New month, new chapter

James here. This past weekend we moved into a new house. It was an emotional few days for me and my wife. We had spent the past five years in our old home, raising our daughters and making truly great memories. We’re excited to start a new chapter and make new memories, but I had forgotten how difficult it is to see the place you loved packed up and totally bare, ready for a new family to move in.

It was a good reminder to me that buying and selling a home is emotional for our clients. And it’s our responsibility to give them the space and patience they need to close one season of their lives and begin a new one. 

- James

Today's Blueprint:

• Historic numbers of the housing market

• Tiny homes are having a big moment

• How crypto is changing luxury buying

• Seven marketing strategies you can try today

The value of US homes right now is truly eye-popping

The overall value of the housing market has increased by an incredible $10T in the past year alone. The entire housing market is now worth $43.4T. Not only is a one-year gain of $10T truly astounding, today’s housing stock value is more than double what it was back in the worst months of the Great Recession.

However, these value increases aren’t evenly spread over the whole country. One-fifth of that gain is concentrated in California. Austin and Raleigh saw the greatest value increase as their local markets exploded, while New York City saw the smallest value increase.

Our take

As an agent, it’s so important to keep up with broad metrics like this. Be constantly aware of what’s happening in the US market and globally. Help your clients understand that what they see in your local market is a ripple effect from these massive, trillion-dollar trends. They’ll have a better idea of what to expect, and you’ll be positioned as the industry expert.

“Honey, I shrunk the house!”

What’s exceptionally compact, economically organized, and yours for just $10K? A tiny home. And the market for these unconventional living spaces is booming. According to the research firm TechNavio, the tiny home market will grow by $3.33B over the next few years. 

But not all states are friendly to the tiny home lifestyle. In Connecticut, tiny home living is downright prohibited. In Michigan, tiny homes must be at least 500-square feet. That’s double the 225-square-foot tiny home average. California and Colorado are considered the best tiny home states, offering nice weather, beautiful scenery, and relaxed tiny home zoning laws.

Our take

Whether you’re a big agent or a small one, don’t overlook tiny homes! If you can carve a place for yourself in any real estate trend, no matter the price point, you’ll be making money. And right now, there are a hell of a lot more buyers who can afford a tiny home than can shell out the big bucks for a luxury mansion. Or even a starter home, honestly. The bottom line: always look for where the market is hot. 

Crypto has created a whole new group of luxury buyers

A $133M Bel-Air estate, a $38M Miami waterfront property, and a $28.5M mansion in Hollywood Hills. What do they have in common? All were purchased using fortunes built by cryptocurrency. While some of these mega deals were paid for by crypto itself, in most cases, the buyer paid cash for the property out of their crypto-fortune. The acceptance of crypto as a method of payment isn’t mainstream yet. But it might be soon. Even now, agencies and brokerages are beginning to offer crypto training to keep their teams up-to-date.

Our take

The booming crypto industry is pushing prices up in the ultra-luxury market faster than ever. When you’ve got a growing group of newly wealthy people who can write a $100M check on the spot, they’re willing to pay big for what they want. We’re already starting to see this crypto-wealth among some of our own clients. This emerging wealth class will make prices rise quickly in the super low-inventory luxury market.

Schematics

The news that just missed the cut

• Here’s what $2M buys in the east, west, and midwest USA

• Listen to the NAR’s latest podcast on how to invest smart

• He went from $4K to $4M in 5 years, thanks to real estate

• What’s the ROI on landscaping a listing?

• Agents: you’ll want to keep this useful tool bookmarked

Foundation Plans

Advice from James and David to win the day

When it comes to marketing, these are some of the best strategies we’ve used to successfully find clients and land lucrative new listings:

• Send a weekly email to your prospects rounding up the best new listings and local market updates

• Optimize your social media and post your listings, open house tours, and market info daily

• Answer people’s questions on social media and show yourself to be a valuable resource

• Send “just sold” postcards to all the houses in the neighborhood around your last sale

• Visit every single open house you can and connect with the buyers and agents there

• Door-knock the neighborhoods you want to work in

We said this in last week’s webinar, but it bears repeating: once you’ve created a marketing strategy, stick to it! There’s no such thing as a “miracle marketing tactic,” so just do what speaks to you and keep doing that one thing consistently. 

Just in Case

Keep the latest industry data in your back pocket with today’s mortgage rates:

We’ll be answering another reader's question on Friday. Want it to be yours? Drop it here!

Go crush the week ahead.

- James and David