Welcome to the December edition of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick!
In this episode Carrie talks about how attached inventory is up almost 20% from last year and how “boomerang buyers” are poised to make 2019 a huge sales year. She also helps a listener convert more open-house leads into customers. I provide a marketing tip around door-to-door lead generation!
Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:14
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the only podcast made for Chicago real estate brokers by Chicago real estate brokers. My name is DJ Paris, I am your host and today we are doing our Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick. So welcome Carrie.
Carrie McCormick 0:31
Hello, DJ, thanks for having me.
D.J. Paris 0:34
She is the co host. And you I think you still hold the record as the most popular episode to date was the Carrie McCormack first interview that we ever did. So we’re so glad to still have you on the show. And you just did your this past weekend. You did your shop with Carrie event. Tell us can you tell the audience what you did there? Because I think it’s really cool.
Carrie McCormick 0:56
Yeah, it was it was a ton of fun. So one of the things I like to dabble in, of course, is Chicago fashion. And I’ve got some great friends in the fashion world here in Chicago. And so one of my favorite stores is called Sarah Jane. It’s on wells Street in old town. And the owner, her name is Sarah, she invited me and my clients into the store to do some special shopping and it was fabulous drinking Mimosa is shopping laughter good time.
D.J. Paris 1:25
And you are also the Chicago agent magazine as designated you best dressed Realtor in Chicago. So this was an opportunity for people to learn how you do fashion. So anyway, I think it’s very cool. And it also really fun. Yeah, fun client appreciation event. I’m sure.
Carrie McCormick 1:43
It was cool. Thank you.
D.J. Paris 1:45
Yeah, well tell us a little bit about what you see going on now in the market.
Carrie McCormick 1:52
So the markets very interesting right now, I just want to start off with a little bit about our economy. And I think our news in general has played has had some, you know, positive influence in our market. And it’s really kind of given our market a sense of calm for both buyers and sellers. Now we all know that our stock market has soared, we’re over 24,000, which is incredible. And that’s making a huge milestone, and it’s giving some certainty into this market. And that plays into our Chicago real estate market as well. Also, it doesn’t hurt that our unemployment is at about I think it’s like at 4.1%, which is the lowest in us since December to 2000. Another positive note that we have is mortgage rates, they have held steady. So we’ve got this historically, low mortgage rate, we’ve got unemployment that’s low, we’ve got our stock market that’s over 24,000. Again, our news is been relatively calm, which is great. And it’s it’s helped our Chicago market in obviously we’re in December now. Typically, our holiday months are very slow. But we’ve seen listings up 8.4% For we call them detached homes, which is the single family home market. And new listings were up 18.6% For attached properties in that condo market and the townhome market, that’s huge listings that went under contract increased also 19.5% for detached homes, and a little bit on the lower end 5.1% For attached properties. But those numbers are huge for going into these winter months. Now. You know, our weather today I guess was 50 degrees and sunny, that helps keep spire keeps buyers on the streets. The sun is shining, people are out there looking for year end deals, our markets good.
D.J. Paris 4:02
And what do you see for the spring market.
Carrie McCormick 4:06
So I am very optimistic about our spring market, I see that we’re going to have a very healthy 2018. So right now the sales forecast for December and January suggests that we will have an increase in our market and the price forecast also indicates a moderate annual growth as well. So I see some positive movement into 2018. Another interesting fact for those who have been around as long as I have I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years, but we all remember the crash, the dreadful market crash. And according to CoreLogic This is a company that provides information on the real estate market. There’s something called the boomerang buyers. So these are the people who have lost their homes in the recession. And those people are a big part of our real estate market. So they lost their home, you know, back in 20, or 2008 2009. And they’re ready to enter the market again, hence calling them boomerang markets. So seven years have passed since the peak of the foreclosures in 2010. And then also, they will have passed the seven year period of which the credit, the Fair Credit Report, reports their derogatory information, and that’ll be removed from their credit reports. So again, they lost their homes due to, you know, foreclosure hit their credit report, seven years has passed, now that information gets wiped off their credit report. And that’s all going to hit them in 2018, which means there could be a potential 1.3 million buyers entering the market next year.
D.J. Paris 5:56
Wow, so great opportunity to educate those buyers, or obviously, and, obviously sell homes to them. But awesome. It’s good. What are you doing in December? I know a lot of brokers tend to think the activity is much slower, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case for for your business. So can tell us a little bit about what you’re doing to wrap up the year.
Carrie McCormick 6:21
Well, I’m really you know, business as usual, I’m still hosting open houses every weekend, sending out my mailers doing online targeting calling people, I’m acting as if it was, you know, spring market, you know, we’ve got buyers out there, I’ve got inventory to sell, and the phone keeps ringing. So we’re gonna keep keep pushing through the end of the year.
D.J. Paris 6:43
Well, there’s no surprise in your answer. For me to hear that. And it’s nice to hear that that you’re, you’re going as per usual. And it really brings us to a great question that you can answer better than anyone. So we had one of our listeners reached out to us. This is a Keller Williams agent who wrote a really nice, said really nice things about both you and I, but also had a question and he said, I’m getting to his question here was about open houses. And he said, he needs some help with them. Not with open houses in particular, but But what to do afterwards. So he says, This is him asking, I do a ton of open houses probably about 30 or 40 a year, and I’ve gotten some good leads off of them. But I’m having trouble converting them into clients. Once I do a buyer consultation. I know I’m good. But it’s getting to that point. That’s difficult. I’d love some agent insights. So can you talk a little bit about what you might suggest to him?
Carrie McCormick 7:40
Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got some good suggestions for him. So I do a ton of open houses. Today. I did two open houses for my clients. And they can be tricky about picking up buyers though. Because I feel that when I’m working an open house, I’m there to service that property, I’m there every lead or person that comes in to that property, my job is to sell that property that I’m on, or I’m at, you know, I want to do my job about that. But as I qualify the person and you’re talking to them, if they clearly state that that property is not for them, you know, then I go into my pitch about helping them, you know, and be a buyer representative for them. So again, first and foremost, my goal is always to sell the property that I’m at. But if the client, you know, states that this isn’t a good fit for them, then I can go into my you know, represent representing them as a buyer’s agent mode. So to answer his question, you have to provide value, right? Because they’re there, and you’re the professional in the business. So you have to listen intently. Listen, listen, listen to what they want, you know, ask probing questions, listen to that what they want. And then again, we have to provide value and service to them. So you know, answer their questions, again, providing value to them, offer follow up with them have off market properties, you know, that’s one unique thing that us as agents can offer that they cannot get online that they can’t get, you know, browsing stuff from their home, offer, you know, pocket listings. So again, offering value to them, and then follow up, you know, once they leave the property, you know, because you only have so much time with them face to face. And I always think you’ve got a minute, you know, to sell yourself and that’s what you have to do. And then follow up, make sure you’ve got their contact information, follow up with them not once, not twice, not three times. You follow up with them until you know they respond to you. And if they don’t want your services that’s you know, then they say that but I would keep following up with them and continue to provide value and offer them solutions to properties that they are looking for that they stated to you.
D.J. Paris 9:59
Well All said, Yeah, take notes when you’re talking or listening, rather listening to those people and then follow up, follow up, follow up and keep following up until they tell you to till till they tell you to get lost or they decide to meet.
Carrie McCormick 10:12
Yeah, I mean, yeah.
D.J. Paris 10:15
So for my marketing idea of the week, and I have not run this by Carrie, although I briefly mentioned it before we started taping and I’ll be very curious to get her take on it. Because she’ll be able to tell me if this is a good idea or not. But I was thinking about the finance, the financial advice of advisor company, Raymond or not Raymond James, Edward Jones. So Edward Jones, is it competes with Morgan, Stanley, Merrill, Lynch, Smith, Barney, all of these financial advisor, companies that are looking to manage, you know, get investments for people under their management. And one of the one of the ways that Edward Jones really distinguish themselves from all the other firms, is they would coach their financial advisors to go door to door and literally knock on doors and say, Hey, I, you know, I’m with Edward Jones, and I want to manage your money. And I thought that was particularly interesting. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart. And I thought, Well, how could a realtor and by the way, people who are Edward Jones, financial advisors who have done that have actually had a lot of success over the years. But realtors, I’ve started to think, Well, how could maybe a broker do that? And I thought, well, here would be a real soft way that I might do it if I were wanting to try that approach. And I think it’s not a terrible approach. So what I would do is, if I got a listing in a neighborhood, I would want everyone else in that neighborhood to know that I was in the process of selling so and so’s home. So I might knock on every door and very politely say, Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother. You just wanted to introduce myself, I’m DJ, I’m in the process of selling your neighbor’s home. And you’ll probably be seeing me come and go from time to time. And I just wanted to make sure you knew who I was. And by the way, if you ever see anything unusual going on at the home, it’s my responsibility to make sure the home is you know, in good order. And if you ever see anything strange over there, please, here’s my card, give me a call, I’d be happy to get that information. So I just thought you could do you could go to every home in the neighborhood, knock on the door very politely. And you’re not specifically saying oh, by the way, if you need help buying or selling or you know, I’m your personal that you could always say that too. But it’s a real soft way to be able to say just wanted introduce myself. So I carry I wanted to get your thoughts on what you what, what you liked or didn’t like about that?
Carrie McCormick 12:32
Well, I love that idea. To be honest, it is very time consuming, I can tell you that sure to knock on doors, and I’ve done it. I’ve had doors slammed on me, I’ve had dogs chased me, you’ve got to be careful, though, because a lot of properties here in Chicago, you know, are either you know, gated in front, and you don’t want to trespass, you don’t know if someone has a dog. So again, just be cautious. Doing it especially just from a safety standpoint. But I’ve had some very positive response, you know, from the neighbors, because that shows that I care, it shows that I’m hard working, it shows that my you know, interest, obviously, is to selling the property and protecting the property as well. So it does definitely puts you in a spotlight and it also can yield some additional business down the road. Also, what I’ve done is just knock on doors in general. So if there’s a street that I have, like a client’s like, Oh, I love Magnolia Street, I’d love to have a house on that street. You know, I will literally knock on doors and let them know that I have a client that’s interested in and give them my card.
D.J. Paris 13:43
I love that. So you’re basically knocking on doors saying I have a client that is looking for homes on the street. Just wanted to introduce myself. I think that’s brilliant. What
Carrie McCormick 13:54
would it mean it’s again, it’s very time consuming. Sometimes weather related as well. You know, you don’t want to go out in the in the worst weather, but it is it’s something different. And you know, people do appreciate that face to face connection.
D.J. Paris 14:10
Awesome. Well, that is going to wrap up our Monday market minute for 2017. We’re going to have Carrie all next year as well. Carrie, by the way, if anyone is out there who wants to work with you, and we’d love you to help them buy or sell a home what’s the best way they can reach you? Yeah, absolutely.
Carrie McCormick 14:29
That’s great. So I’m carrying McCormick and with AP properties. I always answer my phone so please call me at 312-961-4612 or you can email me at Carey ca RR ie at@properties.com.
D.J. Paris 14:46
Also, I want to give a plug to your Instagram account because you have an incredibly impressive Instagram. What is what’s your Instagram handle?
Carrie McCormick 14:57
It’s Carrie McCormick real estate
D.J. Paris 15:00
Yeah, follow it. It’s really, really good. All right, Carrie. Well, thank you so much and we carry and I would like to thank everyone for listening. We have about 5000 of you now that are listening and we appreciate it and send us your questions. Let us know what you know in other information you want Carrie to talk about next year. And I’m excited for 2018
Carrie McCormick 15:25
Me too. Thank you
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