With the real estate markets around the country now fully recovered from the recession of a few years ago, certain trends have begun developing that are driving the market anew. Some of these trends began in 2016 or earlier, but others are just now coming to the surface.
So let’s examine a few of the things that experts say to be on the lookout for in 2017:
First Time Homebuyers Multiplying. According to data, more than one-third of the people purchasing homes in 2015 were first-time buyers. But that number is expected to increase to more than half in 2017. This means that the competition for affordable starter homes may increase exponentially, as more than 60 percent of first-time homebuyers are expected to be millennials less than 35 years old. Something to keep your eye on for sure.
Barriers are Changing. Mortgage qualification issues, including credit scores and down payments, are expected to be the biggest barriers to homeownership in 2017. So expect to work a little harder with your clients when trying to get them qualified for loans. There are many options, of course, and you may need to examine several of them in 2017 to get over this hurdle.
What Buyers are Looking for. In a recent survey, prospective home buyers were asked what attributes they were looking for in new homes, with large yards, quality construction and safe neighborhoods coming out on top. Millennials are also looking for single-family homes with extra space for starting families. No condos for them!
Spring and Summer is Still King. Most prospective buyers have indicated that they plan to buy in the spring and summer months, when the weather is warmer and moving to a new home is more convenient. This trend is obviously nothing new in our area, but it’s still worth noting.
So there are a few trends that experts are expecting to either occur or continue in 2017. Trends change every year, of course, and each market is different (think coastal) but these are things worth watching for in the new calendar year.
During the election cycle in the United States, attention had been focused on the large amounts of cash politicians were raising for their respective campaigns and, more importantly, where that money is coming from.
Well, the answer is simple – A LOT.
For the most part – from people or organizations who favor the opinions and ideology of a specific candidate.
As REALTORS®, we have our favorite candidates – and that’s why we have the national REALTOR® Political Action Committee (RPAC) to protect our interests and support candidates who publicly support the American Dream of home ownership.
Many of you have generously supported RPAC over the years and understand the important of doing so. Some have contributed more than others, and that’s okay.
But the work of RPAC and of the REALTOR® Party is important in so many ways, and it can and does actively help us all in our businesses.
Here are a few ways how:
By protecting your business against new regulations and fees. These can become burdensome and expensive if allowed to go unchecked, and it’s up to us to support candidates who will lessen the “red tape” for us and our businesses.
By protecting the property rights of your clients. By contributing to RPAC, you’re helping elect leaders who will protect these rights and will fight to keep homeowners from being unnecessarily burdened by government.
By educating leaders on REALTORS® A percentage of the funds raised through RPAC is used for spreading our message and illustrating how important the real estate business – YOUR business – is to the American economy.
There are just a few of the ways contributing to RPAC can help your business locally, and can help further the REALTOR® cause regionally and nationally.
Won’t you consider donating even a small amount today through SCAOR? You can easily do so by clicking HERE.
And to learn more about the RPAC program, visit the RPAC page on the National Association of REALTORSâ Website.
Here’s the link to the page – http://www.realtoractioncenter.com/for-associations/CPA/rpac.html?referrer=https://www.google.com.ph/
With 2016 rapidly coming to a close, it’s time to begin planning for the blank slate and new challenges that always come when the calendar turns to January 1.
With the real estate markets around the country now fully recovered from the recession of a few years ago, certain trends have begun developing that are driving the market anew. Some of these trends began in 2016 or earlier, but others are just now coming to the surface.
So let’s examine a few of the things that experts say to be on the lookout for in 2017:
First Time Homebuyers Multiplying. According to data, more than one-third of the people purchasing homes in 2015 were first-time buyers, but that number is expected to increase to more than half in 2017. This means that the competition for affordable starter homes may increase exponentially, as more than 60 percent of first-time homebuyers are expected to be millennials less than 35 years old. Something to keep your eye on for sure.
Barriers are Changing. Mortgage qualification issues, including credit scores and down payments, are expected to be the biggest barriers to homeownership in 2017. So expect to work a little harder with your clients when trying to get them qualified for loans. There are many options, of course, and you may need to examine several of them in 2017 to get over this hurdle.
What Buyers are Looking for. In a recent survey, prospective home buyers were asked what attributes they were looking for in new homes, with large yards, quality construction and safe neighborhoods coming out on top. Millennials are also looking for single-family homes with extra space for starting families. No condos for them!
Spring and Summer is Still King. Most prospective buyers have indicated that they plan to buy in the spring and summer months, when the weather is warmer and moving to a new home is more convenient. This trend is obviously nothing new in our area, but it’s still worth noting.
So there are a few trends that experts are expecting to either occur or continue in 2017. Trends change every year, of course, and each market is different (think coastal) but these are things worth watching for in the next calendar year.
Did you know that the RPR app is an awesome value of your SCAOR membership? Why, you ask? Because RPR’s app is like no other found in the real estate industry.
Here are three reasons why the app should become your go-to-tool:
Built exclusively for REALTORS®, and offered as a member benefit, RPR’s app offers on-the-go access to a nationwide, parcel-centric database of both residential and commercial properties, including dynamic data and robust reporting for a multitude of data sets.
