Real estate professionals are a unique breed of businessperson. For some, facilitating the transactions between home buyers and sellers is a means to an end – a way to finance a certain type of lifestyle. For others, however, finding the right home for a client they have come to care about is a true calling.
The key to becoming a successful real estate agent requires that you understand the distinction between what makes a house a home. From that understanding, your business model emerges. It includes: effective communication, the gift of listening to and addressing clients' needs, and building trusted relationships with financial professionals.
Sometimes Realtors get so caught up in the day-to-day activities of putting deals together, putting out fires, negotiating, trying to get listings that they lose sight of a simple idea: people don’t just buy houses. They buy homes. Homes where the lay down roots in their communities, where they build families and create lasting memories. It’s an emotional purchase – and a life-changing one.
Data suggests that there are myriad benefits to home ownership. Kids whose parents own their own homes attain math scores that are 9% higher than those who don’t. English grades are 7% higher. They are twice as likely to attend college, and are 116% more likely to graduate after they get there. On the other hand, children of renters have a 40% higher chance at becoming teenage, unwed parents.
"Getting clients into the right house could make tangible differences in the futures of their children."
Economic conditions are slowly recovering from the housing crisis, and some potential buyers are hesitant to move forward toward home ownership. This is where that latter breed of real estate professional comes in. These realtors work as not only sales-people, but as personal consultants in the entire home buying experience. A good real estate salesperson might show tons of listing to potential buyers. A great one listens to clients, understands their needs, fears, and objections, and assists them in making life-changing decisions.
A home is most likely the biggest purchase your clients will ever make. As such, offering financing options and a clear path to a pre-approval goes a long way toward supporting your clients’ needs. With so many mortgage company options vying for your clients’ business, it’s crucial to build a trusted relationship with reputable mortgage lenders to recommend to your clients.
As a Realtor, you are your clients’ partners in helping to change their lives – and quite possibly the key to their children’s futures.
