Grace Townsley
December 14, 2021
Happy Tuesday!
If Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton decides to hang up his helmet after Sunday’s dramatic loss, at least he has a back-up career option: flipping Tribeca real estate. Hamilton’s stunning penthouse, a converted 19th-century bookbindery, features a rooftop pool, 20-foot ceilings, and a private elevator. He purchased the property for $44M in 2017 and just sold it for $49.5M. With that price tag, it's the biggest known downtown sale of the year. How fast do you think he raced to sign that deal?
- James and David
As housing demand hit historic levels this year, a whole swarm of real estate startups and tech solutions elbowed their way into the market. While many of these eager beavers will fade away in the coming months, these real estate tech trends emerged in 2021 and might have some staying power:
Industry tech is always going to be evolving and impacting how we communicate with clients, book showings, send listings, and more. If you can take advantage of these tech trends, that can be a huge benefit to you. But that one-on-one relationship with your clients will always be your biggest value. All the tech in the world can’t replace relationships.
The most lucrative real estate market might just be the most digital. In the last week of November, more than $100M worth of metaverse properties were sold. Most of this land is located in The Sandbox and Decentraland. Metaverse land investors use the same strategies they would in the real property market. They study location, accessibility, nearby attractions, local comps, and property size.
Some call the metaverse the next Manhattan. Others call it speculation. And some just can’t quite wrap their heads around it. But Facebook’s recent rebrand to Meta coupled with the rising popularity of NFTs sent the industry through the roof in recent months.
The metaverse industry is complex and still in its early stages, but it does add an interesting opportunity for investment diversification. Keep a close eye on these kinds of opportunities. It’s your responsibility to stay up to date on real estate, whether that land is real or not-so-real.
According to this recent investment comparison report, over the past five years Bitcoin has undoubtedly outperformed real estate in the top 100 largest U.S. cities. For over a decade Bitcoin has beaten everything from stocks and bonds to commodities and real estate. But that stellar performance comes at a high cost: wild volatility.
Real estate has offered investors double-digit returns in 96 of the 100 largest cities, at just a fraction of the risk and volatility that accompanies crypto. While crypto is fun to talk about, real estate continues to be a top-recommended investment because of its comparatively steady growth, major rental income potential, and tax benefits over time.
Investing in crypto, like metaverse real estate, does help diversify your client’s portfolio. But even with home prices at all-time highs, there’s still value (and less volatility) in owning real property. Your buyers’ first priority should be to own their own home. After that, they can weigh the risk and return of crypto versus investment properties.
The news that just missed the cut
Advice from James and David to win the day
As your potential buyers begin traveling for the holidays, you’re going to find it harder to draw a crowd to a physical open house. But social media makes it easier than ever to host back-to-back live open house tours. Here’s how we use this “progressive open” strategy to drive interest towards our listings:
The best part about progressive opens is that you can break your recorded event into bite-sized pieces to post on social media throughout the week.
Keep the latest industry data in your back pocket with today’s mortgage rates:
You’re a knowledgeable agent with a lot of potential. We believe in you, so get out there and get to work!
- James and David
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