An opportunity for agents to dish out in Pasadena

We had the pleasure of dining with nine enthusiastic agents at Café Santorini in Old Town Pasadena last week. The following morning we met with a group of nine more agents in the area for breakfast before the seminar.

Over the course of dinner and breakfast, we heard about the opportunities and challenges these agents are facing in the Los Angeles market. They gave us insight into how HouseValues can help them see success in a shifting market. One customer commented on how Market Leader is “a great tool which organizes my business and allows for easy follow up.” He went on to say that “Market Leader is helpful for seasoned agents as well as those just getting started in the industry.” This statement really stood out in our minds with the market conditions the way they are today.

Here are a some key pieces of information we took away from our discussions:

● When using the Internet as a source of generating leads, it is important not to forget about the personal follow up to establish relationships. Email correspondence is convenient for the customer and highly effective, especially when paired with a hand-delivered CMA to gather more information about the seller.

● The Los Angeles market is changing back to the way it was five years ago. Agents in the area are finding that it takes patience and the understanding that it is taking longer to sell homes as they enter a buyers’ market. Homes are staying on the market significantly longer than before. Buyers today have more options and there is not as much urgency to buy right away with homes being on the market longer.

● The biggest challenge agents are currently facing are getting sellers to realize the pricing they desire may not be as realistic as before as the market changes.

● The more opportunity agents have to get their name in front of consumers, the higher the chance they feel they will be perceived as agents that sell the most homes.

Click here to view photos from our dinner and breakfast in Pasadena.