Residential agents can use their locations to easily search and analyze on-and-off market properties, valuations, tax and mortgage info, distressed data, flood zones, mapping, demographics, schools, neighborhoods, and market trends. Plus, they can instantly send client-friendly reports … anytime, anywhere.
New! Commercial practitioners can now use the app to access commercial property characteristics, ownership data, transaction history, legal descriptions, tax info, pre-foreclosure and foreclosure activity, street and satellite views, and more. Plus, RPR’s Commercial Property, Trade Area or Best Business reports can be instantly downloaded and/or emailed to a client.
By the way, we’ve created a cool infographic that highlights the features of the app’s commercial mode. Check it out!
On Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, SCAOR invited the CEO of TREND MLS to give an update on Bright MLS. If you missed the meeting, you can watch the entire presentation online here (Includes some of the Q&A segment at the end):
We’ll be holding an Bright MLS meeting here at SCAOR on November 9th at 1:30 PM for members and brokers to hear from the CEO of TREND MLS. Feel free to catch up on all the info regarding Bright MLS here.
Blog Post: The Three P’s of Selling a Listing
A study conducted recently by the National Association of REALTORS® revealed that the most important thing sellers wanted from their real estate agents is to “help them market their home to potential buyers.” Obvious, huh?
But apparently, enough agents around the country are not performing well enough in this area, and that’s a concern for sellers. Sure, you list the home on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), put a sign in the yard and start spreading the word about this great new listing that you have – certainly, these are all things you should be doing.
But there’s so much more that you can (and should!) do for your clients when marketing and promoting their homes. These include social media marketing, online referrals and many more.
Today, we want to focus on the “Three Ps” that you should always keep in mind when marketing your clients’ properties.
And they are:
Preparation. The two most important aspects in this area are staging and photography. Be sure that the home is staged properly and is inviting for potential buyers who are coming to pay a visit. Additionally (and we can’t stress this enough!), take the time and spend a few bucks on getting professionalphotos taken of the property. Nice looking photos can make all the difference.
Price. This should go without saying, but pricing the home *correctly* is one of the most important aspects to consider. Correct pricing attracts buyers and offers, which then leads to negotiating the final sale price of the home. Know the market – and price the home accordingly. If not, you run the risk of the home remaining on the market for an extended period of time.
Promotion. Going back to the NAR study above, this is the most important thing sellers look to agents for. Without promotion, not much is going to happen – Who’s going to find your clients’ homes if you don’t get the word out? Use social media, online marketing, your website – whatever it takes.
Remember – Our clients put a lot of faith in us to get their homes sold, so let’s go the extra mile and show them 1) that we care and 2) we can get the job done.
We’ll be holding an Bright MLS meeting here at SCAOR on November 9th at 1:30 PM for members and brokers to hear from the CEO of TREND MLS. Feel free to catch up on all the info regarding Bright MLS here.
Blog Post – Technology: Disrupt or Be Disrupted
The implications of big data, drones, and augmented reality for real estate agents and brokers cannot be ignored. In fact, real estate can even profit from these potentially disruptive innovations if they have the right tools.
In the wake of rapidly evolving technologies, many industries are at risk. Carl Frey and Michael Osborn, two researchers from the University of Oxford, have published a paper about the future of employment that states with 97 percent certainty that real estate brokers will vanish during the next decades.
As a researcher and founder of the Future Real Estate Institute, I think this is pretty unlikely, since the real estate transaction process is very emotional and buyers and sellers still crave human interaction. However, I do believe the industry will be cleansed of many competitors that don’t believe in technological innovation. Based on the fact that you are reading this article, I’m willing to guess you don’t belong to this group.
Historically, real estate brokers and creative entrepreneurs in related fields have been at the forefront of real estate innovation, while many large corporate players in the commercial sphere have lagged behind. In fact, the combined impact of social media, mobile applications, and digitalization on the industry is nothing compared to the potential disruptions of today.
Disruptive Technologies of Our Age
Artificial intelligence, sensors, synthetic biology, and robotics are all major sources of disruption in our age. These innovations are bringing us technologies like the Internet of Things, smart applications, blockchain databases that make digital economies and “cryptocurrencies” such as Bitcoin possible, and much more that will impact how we research, work, and live.
Adaptive and creative real estate brokerages don’t have to invent a new disruption in order to remain relevant; they just need to make use of them. Apple didn’t invent the smartphone and Amazon didn’t invent the internet; they just created a disruptive business case on top of those existing innovations.
In the first article of this series, I wanted to show you how you can profit from the more basic innovations, such as big data, drones, and augmented and virtual reality.
Real Estate Open Data
According to IBM, we produce 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day, which means 90 percent of the entire global stock of data has been produced during the last two years. Perhaps more exciting than the quantity is the fact that much of this data is open source and available to anyone.
To capitalize on this, agents and brokers should form data alliances, preferably under the supervision of the National Association of REALTORS® and other trusted industry partners. Though it’s not an NAR initiative, Project Upstream is a great early example of a platform that could one day automatically sync a wealth of data beyond the listing (among them: macroeconomic, social, and environmental, along with tracking consumer and business sentiment). And MLS platforms with enhanced data aggregation and usability could fulfill the same purpose on a regional or state level.
