Strategies For Building A Solid Real Estate Referral Business by RealtyLine

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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 | JULY 2021

Strategies For Building A Solid Real Estate Referral Business written by RIKI MARKOWITZ

1. 2. 3. 4.

In This Issue

Burgers & Bragging Rights with TREPAC. Who’s the winner? Look inside!

HBA Max Awards 2021 Lots of excitement leading up to the Grand Winner! AREAA Happy Hour before the Boat Party on Lake Austin Keller Williams Realty Red Day makes a difference in the lives of everyone through volunteerism and much, much more!

If you want to crack the code on how to build up your real estate business, you don’t need a fortune cookie. The answers you need are out there if you know where to look. The 2020 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, published by the National Association of REALTORS Research Group, found that more than six in 10 real estate clients found an agent through a referral or tapped an agent they worked with in the past. And for sellers between the ages of 30 and 39, that number jumps to 75 percent. For home buyers across all ages, referrals by friends, neighbors and relatives are the primary way clients choose an agent. The report, also, found that 90 percent of home buyers say they would use their agent again and would recommend their agent to someone else. The takeaway? If you’re not doing something every day to build up your referral business, then you’re limiting yourself and your earning potential. Real estate is for go-getters who aren’t afraid to strike up a conversation with a stranger and ask if they know someone who’s in the market to buy a new home. But there’s also a method to the madness, according to the veteran REALTORS we spoke to.

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“Prospecting is more than just getting the next deal,” says Susan Horton, president of Austin Board of REALTORS (ABoR). “It’s reaching out and telling your friends, family and acquaintances what you do. These are the folks who believe in you and will help you if you ask.” When instructors talk about building your sphere, what they mean is learning different marketing techniques and developing your reputation so that you can generate leads for yourself through word of mouth recommendations, says Jazz Lough, a REALTOR with Austin Real Estate Experts. “When I first got my license, I wasn’t shy about what I was doing and what I was looking for,” says Lough. She started by doing open houses for herself and for other agents. Then she started doing neighborhood previews, which is an open house before the open house. “When I had a listing, I let the neighbors know that I wanted them to preview the home before anyone else,” she says. It was like a VIP event — a way for folks in the neighborhood to feel special. “My goal was to give people

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a chance to get to know me outside of the open house, where I would be too busy with potential buyers,” she says. Lough was able to get information from the neighbors without them even knowing it was happening. For example, you can find out who’s getting divorced, which is a potential lead on who’s selling their home and who may soon be in the market for a new place to live. And people are all-too happy to share when their adult kids get a new job or get married, which brings even more potential leads. “So I would really get to know the neighborhood through the community’s eyes, ears and mouths,” says Lough. Horton says these relationships are the key to any agent’s business. Most real estate instructors and mentors suggest starting off telling your friends and family members what you do and staying in touch with

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CAPTURING REAL MOMENTS IN REAL ESTATE SINCE 1995

Building

Lumber Futures Mark Sprague, State Director of Information Capital, Independence Title I keep getting these questions: “What are builders doing on purchasing lumber at these high prices?” “Any recommendations on when this will go down and how long?” and “Will prices continue to support the increase of build cost?” The quick answer is that costs will continue to go up through 2023, with a plateauing of values potentially through 2024. Then the strength of the national and global economy will pick back up. With costs/values increasing, lending rates rise, producing a natural slowing of different value channels (real estate and other hard assets). For example, if home values appreciate 7% the next four years and mortgage rates cap out at 3.5%, that raises mortgage payments by 45%. Thus, slowing the housing markets (that does not include labor, material, and inflation costs). Historically, the market slows itself. Only when lenders have tried to ‘goose’ the market with easy lending has the market historically gotten in trouble. Austin has weathered two catastrophic economic events in the last 15 months and continues to see the economy improve. Home values/sales will continue to improve over the next couple of years until the builder/developers/lenders catch up to demand. We will then see a slowing of values until we see another economic event. Most of the production builders have gone to price escalation clauses in their contracts to protect themselves and sales allotment (X number of sales a week, raising values to cover costs). As you can see, all most all costs in homebuilding have seen costs rise. Most of this is because of increased demand. But be aware that most costs have been somewhat stable the last ten years. With demand, savings, and wages are rising, it’s increased demand, rising prices. The original question was about lumber. If you have been watching material futures/costs, you are aware that lumber futures posted their most significant weekly drop ($1015 a linear foot) ever last week and continued to decline. Now at <$1,000 per thousand board feet, prices are down almost 41% since May’s record high. What’s going on? Demand for homebuilding across North America strained supplies, skyrocketing prices. But sawmills have increased output (+5% over the last year, and another 5% increase is expected ahead), and now more buyers are balking at historically expensive wood. For context: Since the early ’90s, lumber futures have mostly traded between $200 and $600. Is higher-priced lumber the new normal? Lumber market experts think so—at least for the next couple of years. Strong demand and lack of new mills will probably keep

