by Richelle Hammiel | Jul 23, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.
Some of homeownership’s largest hidden costs, including property taxes and homeowners insurance, are the biggest factors contributing to a growing number of mortgage delinquencies, a survey from Auction.com shows.
Hidden costs, like property taxes and homeowners insurance, were given a 37 percent risk factor for triggering mortgage delinquency by leaders in default servicing, according to the survey, making it the highest-ranked risk factor.
Consumer debt delinquencies were also ranked high at 32 percent, followed by rising unemployment at 15 percent, commercial mortgage defaults at 10 percent and falling home prices at 6 percent.
Auction.com’s survey was conducted in April. Respondents included banks, nonbanks, mortgage asset owners and investors, government agencies and government-sponsored enterprises.
Insurance costs have surged in many parts of the country in recent years, even as major insurance companies have pulled out of what are seen as high-risk states, like California and Florida.
Homeowners’ insurance costs nationally rose 33.8 percent from 2018 through 2023, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. In Texas, rates jumped 60 percent during that period, while rates rose more than 50 percent across Colorado, Arizona and Utah.
Climate change and the risk associated with it has been a major factor contributing to rising costs, Benjamin Collier, an associate professor of risk management and insurance at Temple University, told Realtor.com.
“A major reason is climate risk, and that insurers have had broad losses from severe climate events over the past few years from hurricanes and severe storms,” Collier said. “If you look at places where insurers have been paying out more claims than taking in premiums over the last couple years, it’s half the states.”
Inflation in construction costs has also added to rising insurance premiums, Collier noted. But, more near-term, higher insurance rates are more likely to affect mortgage delinquencies in regions that have seen an uptick in climate-related events in recent years, he said.
“My expectation is that these challenges would be greatest in higher-risk areas, because those higher-risk areas are where we’re seeing insurance prices climb the fastest,” Collier told Realtor.com. “I also think that this problem might be greater for lower-income households in those areas, who are often living and working much closer to the edge of their available budget.”
On top of rising home insurance costs, many homeowners are also dealing with rising property taxes as a result of surging home values. Last year, the average tax on single-family homes in the U.S. rose 4.1 percent to $4,062, after a 3 percent increase the year before, a report from Attom Data Solutions shows.
The hidden costs of owning and maintaining a single-family home in the U.S. now average more than $18,000 per year, according to Bankrate. That figure translates to about $1,500 per month on top of a mortgage payment, up 26 percent from four years ago.
That’s a lot of additional costs for homeowners, especially for established homeowners who have been accustomed to lower costs during their tenure.
Foreclosure rates remain relatively low
Foreclosure activity has remained relatively low in the U.S., according to Attom, with 177,431 U.S. properties receiving foreclosure filings (including default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions) during the first half of 2024. During the 2008 housing recession, about 15 times as many borrowers faced foreclosure. That figure from the first half of 2024 is also 4.4 percent less than what it was during the first half of 2023.
“Given the low default environment we’re in, this finding serves as an early warning of what could trigger more defaults in the future, especially if we continue to see more natural disaster events that, in turn, put more upward pressure on home insurance rates,” Daren Blomquist, a vice president of market economics at Auction.com, told Realtor.com.
“It’s important to note that even though rising hidden homeownership costs represented the highest risk factor of rising defaults, the majority of our mortgage servicing survey respondents believe that foreclosure volume will rise only modestly for the rest of the year (less than 5 percent),” Blomquist continued. “So these rising hidden homeownership costs represent the highest risk in a low-risk environment.”
If foreclosure rates do start to rise, they may begin in areas where those hidden costs are increasing the most quickly, Auction.com’s survey suggested.
For instance, foreclosure starts surpassed pre-pandemic levels in May in areas of the Gulf Coast, Texas and inland California, according to Blomquist — all areas that have seen storm and wildfire damage in recent years.
Foreclosure starts hit 135 percent of pre-pandemic levels in Houston, Texas; 93 percent of pre-pandemic levels in Riverside-San Bernadino, California; 100 percent of pre-pandemic levels in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida; 114 percent of pre-pandemic levels in Orlando, Florida; and 104 percent of pre-pandemic levels in San Antonio, Texas.
