Our podcast Rise Above the Ranks is BACK!

When we first started in this industry over 10 years ago, we couldn’t make sense of the news, and we really didn’t have a consistent mentor to help us.

We wish we could have just been a fly on the wall around the most successful agents in our area. We would’ve loved simply to hear how they spoke to clients, and how they interpreted the information around them.

This is why we decided to give you all of the no-BS access that we wish we had, both in this newsletter and on our podcast.

In season 2, we asked our new business partners Jon Grauman and Adam Rosenfeld to join us on our podcast to chat about the three topics we think are the most relevant in the week and how we’re tackling the day-to-day of our industry.

It’s unfiltered, raw, and authentic. We want to give it to you straight. There’s enough BS in the world – we don’t want to give you more of it!

So please give it a listen and consider Rise Above the Ranks a Monday Motivation kick in the pants to get your week started.

Listen here → Apple | Spotify | YouTube 

– James and David

January trends show buyers have advantage in 2023

As the market continues to rebalance, realtor.com's January Housing Trends Report predicts that the market will be beneficial for buyers in 2023. The report expects buyers to gain more leverage from three trends: lower mortgage rates, stabilizing home prices, and a glut of listings due to homes staying on the market longer.

Here are the report's key takeaways from January:

• There was a whopping 65% jump in real estate listings since December last year.

• 56% of listing views went to homes outside the shopper’s current market, as buyers looked to relocate.

• 12 markets saw an uptick in newly-listed homes compared to last year, up from only two metros in December.

• All of these 12 markets were in the South, with the biggest increases in Raleigh, NC (+49%), Nashville, TN (+45.3%), and Austin, TX (+24.9%).

Our take

It’s our responsibility as agents to take this information to our clients and see if they are in a position to buy. If you don’t have any buyers lined up, they are out there, so go find them! We know that rates are stabilizing and there are transactions happening, so now it’s up to us to get out there and make things happen.

Top 5 metros for single-family home starts

The NAHB has identified the top five markets where builders are building the most single-family homes, based on permits issued through November 2022 compared to a year before.

NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz said that areas of the country driven by affordability or underlying population growth continue to show strength in their single-family home markets.

Here are the top 5 markets with the most single-family homes starts:

1. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland, TX

2. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

3. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

4. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

5. Austin-Round Rock, TX

Our take

This is great news if you’re working in these markets. Go door-knock these development sites, and offer your insight about the building plans. Get to know the developers, and see if you can provide any value for them. Find out when these homes will be ready, and start your lead generation with buyers.

The homeownership gender gap

Women who live by themselves are more likely than single men to own a home in 48 of 50 states, according to a new LendingTree report. Census data showed that single women own about 2.64 million more homes than single men (10.76 million for women versus 8.12 million for men). The only two states that show single men with a greater share of homeownership are North and South Dakota.

Here are the states with the largest percentage of single-women homeowners:

1. Louisiana – 15.16%

2. Alabama – 14.98%

3. South Carolina – 14.84%

4. Florida – 14.80%

5. New Mexico – 14.77%

6. Mississippi – 14.70%

7. Delaware – 14.44%

8. West Virginia – 14.12%

9. New York – 14.02%

10. Ohio – 13.93%

Our take

We love to see it! It wasn’t that long ago that women couldn’t get mortgages by themselves (our analyst just told us this fun fact!), so this is a great reminder to target single women buyers during your client outreach. You never know a buyer’s situation until you meet with them, so this can be a great opportunity!

Schematics

The news that just missed the cut

• Tommy Hilfiger buys $40M estate

• Check out this amazing game room setup

• Unemployment rate falls to lowest level since 1969

• Read this before buying into an HOA

• 6 real estate predictions we like

🎧 Rise Above the Ranks

In Season 2 of the Rise Above the Ranks podcast, James and David are joined by their new business partners Jon Grauman and Adam Rosenfeld to discuss this week’s most important real estate news. Consider this a way to get your Monday morning started with some unfiltered conversation from the top real estate agents in the game!

We go deep on these hot topics:

• Fed rate hike and our predictions for what's coming next quarter. There is a lot of evidence that interest rates peaked in Q4. We share what we are doing with this information in Q2 to close deals.

• Millennial home buying report and how to market to this generation. 82% of millennials say having a knowledgeable agent is crucial, so what’s the best way to market to this generation? We share our secrets and marketing tips.

• AI and real estate – how to use this to make your day better. AI can be an amazing tool, and we share how you can use this technology to get ahead, along with what we think the future holds.

Want the full scoop? Check out the episode → Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Q&A

You ask, James and David answer!

We’ll be back next week with another answer to a real reader question. Submit yours here!

Just in Case

Keep the latest industry data in your back pocket with today’s mortgage rates:

That’s all for this edition of The Blueprint! We’re so excited for you to hear all we have in store for season 2 of Rise Above the Ranks, so if you haven’t checked out season 1 yet, give it a listen this week.

Have an amazing week, and we’ll see you on Friday!

– James and David