lumber prices above pre-pandemic levels for at least 1–2 years. Why will lumber stay high for a while? Lumber and plywood prices have jumped 6 times in the last 15 months and slowed temporarily. Cost of material and labor has been rising 3% to 4% monthly the previous two years. Experts feel they will start to plateau towards the end of 2022. Slow at that point and then pick back up. The reason is that demand picked up dramatically during COVID due to DIY demand and surprisingly more robust housing demand. Realize as the chart shows that lumber values had been relatively stable for over 20 years. In that time, we lost several mills due to consolidation and cost. COVID exasperated the situation with mill closures (devastating economic effect on those small rural communities) with little to no capability to restart due to loss of labor and cost. The cost ($150 million+, two years out, lack of solid ROI, and ability to build new mills prevents new mills from being made, plus you have lost your labor (they’ve moved away to better-paying jobs.). The lumber mill industry currently maxes out at 1.5 million linear feet a day (demand is presently at 1.7 million linear feet a day). Wood products companies would like to add capacity, but a new mill takes about two years to build. Before the pandemic, many new mills were being constructed as production shifted from Canada to the South. Why? A plague of tiny mountain pine beetles, no bigger than a grain of rice, have already destroyed 44 million acres (15 years of log supplies in British Columbia, enough trees to build 9 million single-family homes, and are chewing through forests in Alberta and the Pacific Northwest.) In addition, the construction of the new southern mills in 2018 and 2019 led to long lead times for mill equipment. Therefore, building a new mill today would probably take more than two years. Producers are trying to increase the output of existing mills, but labor is a challenge for most. A few Covid-19 outbreaks among production workers disrupted production. Mills also are challenged in hiring new workers. In addition, there has been a long-term trend away from blue-collar occupations, partly due to educators telling high school students they have to go to college. On top of that, mills are located in rural communities that have been losing population. Finally, the stimulus checks and unemployment insurance bonus payments have sapped some people’s interest in taking jobs. On top of the direct labor challenges, truck drivers are vital to our economy, particularly wood production, starting with mov-

ing logs from forests to mills and then getting finished products to distribution centers and lumberyards. Unfortunately, truck drivers are in short supply across the economy (we are short about 27+%). Glue shortages caused by the winter storm-related shutdown of petrochemical plants in Texas also lowered plywood production, but that’s a temporary problem. Wood is relatively abundant, in North America, especially in the southern forests. Modern mills are very efficient at turning logs into 2x4s and sheets of plywood. Lumber and plywood prices are so high now because of the short-run dynamics of demand and supply. Wood products prices typically fluctuate more than most goods because homebuilding can move up or down much faster than sawmill capacity can. In addition, wood products have other more stable uses, such as non-residential construction, crates, and pallets. Still, new housing is the most significant usage, followed by home repairs and remodeling, and both of those activities are highly cyclical. Wood demand shot up in the summer of a pandemic. Many homeowners were stuck at home, unable to vacation, saving money. With time and money on their hands, they headed to the local building supplies dealer for the materials to build decks, playhouses, she-sheds, man-caves, zoom rooms, and additional rooms, etc. Also, they had a ton of money saved. Savings quadrupled during COVID. From $2.5 trillion to over $9.5 trillion. In the Fall of 2020, homebuilders cranked up their construction. By December, single-family housing starts (seasonally adjusted) hit their highest level since 2006. This activity was driven by historically low-rate mortgages, driving payments down as interest rates dropped in the early days of the COVID pandemic. After that, mortgage rates fell slower, but eventually, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped under three percent,

