In our June episode of Monday Market Minute, Carrie McCormick from @properties discusses the shift and the slowdown in the real estate market. Carrie shares tips on what agents should do when there is a slowdown in the market. Carrie also emphasizes the importance of surrounding yourself with good people and being positive. D.J. shares his marketing tip of the month.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.
Please follow Carrie on Instagram by clicking here.
This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and FollowUpBoss.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
On today’s episode, one of the most successful realtors in Chicago for the last 20 plus years is going to give her take on what’s going on with the market and what she sees coming up in the next year. Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and now on to our show
Welcome to keeping it real the largest podcast for real estate agents and by real estate agents My name is DJ HARRIS I am your guide and host through the show today is our monthly series called The Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick from the Carey McCormick Real Estate Group here in Chicago with at properties at properties Christie’s international I should say. Carrie is a top 1% producer in the Chicagoland area with over 20 years of experience helping buyers, sellers and investors. In fact, in the past 12 months, there are by the way, 44 I think actually now 45,000 Real estate agents here in Chicago Carrie is ranked in the top 15. And I don’t mean 15% I mean the top 15. That is just how successful and impressive she is. She is a true superstar and an expert in everything from first time homebuyers, veteran investors and luxury properties. She also works a lot of developers and is often chosen to represent their high end developments. By the way, I happen to live in a development that Carrie represented. And that’s an I could not be happier. But please visit Carrie. And on Instagram it she has one of the most impressive Instagram accounts I’ve ever seen for a realtor. And she does it all herself. So follow her on Instagram, which is at Carey McCormick real estate. There’ll be a link to that in our show notes. So you don’t have to type it in. Carrie, welcome once again to the show.
Carrie McCormick 2:58
Well, thank you and I’d love just real quick since we talked about developments, we are getting ready to launch a new development in Chicago. It’s called Wolfram 18. It’s 18 single family homes in Lakeview. So if anyone is looking for a new construction home or has buyers, please reach out to me I would love to tell you more about that development.
D.J. Paris 3:21
And in Lakeview, it’s really rare where there’s new developments. So this is this is a huge deal for Chicago.
Carrie McCormick 3:27
Yeah, no, it’s excellent. And I wanted to also kick off by telling people that if anyone is looking for a job, I for the first time I’m going to be hiring. I am a solo agent, as a lot of people know. And I’ve got a wonderful support team that works with me, I’ve got, you know, some assistance and contract people and I would love to hire a new person for my team and it would be in a support role of Contract Administrator operations, some marketing, a little bit of everything, and I love teaching and training people. So if anyone’s looking for something new and exciting, I’d love to talk with you.
D.J. Paris 4:15
And I think to just to be able to absorb some of your practices, which I think are obviously successful practices. You know, somebody out there is thinking, you know, should I join a team obviously, you can always do that or you can also work directly like under somebody like what Carrie is is suggesting and an admin position because you’re going to learn everything and you know probably was such a such yet for some nice success in the future. So definitely reach out to Carrie if you are interested in that position. So yeah, so what’s what’s going on this this month, what are
Carrie McCormick 4:52
we what should we be rounding out May here may 2220 22. And the big headlines you No late this month are sensing a shift in the market. And I know that for the last couple of months, we’ve been talking about inventory crisis and you know, being a seller’s market, and I don’t necessarily think that it’s going to shift to a pure buyers market. But there definitely is a market of a little bit of a slowdown. I tell people, you know, again, we’ve been going the brakes a little bit down to 100, maybe 90, you know, so the market is still moving. But you know, we’re sensing in The Usual Suspects, we obviously have some interest rates that have gone up, almost doubled. And then we’ve got inflation, we’ve got fatigue in the market. So we’ve got a little bit of the stock market hasn’t been doing well. So we’ve got a little bit of everything coming at us. And it’s slowing down. And I am also you know, I’ve got partners on the East Coast and the West Coast, they are feeling the same. So it’s not just Chicago, we do think it’s a national slowdown, except our friends in Florida. It’s an Arizona, they still seem to be, you know, pumping out those crazy double digit numbers. So But anyways, you know, I read reports from Fannie Mae, I read from Zillow in men just announced something today is talking about the shift. So again, we just as brokers, you know, we have to prepare for it and gear up. And one thing I was saying to DJ earlier is, you know, because I’ve been