Hey guys, June is National Home Ownership month.

This is a golden opportunity to reach out to all the homeowners in your database and provide them with a quick equity assessment.

Let's make the most of it! Instead of reaching out to one homeowner a day, let's aim for two or three. We can really make an impact this month. So here's the plan:

I'm going to use my favorite platform, https://www.narrpr.com/, which is free for every REALTOR.

It allows me to create a visually stunning, 81-page CMA (Comparative Market Analysis). But I won't just send them the paper CMA. I'll create a video using BombBomb or loom.com. In the video, I'll say,

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, did you know that it's National Home Ownership Month? I wanted to provide you with an update on your home equity. There have been some significant changes in the market, and I want to keep you informed. So, here's a personalized report for your...

Hey guys, let me share an inspiring story with you:

Years ago, I met Wan Foran, a REALTOR who faced incredible challenges on his journey to success. Wan graduated from real estate school on September 11, 2001, as a Muslim immigrant in a small town. Despite the odds stacked against him, Wan achieved remarkable success. I asked him, "How did you overcome these obstacles?"

His answer changed my perspective, and it can change yours too.

Wan knew he needed to expand beyond his local market to thrive. So he adopted a unique approach to farming...

Instead of targeting specific demographics or niches, he focused on feeder markets—areas surrounding his town that contributed potential clients. Wan identified the top 10% of REALTORS in each feeder market and initiated contact through postcards, calls, and emails. He introduced himself as a hardworking REALTOR and offered an enticing proposition:

If they referred clients to him, he...

Is it a good time to buy a house today?

It's an important question for us as REALTORS to be able to answer and really be passionate about it. This isn't just an answer we're giving because we wanna sell a house, but an answer that's actually backed up by real data.

That way, buyers will actually believe what we're saying and be influenced by what we're saying.

So here are 5 key reasons, backed up by data, why people should be excited about entering the market today:

1. Rents are rising quickly.

So if you're not a homeowner, what are you by default? In most cases, you're a renter. So latest reading shows that rents are up 14.8% compared to a year ago. And they're likely to continue to rise at a fast pace going forward.

2. Interest rates.

Interest rates have settled back down a little bit. They're not at the peaks anymore. So interest rates historically, when you look at the last five decades, have averaged 8%. Right now, we're in the high...

Here's something that's come off the table over the last few years:

And that is the idea of an owner carrying their contract. We don't hear that term anymore because interest rates became so low, that no one would consider carrying a contract. Well with interest rates rising, this conversation would be something that we should be having with sellers now again.

And that conversation could be as simple as this:

"Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Seller, I just have a quick question. You guys have a pretty good equity position in your house. And just one thought came to mind. As interest rates are rising for typical mortgage rates, have you guys ever considered carrying a contract yourself? In other words, acting as the bank. This is where somebody would offer you a down payment, large enough to pay off your note that you have now and pay all the fees and everything else that's associated with the closing.

"But then after that, you'd have an income...

There's a new survey that was done by the National Housing Survey, which was just done in June. So it's fresh data. And it shows a divergence that we haven't seen probably in the last 10 years or more.

It shows how many people think that the economy is on the wrong track:

81% of Americans believe the economy's on the wrong track.

So when you look at that number and we put it in perspective of people that are buying and selling real estate, how do we have that conversation? Where people think, oh my gosh, we're on the wrong track. I don't know that I should be buying.

We call that consumer sentiment. Or I don't know if I should be entering this real estate marketplace.

What can we say?

How can we address that concern where people think it's the wrong time to enter this market?

Well, a good lesson for us is to model successful people. People that are more successful than us, right?

One of the most successful people in our...

How do you normalize a price reduction?

People don't wanna feel like they're the only ones reducing their price. And some sellers may not be in tune with the market like we are. They may be assuming that the market's like it was six months ago. And they're the only person that's not selling right now.

Of course, we know that's not true. We know the market's changing. We know there's more inventory hitting the market than we've seen in a long time. We know interest rates are impacting the marketplace.

So how do we normalize a price reduction?

The way you do it is to show others in your market that are also reducing their price at the same time. So here's how you do it.

When you're talking to a seller, you can say:

"Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Seller, you know, we haven't had a lot of showings and that's probably directly to related to our price. We're seeing more competition. Interest rates are definitely...

We're still in a highly competitive market. There's still lots of multiple offers happening. The market is changing, but there's still high demand out there.

So I want you to think about what can you do to incentivize people to take my offer over maybe a cash offer if my buyer is being financed.

What would be a unique strategy for that?

One unique strategy I found from one of my top producing teams is this:

They use a closing guarantee. Maybe you're already using one, but if you're not check this out, here's what they do:

When they write an offer, they include a closet that says, "Hey, listen, just for accepting our offer and considering us, we're gonna guarantee that we're gonna close it by this specific date. And if we do not close it by that specific date, we're gonna give you a non-refundable earnest money of $10,000, $5,000, $20,000."

By using that closing guarantee, what you're doing is providing clarity to the seller, so they...

One conversation that can come up as you're out there taking listings is, of course, centered on commissions.

And here's a great script to help your sellers look at the commission, not just cost, but as a marketing incentive to encourage showings and to encourage more offers.

So the script kind of goes like this:

"Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Seller, one thing I wanna talk to you about is the commissions that we charge. Now, I charge a listing marketing fee of X [fill in the blank, whatever you're charging]. And all we have to decide now is what we're gonna pay the buyer's agent. Now there's a little secret sauce here that a lot of people don't understand. Which is, that marketing fee that we're paying to the buyer's agent to bring that buyer in can actually incentivize them to show your home.

"Let me show you an example:

"I did a commission survey in your market area where your home is. I went out about a mile two miles, and I looked at every listing that...

I had a real estate coaching student come to me recently and asked me if she should invest her equity of her home into other real estate.

And it's a question she was getting from her clients as well.

So I explained this to her in a story form, so she could explain it to her clients as well.

So let's assume that you had $400,000 in equity in your home. And you leave $200,000 equity in your home and you pull $200,000 out.

Now, how do I pull it out? I refinance it or I get a HELOC loan for that $200,000.

So now I have $200,000. Of course, I'm paying interest on it. It's not free money. Let's assume I'm paying 5.5% interest today.

With that 5.5% interest, I now have to beat that rate of return in order to make money.

So let's assume then I go out and I take that $200,000 and I find an investment property. Maybe it's a duplex or a triplex, and I spent $700,000 on it.

That's reasonable because they gotta put 25% down generally on investment...

We're coming into spring. And what do you see during spring? You see a lot of garage sales and estate sales as you're driving around through neighborhoods.

When you see that this should be a red flag opportunity for you. Because what you could do is circle back, just write down the address and write a little note. Or if you have the REDX, a system like that, you could find their phone number or their email address, and you could just send a message over. That's something like this:

"Hey, as a local REALTOR, I noticed you had a recent garage sale or estate sale. I hope it was super successful. Quick question: Are you considering a housing change? Many people who conduct a sale are preparing to relocate or sell the home, which is the reason for my question. Also my office as several buyers interested in the neighborhood. So if you'd consider an offer in your home, I'd love to have a chance to chat at your earliest convenience."

What an...