3 Ways YOU Can Help Solve the Zero-Inventory Dilemma in Your Market – #TomFerryShow

May 12, 2020

You basically have two choices…

You can sit around and whine while waiting for more inventory to come on the market, or you can be part of the solution.

Before you decide, let me tell you this much:

Buyer activity is through the roof on all the major online portals
Interest rates are at or near historic lows
ShowingTime.com stats say showings are dramatically up from the start of the COVID crisis

It boils down to this… Lots of people are primed and ready to buy houses, and there’s no inventory.

I’ve got three things you can do about it, should you accept that responsibility.

And when you do these things, they will jump-start your year and contribute to the good of the overall economy.

Keep reading!

Let’s Get Inside the Head of a Homeowner

Before we get to the three steps, let’s take a moment to identify the problem. Most homeowners right now don’t believe they can sell. They don’t know things are moving in the market.

On top of that, they don’t know you have your safety guidelines in place. They’re unaware you have the solution to launch a listing and get it sold in this marketplace.

So here’s my challenge to you: I want you to connect with homeowners, educate them, and list more homes in the next 90 days than any other 90-day period in your career.

It’s not time to doubt the demand in the marketplace. If you need to doubt something, doubt your limits. There’s big opportunity staring you in the face.

Action Step No. 1: Offer Individualized Zoom Sessions on “Your Home’s Value During COVID-19”

What homeowner doesn’t want to know the value of their home right now? Everybody’s wondering what the economic impact will be of these times, so tell them!

Make it clear that these are 15-20 minute sessions in which you’ll inform them of their home’s value and answer the three most-asked questions agents are getting today:

How much is my home worth in this market?
How do you sell homes safely during COVID?
How’s the mortgage market right now?

Ideally, set up something like a Calendly link or Sumo appointment setter so people responding can “self-schedule” their sessions during time slots you’ve devoted to this effort. To make it most efficient on you, I’d recommend blocking out chunks of time rather than opening up your entire schedule to people.

Now, depending on your market and a variety of factors, you may get inundated with requests. So I’d advise AGAINST emailing this offer to your entire database all at once. Instead, focus on a group of no more than 30-40 past clients who you presume have built substantial equity in their homes. After you’ve used them as a test group, open up the offer to more people according to the response rate you’re getting and your ability to schedule and conduct these meetings.

During the appointment, be sure to present your “Safety-First Listing Launch and Home Sale Strategy” or whatever you want to call your plan on how you’ve adapted to COVID-19 regulations and best practices.

Pretty easy, right? Ready for the next one?

Action Step No. 2: Use This Non-Owner-Occupied Script

What’s the main difference when dealing with non-owner-occupied properties?

Simple: There’s far less emotion involved. If someone owns a house they’re renting, chances are the finances are their first and only priority.

Which means with all the craziness in the world today, they might be ready to stop dealing with that headache and simply cash out.

So I’d advise you to pull up a list of all non-owner-occupied properties in your market. Then call the owner and use this script:

“Hi, it’s [Your name] with [your company]. I was looking at your rental property at [insert address here], and I’m curious… With everything happening in the world today, have you had any thoughts of cashing out at these prices?”

If they say no, be sure to ask about any other properties they might own that you might’ve missed.

“Do you have any other properties that you’d like to trade up or 1031 exchange at this time?”

Action Step No. 3: Send a ‘Yikes!’ Letter

That previous step was all about removing the emotion from a potential sale.

This approach is all about injecting emotion into your pitch.

It goes like this: When you have a buyer who’s really having a hard time finding what they’re looking for, tell their story to homeowners in great detail and explain exactly what they’re looking for.

The name “Yikes letter” comes from the headline many agents have successfully used with this approach, “Yikes, there are no homes on the market!”

Here’s an example:

“Dear Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner. I’m currently representing a wonderful family (describe them in detail) who desperately want to raise their kids in (specific community or type of property), and as you might know, there are none available. I’m writing because I’m just wondering… Have you had any thoughts of selling?”

This needs to come across entirely genuine, so send it in a non-logo’d, hand-addressed, hand-stamped envelope.

You can ID specific streets, neighborhoods, home types, views, school vicinity, home features, etc. to make your case.

How Many of These Actions Will You Take?

One? Two? Three? Zero, and you’ll sit around just hoping that homes magically appear on the market?

I say commit to all three, help solve the inventory problem, and 2020 can still be an extraordinary year for you – and for the economy as a whole!

Let me know what you’re committed to in the comments below!

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