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It’s Always Time to Position Yourself for Success

I swear that my team has literally hit the ground running in 2024. All the work we did to position ourselves when it was slow, from making calls to sending texts to just popping by, is paying off. I mean, we went on five listing appointments between Christmas and New Year. And we landed all five of those listings!

When we got those potential listing calls, we heard all the other agents were like, “Oh, sorry, I'm not working between Christmas and New Year’s.” That is, if they even picked up the phone at all. But we sure did! We haven't had a listing since September, but we got the five listings, and then four offers on New Year's Eve weekend! Plus, I had a closing earlier this week, so I’m happier than a pig in a puddle.

If y’all want to start your year happier than a pig in a puddle, keep reading!

I am exactly as pleased as these little piggies. Photo courtesy of Trent of the Nina Lu.

THE REALITY OF REAL ESTATE

Do Better

The Consumer Federation of America put out a study that says 49% of real estate agents either sold one or zero houses last year. If this is you, you do not have a job, you have a hobby and not a very good one at that.

I see so many agents on social media complaining about terrible sellers, terrible buyers, that their business is horrible, blah blah blah. What I want to know is, do they take the action steps and execute on those that will actually sell real estate? The hard truth is, it doesn't even matter how horrible anyone is as an agent. If they literally just do the action steps, they will sell a house, if not five or six.

I mean, it's the basics. If they’ve forgotten the basics, here they are:

Call everybody that you know and remind them that you're a real estate agent.
Have coffee with everybody that you know.
When there’s no traffic in your office, set up shop in Starbucks. Open up your laptop which is covered in stickers that read: I'm a realtor, I can sell you a house. Or Want to know what your home is worth? I can tell you. Go be a living bus bench.
Attend every cocktail party and talk about real estate.
Go to the most expensive places in your town or city and have lunch at the bar. Folks who sit at the bar want to talk, so when they ask you how it’s going, you reply, “I’m living the dream selling houses every day.” This will spark a conversation. They’ll say, “Oh, you're in real estate?” And you’ll reply, “Yes, I am. Please tell me when you have somebody who wants to sell their house. I've got people standing in line to buy assets.” Boom. You have a listing. Plus, you've now told somebody that you are in real estate without being sleazy.

To circle back to my first point, one of our listings came from Elizabeth sending texts when it was slow. She had sent a text message to a past client. Turns out, her client had gotten married to this guy who’d bought this house in an area called Country Club of the South. The couple planned to sell it and buy new construction.

A word about that area? There are about five neighborhood agents who live there and they sell probably 80% of the houses. This guy had interviewed all five of them. Still, we went in there for our listing appointment… and we just got an email saying, “You guys were back, head, and shoulders above every single agent that we spoke with.”

We were able to win because we made the presentation about the homeowners. But we only had that opportunity because we’d worked on our basics.

If you build it, they will come.

@glenndabaker

The consistency of business and how to create it. #GlenndaBaker #RealEstate #AtlantaRealEstate #Business #Consistency #RealEstateTiktok #NewAgent

STORYTIME WITH GLENNDA

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

I have two stories for y’all today with one common thread. My largest sale in my career was for $5.5 million in April of ’95. Not only was it my largest sale, it was the largest residential sale ever in the state of Georgia at the time.

I was a baby agent back then, but I had a fire in me. I’d read a book that said to create a “farm” in the area where you wanted to sell homes, so that’s what I did. I strolled tiny Victoria through that fancy neighborhood every day, getting to know the area and the inventory, making myself a familiar face.

The big house had come on the market around August or September. In November when it was still on the market, I asked to preview it. Back in the olden days, you’d actually pick up the phone and call the homeowner. I’d said, “Hey, seller. My name is Glennda and I’m a real estate agent. I'd like to preview your home next week.” The seller had told me, “Oh, well, I’ll be working from home, so I won’t be able to leave.” I told her, “No, no, you don't need to leave. I'm just previewing it. I’ve seen a lot of houses in the area. I want to make sure that when I have a buyer, I can speak intelligently about that house.”

That’s the thing—you don’t want the owner there when you have buyers, but you absolutely want them to be there if it’s just a preview. They’ll give you the inside track, pointing out what you might have missed.

When I got there, I asked the owner to walk me through the house and tell me what she loved. That way when I had a buyer, I could speak confidently about all the great things. So we toured the place and I took copious notes. Oh, my stars, I wrote down every little detail! When we were done, I left her my business card.

I realize this was almost thirty years ago, but I’d still do the same thing today. The only thing I’d do differently is to make sure my business card was a different shape than everyone else’s card and that it had my picture on it.

The thing about a preview request is you’re building rapport with the owner by trying to learn about their place. It makes it easier for you to articulate all of the pros of that house, which is better for everyone. You get the scoop on what makes the home special. And you write down all the things that impress you so when the listing expires, you can gush to the homeowner about the little details, like all the pink Spanish marble in the foyer. In that particular house, I made note of their 36-foot ficus tree, which was the largest tree in any residential property in Georgia. Being able to recount all the special aspects shows them you’re detail oriented, which is far more powerful than telling them that you are.

Well, guess what? The first listing expired. That woman’s husband called me and said, “My wife told me that she was really impressed with you. So, I'd like to talk to you about what's going on house.” (Remember, he was only able to call me because I’d left him my card.)

I become the agent for that house in December and I sold the house in March. And that guy ended up buying a $1.5 million house from me. He then turned around and bought a $5.5 million dollar house from me, all because I’d taken the time to do something that didn’t immediately benefit me.

Now, my smallest sale was a $13,000 lot that came from a call on Zillow. The commission on it was $500, but I handled the whole thing just as professionally as I did that $5.5M listing. Maybe y’all are saying, “Glennda, I do not have time to waste on a $500 commission.” I hear you… but I want you to hear me out. The guy who bought that $13,000 lot was from Brazil. He ended up building two $300K houses on that big lot and had me sell them both. Then he told his best friend about me and that friend bought five houses from me! I made a whole heck of a lot more than $500 in the end.

The moral of the story here is that amazing things happen when you’re willing to do stuff that nobody else is willing to do.

Let that be the lesson y’all take into the new year.

(And since so many of y’all have asked, here’s the answer to that burning question about why I say 123 Banana Street.)

@glenndabaker

Everyone wants to know where did 123 Banana St. originate… #G#GlenndaBakerR#RealEstateA#AtlantaRealEstateG#GlenndaTok1#123BananaStreetRealEstateTikTok