hitting record lows. The low mortgage rates and more considerable savings brought more buyers into the single-family real estate market. Working remotely persuaded a few long-time apartment dwellers to buy houses, but the vast impact came from families that had anticipated buying a home in a few years. With extremely low mortgage rates, purchases penciled out in 2020 and 2021. These constraints mean that increased supply won’t bring prices down any time soon. It also explains why values rose so sharply in the past year. Lumber and plywood prices will drop as demand falls. At some point, most of the people who can take advantage of low mortgage rates will already have bought a house. And interest rates will eventually rise (I predict mortgage rates will increase in the later months of 2021 and more rapidly throughout 2022, but many economists/ analysts see more muted increases). Thus, by the end of 2023, the substantial increase in demand for housing will be over. At that point, lumber and plywood sales will drop to more normal levels. Most housing and housing products executives see current demand as a return to normal rather than abnormally high. For example, housing starts averaged 1.5 million units per year from 1960 through 2010, but the last decade has been below that benchmark. That reasoning fails to consider population growth, the most significant driver of housing demand. Over that earlier period, population growth averaged 1.1% per year. Over the past decade, however, our population growth was just 0.6%. In the 1960-2010 era, the number of households grew by 1.3 million per year. In the last decade, growth averaged only 1.1 million homes. And population growth has slowed more in recent years because of very low immigration. With lower population growth and households, the

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JULY 2021

| REALTYLINE.US

Austin Board of REALTORS®

ACTRIS MLS: A New Compliance Culture Earlier this summer, the ACTRIS MLS

SUSAN HORTON

2021 PRESIDENT

are not

renewed focus to MLS compliance in our mar-

inten-

ketplace. This shift in compliance culture has

tional and

been driven by direct feedback from you and

require

your peers and the ACTRIS Board of Directors

a simple

has made a concerted effort to improve focus

check-

in this arena. You’ve made it clear that there is

in from

not enough overall knowledge of the rules in

ACTRIS to

our market, and it’s time that ACTRIS, with your

explain

help, turns the tide.

the rule,

What we’re bringing to market is a revamped compliance plan that focuses primarily on the education of our rules, support for our subscribers and correction of MLS data. You’ve emphasized to us that when the data is clean,

make the correction needed and show how to avoid

you’re able to efficiently conduct your business.

a violation

Education First and Foremost

When we say

The overhauled focus on the ACTRIS Rules and Regulations is also timed with a requirement for our ruleset to align with new NAR MLS policy requirements. While making these necessary changes, we’re also making our MLS rules easier to understand and follow. Moving

in the future. there will be a shift in compliance culture, educating on the rules is the heart of the changes ACTRIS is bringing to market. However, we also know that repeat-

forward, each of the rules will fall into one of

edly ignoring MLS rules hurts the entire market-

three compliance categories:

place and therefore, escalation and enforcement

Category 1: Relating to any listing information provided by a participant or subscriber Category 2: Relating to any IDX and VOW display rules Category 3: Relating to cooperation with a fellow participant or subscriber, listing copyright violations, misuse of MLS data/tools, unauthorized MLS access and mandatory submission of listings to the service All three of these categories would begin

tions

announced our commitment to bringing a

are also necessary. If the same rule is repeatedly broken, both the agent and responsible broker could be subject to required education courses, disciplinary hearings and/or monetary penalties. As long as all parties take the time and energy to

important work by providing you with resources to clearly explain the rules, simple steps to anonymously report compliance issues and guidance for starting a conversation with your peers about why rules matter in our marketplace. Stay tuned for upcoming MLS Compliance

understand why initial violations occurred and

Updates, where we’ll begin to dig into specific

how to correct them, these escalated steps should

MLS rule changes with educational resources

be few and far between.

that will help you learn the new rules before they

We’re In This Together It’s going to take all of us to raise the overall

with an education-first approach as ACTRIS staff

level of professionalism in the MLS. In our new

reaches out regarding a potential violation. In

compliance culture, ACTRIS will be counting on

most cases, we’ve found that MLS rules viola-

you to foster accountability and compliance in

JULY 2021 | REALTYLINE.US

our marketplace. We’ll be your partners in this

take effect later this summer. In the meantime, please share your questions and comments via the Idea Box in the ABoR Member Portal at Por-

tal.ABoR.com/Forms. Thank you for your time and attention during this important moment in our marketplace.

