Estate

Managing During a Whole New World in Real Estate

Tips from Leaders Who’ve Been Through an Economic Downturn (or Two)

Three Leaders from NAR offered up practical wisdom for broker/owners and managing brokers during CAR’s Strategic Think Tank session at the 2022 Fall Forum.

Charlie Oppler (CO) is the 2022 Immediate Past President of NAR and is the CEO of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, with 15 (and counting!) offices in New Jersey. During his presidency, he led the association and industry through the global pandemic and drove a renewed commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Kenny Parcell (KP) is NAR’s 2022 President-Elect and broker/owner of Equity Real Estate Utah, where he is from originally. Parcell has been in several positions at the national association level, including Vice President of Government Affairs, REALTOR® Party RPAC Fundraising Liaison, and Regional Vice President for Region 11.

Shannon King (SK) is the NAR 2022 Vice President of both Association Affairs and the NAR Executive Committee. She is from Kailua, Hawaii, where she has been a broker/owner of Island Living Homes since 2022. Shannon has served on several NAR committees and was a founder and the second chair of the Young Professionals Network.

These NAR leaders have been through an economic downturn during the 2008 recession and offer some tips and takeaways to broker/owners, managing brokers, smallrealty companies, and associations. In addition to being top producers, they all hold main leadership positions at NAR.

What Should I Be Doing Right Now?

KP: Work on something every day to better your business. Now is the time to use your time wisely. Have a plan and realize you will be with your seller for six months now instead of 45 days.

SK: I love downturns because it’s an opportunity. Did you know that 35% of potential homeowners are Veterans Administration buyers and sellers? Their loans are assumable, and the rate is less than 3%. That’s a unique market to look at during this time.

CO: Teach your brokers how to educate their clients. It’s not just about interest rates. Consumers will adapt to the market when they are learning and you are being empathetic, so alter your sellers’ expectations by providing education and understanding of the market. The first home I sold in 1981, the interest rate was 19%. Now we need to think about those who recently bought a home when the rates were at 3%, where will they go in the market? Thinking about that now will help you and your agents down the road.

KP: Know where you’re going to spend your money in your business and be okay with not spending it if it’s not a good investment. And it’s not big bonuses to your agents, sometimes it’s little things like putting an attribute on a post-it on their keyboard. It keeps the morale up.

CO: I analyze markets to be on the lookout for managers and the top producers so we can select who we want to be in our company. So now I’m recruiting more dollar production. The experience is ongoing—we do everything ongoing to be better than our competition. We want to be better than our competition. I selected $800 million of production by doing that.

SK: My job as a broker is to teach others how to build a lifestyle--not just buy and sell a property. I teach them about tax benefits, budgeting, and setting up their businesses as an individual. I reinvest in our brokerage by collectively buying property. I want my agents to invest and be buyers and sellers in the market we’re in. I want them to be ambassadors. We can have more empathy by doing what buyers and sellers do. We’re also going to look at investing in new products and ideas so we’re ready when the market gets better.

CO: We are going to be more aggressive. We know where we’ve been from 2009-2013 (the last downturn). We look at each of our offices and teams as an individual profit center. We will look at where they need support and if it will make a return for us. I know what a certain team will yield. Now we have recruited new agents who know they will get more business working in our office.

On Creating Mentorship and Membership Without Competition

CO: We set up training with top producers and new agents. It’s not a formal mentorship but the top producers offer a lot of information and education at these training sessions.

SK: Make a tribe of small brokers, get together once a month and compare business issues. I then encourage them to get involved with their local associations by making the ask: Who is the best person to run our x program? If you lead by example, you can naturally turn these things around in your association or brokerage. And don’t give up asking. It’s intimidating to go to a meeting where people are 20 years older. Don’t just ask them, take them, sit by them, and explain what’s happening.

KP: The best agents and brokerages I know of are the ones who cross-pollinate with new brokers. Instead of getting frustrated with a newer agent after they’ve been unprepared or rude, take them aside and ask them, “what if we had handled this better?” And then show them kindness. I think you will find that instead of competition, they will end up in your office, asking for help because they didn’t realize they needed help.

If You Could Go Back and Tell Your New REALTOR® Self Anything, What Would It Be?

CO: I worked at the March of Dimes and some REALTORS® affiliated with the organization told me I would be good at real estate. When I started, I made $28,000 in 1981, and I soon realized it wasn’t really about the money. I would tell myself to take advantage of the relationships I had built. The other thing is to know that you can be successful at the age of 26, which is when I ran one of the top three offices.

KP: I started out as a college kid. I started dropping candy bars and business flyers at my professor’s offices and they didn’t know I was already on campus all the time. They told me to fax them so I didn’t have to park. They’d ask me how long I’d been in business, and I would say, “It feels like forever.” They kept referring me to other professors. The best marketers I ever met were the ones who marketed for you. So, If I went back, I would tell myself, if you sold five homes, get those five clients to be raving fans to get you the business. Don’t ask what they can do for you. Do for them.

I’d also tell my younger self to go to annual conventions at the state and national levels. Of course, the education is great, but when you are there, you will introduce yourself to someone and get a great idea for something you can work into your business. You will get 100s more transactions from attending these programs.

SK: One of the things I learned is that I could choose my workday. When I sold in San Diego, it would be to whomever accidentally fell into my lap. I was driving 90 miles all around San Diego County, and I did 48 transactions that year. However, my business partner had a very small area where she sold-it was a mile by a quarter mile and she had 10 transactions for the year. Guess who made more money that year. Guess who had a better quality of life. Be purposeful with your business.