready, too, is part of our job, right?
[109] Right.
[110] How do you advise clients needing extra support to purchase their home, whether for first -time homebuyers' help or other types of assistance?
[111] And here would be an example.
[112] I know that a big bank is coming out with a specific program and the date in which they're coming out with that program, or better yet, the new $40 ,000 debt forgiveness down payment assistance program, where if you have student loan debt, they will pay up to $40 ,000 in that debt.
[113] And I think now.
[114] In this time of the year, we're looking at people who are getting their tax returns and what would be the most viable investment for those funds.
[115] Is it buying for that new house?
[116] So examples like that.
[117] Sure.
[118] Well, as real estate professionals, I'm certain we all get.
[119] thousands of marketing emails on a regular basis from our partners and our lending partners and such.
[120] So I just try to keep a list of programs as they come in and have them available touch base with loan officers that I've worked with in the past and some that I may have never worked with just to understand what their lending options are.
[121] And I keep that information prepared.
[122] Very oftentimes it will.
[123] I'd say about half of the time the buyer comes with an idea of the lender that they're going to work with and the other 50 % of the time that I need to refer them.
[124] And I make sure to refer them to the people who have the programs that are available for their help.
[125] Yeah, I think you have to be flexible with that too, right?
[126] Because things have changed over the last couple of years and some programs are always changing.
[127] For example, like a lender that I used to work with a couple of years ago is not offering great rates anymore.
[128] And I just haven't.
[129] been able to really work with them as much.
[130] I've really changed some of the lenders and programs I'm recommending to people.
[131] So again, it's like staying on top of all of those things.
[132] And I think real estate professionals often focus on networking with their sphere of influence, which is really, really important, but also networking with other real estate professionals, agents, lenders, the small bank in your neighborhood might have a program available for your zip code.
[133] You know, I mean, you don't know that unless you go in there and find out.
[134] So all that stuff.
[135] I mean, being hyper organic about what you're doing, I think, has been, at least for me, that's been part of my success.
[136] One thing that we do, we specialize in down payment assistance.
[137] And so recently I signed up over at Down Payment Resource for their DPA radar.
[138] Every single week, they're sending me two different programs.
[139] And what we've done is partner that, taking a look at what people, the moving patterns are across the country.
[140] So I talked about Baltimore because we know that people are leaving the Chicagoland area, moving to other places across the country.
[141] When I refer them, then I can also refer them with the potential data.
[142] down payment assistance program.
[143] So I'm advising any real estate agent to sign up for that DPA because now every single month, right, I have an additional eight twos, not just community specific, but to even get an idea of what's going on across the country.
[144] Yeah.
[145] And I think, yeah, you always having a pulse on what's going on around you, not just in your market, having some sense of that is important, even on a broader level.
[146] I mean, I get.
[147] My CIPS newsletter is one of my favorite things to read.
[148] What's going on in the world?
[149] You know, we're in a global world here.
[150] Everything's connected.
[151] Yes, I just got that too.
[152] What are the best prospecting strategies for gaining visibility and growing your real estate business?
[153] Latifa.
[154] So prospecting for me, my market is, I tend to be hyper -local.
[155] I focus on the community that I live in and the surrounding neighborhoods.
[156] I'm very socially active in my community.
[157] I attend all the block club events, the trolley tours, the Summerfest, the parenting network.
[158] So that's pretty much how I focus is in my community.
[159] I love all that.
[160] I do so many of those same things.
[161] And, you know, you and I have talked about this before.
[162] It's like so important to be involved in your community.
[163] You know, like I was saying earlier, I examine always where my business is coming from, but it is every single year consistently, my people that I know and my past clients, my friends, family, past clients, my community and social media, like in that order every year.
[164] So that's where I invest my energy, my money, my time is, you know, same going to all those events in your community, being involved in your chamber of commerce, but also.
[165] taking your one -on -ones with your, you know, with your top people, with your best friend, with your, you know, making sure that they think of you.
[166] And if you're new in the business, if you're coming from a different career and your friends and family think of you as whatever that.
