There has been much negative news about the real estate industry from media, politicians and even our own industry leaders.  It is rare to find positive press.  Frankly, I am excited about this market.  This is the opportunity of a lifetime!!

Notice the title says “Correcting Market” not bad, scary, challenging, or stressful market?   People who have been in the business for 20+ years understand that a correcting market is one of the biggest opportunities you will ever have in your business and career.   Yes, it can be painful when we are in it but try to keep you eyes on the big picture.

The market is constantly correcting itself by adjusting to trends and issues.  For the most part, we don’t feel these corrections like we are feeling this one.  The reason we are feeling it so strongly is because this is a BIG correction.  The last 5 years in our industry have bordered on lunacy.  The market had to correct itself. The industry vendors who were closest to crossing that line of lunacy (mortgage and lending) are feeling the correction the most.  I would even venture to say that the mortgage and lending industries dipped their toes in the water of lunacy.

I remember sitting in my sales meetings with my agents back in 2003-04 listening to mortgage reps share their Mortgage Updates and all the outrageous financing programs designed to help people get a loan who couldn’t afford a house much less be able to keep it when their programs changed in 3-5 years.   My first feeling was compassion for the buyers who will be very disappointed.  There was little I could do except educate my agents on how to coach their buyers and help them understand what they were getting into.  After my 5 seconds of sympathy…my second thought was…Oh My Goodness!  These programs are going to create one of the biggest corrections we have seen in decades bringing along with it a huge opportunity. 

I tried to share my ideas back then but people were high on the lunacy pill believing that crazy market would last forever.

There are 3 main reasons why this particular correction is so amazingly exciting for me and should be for you too.  First it is a BIG correction; second, we are in an election year when there is “No Bad News.”  The political parties are in a race with each other to find the cure for our woes so they will prevail as the heroes.  And lastly, we have so much more technology and easy, affordable access to outstanding marketing tools than we have ever had in the history of real estate.

So how do you as Brokers and Agents grab this opportunity?  You start by recharging your body, mind, attitude and business.  You must start with YOU.  In this slower correcting market, you have the opportunity to run your business instead of it running you.  This is the time to evaluate and make new commitments to yourself and your business.  Start with your body. 

I have found that being strong and healthy physically goes a long way towards success.  It is not the time to take a break or curl up in a ball and hope this all goes away.  It is time to get moving.  Move your body.  Make commitments to your health and fitness for the next 6 months.  Eat healthy fresh foods and add or upgrade an exercise routine. It doesn’t matter what it is.  It could be walking 2 miles a day or training to run a marathon.  It could be a weight loss goal or a weight gain goal.  Set your goals monthly throughout the 6 months and journal your progress. Eating right and exercising will boost your confidence and bring you back to your previous momentum.  

By committing to 6 months, you will have your routine down and incorporated into your life once the market balances in 6-12 months.  It doesn’t have to be a complicated, expensive program.  I have a very simple plan incorporated into my life.  I call it 6/10/18/20.  I walk 6 miles a day, drink 10 glasses of water, eat 1800 calories of healthy foods and no more than 20 grams of healthy fat per day.  If I miss my walk, I feel like I missed a very important part of my day.

Recharge your mind and your attitude.  Negativity loves company.  Stay away from negative people and surround yourself with positive, supportive people.  Unfortunately, this can be challenging since that negative person may be your spouse.  When you were working 80 hours a week they were upset that you were never home and now that you are a little slower, they are even more upset that you are always home.  Write down your goals and bring your loved ones into your plan of action.  Explain to them what is happening in our industry without using this information to justify not working hard.   

Flex your mind muscle. Close your eyes and remember a time when someone inspired you and you felt so hopeful and in control of your destiny.  What a remarkable feeling that is.  Do this often and you will awaken that feeling in your body and embed it into your thought processes and actions.  Journal every day.Go back and listen to inspiring speakers and read books that lift your spirits and give you new ideas.  Stay as far away from the news and talk shows as much as possible.  Take  control of your news filters by going online to get the news that interests you and you feel you need to know as a citizen of our world. Listen to inspirational and informative books on cd when driving in your car.  You can even download them from online book stores to your ipod or computer.

