8 Lessons We Learned From the Last Recession

I’ve been selling real estate and running a team in Las Vegas for over 25 years. During that time, I’ve learned some extremely valuable lessons. I want to share eight of them from the last market shift that are appropriate for today’s housing climate:

1. Know your monthly burn rate. A burn rate is any unavoidable expense you need to live life, such as gas for your car, utilities, food, etc. It includes necessities, not anything extra. Put what you think you spend each month from your business and personal lives into separate accounts and see how long you last on those funds. You’d be surprised how off your estimate most likely is. You need to know your burn rate, so you can see where you need to make improvements, and how to grow your wealth reserves. 

2. Increase your cash reserves. Your reserves should be at least three months’ worth, though you should consider going to six or even 12 months.

3. Double your efforts. The easy days are over. If you were having 20 quality conversations a day last month, do 30 or 40 now. Move your goal from one appointment a day to two or three. 

4. Get laser focused. What are your best revenue-driving sources? Focus on your top three. You can’t try it all any longer, so calculate your ROI from your lead sources and work on your best performers. 

“It’s time to survive and thrive, not crash and burn.” 5. Study and know your market. Our monthly market reports are free, but there are a ton of other sources out there for tracking the market. In times of uncertainty, people want relevant information. Knowing the numbers, trends, and reasons behind them will keep you on top of our market.

6. Stay connected with your tribe. Your SOI, database of past clients, network, and community are important assets in this business. Keep them informed, and share with them relevant content. Be the local expert for them. 

7. Sharpen your skills. Communication skills are a must. Brush up on “the importance of right pricing” dialogues, the “buy now and wait” dialogs” to “Brush up on your “the importance of right pricing” and “buy now and wait” dialogues. We are in a shift—you need to know how to communicate the change. 

8. Control your expenses. Good times allow us to spend whenever on whatever. Go through your credit card statements and monthly bills to see what is nonessential. Cut those unnecessary expenses out. 

Applied now, these eight things learned from the last shift will help you during this one. Some Realtors survive and thrive, while others go out of business. It’s time to decide what group you’ll fall into. If you’d like to know about what lead generation strategies we’re focused on during this market shift, or if you have any other questions, call or email me. I’d love to hear from you.