Those markets are located in states that are among the top 10 for insurance premium increases between 2018 and 2023, according to Attom’s data.
“Although it’s too early to fully connect the dots, we do see more rapidly rising foreclosure starts in many of the major markets where insurance costs have been rising,” Blomquist said.
“Absent of broader economic or housing market shocks, we would expect the default trend to follow the uneven regional pattern,” he added. “Markets with higher and faster-rising hidden homeownership costs would likely see a bigger increase in defaults. We are already seeing some signs this could be playing out when we look at recent foreclosure start data.”
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by Doreen Spagnuolo | Jul 23, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.
Pulse is a recurring column where we ask for readers’ takes on varying topics in a weekly survey and report back with our findings.
Do you need a buyer agreement for open house attendees? Do we have finalized forms yet? Can we post offers of compensation on our websites or through a workaround app? There are plenty of questions floating around out there as we draw closer to the Aug. 17 implementation deadline for the terms of the NAR settlement.
via GIPHY
So we want to know: What looming NAR settlement questions do you still have? Do you have a plan in place for working with buyers, sellers and cooperating colleagues? Has your brokerage provided enough training, or have you gotten your information straight from the local association? Do you feel confident that you have a handle on the day-to-day post-Aug. 17, or are you still struggling to catch up? Let us know below:
We’ll compile a list of the top responses and post them on Inman next Tuesday.
by Robert Palmer | Jul 23, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Rising home prices and mortgage rates, and sticker shock from surprise housing costs, pushed buyers to cancel 56,000 home-purchase agreements in June, according to Redfin.
At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.
Rising home prices and stubborn mortgage rates are leading a growing number of homebuyers to abandon their home purchasing plans, according to a Redfin report published Tuesday.
In June, median home prices increased 4 percent year over year to an all-time high of $442,525 as 30-year mortgage rate averages hovered just under 7 percent. Those conditions led homebuyers to cancel 56,000 home-purchase agreements — or 14.6 percent of the pending sales for the month.
Florida bore the brunt of the rise in home-purchase cancellations, with more than a fourth of for-sale inventory in Orlando (20.8 percent), Jacksonville (20.5 percent) and Tampa (20.5 percent) falling out of contract in June. Homebuyers in Las Vegas (20.2 percent) and San Antonio (19.9 percent) were also skittish, with roughly 20 percent of contracts kicking the can at the peak of the summer homebuying season.
Rafael Corrales
Redfin Premier agents Rafael Corrales and Julie Zubiate said affordability concerns are the primary culprit, with insurance, property taxes and homeowners association fees giving homebuyers serious sticker shock.
“Buyers often back out during the inspection period because they find something they don’t like, but affordability is really the underlying issue,” he said. “I don’t want my buyers to be surprised by all of the expenses that come with owning a home in Florida, so I advise them to proactively research the hefty costs of insurance, property taxes and HOA fees, in addition to the cost of their mortgage payment.”
Meanwhile, Zubiate said Bay Area buyers have become increasingly picky — a 180 from the pre-pandemic and peak-pandemic trends when homebuyers entered bidding wars for fixer-uppers and even half-burnt lots.
Julie Zubiate
“Buyers are getting more and more selective,” she said. “They’re backing out due to minor issues because the monthly costs associated with buying a home today are just too high to rationalize not getting everything on their must-have list.”
Although homebuyers’ worries got the best of them in June, the report said home purchase cancellations could soon improve as homesellers face longer list-to-sell timelines. Nearly 20 percent of homes (19.8 percent) experienced a price cut in June — the highest rate for the month since 2017.
“Some sellers are reducing their prices because their homes are sitting on the market and getting stale — the result of an ongoing affordability crisis impacting buyers,” the report read. “The typical home that sold in June spent 32 days on the market, the longest of any June since 2020. That’s up three days from a year earlier — the biggest annual increase since last summer.”
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by Amanda York | Jul 23, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
WASHINGTON (July 23, 2024) – Existing-home sales fell in June as the median sales price climbed to the highest price ever recorded for the second consecutive month, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. All four major U.S. regions posted sales declines. Year-over-year, sales waned in the Northeast, Midwest and South but were unchanged in the West.
Total existing-home sales1 – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – receded 5.4% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.89 million in June. Year-over-year, sales also dropped 5.4% (down from 4.11 million in June 2023).
