How to Survive a Recession as a Real Estate Agent
There is no secret that we are either entering or are in the midst of a real estate market recession depending on who you ask. Real estate agents and broker owners are fearful that their revenues will drop and their incomes will go down as a result of this market change and many realtors are already feeling the pressure in their specific markets.
Right now many businesses are wondering how to survive a recession, especially in the real estate industry. If you are confused about what you need to be doing now to take advantage of this changing market and actually CAPTURE market share while others are feeling the heat then you need to read our top tips for how to survive a recession as a real estate agent and DOMINATE afterwards!
Table of Contents
How to Survive a Recession as a Real Estate Agent – Recession Proof Your Business in 7 Steps:
- Cut Expenses
- Focus on FREE Ways to Generate Leads
- Surround Yourself With Positive People
- Educate Your Clients on The Shifting Market
- Be Procative
- Understand This is An Opportunity
- Embrace Change
Click Below to Learn How Realtors and Brokers Just Like You are Taking Advantage of Cutting-Edge Technology to Cut Expenses and “Recession-Proof” Their Businesses!
1) Cut Expenses
Step one in learning how to survive recession as a real estate agent is to cut expenses and overheads.
A real estate recession means that real estate agents will have a harder time finding clients which means that they will and should be expecting less revenue to be generated in their business for the time of the recession.
In business there are two ways to increase profit and the bottom line.
- Increase Revenue
- Decrease Expenses
If you are in a position where you are unable to generate more revenue, a position that many real estate agents will find themselves in during a recession, then your only option is to cut your overhead expenses. This means lowering your ad spend, cutting out recurring costs that are not generating an ROI for your business, finding new ways to market yourself, and cutting costs in your personal life anywhere you can.
Real estate agents and brokers no longer have the luxury of spending money on marketing and expenses that generate little to no return on their investment during a recession. Brokers and agents need to think more clearly and be more conservative with their spending, knowing exactly where every dollar of their operational cost is going and how is it generating a return for them in revenue coming in.
Understanding that you need to cut expenses is the first step to understanding how to survive a recession as a real estate agent.
2) Focus on FREE Ways to Generate Leads
Focusing on free ways to market yourself and generate leads is ultimately how to survive a recession as a business owner.
Free ways to generate leads will allow you to cut costs (like we mentioned in step 1), and will allow you to be as aggressive as you want with your marketing without spending more money.
Free lead generation methods that are content based and “reactive” such as:
- Blogging
- YouTube Video Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Short Form Videos
- LinkedIn Marketing
- Podcasting
Are all ways for you to generate leads to your business where you are trading your time for leads.
There are usually two ways that real estate agents generate leads. Trading their money or trading their time.
In a real estate recession where cutting costs is important for the survival of your business, cutting out your paid ad spend and focusing on free lead generation methods will give you more room to experiment, and be more aggressive with your marketing.
If your current business is reliant upon paid ads then you will need to make some major changes in your marketing in order to survive the next real estate recession.
If you want to learn more ways to generate leads for FREE so that you can cut costs, lower overhead, and be more aggressive with your marketing so you can take advantage of this shifting market, click below to access our FREE Organic Lead Generation Masterclass that teaches you Multiple Free Lead Generation Methods:
3) Surround Yourself With Positive People
If you want to survive a real estate recession then you need to surround yourself with forward thinking positive people in your business and in your life.
No one likes to go through a recession, but there are certain individuals who will not allow the outside circumstances of the market deter their own positive mental attitudes towards life and towards growing their real estate business.
A shifting market will cause negative people to become more negative and positive people to focus on the positives. Having a support system of a group of positive individuals either in your circle of peers or directly as your business partners will give you the “slight edge” that you need to survive this real estate recession.
Ask yourself this question:
Are the people around you in your office talking about how bad the market is going to get or are they talking about the things that they are DOING to survive the recession and capture market share?
If you answered the first part, then you need to consider a change. Negativity never helps anyone overcome adversity. In order to overcome adversity you need encouragement, an open mind, and the ability to share and exchange ideas. If you feel that you are in a toxic environment where agents are being more secretive with their strategies and less inclined to share and collaborate in a spirit of fear and doubt instead of being able and willing to share and help in a spirit of harmony, then it might be time for a change.
Join a group of real estate agents and brokers who support and encourage each other to share ideas and strategies! Click below to learn more!
4) Educate Your Clients on The Shifting Market
Real estate agents are not the only ones wondering how to survive a recession. Other business owners and everyday citizens who are homeowners and homebuyers are also asking themselves the same question.
The real estate recession does not only affect real estate agents, it also affects real estate sellers and buyers. Rising interest rates have caused a lot of confusion for both buyers and sellers in this market and many of them are feeling fearful that there will be a repeat of the real estate recession of 2008.
