Are We Entering a Slow Season?

I hear it all the time.  Fall is when our numbers fall; Fall is the worse time of year for real estate; and my absolute favorite one, Fall is so close to Christmas that nobody wants to spend any money on a house.  So, truthfully, are we entering a slow season?

Admittedly, there are markets that truly suffer during the late months of the year.  For TEAM Hughes Real Estate School, over the past two years we’ve shown declines in student population in the Fall, and checking the MLS stats, you can see a decline during November and December.  Instead of looking at the decline as a negative, however, we have a tendency to look at it as a time of refreshing, allowing us an opportunity to go back to our basics and to make sure things are updated where needed.

Are we entering a slow season?  Actually, only you can determine that for yourself.  What I can suggest, however, is that if your review of statistics shows you are in an area that does experience some decline toward the end of the year, that is the perfect time to go back to the basics.  Lead generation has a tendency to sometimes get put off when a real estate agent is busy satisfying people’s immediate needs.  Lead generation requires a certain far-sightedness, the ability to look down the road and to see the value of prospecting now so that the lean months aren’t quite as lean as they could be otherwise.

If you know you are entering a slow season, why not prepare for it?  If you recall the old fable about the ant and the grasshopper, you will remember that the ant spent the summer storing food for the long, hard winter.  The grasshopper wanted to play all summer because it was perfect weather for it, and when the harsh winter arrived, he could no longer find food to eat and eventually perished.  That same analogy can apply to the practice of real estate.  If we are truly entering a slow season, now is the time to generate business for the future.  Try and look down the road – you’ll see that generating leads today will bring business tomorrow and your success will come easier.  Spend the slow season doing nothing, and you’ll reap nothing.

Are we entering a slow season?  Better yet, the question should be if we are entering a slow season, how can I make it work for me?  Use the time wisely and you’ll be glad you did.  Use the time to justify not working, and you’ll see the consequences of it soon.  TEAM Hughes is here to help if you need us.  We can equip you with some great tools to get you started, so call us when you can!