CAPTURING REAL MOMENTS IN REAL ESTATE SINCE 1995

Austin-Area KB Home Communities Austin

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Lockhart

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Belton West Canyon Trails From the $200s

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Manor Presidential Meadows – Heritage Collection From the $240s • 1,234–2,495 sq. ft., • 3–5 bdrms., 2–3.5 baths 13620 James Garfield Manor, TX 78653 512-278-8181

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Coming Soon

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Leander

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Haven Oaks From the $300s 1737 Stringer Pass Leander, TX 78641 737-667-6969

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HBA of Greater Austin

Builders for Babies Drive Impacts More than 3,000 Families As home building professionals, the lumber crisis is on all of our minds. With prices skyrocketing from approximately $300 per 1,000 board feet to over $1,000 per 1,000 board feet, the cost to build a new home has increased an average of $35,000 compared to prepandemic prices. The lumber shortage is affecting more than home building. Overall, consumers are now paying more for nearly everything. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the prices of consumer goods and services,

CHAD DURHAM

2021 PRESIDENT

jumped 0.8 percent in April. Over the past 12 months, prices have increased 4.2 percent — the fastest rise since September 2008.

First Builders for Babies Drive a Success Sadly, low-income families who already struggle to afford daily essentials have been hit the hardest with these price hikes. One of the essential items families need most is diapers. Since last year, the price of diapers has risen 8.7 percent and is still climbing, fueled by a shortage in raw materials like wood pulp. In Central Texas alone, one in three families struggles to afford diapers each month. Surprisingly, Federal Government food programs like SNAP and WIC cannot be used to purchase diapers. In an effort to provide relief to local families, the HBA’s Professional Women in Building Council partnered with The six-week drive launched on May 9, seeking donations of formula, wipes and diapers. In that short time frame, the HBA member community came out in full force, donating more than 77,000 diapers, 7,100 ounces of formula and 1,500 packs of wipes. The donations were delivered to several area non-profit organizations serving families at-risk including the Austin Diaper Bank, Any Baby Can and Carrying Hope. These donations will help more than 3,000 families. We are extremely appreciative of Shawn Kirkpatrick and his team at KB Home who donated more than half of the total donations. Our members stepped up to this challenge and we are incredibly proud of the positive impact it has made on the community in which we live. Although the drive has officially ended, there is always a great need for donations of this kind. We encourage you to contact the Austin Diaper Bank or charity of your choice to help our neighbors in need.

JULY 2021 | REALTYLINE.US

U P CO M IN G H B A E VEN T S

HomeAid Austin for the first Builders for Babies Drive.

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President’s Awards & Installation

CAPTURING REAL MOMENTS IN REAL ESTATE SINCE 1995

Helping Guide Families Home

We’re Here For You FIXED PRICING We market new home prices up-front and are NOT doing highest and best offers.

QUICK MOVE-IN HOMES New homes will be releasing for sale in the fall at sheetrock stage so your clients can visualize “home” when touring and possibly move-in before the end of the year!*

KEEPING YOU IN THE LOOP Be among the first to know when the quick move-in homes under construction are releasing for sale throughout Greater Austin. *Availability and move-in dates are estimated and subject to change. Clayton Properties Group, Inc. Formerly known and Qualified to do business in Texas as CMH Parks Inc. DBA Brohn Homes reserves the right to make changes to pricing, floor plans, specifications, features, dimensions, elevations, and incentives without prior notice. Stated dimensions and square footages are approximate and should not be used as representation of the home’s precise or actual size. Copyright 2014 Clayton Properties Group, Inc. Formerly known and Qualified to do business in Texas as CMH Parks Inc. DBA Brohn Homes.

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WCREALTORS.org

Knowledge and Consistency: A Recipe For Lifetime of Referrals The Central Texas real estate market over the past six months has been amazing and challenging. We, as REALTORS, have spent more time writing offers, tracking numbers and finding creative ways to assist clients in a fast paced, high dollar market, more so now than what we have been accustomed to over the past decade.

