All Forum Posts by: Urvashi Vasishtha

Had an interesting discussion in the Department Heads group today where our CEO who has done more than 3000+ transactions and has an industry experience of 20+ years opined on the possibility of the election results impacting RE. 

When asked how do political results impact RE, he said, "the Real estate market slows in election years. Presidential election years are the worst, but any major election slows the market. Voters usually begin to believe that if their candidate loses, the world is going straight to hell. So they do not invest, but if their candidate wins, they go bullish! The voters whose prospect wins spend money, they believe the world will be awesome! The voters whose prospects lost spend money because they can’t do a thing about it until the next election lol!"

This got me thinking about how user behaviour changes per the market. To me, this falls under the category of complex buying behaviour triggered by a confirmation bias. 

Complex buying behaviour is encountered particularly when consumers are buying an expensive product. In this infrequent transaction, consumers are highly involved in the purchase decision. Consumers will research thoroughly before committing to investing. 

Confirmation bias takes over when the new information processed by the human mind confirms pre-existing beliefs. Here the pre-existing belief is that if their candidate wins the world will be amazing and if the candidate loses, the world will turn upside down. Humans tend to hold on to their beliefs strongly and look for confirmation of such beliefs. For instance, if a brand can create a situation where it can affirm the belief of the consumer pertaining to certain ingredients of the product, it is more likely to be a success in the market.

How do the election results impact buying behaviour in the market? Would love to know your take on the subject.

Last week, I was reading a "Catch-all guide" on cold emailing to generate RE leads. I have been in the Marketing/Branding profession for 6 years now and I still feel that cold-emailing can appear extremely impersonal and spammy. There is no doubt that sending cold emails for real estate is one of the most underrated and yet most efficient and cost-effective strategies to generate leads. But it's not every agent's favourite.

I think it's very important to set your intention while sending emails and more important to respect the user's privacy. Always include an "unsubscribe" option in the email and respect a person's choice to receive or end any communication with you. The number one mistake that people make while sending cold emails is imposing sales and information on the user. Never forget that the at the end of the email address is an actual person who wants to feel valued and respected. Nobody wants you to waste their time. 

I want to ask the experts here if they feel sending cold emails can generate tons of hot leads with minimal effort or if it is another digital strategy that looks like a scam. What are some of the tools you use or have used for sending cold emails? My bid was on High level but it didn't really work for me. Has it worked for anyone here? 

Thank you for your comment, Greg! Now that you mention any kind of soliciting on Twitter is illegal, I find it surprising to see many real estate groups and agents posting deals on Twitter. Perhaps, under Elon's leadership, such accounts will either be given a warning or simply deleted. If strict rules are applied, we will definitely see a lot less soliciting regarding real estate. 

Last week was abuzz with news of Elon Musk's $44 Bn acquisition of Twitter. We know many realtors use Twitter to syndicate their deals and find prospective clients. Is the acquisition by Musk good or bad for the real estate business? Will this have any impact on the reach and visibility of deals?

If you have any answers or thoughts on the questions posed above, please write in the comments below. I would love to know what the experts here think about this. 

Here's a take on why people think it's easy to find profitable flips.

People assume that whatever information is readily available is common. This bias skews our perception of reality. If you watched a show about flipping houses and the flipper in each episode makes around $40,000 to $60,000, you get the sense that it’s easy and everyone can do it. It appears that way because you are not noticing the number of people who are losing money on their flips.
Let’s take an example. If you haven’t played basketball and only watch Michael Jordan playing basketball, you will say that playing basketball is easy. You’d feel that you can shoot hoops like that. Hundreds of talented players felt that way only to be crushed by MJ time and time again. The reason novices don’t know how hard it is is that the only examples before them are those of successful people.

What are your thoughts on it?

Haven't had the time to analyse October's data yet. So here are some helpful highlights from September's report:

• 1) Homes are selling less quickly than in September 2021.
• 2) The national home inventory of active listings increased 26.94% over last September.
• 3) Sellers are less active than last year, with newly listed homes declining by 9.8% over last September. New listings have decreased every month since June 2022.
• 4) Homebuyers should see less competition and slightly lower home prices this fall.
  
  What are some of the housing highlights you've taken note of?