Mike Ferry: Good morning and welcome to Mike Ferry TV the week of March 21st. Two weeks ago, I sent a pretty extensive email to all of our Coaching Clients and it was regarding different comments and different conversations that I have had with some of the Brokers and Owners that I have the good fortune of working with. I wanted to share these with you because, you know, the M.O. on Mike Ferry as that he is old-fashioned and controversial. And you know, we hear all these things all the time. I get told this almost every day. So, I think it would be good to share with all of you that do watch Mike Ferry TV, some of the thoughts that I think need to be looked at and discussed in the marketplace we’re involved in today. So, I’m going to read them to you. Number one, I said to them, do we really need to spend X amount of dollars on marketing, advertising and promotion of the listings we take when the days on market in most cases is 15 to 20 maximum days and we’re getting 5, 10, 15 offers. That particular thought doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why would you spend all the money when the property is going to sell in spite of almost everything, including condition, location and price? Number two, I put down, should we be putting a suggested list price on the CMA in the Pre-Listing Package, when that price will probably cause the Seller, when they see it in advance, to get upset? I wrote probably not.

Mike Ferry: That probably should be left blank. Then I wrote third, shouldn’t a Seller have real strong motivation that you can determine what that motivation is in the pre-qualifying process? So you don’t have to sit with a non-motivated Seller who simply is greedy. Because the better the agents, the more they’re going to walk away from the greedy Seller. You know, the property’s worth 550, and the Seller wants 1.4 million. Number four, Do you really believe that purchasing leads that are generally always Buyer-oriented leads is going to lead you to more listings? That one doesn’t make sense to me at all. We keep buying leads from all these sources, and all they are is more Buyers, when we keep saying quote, “There is a shortage of inventory”. Number five, if economic projections are correct and I see these all the time, we’re going to have this year, probably six and one and a half million Real Estate transactions in the year 2022. Which is probably close to an all-time record. Don’t we then have to have six and a half million listings if we’re going to have six and a half million sales? I don’t quite understand the negative conversations that are nonstop about the shortage, and we’re going to talk about that more later.

Mike Ferry: Number six, I wrote down, is there really a shortage of listings or do we simply have way too many pocket listings, which our customers tell me we have. Way too many off market listings and listings sold before hitting multiple listing service, etc.? There has to be six and a half million properties for sale if there’s six and a half million sales. Number seven, I was told once again two weeks ago on Monday that I’m way too old-fashioned in my thinking. Now, I wrote on, yes, I’m old, listen I can’t change that. I’m turning 77 in about three months. But when did improving sales skills, learning to talk to people and taking more listings become unfashionable? Since I’m considered to be so old-fashioned. Number eight, we’re moving away from the slogan, “Listings are the name of the game”, which has been a slogan in Real Estate for almost all of our adult lives. Those of us who have been in Real Estate to my new slogan, “Listings are how we stay in the game”. We’ve got to get a grip on the fact that pre-COVID and I talk about this all the time. If I was talking to a company, 30%, 35%, 40% of the agents would be at some point during the course you’re taking a handful of listings.

Mike Ferry: Ok. During COVID and since COVID, it looks like now maybe 5% to 8% of the agents work on listings. If there is not enough property for sale, it may be the fact that not enough agents are trying to secure listings so they can have more listings sold. Number nine, I wrote the turnover among new licensees in my opinion and the opinion of most brokers is going to skyrocket this year. Why? We’re not teaching new licensees’ sales skills, scripts, dialogs on how to list property just to name a few. I wrote number 10. I was once again told this week that I’m way too controversial. I get such a kick out of that. Then I wrote, I guess common sense is controversial in Real Estate. Common sense, knowing how to sell. Does a Buyer expect you to understand the process of presenting an offer in their favor? Does the Seller expect you to have some understanding of the market and the conditions the market when you going to take a listing and why those would be considered controversial? Makes no sense at all. But if you’re not posting on social media, you’re never going to make it. And I’m going to say to you, sure, you’re going to post on social media.

Mike Ferry: But if you’re actually learning how to sell and working every day and selling Real Estate you don’t need social media. I wrote down number 11, if Brokers keep recruiting, their business remains stable and gross in spite of the economy. And if agents keep prospecting, their business always grows in spite of the economy. I said number 12 on this list market conditions, whether they be good or bad. Do not have negative effects on agents’ productivity if they’re doing their job every day. You know, there’s a lot of doom and gloom on the market, you know, interest rates are going up and you know, there’s such a shortage of inventory. The shortage of inventory has been going on for a couple of years and interest rates have been the lowest we’ve ever seen in history. And they’re barely moving up at minute rates, market conditions are market conditions. People have to buy and sell Real Estate in spite of market conditions. The question is, are you going to be part of that situation? Then I wrote number 13. 2021 and 2022 were and will be two of the greatest years in the history of the Real Estate industry. Are you participating in the excitement of this wonderful market or are you dwelling on the possibility of something going bad? Common question I get from our Coaches. I talked to one of our clients today and they think the market’s going to fall apart before the end of the year.

Mike Ferry: What do they do? Well, first of all, it’s March. It’s not the end of the year. We have March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. We still have 10 months to do something great in Real Estate. Let’s do something great in Real Estate. And Number 14 the last thought for today’s Mike Ferry TV. My motto has been since last July. Keep going! There is a lot of business to be done. Keep going. There’s a lot of business to be done. I would certainly expect, as I do every week with Mike Ferry TV, I get several positive and several negative responses. Generally, I get much more positive than negative, and I wouldn’t be surprised based on these thoughts that I’ve presented that somebody will say, I’ll never watch Mike Ferry TV again. We’ve had Mike Ferry TV for, I don’t know, twenty to twenty-four years and we’ve had virtually millions of viewers. You can press the button to watch, you can press the button to turn it off. The only effect it has is on your productivity and your thinking. Keep your mind strong, keep your mind positive. Keep doing your job every day and this will be a great year for you. Talk to you soon. Thank you.