The housing market may be slowing down—but it doesn’t mean your real estate business needs to follow. With mortgage rates high, inventory low and home-buying activity quieting down from the highs of the pandemic, real estate professionals are getting creative and exploring other avenues for revenue.
Several resources are available to you through NAR REALTOR Benefits®, the association’s exclusive member benefits program. These special offers have been designed with a real estate agent’s business in mind, giving you new opportunities to diversify your business.
It may seem like it’s going to take considerable effort to stay on top of your real estate game in this new environment, but NAR REALTOR Benefits® is here to help. How can you use NAR REALTOR Benefits® to boost your business and maybe even gain marketshare in this challenging environment? Here are two ways.
- Leverage an agent-to-agent referral platform
Twenty-five percent of U.S. agents are diving into the digital age for the referral business they need. Join the growing NAR member community that is already exchanging referrals globally within RESAAS, NAR REALTOR Benefits® newest partner.
Why shift to an online community? Current methods of networking and finding agents to refer clients to are time consuming and extremely limited in challenging markets. Business opportunities just aren’t what they used to be. Word-of-mouth referrals don’t bring in enough deal opportunities when inventory is low and buyers are scarce. Emailing lists of agents to find help for clients is draining. As the world becomes smaller and people migrate over larger distances, local networks don’t offer opportunities like the digital world. Add challenging markets to this situation and uncertainty increases. Sellers get cold feet. Leads dry up. Business gets harder to come by.
But real estate professionals with strong agent-to-agent referral networks are succeeding in these challenging environments—because they can act quickly and effectively. This is why many successful agents are turning to online communities to expand their referral network.
Which online community should you try? While some agents use Facebook for referrals, it wasn’t designed for this type of business. It’s hard to search for agents, refer back to information and near impossible to track referrals. Facebook groups are limited because they segment agents based on location or brokerage rather than connecting everyone together.
“RESAAS offers opportunities for agents to play to their strengths and work within a dedicated agent-to-agent platform for new business opportunities across brokerages and 160 countries,” says Rhonny Barragan, NAR vice president, Strategic Alliances. Agents are creating profiles on RESAAS, connecting with one another and posting referrals enabling more agents to thrive. Every referral is tracked so agents know their client is in good hands and when commission is due.
With a profile in front of over 500,000 agents across brokerages, you’re more likely to get picked for new business coming into your area. You also get real-time alerts as referrals land, enabling you to actively respond and win the business.
Plus, NAR members can save 50% on RESAAS Ultimate subscriptions for three months using code: NAR50. To get started, visit bit.ly/3oCKvDy.
- Cast a wider net beyond buyers and sellers
With fluctuating mortgage rates and low affordability, buyer and seller hesitancy might be a real challenge for you at the moment. But remember: There are so many different avenues available in the real estate industry, besides just working with buyers and sellers. For example, renting might make more financial sense right now for some potential buyers. Some would-be sellers, too, might want to hold on to their homes for the time being and generate rental income instead.
If you want to stretch your knowledge beyond buyers and sellers and better understand every aspect of the rental process, Rental Beast is a rental listing platform that gives NAR members free access to special rental training and coaching resources via its Rental Beast University, offered through NAR REALTOR Benefits®.
“Using Rental Beast is a great way to expand and diversify your list of client services in the short term, plus you can build a pipeline of qualified future buyers or sellers,” says Barragan.
There is another plus to having a Rental Beast account. NAR members can also utilize Rental Beast’s online tool, Apply Now, to speed up applicant screenings as well as the tenant application process.
Finding the upside
Navigating and adapting to a market shift will take creativity, discipline and a dose of good old-fashioned agent grit. But there’s also an upside: Times of challenge are often how good agents are distinguished from the most successful agents. Successful agents don’t let obstacles get in their way. They use them as motivation to further elevate their business and grow their services portfolio. They know how to pivot, and even if they don’t, they know where to turn for help. NAR REALTOR Benefits® could be just that resource right now.
NAR REALTOR Benefits® is the exclusive member benefits program of the National Association of REALTORS®, bringing savings and special offers just for NAR members. In one year, over 800,000 REALTORS® gained an edge by leveraging at least one REALTOR Benefits® offering, saving $74 million on member benefits from industry-leading companies. Program partners are carefully selected and understand the unique needs of real estate professionals. Learn more and save by visiting https://www.nar.realtor/realtor-benefits-program.
