As The Market Makes A Comeback, Here's How To Get Your Rizz Back

The verdict is in — the old way of doing business is over. Join us at Inman Connect New York Jan. 23-25, when together we’ll conquer today’s market challenges and prepare for tomorrow’s opportunities. Defy the market and bet big on your future.

Each week on The Download, Inman’s Christy Murdock takes a deeper look at the top-read stories of the week to give you what you’ll need to meet Monday head-on. This week: As the Federal Reserve prepares to meet next week, lower interest rates spark joy with agents and would-be buyers. Are you ready?

If you’re not chronically online, you may be puzzling over the headline today. “Rizz” is the buzzy word of the year as crowned by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Those wacky philologists drew on the collective power of 30,000 other language lovers to create a shortlist, from which they chose this four-letter internet slang term that roughly translates to “style, charm, or attractiveness.” While some say the word is short for “charisma,” the term’s originator, streamer Kai Cenat, denies this.

So what does this have to do with your real estate business? Plenty.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with glimmers of excitement as interest rates fell and formerly pessimistic buyers and sellers suddenly got interested. Want to take advantage of the opportunities that 2024 may be bringing your way? You’re gonna need rizz.

Today, we’ll look at the No. 1 story from last week, then we’re going to cull the best advice on swagger, confidence, leadership and, yes, rizz from our contributors.

Hallelujah! Finally, some good news about the real estate market by Christy Murdock

From legal troubles to realignments to outsized inflation, the big picture for real estate was of fear and trembling for much of the year. But overshadowing even the commission lawsuits and the meltdowns at NAR was the simple fact that it was just crazy difficult to find clients.

Then, like the sunshine through the clouds, we got some good news on interest rates — and things began to shake loose. That led to last week’s all-good-news edition of The Download.

We’re not completely out of the woods yet. The Federal Reserve is meeting next week and the most recent jobs report showed strong numbers, which could send rates back up. But for the most part, it feels like the gloom that’s been hanging over the industry is dissipating, and the folks who read the market’s tea leaves are more positive than they’ve been in quite a while.

What that means for you is that it’s time to shake off the doldrums, get back out there, and get busy. You need to start saying your affirmations and boosting your rizz-factor, too, so that you can make those all-important great first impressions.

Here, then, is some of the best advice from our contributors to help: