In the following interview, Marie and Mark Hischier, broker/owners of HomeSmart Professional Partners Realty in Monrovia, Calif., discuss the real estate industry, both from a business and consumer standpoint, as well as the benefits of the HomeSmart system.
Region Served: Los Angeles County/San Gabriel Valley
Years in Real Estate: 16
Number of Offices: 2
Number of Agents: 100
Top Tip for Staying Organized: Use a contact management system and time-block.
What factor has the largest influence on the real estate industry today?
Knowledge. As a real estate professional, you need to be well-versed on the contracts and addendums your clients are signing. Buyers and sellers are very savvy and can look for homes online and even post pictures of their homes on miscellaneous websites for marketing exposure. As agents, we need to guide them through the process. At the same time, we need to understand the technology available to the public and be able to utilize and maximize it to benefit our clients and our business. The process of buying and selling a home is often very emotional, so we need to remain empathetic and professional. This isn’t always easy, but our clients rely on us to help them make an educated decision, not an emotional mistake. To be successful, you need to continuously educate yourself in all facets: technology, contracts, marketing, relationship-building, etc. It’s not a matter of reinventing the wheel, but staying focused on the positive aspects of that wheel and knowing when to replace it with a new, unworn wheel.
What is the most unique way you have marketed a new listing?
Consumers are all over the internet looking for homes, so we do our best to park our clients’ homes on the busiest corner of the internet. Our HomeSmart system automatically creates personal websites and YouTube videos for each property, blasting our listings out to over 1,000 websites worldwide. We utilize QR codes and direct call capture information on every listing, enabling us to follow up with potential buyers promptly and professionally. One of my favorite stories was experienced while marketing an open house. We were walking the neighborhood, handing out invitations, and this young child saw us coming his way, so he ran up the driveway yelling, “Mommy, Mommy, the REALTORS® are coming, the REALTORS® are coming!” It sounded like a bad horror movie!
Describe the current consumer confidence climate in your area.
Consumers are confident that real estate continues to be a stable investment for both the owner-occupied buyer and the investor. Sellers are receiving multiple offers, but finding that they need to be fair in their pricing and present a nice home to take advantage of the low inventory market. Sellers are investing in minor updates and upgrades and reaping the benefits of presenting a move-in ready home by receiving multiple offers exceeding the cost of those upgrades. Buyers are purchasing for long-term investment, creating a stable community that benefits everyone living in the area. Overall, the market is solid, appreciating reasonably, and consumers are finding nice homes to call their own.
Which HomeSmart system …read more
From:: Real Estate News