in the industry for so long, and I was saying, it’s just incredible that I’ve been in it for 22 years, and I’m only 25 years old, right? So just unbelievable. It’s, I really hate saying I’ve been in it for 22 years, because then I can see people look up and trying to do math of how old I am. Tell anybody but anyways, you know, and I’ve been in the market for a long time, and I’ve been through several different, you know, turns in the market, you learn something from it. And I look back to a lot of you know, my successes, and you know where I’m at today. And it’s that perseverance through some of the hard times. And again, not that I’m predicting that we’re going through a hard time, but you’re going to learn just different skill sets. And a few things I wanted to talk about is what do we do in a time where we do see the slow down and one is going to be focused on your database. Everyone tells you that and you know, I know it sounds like an easy thing to do. But just think about all these people that you’ve worked so hard to get as clients and they sit there and your database or you haven’t talked to them in a year or two, and you’re just out busy looking for new clients, nurture the ones that you have, you know, you spend all that time and money getting those clients, nurture them, you know, send them updates of what’s happening in the market. You know, set them up on a search, you know, even though they may not currently be you know, looking to sell or buy, but set them up on a search it starts getting them you know, engaged. You had mentioned what was your stats on Zillow? What were you saying? Yeah, so
D.J. Paris 8:09
So Zillow, Zestimate is you know, something that agents you say that word and agents either go, I hate that or they have some sort of very visceral reaction. And whatever our listeners who are like largely going to be Realtors think about Zillow and Zestimate. The fact is 200 million unique views or users per month, visit Zillow. Now, not all of those are from the United States, but let’s assume 90% are, we only have what 450 million or so maybe 500 million people in this country. So maybe close to 30% of them are checking Zillow every month, maybe 40%. So we know that this is where people are going to look. And they are they are seeing that Zestimate and unless their agent has told them, you know, that’s not very accurate, they’re gonna think that that’s accurate. Right?
Carrie McCormick 8:59
Exactly. So you know, with all these consumers going to Zillow, and just kind of peeking out, whatever it is, you know, their home value, you know, get in front of them, you know, before another agent does. So, again, focus on your database, keep your existing clients updated of what’s happening in the market. The other thing to focus on is education. Again, every day, learn something new, there’s always something new and exciting coming out. So you know, continue to learn and don’t ever stop learning, you know, and push yourself push the envelope into doing different things with your marketing and in how you brand yourself. So again, education is going to be important during this time, and networking. You know, early on in my career, I was such a great networker and I would go to everything and then it just I kind of just stopped doing it. And it’s, um, you know, getting back into the swing of all these different networking events and connecting people and it’s just one of the best things to grow your business. Not everyone’s a buyer right now or right now. But I will tell you that you mentioned the word real. People want to know, and just educate them, you go to a networking event and just, you know, again, not talk about yourself as a broker, but you need to talk about the market talk about something that, you know, brings value to them. And it definitely works. There was a saying that says what you focus on will expand. And that’s 100%. True. You focus on your business, you focus on whatever it is, and you stay full, you stay focused on it’s going to grow.
D.J. Paris 10:39
Yeah, I agree. I think by focusing on it, it helps sort of block out some of the noise that might be happening, we could keep ourselves busy all day by following every moment of the news and what’s happening in our industry. And in, you know, obviously, there’s there’s lots to focus on outside of our industry news as well. And I’m not saying people shouldn’t follow that, but be mindful of how you spend your time and where you put your attention. Because if your business is struggling, obviously, you want to put your attention on business building activities as much as you can, so that you can keep going through, you know, a challenging time for agents right now.
Carrie McCormick 11:20
Right? Right. And just and I always say to people just be kind to each other, you know, the world is, you know, as goes in our ups and downs. And in, I’ve noticed, you know, when you give kindness to other people it gives it gives it back to you. So we all go through, we’re in sales, right? There’s ups and downs. And there’s some days, I mean, believe me, there’s days that I’m you know, it’s just you and I were talking about this before, there’s days, I’m just like, I just can’t I just can’t get up today, like, I just don’t even want to do do anything today. But you know, it’s, we all go through it, and you just have to remain positive and just surround yourself with good people a good team. And, you know, just keep it positive and be kinder to each other.
