Most people mistakenly think they only need real estate agents when they are buying or selling a home.  They’re wrong, obviously.  People need real estate agents ALL THE TIME.   They need agents when they’re thinking of putting an addition on their home, and want to know whether it’s a good investment.  They need agents when they want a valuation for their home insurance.  They need agents when they need recommendations for good contractors, landscapers, and the like.  They need agents when they pass a “for sale” sign in their neighborhood, and want to know how much it’s selling for. And so on.

Most importantly, of course, they really need a real estate agent to keep them informed about what’s going on in the market.  They bought a house, it was one of the biggest investments they ever made, and they’d kinda like to know how it’s doing in the market.  Of course, know one ever tells them, so they scour the paper for real estate news and check out “zestimates” to get some kind of idea of what’s happening in the market.

You all know this, because you’ve all experienced it every time you meet someone new.  Let’s say you’re at a cocktail party, or a charity event, or sitting on the sidelines at your kid’s soccer game — someplace where you’re meeting people who don’t know you.  You meet someone new, you engage in some small talk, he asks you what you do, and you tell them you’re in real estate. What happens then?  They ask you the same question:

Sooo, what’s going on in the market?

Not once in a while, not sometimes, EVERY SINGLE TIME.  It never fails that if you meet someone new, and tell them you’re in the real estate business, they’re going to ask you what’s going on in the market. So what does that tell us? It tells us (1) that they are interested in what’s happening in the real estate market, (2) that they would like information about the market, and (3) that they don’t have anyone to help them.  If they had a real estate agent who actually kept them informed about the market, they wouldn’t need to ask you the question.

The bottom line is this: they need a real estate agent.  So does everyone else.  They don’t think they need one, because the industry has brainwashed all of us into thinking that only people who are actively buying or selling real estate should have an agent.  So broaden your perspective of what an agent does.  Be the type of agent who cultivates relationship with people by providing non-transactional services to them, like keeping them up-to-date on the market.  Constantly develop that sphere as a source of direct business and referrals.

Everyone in your market is someone who needs an agent.  Be their agent.

Over the next few months, I’m going to be setting out what I call the “36-1/2 Rules for Client-Oriented Real Estate Agents,” a collection of short takes on the CORE concept that I’ve developed over the years of discussing and teaching the system.  We’ll count up to the 36th rule over the next few months, and then the 1/2 rule.  You can get the full list of rules by clicking on the “36-1/2 Rules for CORE Agents” category on the blog.