A Realtor's Guide to theBusy Season

‍

The end of the year and the few months of the next year can be slow for real estate. In December, contract signings were down 3.8% from November. Preliminary data in January shows contracts on homes were down 9.3%. This is likely to continue until the spring season—aka the beginning of residential real estate peak season. This peak period can account for 40% of an average year’s total home-selling volume. For example, in 2019 the sales of houses between February and March increased 24%. It grew and grew through May, June, July and August.

There’s lots to do now to get ready for the busy season. One of the most important is to get your plan in place before the business begins. That brings us to why you’re here! Here’s a guide to the busy season for residential realtors:

1. Up your social presence

In 2021, over 95% of buyers used the internet to search for a home. As of January 2022, there are over 27.6 million videos on TikTok tagged #homesforsale. Real estate agents in areas across the country are seeing their Instagram account followings grow into the tens of thousands. The busy season is a perfect time to take your social presence and your video skills to the next level. Try going live for tours, or pre-recording tours to share as carousels and stories. In 2020, almost ⅔ of buyers made an offer on a home without seeing it in person and 44% found their agents via social media.  A busy season must.

2. Get your workflow process organized

Too many emails. Too many texts. Keeping track of all the offers and paperwork can be a headache if you’re experiencing multiple offer situations across multiple clients—which, if you’re in hot markets like Raleigh and Tampa, you definitely are. Ribbon’s RibbonHub allows buy agents to make, send, and negotiate offers. Meanwhile it helps listing agents to see all offers side by side.

3. Be prepared for competition

Speaking of multiple offer situations and hot markets, all-cash purchases currently make up 33% of offers on the market. All-cash offers are usually preferred by sellers as there is less risk of them falling through during the contingencies stages because (spoiler!) there isn’t one. Ribbon was created to help in this exact situation—to make home ownership more achievable for buyers. Using RibbonCash you can turn any offer into all cash and eliminate contingencies, making your offer 3x more likely to win. This will also allow your client some extra time to get financing in order. Once they do so, we’ll sell them their home back at the exact same price it was sold for. They can even move in right away, no need to stay with family or pay for a hotel.

Speak with a Ribbon expert

The busy season is coming faster than you know it and we’re here to help. Based in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, or Alabama? Book a complimentary call with a Ribbon expert to learn how we can help you.