Are you doing live buyer farming right now?

If not, you're missing a huge lead generation opportunity.

So, what is live buyer farming? It’s simple. When you go out to show a home, use the 5-5-10 method: reach out to five homes on either side and 10 homes across the street. Send them a quick text or call saying something like:

"Hey, my name's Jim. I just showed your neighbor's property across the street. They love the neighborhood, but the home didn’t quite check all the boxes. Quick question—would you consider selling for the right price if you didn’t have to list your house and had plenty of time to find your dream home? If you’d consider it, give me a call, email, or text. I’d love to have that conversation."

What's the response rate on this? On average, one out of every 20 people you contact will be open to having that conversation.

This is a winning strategy for lead generation. You’ll start so many conversations that can lead to future...

Hey guys, are you afraid of ghosts? A lot of us are, but let’s put aside the spooky ghosts and talk about your business ghosts.

What are business ghosts?

If you dive into your CRM, your phone, or even your social media and see people you don’t recognize, you might think, “Maybe I should delete them.”

These are the ghosts in your machine—people you’ve forgotten. Don’t delete them!

Instead, I want you to rekindle that relationship. Here’s how: reach out via text, phone call, or direct message. Say, “Hey, I’m cleaning up my records and came across your name. I’m just trying to remember how we connected.”

They’ll respond with something like, “Oh, Jim, we met at an open house,” or “We met here or there.” Then you can say, “That’s right! I remember now. How are you guys doing?”

From there, you’ll rekindle the relationship. This could lead to a sale, a referral, or...

June was Homeownership Month. And as a REALTOR, your job is to emphasize the value of homeownership. It's the product you sell, and you need to let people know that being a homeowner has significant financial advantages.

Here's the first one:

The average homeowner has 40 times the net worth of the average renter.

Why?

The number one reason is that every time you make your monthly mortgage payment, a portion goes towards principal reduction. It's like a forced savings account, building up over time. When you sell the property, you benefit from this accumulation.

Additionally, you have appreciation. Every year, the home's value increases, sometimes more, sometimes less, but over a 30-year mortgage, the property value generally rises.

On top of that, homeowners receive substantial tax benefits that renters don't.

These are three key reasons why someone should consider becoming a homeowner today.

Your job is to provide people with a path to homeownership. The biggest resistance point...

Here's an amazing number you should share with everyone in your sphere of influence:

The average American homeowner now has $298,000 in equity, a record high!

This presents a fantastic opportunity to update your clients on their equity growth over the past year. We should do this every year with our clients, and if you haven't done it yet, make a point of doing it now.

Consider shooting a quick video and saying:

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"Hey, good news! Across the country, the average homeowner now has $298,000 in equity. If you're curious about your equity position, I'd love to do a PAYER report for you.

What's a PAYER report? It stands for Personalized Equity Analysis Report. It provides a quick update on your home equity and where you stand. If you're thinking about selling, I'd love to help you. Or, if you're considering investing in more real estate and building even more equity, I'm happy to assist you there as well. At the very least, get a copy of that free PAYER report.”

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That's the...

Here's a massive opportunity for you when you're looking at your sphere of influence. If you've got a list of people in your sphere that own businesses or are entrepreneurs with locations, we’re in a unique position with the commercial market right now. In many areas, the commercial market is really struggling.

The script for reaching out to these business owners in your sphere of influence is straightforward. Start by asking, “Do you rent or own your current location?”

Most will be renters, some will be owners.

If they say they are renters, you can respond with this:

“If you'd like to own, this is one of the best times in the last 10 years to buy commercial property. There are several factors at play:

• Vacancies are high
• Rents are declining
• Rental prices and commercial real estate prices are stable, with some areas seeing decreases

There’s a real opportunity to get a bargain in today’s market.”

Or if they already own their property, ask,...

Okay, guys, here's an important question regarding this NAR settlement and everything around it:

We are going to have to start having buyer representation agreements. In that agreement, it's going to say how much you're going to get paid, right? You’ve established what you charge sellers a long time ago, but now you've got to do it with buyers.

What's going to be your minimum commission standard with a buyer?

First of all, accept the fact that you have value and that you are worth more than some other agents in your community. So, you're not going to base your number on what another real estate agent is doing. Maybe they're brand new or barely active.

Instead, you need to base your numbers on the services you provide and your experience.

But here's a bad tendency with a lot of agents: They're going to undershoot their value.

They may say, "I don't want to be greedy, so I'll come in lower."

But don't go too low. There's still going to be sellers offering buyer agent...

So the NAR settlement, what does it mean to you? What should you do today as an agent?

First of all, what does it mean to us?

Here are three big things it means:

1. Buyer comp is not going to show up in the MLS as of mid-July. If this is approved, it probably will be.

2. You're going to have to sign with your buyer a buyer representation agreement, which says how much you're going to get paid.

3. It's going to outline the fees that are going to be paid to you by the buyer. Now, that doesn't mean that the seller can't pay. This is the biggest misconception of this. Just because the fee is not going to show up in MLS doesn't mean sellers won't still agree to pay it. This is something specifically that was in the NAR proposal.

I'll read it to you:

The NAR said the proposal would allow sellers and their listing agents to continue offering compensation for buyer broker services. That's clear. It's just not going to show up in MLS.

So let's think about that now. How are you going to get...

Hey guys, let's talk about asking for generosity from your clients, specifically in the form of referrals.

I'm going to share two or three strategies that should feel natural to you because referrals are the number one way to generate business.

Remember, when people are going through a transaction, there's a four times greater likelihood they'll refer you because it's a natural part of the conversation.

So here's the deal: you've got to train them, you've got to coach them.

Try this scripting: "Now that you're buying or selling, I'm sure some of your friends are going to be jealous. If you run into somebody who wants to follow your lead, I'd love the opportunity to work with them." Simple, right? It doesn't sound salesy; it sounds natural.

Another approach: "Now that you're selling, I'm sure a few of your friends and family will be jealous. If they want to follow your lead, I'd appreciate your referral. I like working with people like you." It's about leveraging their network in a...

Folks, let's retire the F word - follow-up.

You know how often you've had salespeople call you saying, "I'm just following up" or "I'm just checking in." It's not the best approach. It sets the tone of being an annoying salesperson, and we don't want that. We should aim higher and see our services as valuable.

Instead of using "follow up" or "checking in," try these alternatives:

Start with, "As promised, I'm calling you because I have that listing you asked about."

Or say, "I was thinking about you today because something interesting came across my desk."

Or perhaps, "I'd love to get your opinion on a strategy I have for maximizing your home's value. I know you're not ready now, but it'll work anytime."

Another option is, "I had a little time between appointments, and I thought I'd give you a quick call. I only have about five minutes, but I wanted to ask you something." This way, they know it won't be a lengthy call.

...

I've got three pieces of great data for sellers:

First off, the number of offers per listing sold has rebounded to three and a half, moving up from the previous high of five and a half offers last year.

This drop was influenced by rising interest rates, but recently, we've seen a resurgence in the number of offers.

Next, let's talk about pending home sales, which have been steadily increasing over the past three months.

These numbers have been consistently on the rise.

And then there's the excellent news about sales prices.

They've not only recovered to where they were in June of last year, which marked an all-time high for U.S. home prices, but they've actually surpassed that level by a considerable margin. It seems like this upward trajectory in prices will persist.

So, if you're considering selling your home, this might be the optimal time to do so. Looking back at the past decade, it's quite...