“We’re seeing a slow shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Homes are sitting on the market a bit longer, and sellers are receiving fewer offers. More buyers are insisting on home inspections and appraisals, and inventory is definitively rising on a national basis.”
Total housing inventory2 registered at the end of June was 1.32 million units, up 3.1% from May and 23.4% from one year ago (1.07 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 4.1-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.7 months in May and 3.1 months in June 2023. The last time unsold inventory posted a four-month supply was May 2020 (4.5 months).
The median existing-home price3 for all housing types in June was $426,900, an all-time high and an increase of 4.1% from one year ago ($410,100). All four U.S. regions registered price gains.
“Even as the median home price reached a new record high, further large accelerations are unlikely,” Yun added. “Supply and demand dynamics are nearing a balanced market condition. The months supply of inventory reached its highest level in more than four years.”
REALTORS® Confidence Index
According to the monthly REALTORS® Confidence Index, properties typically remained on the market for 22 days in June, down from 24 days in May but up from 18 days in June 2023.
First-time buyers were responsible for 29% of sales in June, down from 31% in May but up from 27% in June 2023. NAR’s 2023 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers – released in November 20234 – found that the annual share of first-time buyers was 32%.
All-cash sales accounted for 28% of transactions in June, unchanged from May and up from 26% one year ago.
Individual investors or second-home buyers, who make up many cash sales, purchased 16% of homes in June, identical to May and down from 18% in June 2023.
Distressed sales5 – foreclosures and short sales – represented 2% of sales in June, unchanged from last month and the previous year.
Mortgage Rates
According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.77% as of July 18. That’s down from 6.89% one week ago and 6.78% one year ago.
Single-family and Condo/Co-op Sales
Single-family home sales retracted to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.52 million in June, down 5.1% from 3.71 million in May and 4.3% from the prior year. The median existing single-family home price was $432,700 in June, up 4.1% from June 2023.
Existing condominium and co-op sales tumbled 7.5% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 370,000 units, down 14% from one year ago (430,000 units). The median existing condo price was $371,700 in June, up 2.6% from the previous year ($362,200).
Regional Breakdown
Existing-home sales in the Northeast in June withdrew 2.1% from May to an annual rate of 470,000, a decline of 6% from June 2023. The median price in the Northeast was $521,500, up 9.7% from one year earlier.
In the Midwest, existing-home sales decreased 8% from one month ago to an annual rate of 920,000 in June, down 6.1% from the prior year. The median price in the Midwest was $327,100, up 5.5% from June 2023.
Existing-home sales in the South slid 5.9% from May to an annual rate of 1.76 million in June, down 6.9% from one year before. The median price in the South was $373,000, up 1.7% from last year.
In the West, existing-home sales declined 2.6% in June to an annual rate of 740,000, identical to a year ago. The median price in the West was $629,800, up 3.5% from June 2023.
About the National Association of REALTORS®
The National Association of REALTORS® is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.5 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
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For local information, please contact the local association of REALTORS® for data from local multiple listing services (MLS). Local MLS data is the most accurate source of sales and price information in specific areas, although there may be differences in reporting methodology.
NOTE: NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index for June is scheduled for release on July 31, and Existing-Home Sales for July will be released on August 22. Release times are 10 a.m. Eastern.
1 Existing-home sales, which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, are based on transaction closings from Multiple Listing Services. Changes in sales trends outside of MLSs are not captured in the monthly series. NAR benchmarks home sales periodically using other sources to assess overall home sales trends, including sales not reported by MLSs.
Existing-home sales, based on closings, differ from the U.S. Census Bureau’s series on new single-family home sales, which are based on contracts or the acceptance of a deposit. Because of these differences, it is not uncommon for each series to move in different directions in the same month. In addition, existing-home sales, which account for more than 90% of total home sales, are based on a much larger data sample – about 40% of multiple listing service data each month – and typically are not subject to large prior-month revisions.
The annual rate for a particular month represents what the total number of actual sales for a year would be if the relative pace for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months. Seasonally adjusted annual rates are used in reporting monthly data to factor out seasonal variations in resale activity. For example, home sales volume is normally higher in the summer than in the winter, primarily because of differences in the weather and family buying patterns. However, seasonal factors cannot compensate for abnormal weather patterns.
