Selling Your Listing in a Down Market: Achieving Realtor Royalty in a Recession

Being able to pivot your sales strategy during a recession may seem impossible, but successful realtors have divulged their best practices for navigating a down market and still walking away with profit. Follow along as we highlight a few of their best tips and approaches so that you can achieve the profitability you deserve, even in an unfavorable real estate market!

Tip #1: Listen to the data & pivot often

Just like any good strategy, your approach for each listing has to be flexible to accommodate a down market’s nonlinear trends. Running an initial market analysis before listing is the obvious rule-of-thumb, but are you running them often enough to account for the fluctuations in the recession market? Additionally, do you feel informed enough about the down market’s behavior in general, to the extent of confidently making decisions on behalf of your client? 

HomeLight emphasizes the importance of pricing homes relevantly during recessions, warning that dropping prices as listings sit unsold communicates a lack of value: “If no one is purchasing the home even as it becomes less expensive, buyers will make negative assumptions — deciding it needs extensive repairs or has undesirable characteristics even if nothing is physically wrong with your house.”

Even if your list price is only slightly off with regard to the market’s current valuations, the impact will show when the listing idles longer than you expected–or worse–doesn’t sell at all. Put your faith in the data you have available to you and react accordingly: It’s challenging to be proactive in an uncertain market, so your pivoting skills and adaptability will need to shine through.

Try not to become discouraged as you persistently adjust pricing. Your client will see this and mirror you. Remaining optimistic and pursuing updated data communicates to them, “Hey. The timing may not be perfect, but I’m sure that my abilities and expertise will sell your house.”

Include them in your ongoing efforts to re-strategize throughout the journey, and be prepared to offer them insight into the market so that your actions have justification. 

Tip #2: Be brutally honest with clients

Diva Real Estate advises realtors to candidly disclose the state of the market to homebuyers during the initial phase of the relationship–no sugar coating. Creating unrealistic expectations usually translates into disappointment. You don’t want empty promises and wishful thinking to cost you a client, thereby also losing their recommendation or positive word-of-mouth promotion. 

Being honest up front ensures that your client is informed and well-aware of the market’s fluctuations, eradicating any surprise or frustration from them down the road. 

Give them the lay of the land at the very beginning, even if it feels awkward or uncomfortable–they’ll thank you in the long run! Try to avoid your instinct to downplay the amount of time your seller’s listing may sit on this unpredictable market, be feasible with your estimates on profit, and consistently update them on market conditions. 

Having these tough conversations ultimately strengthens your client-realtor relationships, too. Your clients are looking to you as a beacon of reason and information as they weather the storm alongside you, after all. Use this trust to your advantage: You’ll be demonstrating real value as you prioritize communication and transparency from the beginning, signaling to your client that your industry expertise and decision-making skills will protect their bottom line.

Clear communication is always important when fostering your client relationships, but it should be over-prioritized in a down market! Listen to your clients’ concerns and offer them support, but don’t be afraid to be straightforward when it comes to expectations.

Tip #3: Optimize the home for listing

On the same note, don’t be afraid to communicate the importance of preparation to your sellers as you work to finalize their listing. There’s a lot of great tips out there for pre-sale, such as the National Association of Realtors’ five item prep list or Quicken Loans’ comprehensive guide that you can offer as resources if your seller is overwhelmed. 

Try to emphasize how critical it is that their home stands out, especially being listed in a down market. Elevated selling competition and a lack of willing buyers create a ton of pressure to make a statement. It’s imperative that your seller recognizes every possible way that their home could appeal to a potential buyer. For example, how can your seller promote every desirable feature of their home? What visuals exist in the home currently that could be the biggest obstacle for an extended offer? 

Sellers may express some pushback towards pricey renovations and inspections, especially during a recession–-try to encourage other more cost-efficient upgrades based on what you’ve seen during your journey in real estate. What big-ticket features always seem to seal the deal, and how can your seller capitalize on what they already have? Is it time to brush up on your curb appeal strategy? Have you and your seller discussed how their home’s appearance fairs against other similar “competitor” listings? Has your seller put any effort into staging their home? These are only a handful of considerations that could have a huge impact on the visual impression of your listing.

Tip #4: Buckle down on marketing efforts

Although your brain may be signaling oppositely, it’s actually more beneficial to spend marketing dollars in a down market than a flourishing one. In a recession, competition is especially high and demand declines significantly… so it only makes sense to invest in marketing now more than ever. 

It’s time to really think outside the box with your real estate marketing strategy. Easier said than done, we know. It’s common to feel stagnant with your marketing efforts when you’re not seeing a flood of prospect interest, but the true ROI (Return on Investment) lies in the success of selling a client’s house even in a down market:

Having this feat attributed to you, especially if you continuously perform while other realtors struggle, will earn you a well-deserved reputation that only drives more homesellers your way. If you can sell in a down market, you can sell in any conditions, right? Who wouldn’t want to list with a realtor who has a track record like that?

Your marketing strategy doesn’t need to be complicated for you and your seller to see results, you just have to be adaptive along the way.

Trying new things can be daunting when there’s money and time invested, specifically during a down market, so doing some research ahead of time should help you better choose the right techniques for your listing. This informative article from Hoole outlines some of the best strategies for marketing listings in a recession, including recognizing buyers’ pain points, investigating what feedback other realtors are receiving, exploring multiple advertising platforms, and pursuing impactful outreach to expand your audience.

Don’t forget to step back and assess the performance of each marketing endeavor along the way so that you can pivot your strategy accordingly. All realtors know that time is of the essence after a property is listed–don’t give up immediately if you’re not seeing results, but be aware if multiple weeks have passed and no interest has been garnered. 

The good news? You’ll be able to apply all the trial and error you undergo in your real estate marketing efforts to future stubborn listings, and your ability to strategize will solidify as you get a few more down market success stories under your belt.

Tip #5: Invest in professional documentation

In our last blog, we explained the importance of proper real estate listing video and the use of drone/aerial footage to attribute more value to the property. This will always hold true in any market, but could definitely come in handy during a recession:

→ 73% of homeowners say they are more likely to list with an agent who uses video

→ 403% more inquiries are driven from listings with video 

→ Listings that leverage drone photography sell, on average, 68% faster than those without

With elevated competition, professional imagery could make or break your listing’s profitability and require you to continually lower the asking price–a losing scenario for both you and your seller. Trying to cut corners with quick walkthrough videos may seem like a good idea at the time, but the message communicated to your audience will only hurt your listing in the end. First impressions are especially important in a down market, and you want your listing’s imagery to represent the high quality of the home.

Skilled real estate videographers are experts when it comes to bringing out the best features of your listing, ensuring its unique selling points are highlighted and featured beautifully. Luckily for you, you’ve landed in the right place for top-tier real estate video and photography! FILMSTOIC takes pride in providing our real estate professionals with stunning imagery that has proven to increase the amount of inquiries and traffic driven from their listings–Don’t forget to view what a proper listing video should look like, here: 

And finally: If you’re reading this–best of luck as you navigate the market, and know we’re rooting for you!