The headlines being written by major news publications are trolling you. And more importantly – confusing the hell out of your clients.
Headlines like these:
No one seems worried about a housing bubble. Just like last time the bubble burst.
Federal Reserve issues warning about “brewing U.S. housing bubble”
The question is, how many home shoppers, potential sellers, or even your most-informed clients have time to cross-reference all the data out there?
The answer is they don’t. They actually have a life.
Let’s start with recognizing that as agents, team leaders, and brokers, we are the experts, not CBS or CNN. It’s time to start showing it.
How do we do this?
We must create the headlines and deliver them to our database in a clear and simple way.
Here are some examples with supporting evidence from graphics provided by Keeping Current Matters.
Instead of fear-based clickbait, use one of these for your next text, email or video:
There is not a housing crash, there is a lack of home sellers
A real estate bubble doesn’t exist. A lack of inventory does…
Despite fewer homes to sell, the demand for housing remains high.
During the lead-up to the 2007 crisis, you rarely read a headline that mentioned a real estate crash. Now, we have crazy this demand and low inventory, but all you can find in real estate headlines is fear another crash is coming. Based on the data and numbers shown in the graphics above, the market today is wildly different than the one in 2007. And we are the ones who need to communicate that message to consumers.
In 2006-2007, our industry did a poor job of creating the headlines and the narrative about how we were building too many homes, and how easy it was to get financing for them. Had the experts in our industry been more vocal about the warning signs, fewer people would have gotten themselves into a bad situation financially.
Fortunately today, we have the ability to compete on a level playing field with the major news corporations. We have more ways than ever to communicate directly with our communities about what is happening in our markets. So now it’s up to us to spread the word.
Take a few minutes this week to share local market statistics pulled from the MLS, or use data collected by Keeping Current Matters. Create a video or blog to break down what the numbers show, and explain what it means for buyers and sellers in your area. This type of information helps identify you as an expert, and helps to calm the fears that arise from too many misinformed headlines.
