Anthony spent several years as the number one realtor by sales in Massachusetts and ranked in the top 100 in the country from 2011-2015, when he transitioned from a team model to a traditional brokerage. Lamacchia Realty has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Massachusetts by the Boston Business Journal. It has also made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America every year since 2012. Anthony was awarded Managing Broker of the Year by Boston Agent Magazine and was named Vice-Chair of the National Association of Realtors Conventional Financing in 2021.
There are about one million homes for sale in the U.S right now, and this number could be tripled if realtors focused on how to talk to sellers who also want to buy. Realtors aren't giving the comfort that they can pull off the transaction. A year ago rates were 3.9%, and today they are 7%. When that happens, buyers become less and less excited about appreciation, and they don't believe in the asset growth. You have to make sure that you're able to talk to buyers about other benefits of homeownership.
Realtors should be able to explain the three main benefits of homeownership quickly:
1. Control of your domain: When you rent, you can't paint, getting a pet is challenging, and you can't put a fence up. Your clients won't have as much control over their domain if they are not owning.
2. Set monthly payment notes: Last year rent inventory went down, and prices went up. When you buy a home, you know your long term payment. You don't get this assurance when you rent. Renting is restricted, and there is much more security involved in how much payments will go up if you own a home.
3. Mortgage interest deduction: Buyers can write off and expense interest toward their taxes to bring their taxes down. This is something that didn't really click until a few years into owning a business about 18 years ago. Employees would say, "Hey, you know, I just got a check back from my taxes. It's bigger than ever, and I can't figure out why." It's because of the mortgage interest deduction.
To see more on these benefits, click here.
Right now people are getting interest rate anxiety. Mortgage rate buy-downs and traditional buy-downs have been around for years. What’s new are the 3-2-1 buy-downs and the 2-1 buy-downs. Explain this to your clients and show the value this can provide. When they ask "What's a 2-1 buy-down?" you can tell them, "Well, there are opportunities in the mortgage space to be able to get a closing cost credit from the seller. We have properties where you could negotiate a closing cost and credit a larger one. Take that closing cost credit, and put it on your mortgage. Then you can buy your rate down 2 points lower in the first year and 1 point lower in the second year. And likely by that point, you'd be able to refinance a newer, lower rate." As a realtor, you have to help get people over that hurdle. We all know that the vast majority of people are better off in homeownership than not. To learn more and get downloadable content, click here. These are solutions that buyers need to hear so that they don't have to pay today's rates.
Oftentimes, our knee-jerk reaction is to push salespeople away. As a realtor, don't give your clients a reason to push you away. Don't ask if they have been pre-approved, what their credit score is, how much money they have or if they have a realtor in your initial conversation with them. It's not your business to know this in the first five minutes. You want to be a magnet and have a buyer be attracted to you. You've got to talk about the things that they care about.
Your leads care about three things:
1. A large selection
2. Getting a good deal
3. An easy process
People are attracted to a selection, so you need to talk about the properties you have (the off-market deals you have coming up). Right now buyers are scared to sell. Change how you talk: "I'm so excited for my clients who were able to sell their home and buy a new one. We were able to make all the dates work out and line up." This has a dramatically better impact than announcing how fast it sold. Sellers want two things: more money and good timing. Talk about how you were able to help your sellers achieve what they wanted to achieve. To get more of your sellers to list their homes you have to get better at talking to them. "I listed the home on Red Street recently. We were able to sell it, and it was great that we were able to get the dates to line up and everything to work out in conjunction with the home they were buying. They're so happy, and I love seeing them in their new home. I visited them last week." Sell-buy situations require some planning and thought. Realtors are the direct conduit to homeownership.
Mindset: stop having the expectation to not have problems.
For more information, click here. Fill out a form and you'll be emailed a document that you can use with your sellers when you sit down to help them.
For more content from Anthony, you can find him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ajlamacchia/.
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