As top real estate agent Willie Davis said in a recent episode of the FLA Podcast discussing the shifting market, real estate agents will need to go back to educating their clients on the state of the market.
That statement can not be more true.
As the market shifts, buyers and sellers are extremely fearful and confused about what all of these new terms and changes mean for them and their needs. Sellers are wondering if they need to sell at a lower price and buyers are wondering if they are paying too much for their homes.
As a real estate agent, it is now your duty and opportunity to explain to your clients what all of these things mean and how they affect their real estate needs. This way, you will not only be able to give your clients a clear understanding of what is going on in the market and calm their nerves, but it will also differentiate you from the other real estate agents in your market who are not doing these things to go above and beyond for their clients.
5) Be Proactive
Step 5 to surviving a real estate recession is to be proactive.
In the past couple of years, the real estate market has been extremely kind to real estate agents and many agents have been riding a good wave, having clients come to them without much effort on their part. Although that was good for the time being, it also meant that many real estate agents have become lazy and less proactive about their marketing.
What are you currently doing everyday to generate new business? Are you currently working on something everyday to generate you new clients the next day?
Most agents who have “had it good” the past few years do not have an actual lead generation strategy in their business. They don’t call, they don’t knock doors, they don’t create free content, and they don’t even run ads. They have relied on the good wave of the market to generate them business.
Unfortunately for agents, this is no longer the case. The market has changed and that means that you have to be more proactive with your marketing as a real estate agent in order to survive this next real estate recession. This means finding new and FREE ways to market yourself. Creating a brand that generates attention. And most importantly, being PROACTIVE with your marketing efforts.
Start by doing an audit of where your clients are currently coming from. Then extrapolate that into creating an actual marketing plan based off of that strategy where you can do something each day to strengthen those efforts.
6) Understand This is An Opportunity
Instead of asking yourself how to survive a recession as a real estate agent, you should be thinking about how you can THRIVE and DOMINATE a real estate recession or market crash as a real estate agent.
Real estate market crashes and recessions are not pleasant, but remember that “there is a seed of opportunity in every adversity” – Napoleon Hill.
This means that with every situation that is seemingly a challenge, there are also limitless opportunities on the other side waiting for you take advantage of them. Real estate recessions create problems, this means that there will eventually be individuals who comes along to solve these problems.
Like we talked about in step 4, there are things that you can do today as a real estate agent to create new solutions in your business or for your clients and take advantage of the opportunity you currently have to solve problems. Don’t think of a problem as an obstacle, look at every problem you face as a chance for you to implement a new and IMPROVED business strategy or process. This is the perfect opportunity for you to think creatively as an entrepreneur!
Understand that the real estate recession will effectively “wipe out” a number of real estate agents in every market in the US, and this means that it is an opportunity for you to actually CAPTURE market share that you didn’t have the opportunity to capture before. As other real estate agents hang up their licenses and leave the industry, you will persist and capture their existing database of leads and clients that would have otherwise went to them had they stayed in real estate.
Another way real estate agents can take advantage of the real estate recession is to start their own real estate teams and help other real estate agents weather this storm while making additional income from their production. As the market turns, there will be less deals to be closed, if real estate agents are creative then they will figure out a way to combine their efforts and share in the profits together in the deals that are being done.
7) Embrace Change
Lastly, real estate agents need to embrace the potential for change in a real estate recession. Market shifts means that the external environment is changing, and that means that it will force many agents to either adapt or “die”.
Like I mentioned earlier, a changing market is the perfect time to experiment and implement creative changes in your specific real estate business. When things are going good, there is no need to look anywhere else, why fix what isn’t broken? But when business slows down, it forces real estate agents and brokers to look elsewhere for opportunities and ways to lower expenses while generating more income. This is usually an opportunity for real estate agents and brokers to look at new solutions that they would not have considered before and in that, discover new and better ways to run their business that they wouldn’t have even noticed otherwise.
The real estate agents and brokers who embrace change and get out of their own ways so they can actually see opportunities in front of them are the ones that are going to survive this real estate recession and come out of it with more market share and opportunities than they ever dreamed of.
Don’t fight change, embrace it. That’s how all new ideas and opportunities are discovered!
If you’re looking for a way to survive and thrive during tough economic times, consider partnering with our team of real estate agents and brokers who have been able to do just that!
We’ve been able to find new ways to market ourselves, save money, and have a proven track-record of agents and brokers who have run their businesses successfully during recessions, and we can help you do the same!
To learn more about how you can take advantage of this Life-Changing opportunity to DOMINATE this recession click below!