2012 has been another banner year for home sales and real estate in Plymouth and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, at least for our production and firm, River Farm Properties, LLC. This time of year I usually reflect back on the year and start the planning process for the upcoming year. The holidays are coming and I can catch my breath as most clients are in a similar mode and attention turns to family and friends and some quality downtime, as it should.
There is no doubt at this point that we are seeing a housing turnaround. Prices are rising, sales are rising and there is more demand than inventory. I have been vocal and in writing, cautious on the sustainability of the housing turnaround. Now that we are past the elections we will see firsthand what the New Year will bring. I remain optimistic.
There were many events both pro and con this year. I will leave most of these anecdotal stories to add to future Blogs as they are too numerous to detail here in a single Blog. In fact some of them are in past Blogs which you can find on our website. But elections and the recent storm (Sandy) that ravaged the eastern seaboard and left countless people and families at risk has me thinking. Words that come to mind are expectations, call to action, reasonableness, challenges to which we must rise, social media, and just humanizing the process by which we communicate and genuinely try to help one another.
I am extrapolating in the wake of Sandy and the elections as this is where my thinking (some say overactive brain) takes me. This in no way should be interpreted to diminish the very real situations now ongoing. No offense is intended as we live close enough to the ocean to count ourselves lucky to have dodged this one.
Expectations:
Typically we see this word paired with “setting” as in setting expectations. Recent events and election results indicate to me that there is much more to this and in fact I find myself thinking on what I expect of clients rather than the opposite. To be sure, we in sales and service occupations understand the client is always right or they’re usually someone else’s client. My company works very hard and genuinely provides extraordinary service and support to our clients. Yet I refer to subtle changes occurring with client behaviors and not just with home sales in Plymouth and Cape Cod. Our business, our industry is changing due to what clients now expect of us. This in turn effects our expectations.
Challenge to Realtors:
I think one of the not so subtle outcomes to the elections was that the American voters got it in terms of the income inequality going to the top 1% of the wealthiest Americans. For the first time in recent history the rising tide has not lifted all boats. Just about everyone now is technically savvy, on the Internet, uses several social media sites and increasingly moving to mobile platforms. Information is no longer hidden but there for the searching. And people are looking for value.
When it comes to housing, clients do their homework online well in advance of working with a Realtor. And when they do they usually know the comps, neighborhoods, price history, average cost per sq.ft and have some idea of what a home should sell for. Realtors used to provide this data as part of their service. So the challenge to us is where do we add value? Have we done our homework? We will continue to be valuable to clients in terms of local knowledge, pricing and offer strategy, handling often contentious negotiations and keeping ahead of the law and regulations changes for our clients. And just managing the paperwork and detail flow of a transaction, keeping all parties informed and in contract can be daunting.
Humanizing the process:
So here is where I get to talk about expectations for clients. We spend time and money to provide clients a website with tools, listings and information they receive on their terms – anonymously if they choose. It’s a fact of the business these days. We don’t call or email clients 24/7 as we believe clients should search us out for all the right reasons and be comfortable. The irony is that with the communicative power unleashed by social media sites the overall effect for many is a lack of personal communication skills where hiding behind the “device” has become commonplace. I definitely prefer this to the alternative of no communication.
But surely as we move forward we should not lose the human element, the sense of connecting, feelings and emotions gotten from another person. In the digital age there is need for humanizing experiences to keep us grounded. Here is a wish list of what I would like to see in 2013 as I look back over 2012. It all goes to relationships and trust. And we will work for this.
- Clients willing to be honest with their needs and requirements and not afraid to simply tell us. We get it and promise not to waste your time or money.
– We would love to see an unsolicited call or email from a client asking tough questions and not worried about being deluged with phone calls or emails in return. We won’t, just tell us your preferences.
– Ditto for the above if you’ve come through our website anonymously.
– We enjoy clients who call to talk about their plans and are just looking for a sounding board as they consider what ifs. No pressure on our part just great service.
– We are grateful for clients who refer or recommend new clients to us because they know us.
– We would like to see more clients with a sense of humor as many an escrow requires this these days. We help clients enjoy the process.
– We enjoy hearing clients current thinking as it helps us better define the local market. So don’t be shy.
We look forward to working with old and new clients looking for homes in Plymouth and Cape Cod next year. And we appreciate the business this year.
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