Single-family data collection began monthly in 1968, while condo data collection began quarterly in 1981; the series were combined in 1999 when monthly collection of condo data began. Prior to this period, single-family homes accounted for more than nine out of 10 purchases. Historic comparisons for total home sales prior to 1999 are based on monthly single-family sales, combined with the corresponding quarterly sales rate for condos.
2 Total inventory and month’s supply data are available back through 1999, while single-family inventory and month’s supply are available back to 1982 (prior to 1999, single-family sales accounted for more than 90% of transactions and condos were measured only on a quarterly basis).
3 The median price is where half sold for more and half sold for less; medians are more typical of market conditions than average prices, which are skewed higher by a relatively small share of upper-end transactions. The only valid comparisons for median prices are with the same period a year earlier due to seasonality in buying patterns. Month-to-month comparisons do not compensate for seasonal changes, especially for the timing of family buying patterns. Changes in the composition of sales can distort median price data. Year-ago median and mean prices sometimes are revised in an automated process if additional data is received.
The national median condo/co-op price often is higher than the median single-family home price because condos are concentrated in higher-cost housing markets. However, in a given area, single-family homes typically sell for more than condos as seen in NAR’s quarterly metro area price reports.
4 Survey results represent owner-occupants and differ from separately reported monthly findings from NAR’s REALTORS® Confidence Index, which include all types of buyers. The annual study only represents primary residence purchases, and does not include investor and vacation home buyers. Results include both new and existing homes.
5 Distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales), days on market, first-time buyers, all-cash transactions and investors are from a monthly survey for the NAR’s REALTORS® Confidence Index, posted at nar.realtor.
by Kendall Bonner | Jul 23, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Consumers expect specialization in every area of life, from doctors to hairdressers, coach Verl Workman writes. They should expect no less from their real estate expert when it’s time to sell a home.
At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.
In today’s world, we have specialists for pretty much every aspect of our personal lives: a specialist for cutting our hair, a different specialist for color, then a specialist for nails, then pedicures and then finally someone who does facials. While each requires the same or similar licenses, we choose to go to the person who specializes in the very thing we want to be exceptional.
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In visiting our doctor or dentist, we go to specialists for our particular problem. It’s no longer acceptable to see an orthopedist for a knee issue. Instead, you would seek out a knee specialist — or, even more specifically, a knee specialist who works specifically on athletic injuries.
Today’s consumer is trained and has come to expect specialization in almost every aspect of their lives, but when they go to meet with a real estate agent, they are often disappointed with a generalist who handles buyers, sellers, residential, commercial, rentals, land, ranches, luxury and short-term vacation properties. That description says a lot to the consumer. “I also do knees.” Is that who you want helping you?
As commission lawsuits and subsequent settlements have upended both buy-side and sell-side transactions, it’s more important than ever to hone your expertise and present yourself as the answer to your clients’ goals and challenges. For homeowners who are navigating entirely new questions about compensation, concessions and pricing, the service of a true specialist is a particularly appealing unique value proposition (UVP).
Specialization is not merely a strategic advantage — it’s the cornerstone of providing unparalleled service and customized, specific solutions for your clients. For listing agents, sharpening specialty skills is crucial for standing out in a crowded marketplace. A listing agent’s primary responsibilities revolve around marketing, pricing and negotiating the sale of properties. Let’s delve into these roles and explore how team leaders can cultivate specialization within their teams.
Marketing: The art of selling homes
There are only three things a listing specialist should focus on. First, prospecting for listing appointments; second, going on listing appointments; and third, negotiating contracts. That’s it. The rest of the activities should be done by different specialists on the team, including the marketing of the homes, showings of the homes, holding the open houses, etc. Those activities that are not directly related to the first three should not involve the listing specialist.
Pricing: The science of valuation
Accurate pricing is a delicate balance that can make or break a sale. Listing agents must specialize in pricing strategies that reflect the true value of a property while remaining competitive in the market.
Specializing in pricing
- Comprehensive market analysis: Provide agents with tools and training to conduct thorough market analyses. Understanding the nuances of the local market is essential for setting the right price.