Sign up for powerful coaching.  Kim Ades, an industry leader, has an amazing tele-coaching program called “Frame Of Mind.”   You can learn more about it by visiting her website www.openingdoors.com.   Mention my name and she will give you a discount.

Now let’s look at recharging your business.  If you are a Broker or Agent who put investing in a critical technology/marketing tools on hold when we started this correction, now is the time to invest in and implement those systems.  Brokers and Agents are budgeting and pulling funds from the marketing of their businesses.  NOT A GOOD THING TO DO RIGHT NOW!

Now is the time to zig when they zag and zag when they zig.  You will need these solutions in place and working before the market stabilizes.

There are only a couple constants in our industry.  1. People buy and sell property.  2. Agents must make new friends all the time and nurture their relationships for repeat and referral business.  It is the trends that change how we approach those constants.   I am forever amazed at how few real estate agents have an active, productive contact database.  Only 5% of agents have a clean usable database and less than half of those have email addresses in their database.  This must be the first thing you do before investing in any technology.  Without it your investment will be worth nothing.

There is no magic program to bring you business.  You must rely on a database of your past and future contacts and create ways to stay in touch with them.  Successful agents have always known this.  Years ago they would call on all their contacts on a monthly basis.  With today’s technology you can do this very easily with drip efarm and email campaigns.  I recommend a database of 300-500 contacts with 100 of those being your core group.  Purge and add to your database often and stay in touch with everyone on a monthly basis.

Brokers, how can you position your company and help your agents be prepared for the next market?   

First, ask yourself how your attitude is right now?  Are you fearful, negative and stressed?  If so, your organization will feel it.  I can tell immediately how the leadership is feeling when I walk into an office.  I had the pleasure of spending 4 days with my Phoenix client and his agents, David MacIntyre, broker of Arizona Best Real Estate.  David has over 37 years experience in real estate and he understands the opportunity of this market.  He has been bringing his 150 agents together often to share his enthusiasm and insights.  He is investing big money to position his company and he is making his agents accountable and finding out who is really in the game.  When we launched his technology, he made it mandatory for an agent to financially buy-in to his new solutions in order for them to even show up on the new company website.

Take a hard look at who is on your team.  There are people in our industry who are only here because they wanted to ride the market.  They really don’t have the skill set to compete in a normal healthy market.  You have to make some hard choices.  You are not doing them or yourself any favors by keeping them on.  It takes a lot of energy and resources to keep pulling these agents up by their bootstraps while they are kicking, screaming and resisting the activities necessary for them to truly build a business. 

Your dedicated agents need you.  You can’t afford to dilute your resources on people who are not producing and may never produce.  

Before you make any decisions, give your team every possible advantage over the next 3 months and then see who is really in the game.

Your agents need you right now.  They need your positive leadership and they need you to invest in the solutions and strategic training required to prepare for the next market.  There are very few things we did in the old market that will be effective in this new market.  You have to look at all your offerings and redirect your resources to fit the new model.

Agents, what can you do to prepare in this market?  First and foremost get your contact database together.  Use this time to communicate with your entire contact database.  Call the buyers who bought 3-5 years ago and assist them in finding better mortgage solutions if necessary. 

Brokers and agents it is your job to educate buyers and sellers in your communities.  Buyers have had enough time to inflict their revenge and sellers have had enough time to come to terms with the true value of their home in this market.  Get them off the negative and you can help facilitate a faster shift to a new market.  Don’t let buyers bully you into presenting low offers to sellers and don’t take an over priced listing!  We must bring value back into our profession.  This market is the perfect opportunity.

It is time to buckle down and put systems and attitudes to work for you.  Stay positive and invest in your business right now and you will see great things in the near future.  Wrap your arms around this amazing opportunity and you will be pleased with your results.  And, by the way….you will be one of a very small percentage of agents who will truly do this and reap the benefits. 

Reality is there will be a certain number of properties bought and sold this year.  Every year it is different number….it just is.  Your job is to capture as high a percentage as possible of whatever number of transactions is generated no matter the market or the year.

Best wishes for a fabulous entry into this amazing new market!!!  Propel yourself!

If you have any questions for me or ideas you would like to share, please feel free to call or email me.  Together we can create a collective positive impact on our industry and our communities.