Be your clients’ consigliere

We don’t think of ourselves as salespeople. We treat our clients as if we are their consigliere – a trusted adviser. As we all push through to the end of the year, we encourage you to view yourselves and conduct yourselves in that way too. Be the agent who is willing to give honest and intelligent advice in a straightforward way.

We know that, sometimes, it can be difficult to deliver tough advice – especially in our current high-interest rate environment. You might have to tell your clients to change their expectations. It’s normal to get a little skittish, especially if you’re worried that your clients might take their business elsewhere. But we think it’s always best to give them the truth. Don’t be blunt, but be honest. That’s the service we provide, and we have faith that if we give them that, the result will be right.

Every relationship, whether with our families or our clients, is built on trust. We firmly believe that if you build that with your clients, you’ll not only keep their business, you’ll get more referrals along the way.

– James and David

Treasury yields increase on inflation news

Yesterday, the latest inflation numbers came out. Here are the key points to know:

• Top line inflation (CPI) increased 0.6% in August after increasing 0.2% in July.

• Consumer prices were 3.7% higher when compared to a year ago, up from 3.3% in July, in line with the consensus estimates

• Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.2% in August and is now up 4.3% from a year ago, down from 4.7% in July

• Treasury yields, which mortgage rates tend to follow, rose on account of these stats

Our take

All of us are watching inflation numbers like a hawk right now. Even though the numbers came in mostly in line with expectations, top-line inflation came in a little hotter than we wanted. We still expect the Fed not to raise the interest rate in the September meeting, but it might raise rates at their meeting in November or December. Unfortunately, as a result, don’t expect mortgage rates to come down anytime soon

New service launches which connects buyers to assumable loans

On Wednesday, Roam launched a service that helps homebuyers secure home loans as low as 2% through the mortgage assumption process. Currently, they operate in 5 states: Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Florida. With seed money from Opendoor, the service does two things for a 1% fee:

1. It helps homebuyers find homes with assumable mortgages – a type of home loan that allows a buyer to take over the existing mortgage terms from the seller. This enables buyers to save up to 50% on monthly mortgage payments compared to buying a home with a traditional mortgage at today’s rates.

2. It helps buyers navigate the complicated process of actually securing a property with an assumable mortgage and closing the deal.

Our take

We’ve seen a bunch of real estate startups in our time, but this one is really exciting because we’re not aware of any other service like it. Right now, there is no service that allows potential buyers (and their agents) to discover which homes have assumable loans. With this tool, that’s now possible. That’s huge because now buyers can bid for homes that have below-market mortgage rates. If successful, this can be a massive help to a lot of buyers who can’t afford a home right now.

The 10 most undervalued markets

CoreLogic recently released exclusive data about which US housing markets are most undervalued right now. These markets may have positive or negative home price growth presently, but they should see strong gains going forward.

Top 10 undervalued metros in the US (and their forecasted YoY home value increase)

1. Walla Walla, WA – 6.7%

2. Napa, CA – 6.7%

3. Santa Cruz, CA – 6%

4. Ithaca, NY – 5.9%

5. San Francisco, CA – 5.8%

6. Kingston, NY – 5.3%

7. Chico, CA – 5.2%

8. Dutchess County, NY – 5%

9. San Jose, CA – 3.6%

10. Elmira, NY – 2.7%

Our take

Even though we often use national averages to talk about “the” real estate market, keep in mind that there is no one “single” market in real estate. There are many markets. Home prices in a lot of them are going up, but not all of them. CoreLogic has done us a solid with this list of undervalued markets. Agents with real estate investors as clients should use it to capitalize. They can literally engage in some classic real estate arbitrage: buy low and sell high when the assets rise in value.

Schematics

The news that just missed the cut

• Why China’s real estate crisis is trouble for the whole world

• Use this content audit as you prep for the new year

• How to double your email open rate

• The once most expensive home in the US just got a massive price cut

• Demand for vacation homes sits near 7-year low

Foundation Plans

Advice from James and David to win the day

As we close out the year, we all know we want to end the year strong. Here are some tips to help you stay organized and make the most of your time over these next couple of months:

Count your number of workdays – This might seem obvious, but during the holidays, it isn’t. A lot of agents actually stop working full work weeks. Try and find the right balance. Determine how many days you’re going to work and how many days you’re not going to work. If you have things you need to take off for—weddings, family events, whatever it is— put it in your calendar so when you’re on, you’re on, and when you’re off, you’re off.

Time-block your calls – A lot of agents get inbound leads, but you’ve got to time-block the type of lead you’re working on. If you go from calling for sale by owner to a past client to an internet lead to an expired listing, you’re going to be all over the place. Instead, time-block your calls. Here’s an example: 50 calls to expired listings, 50 follow-up calls, and 10 sphere calls.

Have 10 real estate related conversations per day – Make sure you talk to the people you already know. These could be past clients, friends, family members, your dog walker, former co-workers, or parents on your kid’s little league team. It doesn’t matter. Make sure you’re having at least 10 real estate related conversations a day with people in your network. You don’t have to be salesy or pushy, just be open and upfront about what you do. Be proud and happy to be providing your service to them. Let that attitude flow from you.

Read this for more tips on how to finish the year strong.

Just in Case

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

That’s a wrap on this edition of The Blueprint!

Remember: each day is a gift and a new opportunity to lead the life you want and to become the person you want to be. The mistakes and missteps you’ve made in the past don’t define you. Live as intentionally as you can and be ruthlessly focused on the goals you’ve set out to achieve. You can do it!

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday!

– James and David