Surviving the Real Estate Off-Season

 


Are real estate sales slow during the chillier months? It doesn’t mean your real estate business can hibernate, too. Slow periods can provide you with significant opportunities to improve your marketability, expand your client base, and grow as a real estate salesperson. Not to mention, pursuing these opportunities will prepare you for when the real estate market bounces back in the spring and summer.

Fight the cold, and the off-season, by trying out some of our tips for keeping busy this fall and winter.

5 Tips for Surviving the Real Estate Off-Season

1. Network

If sales are slow, one of the best things you can spend your time on is networking to get new clients into your pipeline. Consider attending community events and business luncheons. Search for volunteer opportunities in the area where you could meet new people. Whatever you do, be sure to follow up with any new contacts you meet.

2. Develop new marketing skills

Good marketing skills are perhaps one of the most beneficial tools a real estate professional can possess. As Josh Rubin, web developer, SEO expert, and licensed real estate agent says, “The problem I see over and over is agents spend the slow times fighting for every dollar they can find, chasing leads, and when times are busy in the spring and summer, they completely abandon their marketing efforts. It’s too easy when you’re making offers, writing contracts, and so on, to forget that you need to market yourself actively for future buyers and sellers to find you. That pipeline dries up, and it’s back to feast or famine.”

3. Further your education

What’s hot in the real estate market right now? What skills do you need to build? Seek out courses to help fill these voids. Do you have some continuing education courses to finish up before you renew your license? Slow periods are a great time to finish them. You can also seek out professional development courses on just about anything you want to learn about. And when spring and summer roll around, you’ll be at the top of your game.

4. Explore new niches

Another great way to maximize your free time during the real estate offseason is by branching out into new and exciting fields. Because the real estate industry has the reputation for being fiercely competitive, real estate professionals often feel like they must learn more, be more, and do more in order to succeed. However, this theory is somewhat misleading. You should, in fact, be selective in identifying your target market. When agents market themselves as experts in a certain niche of the industry it not only helps the agent but the client as well.

5. Experiment with social media

Using social media outlets is a great way to utilize your free time during the slow months (and the best part is you don’t even have to go out into the cold to do it). Nearly 74% of sellers use social media to find their agents, meaning you have an opportunity to share insightful, quality content with clients and prospects, position yourself as an industry expert, and make it easier to attract new customers.

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