D.J. Paris 12:07
Yeah, I think I think you’re right, that kindness thing, and the giving sort of nature is seems to really work. My friend Joel from guarantee rate always, he always says it says givers givers gain mentality, like, give as much as you can and wait, just watch and see what comes back to you. And it’s almost always more than you think.
Carrie McCormick 12:28
But I though to just real quick, quick segue is Joel is such a great guy. And I called him, you know, one day out of the blue, he didn’t have to pick up the phone, he didn’t have to give me the information. He you know, he didn’t have to do what he did. He took five minutes out of his day, he gave me everything I needed and just was a great guy. And, you know, I remember the way that he treated me and was very respectful and his tone. And you know, I’ll always remember that. So he definitely does what he says he’s doing.
D.J. Paris 13:02
Yeah, he’s he is a great guy. And he’s a good representation. And we’re glad to have him on our show. He’s a good representation of, of just how to stay positive, through, you know, challenging times. Because in the mortgage side, they’re, they’re starting to experience some challenges. Not not Joel himself, but the mortgage industry. It’s with rates going up. It’s tough. So I was at a, I was at an event yesterday with about 200, I think, younger realtors, and I don’t mean younger in age, although some of them were young and age, but new to the business young to the business. And I was sitting amongst people who I did not know a lot of realtors who I just hadn’t met yet, from all sorts of companies. And I was asking, like, how are things going for you? Right? I’m just curious, like, how are you doing? Most of these people were in their first couple of years. And the the the consensus was, I just could feel the stress and tension that every buddy I talked to was feeling it was either there’s no inventory or rates are going up and my buyers are freaking out. Or, you know, I can’t seem to convince any of my owners, the people I know who own to sell, because there’s no inventory to buy. And it just felt like everyone was collectively just clenching and just being stressed and I get it. And I don’t have a solution for that. But if you are finding that you’re overly stressed right now, because of course, things can be challenging in the industry. And if I think stressed and busy is different, it’s probably better than being stressed with nothing to do. So if you are in a position where you’re like, I have a lot of free time and nothing’s really happening. What I might suggest as a marketing tip, and this is such a simple tip and I’ve given it before but I really think it’s a good idea is we talked about Zillow and there’s estimate well Zillow believes their Zestimate is within a couple of percentage points now plus or minus two. I talked to one of their data scientists and I said How accurate is estimate and when they first started it I forgot when they launched it like 2007, or something like that. And he said we were about, I think, Boy, I’m gonna get this number wrong, but I think it was 14% accurate. So we were 14% plus or minus which, that’s 28% swing. So it’s not that accurate. And they said, We think we’re down now down to based on our data about 2% accuracy. Now by saying that plus or minus 2%, of what it actually would sell for a home. Now, people listening might go, that is absolute BS, it is never within 2%. It’s always wildly off. So
Carrie McCormick 15:32
call me if you don’t like the number of people love to say it’s right. I I know that.