- Dynamic pricing strategies: Teach agents to be flexible with pricing strategies, taking into account factors such as seasonality, economic shifts and inventory levels.
- Communication of value: Train your agents to effectively communicate the rationale behind pricing to sellers, building trust and setting realistic expectations.
Negotiating: The art of the deal
Negotiation is where the listing agent’s expertise is most visible. It’s about advocating for the seller’s interests and securing the best possible terms.
Mastering negotiation as a listing agent
- Understand the buyer’s perspective: Train agents to understand the buyer’s motivations and constraints, which can provide leverage in negotiations.
- Finesse and diplomacy: Encourage agents to practice finesse and diplomacy. Negotiation is not just about being firm; it’s also about finding mutually beneficial solutions.
- Legal acumen: Ensure your agents are well-versed in the legal aspects of real estate transactions to navigate complex negotiation challenges confidently.
Specializing as a listing agent in practice
Creating a team of specialized listing agents means fostering an environment where continuous improvement is the norm. Here’s how team leaders can achieve this:
- Role specialization: Assign roles based on individual strengths, whether it’s marketing, staging, pricing, or closing deals.
- Invest in education: Provide ongoing training and professional development opportunities in advanced marketing techniques, market analysis and negotiation skills.
- Collaborative culture: When working on a team of specialists, buyer’s agents refer listing leads to the listing team, and listing agents create opportunities for buyer’s agents to show and represent buyers. Specializing means you stay in your lane and provide exceptional client services based on your specialty.
- Performance metrics: Set clear goals and metrics for each specialization area to measure success and guide improvement efforts. An example would be, if you want to earn $1 million a year in gross closed income, then all you have to do is understand what has to happen from a listing appointment perspective to accomplish that. Here is a hypothetical and I will use numbers for demonstration purposes only. Commissions are negotiable and the average sales price in different markets is just that, different.
Let’s say the average listing is $500,000.00. You charge a listing or sales commission of 2.75 percent. That means your average commission is $13,750 on each sale. So, if you don’t do anything else but focus on listings, you need 73 listings a year to earn a gross commission of $1 million.
If you close 50 percent of the appointments you go on, then you will need 146 listing appointments in a 12-month period to accomplish this. That’s just over 12 appointments per month, three appointments per week and less than one listing appointment per day. If you wake up every day broke and hungry and focus on prospecting until you set and go on one appointment per day, you will hit or exceed your income goal.
Let me ask you this: If you go on 146 appointments per year, do you think you will get better at listing homes, at the listing presentation, at pricing and at prospecting? Would you be better than an average agent who is a generalist who does seven transactions per year? The answer is, simply, yes. As you specialize, you become a true expert at the part of the business you focus on.
Specialization within a listing agent team is about more than just improving service — it’s about building a well-oiled machine where efficiency and expertise lead to outstanding results. By focusing on marketing, pricing and negotiating, listing agents can sharpen their skills and deliver unmatched service to sellers.
We know by tracking the performance of hundreds of high-performing teams that the ones who specialize in each area of the business outperform teams or individuals who are generalists and the teams are more profitable because they create compensation that is consistent with the position and the work required at their level of specialization.
As a team leader, nurturing these specializations can transform your real estate practice into a more profitable, esteemed business. Each listing you generate should create 1.5 buy-side closings, and your buyer specialists will be amazing at converting and closing those opportunities.
Empower your agents to become specialists in their respective roles, and watch as they become invaluable assets to your team and clients. Remember, in the world of real estate, “Most agents create jobs for themselves; very few create a business.” As the market becomes more complex and consumers have more questions than ever, let’s build a business where specialization is the foundation of excellence and success.
Verl Workman is founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Instagram.
by Makenzie Green | Jul 23, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
When your pipeline dwindles and your next payday is uncertain, anxious thoughts can consume your day. Rachael Hite offers a financial and self-care prescription.
At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.
The rollercoaster ride of being an independent contractor and working on commission is not for everyone. Even seasoned professionals hit slumps in their pipeline, and they begin to wonder if they can navigate another sales cycle without regular closings to pump up their reserves.
Managing anxiety around financial irregularities requires patience, planning and persistence. Finding a strategy to overcome and put those negative feelings aside is an act of self-preservation in this high-stakes/ high-intensity market.
