NAR's Oct. 2018 Pending Homes Report and Your RE Marketing

It’s out!

The pending home sales report for October 2018 came out today in response to the latest numbers in. This comes in tandem with the Existing Home Sales report that was covered just last week. Here’s what you need to know about it and how it’s going to affect your marketing efforts for the future.

There has been a series of decreases over the past 10 straight months that has resulted in some being afraid of the market and what it could spell out for the future. This time, the Northeast was not affected nearly as much as those on the West Coast, who saw a 15% decrease in pending home sales compared to October 2017. The South saw a much less severe drop with 4.6% in October 2017.

We can mostly blame the rising mortgage rates for this decline in the pending home sales index, which in turn creates a smaller pool of buyers. The mortgage rate is set to rise exponentially. Right now, it’s poised at 4.5%, but that will rise to 5.5% by the end of 2019 and will continue to rise into 2020. The Federal Reserve is not exactly helping with this regard due to their aggressive measures regarding inflation. However, mortgage rates aren’t the only cause of this decrease. We also see that the median home prices rose nationally and are going to continue to rise well past the new year and well into 2019. Those home prices are expected to increase by 4.7% at a minimum. This is especially true for those in FL. Out of the 20 largest housing markets, 7 of those are in Florida are set to increase by 5% or more in 2019, including the following markets (so keep your eyes on the prize here):

  • Titusville Area
  • Lakeland/Winter Haven
  • Tampa/St. Pete
  • Sarasota/Bradenton
  • Orlando
  • Miami (we will be “pre-launching” there on December 19th, 2018)
  • Daytona Area

The takeaway here is that median home prices are going up, mortgage rates are going up, and sales are going down except for single-family starts and condos/townhouses.

With this in mind, what can you do to about this in terms of your own marketing efforts? How can you make sure that your listings stand out from all the others?

Here are a few things you can do:

Just Sold, Pending signs

This works well to create interest as many of the veterans would know. This is especially so concerning when those prices go up. Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. This will create interest in the neighborhood that you just sold, especially to those looking to move.

Articles for Newspapers, Reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google, Travel Sites, etc.

This is to create interest and intrigue to people either new to the area or not even that new but looking for something new to do. If you’re the #1 person on those forums, commenting, asking questions, and creating your own authority on those websites will not only increase your SEO, but make you look good to vacationers, retirees, and community members. The best way to get into newspapers is to first establish a relationship with them and aim at small publications to build your authority about your area, then work your way up. Don’t immediately try to take on larger publications and hoping it will work. Spoiler alert: it likely won’t.

Tell Them All About What They Would Be Getting With That Home

Think about it: what makes a home unique? What’s important to the buyer? Selling a house is more than that: it’s also selling a community and a lifestyle. What things are there to do there? How’s the commute? Schools? These are all imperative factors to consider. The house needs to fit the client as much as the community does. Like attracts like. What kind of people are already in that neighborhood? Figure that out, then you can market it to a targeted audience that will have more response than a broad swatch.

Here’s the whole video for your viewing pleasure.

What are your thoughts? Send them my way!