Real estate commissions are set to undergo a large change this year. After a federal lawsuit at the end of last year, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and several large brokerages ended up settling for hundreds of millions of dollars and were forced to change some of their longstanding rules. Specifically, rules about how buyer commissions work.
Under the current system, the way it generally goes is that the seller pays a commission which is split between the seller agent and the buyer agent. Starting in July 2024, sellers will no longer be responsible for paying both their own agent and the buyer’s agent. Instead, home buyers will have to pay for the services of a buyer agent on their own.
It’s difficult to say exactly what effect the new real estate commission rules will have on the buying process. With paying for the services of a buyer agent being a separate transaction, there will likely be more price competition among buyer agents, as well as more shopping around by home buyers. Buyers will likely start negotiating with agents to pay the lowest commission possible, and will compare commissions across multiple buyer agents.
Some people are afraid that this new system will be the end of buyer agents altogether. The thinking is that many consumers already feel that they can be their own agent by finding and viewing listings online. Now that those consumers will have to pay the agent out of their own pocket, it might be a further push towards just trying to do the whole process on their own.
Only time will tell what the actual and long term effects of this new change will be. But as a real estate agent, especially an agent who deals with a lot of buyers, what does the change mean for you?
The saying “list to last” has been around since before I got into the real estate industry. It’s meaning is simple: real estate agents who want to enjoy long and successful careers should focus their time, energy, and talents on acquiring listings. Now, I don’t know if we’re witnessing the end of buyer agents, but what I can guess is that listings are going to become even more valuable than they were before, as many agents who worked mostly with buyers start going after more listings.
It’s crucial now more than ever that you are concentrating your efforts on new listings. Basically, if you aren’t taking four to five new listings per month, then you have A LOT of opportunity right now to improve.
The question is, how?
Taking more listings ultimately comes down to improving your sales skills. There are a multitude of factors that go into converting a prospect into a paying client. You need to actually find the prospect, then you need to call them and have a real conversation without overly relying on scripts, you have to handle their objections, present your unique value proposition, know when and how to close, know how to follow up, know what to do if they’re not ready to sell right now, and much more.
It’s a lot, but if there ever was a time to really put your head down and put in the time and work to take your real estate sales game to the next level, this is it.
At Smart Sales Coaching, we’ve found that there are four core skills that primarily drive your sales. They cover your ability to enter a conversation, direct it effectively, overcome obstacles and objections, and then logically close the prospect. These four real estate agent skills are:
If you’re having trouble on your calls, it can be difficult to pinpoint where exactly you are falling short. That’s why we’ve created the Core 4 assessment. Completed over Zoom with one of our professional sales trainers, this assessment tests where you’re at for each of these four real estate agent skills and is completely FREE.
In addition to showing you how well you’re hitting each of the four sales skills, you’ll also receive actionable tips to work on and improve each one, so you can start taking more listings.
Don’t wait. Listings are more valuable than ever, there will be more competition, and you need to make sure your skills are where they need to be. Plus, this assessment is 100% free.
Click here to learn more about the Core 4 assessment.
Plus, if you want to check out our Conversion University Bootcamp training program and really take your career to the next level, click here.