As we dig deeper into understanding how the real estate agency business really works, we'll break down how to find real money in your marketplace.
First, you have to know where do you want to compete. As others would say, it's about narrowing down your niche until it becomes painful. In looking for a place to compete, look for where there's probably at least 600 sales in that geography. That's the bare minimum area within which you'll market your services. It doesn't mean you won't go outside of it but this is trying to be strategic about marketing your brand inside a viable market area that produces enough sales where you can expect to get a reasonable portion of that business.
The next step is to go to MLS or Multiple Listing Service and pull a list of all the production done by all of the individual agents. This will give you a great overview of your area and the averages. Focus on the average sale price because that's going to be the cornerstone when you move away from average production into a top producing production mindset.
You also need to pay attention to the true top producers - the people who have the balance between the number of transactions and are also hitting massive numbers when it comes to the production and gross GCI. This is where the money is!
You also have to know how much these top producers are really selling in your marketplace. If you're on a broker, ask them to provide this because this is integral to your business plan. You have to have a clear goal on what is average in your marketplace and what is top producing rather than just making up numbers. However, you have to still be realistic about who they are, what they are, and how much they are selling. Then you can begin to study them.
Lastly, pay attention to the fact that you're after an average or above sale price and figure out what are the techniques that the top producers are using you know in a good way. It's okay to study success. That's what people do all the time - find someone who already got to the top and start to mimic a lot of their actions. Then as you learn more, you begin to innovate and put in your own spin of their actions.
