How to Thrive in a Shifting Real Estate Market – Mike Ferry’s Proven Plan – Part Two

Welcome back to Mike Ferry TV. Tony Smith here. Back with you again this week. Um, we are here working through a series of thoughts what to do in a flat or a change or even declining market. And last week we got through several points. This week I would like to continue down these points. We left off on point number 13.

13) Denial is a terrible place to spend your time today

Okay. So if you look at point number 13, denial is a terrible place to spend your time today. Denial is a terrible place to spend your time. Are you in any form of denial about the current market conditions? You know, for many, many months, the entire world was in the little bit of denial that the interest rates were going to drop back down to some low rate again. Have they? No. So if I live in denial, these rates are going to go down next week and everything’s just going to start popping. Is that the right place to be? Should I be in any form of denial about the current market conditions? If the inventory is rising and the number of sales is declining and the days on market is extending, that is the truth and it’s normal. And we shouldn’t spend a whole lot of time sitting around hoping and wishing and waiting for it to just start clacking again. This is normal. This is the market you’re dealt with. Does it make more sense to change your behaviors matching today’s market and expect it to be like this for a while? You know all the things I’m asking you to do here. If you did these things and for some reason, if the market did jump up again, would you be better off anyway? These things are probably the right things for us to do anyway.

14) Become an expert at the market statistics

All right. So let’s look at point 14. Become an expert at the market Statistics. If you want to really thrive today, you’ve got to dedicate a lot more time and energy to studying, learning, practicing and understanding how to deliver the market stats to the public. Right. Well, you know this market’s off a little bit. The market’s down that the public doesn’t buy that the public will buy. Were you aware that our inventory is at 4605 homes today which is actually up 20% and rising. And did you know that the number of sales is down 12% so far this year? Right. Like if we can’t present the market stats, we probably don’t present the authority that people need today if they want to list and sell their home with us. Study those market stats. Okay.

15) Practice the CMA portion of the listing presentation every day

Number 15 practice the CMA portion of the listing presentation Every day. Okay? If you want to take full advantage of these times, you’ve got to become the master of delivering that market analysis. Can you deliver the comps? Can you deliver the market stats? Can you present to the seller in a way that gets them to understand pricing the property right from the beginning? There’s only one way. You’ve got to practice it every day. Practice your delivery of the CMA.

16) Call every past client and center of influence and inform them of the market conditions

How about number 16? Call every past client and center of influence and inform them of the market conditions. Alright. Um, if the market is going straight up and we’ve been telling this, our sellers, our past clients and our centers of influence, month after month, it’s getting better. Prices are up. It’s getting better. Is it possible that our database is somewhat uninformed of what’s going on today? Isn’t it our job to let them know. I think we should come up with a little dialog for our database. Call them all and let them know how the market is shifting with inventory and days on market and sales price. If they’re going to do something today, don’t they have a right to know? Stay in touch with your database more than ever, you know. Very common in good times. I call my database in a little bit of downtime. I don’t talk to them at all. That’s not the right way to succeed. Talk to your database more.

17) Define for yourself all the reasons why it’s not a good idea for a potential seller to wait

Look at 17. Define for yourself all the reasons why it’s not a good idea for a potential seller to wait. If a market is declining a little, if sales prices are coming down a little, is it a good idea for a seller to wait for six months to sell their home? Is it a good idea for them to wait for three months? It’s probably not a good idea for them to wait for a week right now. So am I clear on all the reasons why it’s not a good idea for a potential seller to wait? Doesn’t that make me stronger in my delivery? I think it does.

18) Put a 21 day automatic price reduction in your listing agreement

Okay, uh, how about this? Put a 21 day automatic price reduction in your listing agreement. One of the techniques that works so well is when you list a property. If you can automatically negotiate that, we drop the price. Mr.. Mrs.. Seller, I’m going to work a very aggressive marketing plan and expose your property to the public and all of the other active agents in town. However, with my marketing plan, if we’re not in escrow by in the third week, let’s go ahead and make an arrangement to adjust the price so we can keep up with the market conditions. Put it right in the listing.

19) Ask for a 10% price reduction instead of little small ones

Okay, how about number 19? I’d ask for a 10% price reduction instead of little small ones. Mike has always said, if you want to thrive today, um, if it requires a big price reduction, don’t take a small one. You know, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’ll see in the, in the MLS some of these listings, you know, a $2,000 price reduction, uh, reduced by 5000 and then in another month reduced by another 5000. And then here it is five months on the market and it was reduced six times to get finally get sold. Okay. If a seller is going to be unhappy about the price, you might as well tear the Band-Aid off. Okay. So if a property needs a 10% price reduction, present a 10% price reduction and don’t take a $2,000 price reduction if that big one is needed.

20) Stop looking in the rearview mirror. If you want to succeed in today’s market, we look forward, not backwards

How about number 20 on this list? Stop looking in the rearview mirror. If you want to succeed in today’s market, we look forward, not backwards. Gosh, during Covid, I was selling properties left and right. I remember all those multiple offers we used to present. Gosh, I remember listing property and selling them in two minutes. Does it make a lot of sense for us to spend much time looking in the rearview mirror? What if those times never come back? What if this market, today’s market, is the way it is forever? Who knows? Shouldn’t we go ahead and act as if there’s no rearview mirror? How much time are you spending looking from days gone by? Well, back in the old days, I used to only have to prospect and make five contacts a day. And I made a fortune. Okay, forward. I have to make 30 contacts a day and I’ll still make a fortune. All right, let’s take a look at it.

21) Create a list of the top 25 agents that represent the most buyers in your market

All right, here’s look at 21. Create a list of the top 25. Agents that represent the most buyers in your market. Make a list of the top 25 agents that represent the most buyers in your market, and work to present your listings to those buyers agents. We have to do a much better job of selling our listings, and we need to learn to call those people that represent buyers and present our product to them should be part of our duty. You know, in our plan of action, it says, I will call the top agents in town. Are you very important to do in these times? Look at 2022, except the fact that your presentation skills are critical to your success. All right. In this market, in this climate, in this economy, your presentation skills are even more important than ever. Are you spending the right amount of time perfecting, Refining. Improving your ability to present to the sellers that are out there. If we spend a lot more time working on our presentation and we get it sharper and sharper. When we encounter that seller, we have a better result. Spend more time on your presentation. And then the last one that I’ll give you for today.

22) Learn a little more patience with the clients when discussing the market conditions

Um, we need to learn a little more patience with the clients when discussing the market conditions. If you want to see succeed today, we have to exercise a little more patience. When we’re discussing the conditions with the sellers that we work with. You know, many of these people have been experiencing this idea of multiple offers and over asking price and selling quickly, and they’ve been hearing that story for 8 or 10 years. So do they have a right to be a little confused, a little concerned when you present a different story to them? If we’re impatient with that. Sometimes we simply lose listings because of our lack of patience with clients. This is a normal sales cycle, okay? It is normal to list a property and have it take 60, 90, even 120 days to successfully sell. That’s normal. What’s not normal is to list the property and have it sell in 12 seconds. So we have to learn a little more patience on our part. Okay, so if you’ll follow along with Mike Ferry’s teachings, if you’ll study the Mike Ferry sales system, if you’ll get involved, we have the expertise. We have 50 years of Mike’s knowledge and experience. We have all of the answers for you in what to do and how to do it in today’s times. More of this to follow. Thanks for your time.