KRISTON WOOD

2021 PRESIDENT

Looking forward to the third and fourth quarter, REALTORS are working to reenergize exhausted buyers and find serious sellers to close out 2021. Consider the following as a foundation by which to build a real estate pipeline. Be a resource. Be knowledgeable. Be consistent. First, be a resource. Connect people to those who can help them achieve the outcome they seek. Build a list of vendors who can assist them with everything from their home maintenance needs, automotive repair or restaurant recommendations. We might have past clients seeking new jobs, so who do we know that is hiring? We may have people who are seeking to move out of town or out of state. Who are the REALTORS that can assist them in the locations where they aspire to move? The more connections we make while building a list of resources, the more effective we will be at being a resource for those who seek our guidance. Also, asking those resources who they refer their business to is another great way to make valued connections. Second, be knowledgeable. From reviewing daily market stats, communicating with builder representatives and receiving daily updates from local lenders, any information that will

JULY 2021 | REALTYLINE.US

help us grasp the market of the moment will be valued by those who look to us as a resource. Staying current on national, state, county and city updates that may affect our client base will be key to earning their trust. The more we know, the more effective we will be in preparing those we seek to assist.

resource

knowledgable

consistent

Next, be consistent. Consistency is the key to sustainable business, increased profit and the freedom and flexibility we seek after attaining our real estate license. Real estate is a business and, as a REALTOR, we are the CEO. We must treat every day as if we are running a multi-million dollar company, because we are. When we are purposeful with our time and respect the process, we will find that we are working less and profiting more. Even more, our clients benefit from our consistency. When our client sees that we are consistent and knowledgeable we become a resource for life, they then begin to connect us to others, creating a lifetime of referral partnerships. It is a ripple effect. Above all else. Keep it simple. Do not over think it. We are in a relationship business so if we focus on our people, we will find that the rest is easy to accomplish.

CAPTURING REAL MOMENTS IN REAL ESTATE SINCE 1995

JULY 2021

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Women’s Council of REALTORS, Austin Network

Building A Referral Network: Become A Member of WCR! So many classes and courses are available on building a strong referral-based business by connecting and staying in touch with your sphere. What referral sources do you have at your disposal beyond your sphere? Becoming an active member of a national organization like the Women’s Council of REALTORS can be a highly effective referral source.

LORRIE KENNEDY

2021 INTERIM PRESIDENT

Because the classes and education teach members to provide a higher quality of service and to treat their career as a business, members frequently refer to other members across the country. On average Women’s Council members receive $15,000 per year in referral business — a fantastic ROI! Whatever organization you choose, how can you be sure that you are making the most of your membership dues? First, complete your personal profile and keep it updated. Be sure that your contact information and photo are current. Write a compelling bio. Give thorough information about the geographic area you cover. Remember, that this profile is your introduction, your first impression to someone who may not have met you yet. Next, attend national and state conferences/ classes. Along with NAR and TXR, Women’s Council and other national organization provide events like this. Whether virtual or in-person, these events give us the opportunity to meet REALTORS in other areas. Virtually, introduce yourself in the chat

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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT IS ALL WE DO!

including your area and contact information. In person, take advantage of networking opportunities and send follow-up cards/emails to the REALTORS you meet. You’ll be astonished at how your database of REALTORS around the country grows. When your client or a friend of theirs is moving to another area of the country, you will have a resource for them! What a way to stand out and be the expert! How does this look logistically? Call the REALTOR by phone or schedule a Zoom conference. Before you give their contact information to your client, you want to get a good “feel” (I have made this call to discover that the other REALTOR was stepping back for a couple months to help her mother through chemo). Provide the other REALTOR a quick background about your client and their needs. When you are both comfortable that your client is a good fit, confirm their email and broker information. This is also when the referral fee should be discussed and maybe negotiated. Give the REALTOR your client’s contact information and your client the REALTOR’s contact info. My personal preference is to send an introductory email, including some accolades of the REALTOR who you are referring to your client.

