Scott L. Gibson's Real Story on Real Estate

What does the culture of an office and its company mean to your success as an agent?

This is, after all, a "people business" first and foremost. So, what motivates you?

Because real estate is a sales business, people must be motivated and energized to keep up their prospecting. Creating a positive attitude is everything. I don’t mean sugar coating things, but staying positive and looking for the opportunities in the marketplace.

Personalize everything you can - hand-written notes and cards, getting to know the names of family members, actually communicating personally in some form every day - keeps people focused and makes them feel important. Small outings and get togethers do not have to be expensive, but are worth their weight in gold in making people feel part of something special.

Can I survive as an agent in this market?

How can you adjust and adapt to continue on as the greatest long-term bull market in real-estate history comes to an end?

The first thing you need to do is mentally set yourself up that you need to survive. As the market contracts and sales continue to slow for the next year, more and more real estate companies and agents will be leaving the business. If you can “out last ‘em,” you will be in position to take advantage of the next bull market in real estate ... and there will be one.

You need to adjust your personal lifestyle, curtail spending, and put off any major expenses you were about to commit to. That includes your professional life.

Choose the most effective marketing vehicles. You don’t have to be in them all. Stay away from new publications or magazines - these will be the first to “die off” even if they offer you a fantastic deal or position.

Only work with motivated people: real buyers and sellers. Because you cannot afford to waste your time with people that are not ready to buy today, ask them up front if they are prepared to act immediately if the right home or buyer comes along. Be frank with your sellers: tell them they have to price their homes at least 5% below the last comp to be competitive and have a chance to sell before the next wave of homes come on at lower and lower prices.

As an office sales manager, how can I help my agents through this challenging market?

What actions do you need to take to insure that your office and its agents survive while everyone else "melts" away?

You must get your agents treating this like a real job. The manager must lead by example, in by 8am out by 6pm, dressed every day to meet with clients. Agents need to get up every day and come to the office - even if they have nothing going on.

The office manager has to be positive with a balance of realism. You have to put "fun" into the environment any way you can. Recruit your agents every day with a breakfast or lunch with groups or individuals from the office at least a couple of times a week.

Hold back-to-basics training classes in the office, getting top agents involved in these if you can.

Weekly office meetings become a "touch point." Make them informative and high energy. Call those agents you don't see at the office meetings, and have a conversation at least once a week with every one of your agents.

Do quarterly reviews to find out what the agent is working on and set written goals for the quarter and year.

Implement a steering committee in the office so that you can hear what the office needs from the agents and so that you can run ideas by the members on ways to motivate and improve the office.

Personalize your office by remembering birthdays, etc. and recognizing agents for their outstanding achievements throughout the week with notes and voice-mail messages.

Why should I buy a house now?

Are you going to have to sell it in a year? Is this where you are going to be living your life and raising a family?

Because you should look at a house as your home first, for you and perhaps your family. A placed of comfort and security. The fact that it might be a good investment LONG TERM should be a consideration, but a second consideration.

As you finance most of the home purchase price, your main consideration should be the interest rate and what your monthly cost will be. A decline in a home price will not typically match what the actual costs of the home might be as a result of an increase in interest rates.