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Byron Lazine and Nicole White are two agents in Connecticut who give us their thoughts on the week’s news every Friday in “The Real Word,” a weekly video column on Inman. This week
Lazine and White discuss the rise of lawsuits against real estate professionals, how great agents build relationships that last through good and bad markets, and the rollout of NAR’s fifth “That’s Who We Are” ad campaign after their latest fee hike.
Topic 1: Biggest regrets of first-time sellers
Lazine and White discuss an article that highlights the findings of a Zillow survey that shows first-time sellers are having seller’s remorse.
Among the regrets sellers had was not timing their listing right. White added context saying that sellers who listed in 2020 might feel like they missed out on higher selling prices that they might have gotten in 2022 instead.
Lazine warned against sellers holding out on listing now for fear of that happening.
“Sellers it’s better to list now than it is later on,” he said. White quickly agreed that the sooner sellers list their homes in 2023, the better.
Topic 2: There are 1.25M fewer million-dollar homes in the U.S. in 2023
Is the luxury-home market OK? White and Lazine share their thoughts on the report of there being 1.25 fewer million-dollar homes in the U.S. in 2023.
White said she wasn’t surprised by the numbers. All of it makes sense when you take into account the market changes that came with rising mortgage rates, especially this time of year.
Lazine agreed that this report doesn’t surprise him as it’s a small dip and the number is still way up compared to before the pandemic.
Topic 3: RE/MAX CEO’s sneak peek for 2023
Lazine and White both applauded RE/MAX and its CEO Nick Bailey and congratulated the organization on its 50th anniversary and R4 conference.
At the conference, Bailey talked about how important technology is for real estate agents today and went as far as to say that the agents who ignore it will be replaced.
Topic 4: Not making home improvements
While covering the biggest regrets of first-time homebuyers, Lazine and White talked about one regret being the home improvements many sellers didn’t make that likely affected the price their home sold for.
Simple improvements can make a huge difference, White said. She pointed out that even just staging a home and making the bed helps.
Lazine ended the episode with a quote from Jared James, “Consistency is undefeated.”
“If we all go do the things we need to do [in order] to serve our community each and every single day right now, and be consistent in it, we’re gonna have a big year no matter what,” he added. “Keep that in mind as you move forward here throughout this week.”
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