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Focusing on video content, educating the community and increasing the industry’s diversity are three core things that real estate agents and brokers should commit to in order to make 2022 a successful year, speakers at Inman Connect Las Vegas said on Thursday.
Matthew Means
“Drown out the noise” about the market facing an impending crash, Matthew Means of Compass said. “You can’t have a bubble bursting without a lot of inventory, which we just don’t have.”
Now is the time to educate clients about the potential of their buying power, Means added, and to encourage them to lock in on a home and relatively low mortgage rates while they can.
Anne Jones of Windermere Abode said that bringing brokers back to the office is also a primary goal of hers, because working together helps fuels the team’s success.
“Being together is the best thing,” Jones said. “I think in 2022 we’re going to take off when we can actually be together.”
Dave Jones
Dave Jones, Anne’s husband and co-owner, added that one of his goals is to explore the use of NFTs in real estate in more detail.
“When you think about those new technologies and innovations, it allows brokers to think outside of the box,” he explained.
Turning to the audience, the three speakers urged Inman Connect Las Vegas attendees to incorporate video into their business.
“We agree, the no. 1 thing we should be doing is video,” Anne said.
“I think video is the only way,” Means added. “Don’t text somebody, send them a video message in front of a home. It puts a realness out there.”
Means added that agents shouldn’t worry about how they look or whether or not they have the perfect script, but putting out content consistently is the simple key to success.
Anne Jones
The three speakers added that live content is one of the best ways to approach video because its candid and reveals an agent’s humanity — and no one expects perfection in live content.
“If you want a takeaway, go live,” Dave said. “I haven’t seen as many people going on live [recently], and I think that’s a really missed opportunity.”
By the same token, Means and the Joneses noted that worrying about numbers of likes and views is much less productive than simply focusing on producing meaningful content, which will naturally generate attention.
“Talk about you. Talk about what you care about,” Dave said. “Your story matters. What you’re passionate about matters.”
Kendall Bonner of RE/MAX Capital Realty and the panel’s moderator said she aims to follow by three principles when producing video content: Be a resource, be an authority and be a community ambassador.
On the educational side of things, the Joneses explained recent initiatives their brokerage put forth in the community to help increase financial literacy and education about how the real estate transaction works. The couple spearheaded a financial literacy club for kids, which gained about 400 participants (including some children’s parents). At the college level, they also were partners for a BIPOC-focused internship program, where students at the University of Washington spent eight weeks learning about real estate in professional and academic settings.
“At the end of [the internship], [students] came out with presentations on ‘How do we change the face of real estate?'” Anne said. “We got far more out of the program than they did.”
Kendall Bonner at Inman Connect New York | Credit: AJ Canaria of MoxiWorks
Anne also reminded the audience of Bonner’s own call to the real estate community to strive for greater diversity, in an earlier conference session that took place on Wednesday.
“I know your question is, ‘How does that impact my bottom line?'” Anne said. “You need to look further than today. The millennials are going to control this market, and they’re going to demand more from you.”
She added that Windermere’s most recent commitment to diversity has been through launching a downpayment assistance program for black homeowners funded by the brokerage’s agents and brokers.
“When you make it not about the money, when it’s truly about helping people, your business grows ten-fold,” Means added. “Trust me, it always comes full circle.”
Update: An earlier version of this story misstated that Windermere Abode created the Aspire internship, but the brokerage was simply one real estate office that helped pilot the program.