The challenge is to aggregate adequate data points, store them in a distributed and resilient network, construct user-friendly interfaces, and create precoded analytical models to draw reasonable inferences from the data using standard queries.
Another way the industry can profit from the data is by reducing market research and marketing costs, increasing the efficiency of personalized targeting and making trend forecasts on a regional as well as national level. We might see new real estate data brokerages, specializing in marketing and big data in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) package, as well as new jobs opening up for real estate data scientists.
In order to stay on top of this trend, solo entrepreneurs and small brokerages should be especially focused on forming strategic alliances to share the costs for big data workshops and seminars. Larger players should hire CTOs and data scientists to help foster open innovation with cross-functional teams.
As a local example, Ed Smith from the Sussex Today & Tomorrow conference shared a wealth of statistical job data in Delaware that can help you make better workplace decisions. Take a look at the accompanying video!
Video Marketing & Image Database
In June, the Federal Aviation Administration finally announced its legal stance on small unmanned aircraft systems. This means that from August 29 on, real estate brokers can use small drones that weigh less than 55 pounds for aerial photo shoots, if they hold the necessary certificate and comply with the operational and safety requirements of the Small Unmanned Aircraft Rule.
Drones, actually belonging to the innovation category of robotics, are a great tool for video marketing, providing high-resolution images of properties and their surroundings.
On the individual level, this is a rather simple example of technological innovation that can be used without a very steep investment. But an exciting new business case could be the creation of a free stock aerial image and video platform, accessible to members of the National Association of REALTORS®, which could have greater use cases as artificial intelligence programs learn to label and analyze imagery and video data.
Next-Level Marketing
Augmented reality is one of those buzzwords that didn’t mean much to most, yet with the success of the mobile app Pokémon Go, we have seen how the combination of offline and online worlds can transform everything. Agents can profit from this technology by providing augmented reality services during open houses.
By creating an app that can be downloaded during or before an open house, brokers can include digital maps of the listing’s surroundings. Data could consist of detailed geo-information regarding schools, doctors’ offices, hospitals, supermarkets, and restaurants, along with weather information, macroeconomic data for the region, and much more. In-depth information about the house itself could also be displayed, such as floor plans, building materials, and HVAC systems.
Potential buyers could obtain the information via their smartphone, tablet, or other device linked to natural language processing software. Potential buyers could then walk through a property and use the system to get more detailed descriptions. This could make open houses more private and intimate. The data dissemination could be triggered by beacons, near-field communication, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi.
Virtual Reality — One Step Further
Real estate professionals who want to take it beyond augmentation can do so by using virtual reality. It can be used for virtual staging or to add value for buyers if they can design the interior as well as exterior of the property. This technology could be integrated with the 3D Home Designer package for AutoDesk’s Homestyler or other alternatives, or associations might consider creating a SaaS tool for members.
One further advantage would be the offering of remote open houses, which could accelerate transactions and enhance services for those who cannot visit listings in person. The agent could accompany the VR tour through the property within the VR session or via the internet or phone. Potential buyers from other states or countries could thus assess a property before they come or even buy it based on a VR tour.
As members of the National Association of REALTORS®, we all understand and commit to a strict code of ethics. It’s one of the foundations of NAR membership, as it has been for more than a century now.
We know, of course, that a strict adherence to this code is required in order to retain membership in good standing. It’s not debatable or negotiable – it’s one of the long-time tenets of NAR membership.
But it’s also time for a gentle reminder, as the current Code of Ethics Training Cycle is about to come to a close.
The current four-year cycle ends on Dec. 31 this year, so if you haven’t yet completed your training, now is certainly the time to do so.
NAR recently reminded all of its members that failure to complete training ON TIME will lead to suspension of your membership for January and February of next year, with termination of your membership beginning on March 1.
Please don’t cut this too close to the deadline, should something come up at the last minute. Continued membership and good standing in NAR is an essential element of your business, so please take this very seriously.
National bylaws require that all REALTORS® complete ethics training of not less than two-and-a-half hours of instructional time within four-year cycles. The training must meet specific learning objectives and criteria established by the National Association of REALTORS®.
Training may be completed through SCAOR or through other methods, such as home study, correspondence, classroom courses or online courses.
We must all abide by these requirements and commit to these time-honored principles, a few of which include:
Be honest with all parties in the transaction. This is not just with the client, but also with the other REALTOR® and his or her clients.
Put the client’s interests ahead of your own, at all times. This service is provided regardless of the compensation available.
Disclose all pertinent facts regarding the property and the transaction to both buyer and seller. If a REALTOR® believes information provided by a seller is questionable, he or she is obligated to investigate. For example, if a home seller asks his or her REALTOR® to conceal the fact that the roof leaks, the REALTOR® is not permitted to comply.
Be truthful in all communications with the public. This ensures that members of the public understand the REALTOR’S® experience and can make an informed decision when choosing real estate representation.
In June, the Federal Aviation Administration finally announced its 