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Anxiety can sit beside you like an unwanted monster, and it can weigh down your normal solutions of solving problems and prospecting by creating doubt and fear that you are not doing enough.
Here are four strategies to help you move through the anxiety and stay focused and keep your mind on your money (and not your money on your mind) while working through adjusting commission structures and payouts.
Know what you owe
It’s essential to take time to understand how much income you need to cover your essentials and stash away funds for your reserve. If your first thought when you wake up in the morning is about how you are going to pay your bills, you have a major income problem.
Working by commission takes careful planning, budgeting, and a knack for self-restraint against blowing big payouts on fancy cars and vacations. If you are a real estate agent, you also need to be an expert on personal finance and investments. It’s the only way to stay in — and move forward in — the game of life.
Know how much debt you owe, plush up your reserves, and have every dollar that comes in commission allocated. Anxiety thrives on worst-case scenarios and unanswered questions. Map out your finances, and “eat the frog” — or tackle your hardest task first — to start chipping away at commission anxiety.
Lean in on management and mentorship for support
You cannot do this alone. Every agent needs a support system, especially someone to grab a cuppa with to debrief, vent and offer encouragement. Your management team should offer resources to help you not just sell but also build a lifelong career. Your management should be invested in you and your well-being.
If at this point your management team has been “hands off,” or as I like to call it, “hunger games” (may the odds be ever in your favor), then it’s probably time to find a new place to hang your license. Great leadership and office support systems should remove your anxiety, not encourage it or make it worse.
A great squad will help level out rising anxiety because there will be expectations and systems in place to help you adapt to upcoming changes smoothly.
Take a digital break
Get off social media. Seriously. One of the biggest drivers in commission or pipeline anxiety is FOMO (fear of missing out) or death by comparison against other agents.
Why are you stalking other agents? Why do you spend so much time talking about someone who has thousands of dollars to invest in marketing and a full team behind them, when you are a one-person show?
To avoid this mind trap, ask yourself these questions:
- Would their success feel like the same success in my life?
- Could I handle that overhead?
- Do I really want to spend all that time on TikTok?
- Does my schedule even allow for me to make that much content?
- Is their style my style or even my personality?
If you are having anxiety about your own pipeline, but cannot articulate what you are actively doing to fix it — Houston, there is a problem. (It’s an even worse problem if you can explain what six other more successful agents are doing.)
Take a week off of social media. Unfollow your competition. Get crystal clear about what you want your marketing to look like. Watch your anxiety slowly come down and your brand message build up.
Take care of yourself
One of the first things I need to ask myself when I am feeling anxious is if I have been taking good care of myself (eating, resting, exercising, keeping my schedule from being overloaded) and usually one or all of those things are off course.
Admitting you have anxiety about the upcoming commission changes does not mean you are weak, or a terrible agent. It means that you are human, and your career is entering a new season that you need to prepare for. Every season requires new skills, tools, and mindset shifts. Working on being less rigid and more dynamic will help you work through those changes.
This means you probably need to dial back the following:
- Screentime
- Drinking
- Caffeine
- Junk food
- Late nights
- Spending time with toxic people
- Old systems that no longer serve your career
- The hard way
And embrace the following:
- Rest
- Exercise
- Whole foods
- Water
- Time with friends and family (or pets or people you like)
- New systems that allow you to work smarter rather than harder
- The path of least resistance
Your pep talk
Are you doing enough? It depends. Seriously, you may be doing all the right things, and business is just hard to come by in your market. Anxiety will live beside you until you get it under control.
That might mean working on generating other income. That might mean finding a new team. That might even mean working in a different type of position in real estate. (Are you a fantastic admin or creative with marketing?)
For the seasoned pros, the folks that have been doing this for more than a decade, you know what this is. You have been through this more times than you can count. Look at your anxiety, and tell it that you are the boss — and hand it an official eviction notice.
Don’t let pipeline anxiety rule your life. Stay vigilant and remember that your personal value has nothing to do with your sales and everything to do with the content of your character.
Rachael Hite is a former agent, a business development specialist, fair housing advocate, copy editor, and is currently perfecting her long game selling forever homes in a retirement continuing care community in Northern Virginia. You can connect with her about life, marketing and business on Instagram.