[167] previous career is you have to rebrand yourself now you need to them to always think of you as a real estate agent and they're not just an agent who's not someone who's trying to sell them something transactionally but their go -to expert about things like what we've all been talking about so you do that by staying in front of them in an in an organic way and i think that part is hard for people sometimes but it's providing information like i always am posting articles about from cranes or a block club about what's happening in the neighborhood and things like that to organically remind your people.
[168] And then when you're slow, you know, take them for a coffee, take them, you know, out, have micro, micro events are something that I started doing a couple of years ago.
[169] I got the idea because there was this group of women.
[170] I work with a lot of single women and there was this group of single professional women that all I really wanted them all to meet each other.
[171] Like they had things in common, but they didn't know each other.
[172] So I organized a mixer for them and it was so much fun.
[173] And it was like so rewarding to me to look around and be like, I met every one of these people through work and they're all friends of mine now.
[174] And they're all.
[175] becoming friends with each other.
[176] And it was just so cool.
[177] Did I sell a house from that event?
[178] No, but I'm ingrained in their life, right?
[179] And it's just things like that have been always been like very powerful for me. And I think that if you go to other agents that have built a long career business, they're going to say similar things.
[180] Those organic ways, there's nothing better than that.
[181] Nothing better than organic and to develop these systems and to come up with a new way, right, to become that go -to person because they can consistently remember you because you were the person who introduced them to one another.
[182] Exactly.
[183] It's personal that way.
[184] When I think about...
[185] Making sure that we're always ready.
[186] I do want to go back to some of the resources provided by the National Association of Realtors.
[187] Every single year we get the profile of buyers and sellers.
[188] It's been a guiding force in my real estate career.
[189] And taking that information and deciding what's going to be best with my sphere of influence and what our unique selling proposition is.
[190] So what is one thing you will do different this year than you have done in the past?
[191] Do you want to go first?
[192] I'm feeling like I want to listen more.
[193] I want to hear what the buyer is looking for.
[194] I want to know more about their why.
[195] Why are you choosing to buy or sell now?
[196] What does this particular market mean to you?
[197] What is your life situation in 2025?
[198] What's happening right now?
[199] So I want to be more of a hearer of what's happening.
[200] I love that.
[201] That's amazing.
[202] Well, my whole motto going into this year has changed because so much has changed in the real estate industry in the last year.
[203] And for someone who's been in it for 20 years, that's exciting to me. I mean, you have to embrace change, right?
[204] There's no other option.
[205] So one thing I've done, so you were saying how the looking at the buyers, the profile of buyers and sellers, it was so interesting to me to see the average age of a seller is in their 60s.
[206] And so much about today's marketing is geared towards young people, right?
[207] TikTok and things like that.
[208] Well, yes, I mean, I have one of my best friends in their 60s.
[209] She's on Instagram and things like that, but not everybody is.
[210] I was like, how can I reach people that are older?
[211] Because growing listings is my main priority, and it has been for the last few years.
[212] So I decided to make a video about downsizing with my parents who recently sold their home of 40 some years.
[213] And we made that they agreed we made this video and we put it on not only on YouTube and social media, but we also sent mailers out with a QR code that they could scan and go to the YouTube to watch the story about downsizing.
[214] And it was really cool because it was like, again, personal conversation.
[215] And that that video was one of the.
[216] highest interactions I've ever had of a video that I've posted going back to the years of the flip.
[217] But I use that I use that profile to realize that I'm marketing wrong if to reach where I want to be.
[218] Excellent.
[219] And this year.
[220] I am focused on the word no. The reason I'm focused on the word no is because it allows me to listen to the business and to implement the strategies in order to attract today's buyers and sellers.
[221] I want to thank Kat and Latifa for being here with us today.
[222] And thank you for tuning in.
[223] Thank you for joining us at Drive with NAR, the Realtor to Realtor series.
[224] Tune in every month at magazine .realtor forward slash drive or subscribe wherever you watch your podcast.
[225] Find more tips to boost your business at magazine .realtor.