Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 19, 2009
‘Buyer Agents’ course to give Georgia Realtors new perspective
Samara Litvack
National media outlets – as well as Realtors, brokers and experts around the country – have been proclaiming for nearly two years that the real estate industry is experiencing a buyer’s market.
Currently, there are more people looking to sell homes than there are people looking to buy them. There are more houses on the market (“supply”) than there are people who need to purchase them (“demand”). And when the supply outweighs the demand, prices become lower and the buyers get the advantage.
Many in the general public are finally becoming hip to this idea. They are learning that a buyer’s market does not equal a bad time to buy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Buyers are beginning to understand that in the industry’s current state, with lower prices and higher inventory, they are at an advantage.
Realtors have known this since before the shift began, and many predicted it would happen long before it did. The industry fluctuates from a buyer’s to a seller’s market as part of its natural cycle.
But to some, the current buyer’s market may seem different than the peaks or valleys of years past. Smaller real estate companies are going out of business, and an industry that was once jam packed with Realtors seems to be thinning out.
Is the current market too much for the local association of Realtors to bear? No, it isn’t. Rather, the perspective of the agents within the industry needs simply to change with the market.
To ease this transition, the Chattanooga Association of Realtors is gearing up to host a class in Northwest Georgia that will explain how agents and brokers can see their roles from a buyer’s perspective, and begin forward thinking about how to solidify business as a buyer’s agent.
Buyer Agents: Pacesetter for the Future will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2009, from 9 a.m. until 12:15 p.m., at the Walker County Civic Center. Good for three Georgia continuing education credits, this course will be taught by Tripp Anderson, a 29-year industry veteran who works with Keller Williams in Atlanta.
Anderson has been teaching real estate courses since 1989, when he was more or less “pulled into” instruction because he was such a good communicator. He began with prelicense programs and evolved over time into others. Today, he teaches agents about everything from specific designations to short sales.
“I opened an exclusive buyer agency company in 1996 and I worked for buyers for several years,” he says. “From there, I went back into general brokerage but still concentrated on representing buyers.”
His experience with the buying end of real estate gave him an interesting perspective. Before long, he saw clearly the common misunderstandings regarding what buyers’ agents are supposed to do, what they really do, what their value is and how their value is perceived by buyers and sellers.
Anderson realized the need to educate buyers’ agents on what their roles should be in a given transaction. He put together a course outline, presented it to the Georgia Association of Realtors and has been teaching Buyer Agents courses since 2000.
“We’ll talk about the value proposition of a buyer’s agent – what you, as an agent, bring to the buyer that is of value and of benefit to them and their purchasing real estate,” he says. “We’ll talk about what the buyers are expecting from a buyer’s agent, according to the National Association of Realtors’ research, and we’ll discuss buyers’ experiences with buyers’ agents, according to National Association of Realtors’ findings.”
As the industry ebbs and flows, so does Anderson’s course. He says he has recently restructured the whole course to fit the current market. According to research, he says, a buyer’s agent must adapt his or her business model to buyer expectations – and that is exactly what his course aims to address.
As far as course material goes, each student uses a buyer’s agent tool kit, in which they will
find material they can use beyond the course in their everyday practice. Anderson says the material will include handouts on the importance of proper financing applications, as well as surveys and questionnaires agents can use within their own client bases to assess how their service compares to their buyers’ expectations.
He says his students can think of such material as “checklists for better getting through the process.”
Anderson will also cover a brief review of agency law and contracts.
Essentially, Buyer Agents: Pacesetter for the Future defines what it means to be a buyer’s agent and shows students different ways they can most successfully serve their clients on a day-to-day basis.
For more information on the course, or to sign up, contact the Chattanooga Association of Realtors at 423-698-8001.
|
|