D.J. Paris 15:39
That’s very good point. But regardless, we know that this is what our clients or our prospective clients are looking at whether it’s accurate or not, is probably not super relevant. But what is relevant is that you can do what Zillow can, which is really look specifically at each one person in your database. You know, if you know their property, you could actually run a much better comp most likely, right? You can look and see what sold the last couple of months that are there. And you’ll probably hopefully you would do a better job not you carry but our listeners would do a better job than maybe what you know, an algorithm could spit out. So here’s what I was thinking as a homeowner who doesn’t practice real estate, I love to find out what my home was worth. And I don’t really know how to run comps that well as an agent. So I just go to zest I go to Zillow, I don’t know if it’s all that accurate, but I just use it because it’s easy. And you know, what I would do is do that for every single person you know, that owns a home and say, Hey, I was just looking on Zillow. Zillow says your home’s worth this, I wanted to see how accurate it was. So I actually went in and ran what I think is maybe even a more accurate quote. And here’s what I think. And you know, just wanted to let you know, and if you’re ever interested in exploring the option of maybe, you know, making a transition, I’d love to talk to you. But regardless, I just wanted you to know what your home was worth. Because you might be hearing a lot about inventory shortages and homes are appreciated and appreciated, etc. So will that get you more business? I don’t know, it certainly isn’t going to hurt. And I think you know, if owners are going to Zillow anyway, to see what their home is worth, then you’re just doing what they’re already doing. And just going a step a step beyond. Most realtors will never do this. So I think this is just a good tip to keep the your your sphere of influence saying boy, Mike, my agents, right on top of things are really thinking about me,
Carrie McCormick 17:31
right. And that just goes back to two of just education is, you know, anything that you learn, or I learned in the market, share it with your clients, you know, because that’s what route reading is, you know, whether it’s the whatever it is, you know, share it with your clients, and whether it’s on social media, or you send them a letter, send them an email, text, there’s just so many different ways. Another one, just to to piggyback on that is you can send a quick video I’ve gotten a few of those from like mortgage lenders or just I love those Yeah, no, I can’t I can’t do it quite yet. But is they you know, sent me a quick video of just, you know, like, Hey, I was on, I’m just making this up, you know, I was on Zillow and your Zestimate was x, you know, give me a call when you can and it was like, I don’t know it, you know, just even that more personal touch of seeing their face on my phone. It was just it’s, it’s it’s good, there’s possibilities are endless. You just have to put the effort into it and stay driven and stay focused.
D.J. Paris 18:28
And by the way, if you don’t have a sphere of influence that’s really sizable to do these sort of Zillow estimates. And then rerunning comps, you don’t it doesn’t have to be somebody you know, that’s probably the best place to start. But you could literally go into the MLS, see all the homes that were sold like two years ago, three years ago, in a particular area, and then you could just literally create this for that homeowner, and hand deliver it if you’re comfortable knocking on doors, or hand delivering it to their porch and saying, you know, there are, this could be a way to introduce yourself to somebody and most agents once the sale is over, you know, struggle with staying in touch with their clients. So this is a great way that even if you didn’t have a sphere of influence, and you’re brand new to a city and didn’t know anyone, you could do that on your own, you know, it’s a lot more work and you won’t have as much success as you would if it was your own sphere of influence your own past clients, but it is, it is not a bad idea. Believe me, most homeowners are not getting this information just randomly sent to them in the mail. They’re getting all sorts of postcards and things like that, but they’re not getting a hey, I put a little report together for you. We’d love to chat about it with you and even just hand them the report or you know, definitely another idea. So anyway, I think those are some great some some good advice from both Carrie and myself for for this month. Also. You know, it’s Memorial Day is coming up in in a couple of days. And you know, if nothing else great opportunity to wish Happy Memorial Day to not only all of our listeners, but our listeners should be wishing that to their sphere. of influence, you know, let that make sure people know, you know that you are, you know, thinking about them and thinking about their holiday weekend and just shoot them an email, or a text message or phone call or whatever. All right, well, I think that’s a great place to wrap up for this month. By the way, if anyone out there is looking to either if you’re a realtor and you’re not in the Chicagoland area, but you have clients that are either moving to Chicago, maybe they’re being relocated, or they have relatives that are, you know, here in Chicago, Carrie would love the opportunity her and her team would love the opportunity to chat with them. Or if you are a buyer or a seller and investor or renter that is looking to work with a top Realtor in Chicago. Carrie is great option. I’m Carrie, what’s the best way that someone should reach out to you
Carrie McCormick 20:45
always call me 312-961-4612 or shoot me an email it’s Kerry ca RR ie at properties that come.
D.J. Paris 20:56
And remember Kari is looking to add somebody to her team. So if you are a local Chicago realtor, and you’re thinking might be a good fit for Kerry reach out to her she can explain more about the position. And I know if it was me and I was practicing, I would want to work with a very top producer because I imagine a lot of their practices would rub off. So definitely reach out to Carrie if you’d like to consider being being a member of her team. Carrie, thanks again for all these years of service of our show. And we ask our audience to support Carrie follow her on Instagram find her at Kerry McCormick real estate on Instagram. That link is in our show notes. And also like I said, if you know anyone that needs help in Chicago, she would love to chat with them. And on behalf of Carrie and myself. We thank our audience for continuing to listen and support our show and we will see everybody on the next episode. Thanks Carrie.
Carrie McCormick 21:46
Thank you
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