This feels more transparent to clients when they see the information that is being provided about them. The final step — get it in writing. Both REALTORS will sign a referral form, outlining the referral fee discussed. Your Broker should have a form for you to use, so be the leader and initiate the document. This is additional income. Check in occasionally with your client and with the other REALTOR to be sure things are moving along smoothly. When you are on the receiving end of the referral, reach out to the referred client the same day or the next day to get an idea of their timeline and schedule your next contact. Provide courtesy updates to the referring agent occasionally. As with clients, sometimes it’s necessary to report that there is nothing to report. Creating a solid referral network can provide a steady stream of “lunch money.” Beyond that, it’s astonishing how much our lives are enhanced by the people who we meet in this profession. And hopefully, along the way, we are enhancing the lives of others as well. Happy networking!

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Home Buying is a 24/7 Job When you work with an Internet Sales Team like Abigail and Ashley, all the information is at your fingertips. • They can help narrow down the right location, schedule community visits, and find the right home for your clients. • As longtime Austin residents, Abigail and Ashley not only know M/I, they are familiar with the ins and outs of ATX.

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Find out the latest updates and community info 512.253.7338 • SalesAustin@mihomes.com mihomes.com

Riki Markowitz, Katie Agness 2021 Presidents Susan Horton, Austin Board of REALTORS® Chad Durham, Home Builders Association of Greater Austin Kriston Wood, Williamson County Association of REALTORS® Lorrie Kennedy, Women’s Council of REALTORS®

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HOMES FROM MID-$600K TO $1.2M+ Visit Model Row Today!

Referrals: continued from front page

Jodi Blynn: jodi@hollowslaketravis.com

Information Center: 512.240.6262

GIDDENS HOMES

COVENTRY HOMES

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them on a regular basis. “One or two hours each day you should be emailing, calling, popping by and seeing these folks,” says Horton. And, most importantly, ask for referrals. Once you get a referral, “you need to immediately visit with those people and develop the relationship.” To build a successful referral business, you have to have a system, says Horton. She doesn’t recommend an off-the-cuff approach because it’s more than just emailing folks and asking how they’re doing today. First, create a list of all your leads, including those you haven’t reached out to yet. For example, write down people you know who live in apartments and talk to them about the benefits of getting in the real estate market now. “You can let them know that if they don’t get in the market today, they may not be able to buy next year.” Horton suggests that when you’re reaching out to your leads, share something of value with them. You can ask someone if they’ve considered refinancing. If someone has private mortgage insurance, suggest investigating ways to move away from that so they can save money. “If you’re providing your leads with some form of knowledge every day, they’re going to be very receptive and open to talking to you,” says Horton. Of course, you have to remember to be patient. Horton says it’s not unusual to provide someone with a lot of information over a period of a year before they give you a referral. Next, make connections with people in the real estate business, including an inspector, a lender and a title agent. Horton says those are the people who will help you. “I suggest letting them know that you work by referral and ask them to send you referrals.” You can say something like, “If I’m going to refer business to you, will you refer business to me?” You can’t be afraid to ask for referrals. And if you meet someone who doesn’t

Building The Hollows is an authentic lakefront community Northwest of Austin resting on the North Shore of Lake Travis, spanning over 1400 acres of Austin Hill Country and oﬀering new luxury estate-style homes and Hill Country inspired Cottages. With countless resort-style amenities, and miles of golf cart and hiking trails throughout the community, The Hollows is the perfect place to call home.

JULY 2021 | REALTYLINE.US

The last thing is to teach people how to refer people to you. Horton says she asks people if they have a REALTOR they refer friends and family members to. If they don’t, Horton says she wants to be that source. “I tell them ‘I want to be the person [that comes to mind] when you think of real estate in any capacity. And I will provide your friends with excellent service and take care of them as though they’re first class passengers on my airline.’” Your system will become second nature once you do it over and over. When we talk about growing a referral business in real estate, so much of it is getting your name out there, getting face time, connecting with people in your community and just making sure that they are aware, this is who I am, this is what I do,” says Matt McGee, a real estate technology platform blogger and podcaster. The best way to flawlessly execute Horton and Lough’s strategies is to practice. Chris Linsell, a professional real estate marketer and lead generator, suggests “getting your referral request down to three or four sentences, and practice, practice, practice. Write it down, deliver it to your friends and family and be ready to offer it at just the right time.” When you go out, you’ve got to look the part and do things that make you stand out. Every communication piece Horton sends out asks for business. Every phone call ends with thanking them for their support and their referrals. “I’m on target marketing myself and my brand every single day,” says Horton. “It doesn’t matter where I go, I’ve got my name badge on, I’ve got my business cards in hand and I strike up conversations because I am my brand.”

