Brokers:
What advice are you giving your agents as to what they can be doing and SHOULD be doing with the slow market and being the end of the Year going into 2007? Just trying to see what other ideas are going on out here in the country.

my market has slowed, but the number of leads generated from my marketing is actually pretty good. That said, the buyers are different now, where they once threw themselves at my agents, buying anything that was for sale, they now look at an endless supply of properties. The agents that stick to basics, like showing up for op time, and calling past leads, are bringing down contracts still. The ones who didn't have that work ethic to begin with are now getting discouraged. As far as I can tell they will drop out of the business. It is the same as every other boom/bust industry, where the talent comes rushing in to phill the void, then when the pressure is equalized or overburdened they go rushing out.

My job is to provide the marketing to generate the leads for my agents to run with. It is difficult to inspire someone who already feels defeated.

One thing an old veteran broker told me a few years ago that really hit home, is when the market starts tanking load up on your ad inches and advertising because when the bottom hits you will be prepared to make a lot of sales. I currently think we are in a secular bear market in real estate with many years of downward prices and bad comparable sales volume, but during this trend there will be many platues that will provide some good money making opportunities and actually increasing commision rates. We have seen increasing commissions in my market which is a big change from the last few years.

Banna: What type of marketing do yo provide to help them get leads???

I am saying go low. Bread & Butter Markets under $400K. Our $350K range gets multiple offers.