Being a real estate agent in today’s market is a tough job.
Being a real estate agent in today’s market means being the bearer of hard to take news.
Being a real estate agent in today’s market means early mornings and late nights working to make property sales come together.
For Marcia Petri, Broker/Realtor, being a real estate agent in 2011 means staying totally on top of her game. Starting her day
at 5:30 a.m. she hits the ground running. This veteran Century 21 agent has her homework done. She knows the long-hours it requires to put her appointment schedule together in order to meet the needs of her active South Hadley Homes for Sale real estate business.
A Shifting Market - you see and hear it all the time - you have to find the right words to tell the truth in today's market when it comes to home values. "You have to find a delicate way to tell people why their homes are worth much less that what they imagined, some are in total shock, sitting with their heads in their hands. Many just bury their heads in the sand and say, "We are not going to give our house away," or "We’ve got to get more than what you’re telling us, we owe more than that”.
It's a totally different market today ~ a far cry from real estate days of 2006, when customers were "falling out of the sky" and everyone wanted to be a real estate agent.
The number of licensed real estate agents has fallen the by wayside, many of them have just “parked” their licenses. There are fewer agents ~ and fewer sales to generate commissions.
Marcia has been a Broker/Realtor for 35 plus years and regardless of the tough times, her joy comes totally from serving the clients and customer’s needs. It's a tough market out there, prices keep coming down, everyone is making less money. No matter what… it's still all about the people ~ the buyers & sellers. To be an agent today you need to be part agent, part teacher, part counselor. Working with clients is a process of educating and providing options, she says.
Consulting with possible buyers also can mean having to set priorities. Recently, she listed and sold a home for friends who had to move out of the area due to health reasons. There were 4 houses on the market in the neighborhood which were for sale for several months. The Sellers really wanted to move on and get settled prior to the school year starting for their children’s sake. Having to start school here and then move again was not an option that they wanted to do. Within a relatively short period of time, wonderful Buyers were found for this property that had family in the neighborhood and wanted to move closer to them. A satisfactory sale price was established and the sale was able to happen this past week with the Buyers closing on this past Friday. The Buyers children are able to stay in the same school district, belonging to the same amenities that they are enrolled in without skipping a beat. The Sellers were gardeners as well as the Buyers who are able to enjoy the fruits of the labor of the previous owners. The great fenced in yard was a plus as well as the playscape and basketball hoop were items to be enjoyed by the children. Seeing happy faces and happy hearts makes what Marcia does for a living the best part of her job. Fulfilling the American Dream of home ownership to those that never thought it could happen for them….moving people up in a home that better suits their needs or scaling down to a smaller one for empty nesters…..Its all a joy for Marcia. Making it happen….that’s what she does!
Her advice for agents who want to stay in the business: The boom is over. It’s time to concentrate on generating leads again, not waiting for the phone to ring.
That means it’s time to get into the new age of social media as well as back to the basics. It’s been proven real estate is about relationships and referrals.