Lumber: continued from page 3

historical 1.5 million housing starts is reasonable for a boom year, not an average. If we look at future population growth, there is a concern. If we take out Asian and Hispanic births from the national equation, we are declining by 2025. Developers/builders/ lenders had been conservative since the downturn over ten years ago. During other recessions, the concerns about business failures were high on everyone’s lists, including the regulators and lenders. The overbuilding and easy lending that caused the last downturn was not going to happen again. Most new homes available were what we call “just in time delivery.” The wasn’t a large amount of inventory available coming into the COVID recession, and there weren’t plans to have a lot coming out.

want to work that way, that’s OK. Move on and find someone who does.

Most cities saw their employment markets slow during COVID, Austin, DFW, San Antonio, and much of Texas did not. But, as we all know, locally significant employment news happened. Oracle, Tesla, Elon Musk, and the many interests and subsidiaries and suppliers began relocating/expanding in the Austin area. In addition, DFW and San Antonio have seen continued expansion throughout 2020 /21. Job creation is the basis of any good economy. Austin, DFW, San Antonio, gets an A+ for job creation last year and into the future with all the expansions and relocations. However, it will take a couple of years, at least for Austin developers and builders, to catch up. Finally, lumber and plywood prices typically rise in the spring and drop by the end of fall by about five

percent. This year, look for not a decline but a leveling off. Prices will remain high for another two or three years, then drop back to more normal levels. The key to the pace of decline will be mortgage rates. In the meantime, homebuilders will pass the costs along to their buyers. The do-ityourselfers will have a good excuse to postpone new projects. What better time to take a vacation? Think about what is getting ready to happen in that arena/ channel, which, in turn, is suitable for Texas tourism. Should you have any other questions/concerns, let us know. Another good source of what is happening is Independence Title’s economic market updates. Contact your Independence Title Marketing Rep if you have any interest.

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Burgers and Bragging Rights: The Classic Realty Team

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Builders for Babies

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Mimosas and Masterminds: Reagan Sansom, Erin Precopia, Richard Galzada of JB Goodwin REALTORS, Dave Kapur of All City Real Estate and Joan Dameron of JB Goodwin REALTORS

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WCREALTORS: Member Happy Hour: Lori Williams of Sowthwestern Title Agency, Jacque Smith of Independence Title and Carol Fahenstock of 29 West Realty Group

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WCREALTORS: Member Happy Hour: Pam Wachholz, Barbara McLaughlin, Sarah Thompson and Linda Ray, all of Realty Texas

Casetta Ranch: Laura Coates and Christian Diez, both of Brohn Homes

Burgers and Bragging Rights: Teifke Real Estate Group

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Builders for Babies: Taylor Jackson of HBA

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AREAA Boat Party Happy Hour: Christine Chau of Texas Urban Realty; Spencer Hsu, Richele Delapaz, Amanda Farris and Jackie Radulovic, all of eXp Realty

Mimosas and Masterminds: Tom Britton

Burgers and Bragging Rights: Terri Romere and WCREALTORS President Kriston Wood, both of Keller Williams Realty

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CAPTURING REAL MOMENTS IN REAL ESTATE SINCE 1995

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Realty Texas Grand Opening: Patricia Perez and Chris Rodriguez of Realty Texas

WCREALTORS: Member Happy Hour: Heather Bonamo, Debby Moran and Candace Stone, all of WCREALTORS

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AMBA State of the Market: AMBA Past President Natalie Penland, 2021 ABoR President Susan Horton and 2021 AMBA President Mike Carroll

CAPTURING REAL MOMENTS IN REAL ESTATE SINCE 1995

AREAA Boat Party Happy Hour: 2021 AREAA President Miguel Benavides and Denise Vincent

Burgers and Bragging Rights: Summer Pavliska of the Cheez Burgers N Paradise Team

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SouthStar 3 Year Anniversary: Trip Ray and Curtis Wren, both of SouthStar Bank

Realty Texas Grand Opening: Jodi Blynn of The Hollows at Lake Travis, Weston Blynn and Debbie Horridge

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