You’re on the phone with a prospective client and you believe you’re ready for whatever questions they will throw at you. You feel confident and in power but just as you believe so, the client opens their mouth and asks the first question.

“So, how’s the Market going?”

You are now faced with one of the toughest initial questions in real estate. If you start lying to them for a quick buck, your entire reputation as a real estate agent has been compromised so clearly the best option is to tell the truth.

But what is this truth?

This entire concept motivated me to break down each possible question asked about market conditions. But I realized it was the wrong approach, instead I will teach you how to know everything about the market conditions in your area so you are able to answer any possible question asked.

Let’s begin with the Agent’s Dilemma.

The agent’s dilemma: When your service does not provide enough value for your client, they will start compromising the price.

We must realize that although we have access to the world’s information in the palm of our hands, so do our clientele. The difference between us and them is after this blog, you will KNOW what to search for and how to utilize your resources, especially the internet.

There are 4 topics to cover:

1. Area Expert

Start small. In today’s society, you are respected more as a specialist rather than a generalist. Focus on 1 niche instead of the entire market.

Take your downtown city as an example. Focus on 25 buildings in the area, from this you must acquire information on:

• Name of the building
• Address
• Floors
• Built buy
• Amenities
• Occupancy Type
• Price per Sq.ft
• Property Management firm

Etc.

You will have to memorize each of these prior to prospecting, it will allow you to build rapport with each person you meet and show you are a Market Expert.

An example would be:

By using this chart, you will be able to show each of your clients that you are an Expert on the market. You will be able to use this information for comparable reasons, better options, and overall to show you know the best places in the city.

2. Put it to the test: Questions

Before heading out to see your client you must ask yourself the following questions on the area.

1. Are there any new plans for the area by the city?
2. Who is/are the city council for that area?
3. Where are the local schools located?
4. Where are the community centers?
5. Are there any new developments (constructions)?
6. What is the history of this area?
7. What businesses are in the area?

You must know, in detail about the area. You are highly recommended to create an Area Analysis report that highlights each of these questions for certain area. By creating many of these AAR’s you will be able to become an expert on price fluctuations based off previous pricing, understand the top school in certain area, surrounding amenities, future city plans (development), etc.

3. Market Conditions:

Time to introduce you to the “BIG 3”.
Agents at this day and age are not capable of answering these following questions:

Your job is to find out the greatest possible answers to the following:

1. How is the market?
2. Is it a good time to buy?
3. Is it a good time to sell?

You must be able to back up everything you say in the simplest form with statistics, charts, graphs, facts and more proof.

An example for the first question could be “John, the market is doing great at the moment; it has increased on average 3.3% per year in the past 5, with a nice steady rate we can thank the Asia market hub and our strong banking system.”

By creating and practicing all your new information based off the market cheat sheet and AAR, you will be able to show that you are a market expert.

4. The MF Combo:

Mortgages are probably the biggest investment of many people’s lives, you must have a powerful knowledge on this topic, but how?

Again, I always bring back questioning, either for yourself or to your clients questioning is one of the most important thing to become a real estate market expert in your area.
Let’s take a look at the following questions you must ask yourself and KNOW:

1. What are the Mortgage rates?
2. How to calculate mortgage payments?
3. What are the fixed and variable rates?
4. What are the penalties associated with breaking a mortgage?

Constantly keep updating this list as rates fluctuate due to their unpredictable nature.

Takeaways:

Though all of this is crucial, it is nothing without implementation. You must be able to quickly filter out the information based off client’s questions, needs and wants. Remember, delivering this information is how you show that you are a top agent. You are providing a service that only a minimal number of other agents are using, you will be a part of such an unsaturated method, if implemented and utilized correctly, you will not only be a market expert but respected as a professional specialist rather than a generalist.

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