This Zillow competitor is growing fast

Tracy Tutor! Part Deux

We have a treat for you. Tracy was such a hit, we had her on our podcast, Rise Above the Ranks, for another entertaining and informative conversation.

She shares her incredible time-management skills, how she structures her jam-packed schedule, and her clever methods for finding real estate leads. This conversation shows why she is a legend in our business and a good friend!

Feel free to leave us a review and tell us what you think. Listen or watch here: Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

Now, let’s jump into today’s Blueprint!

- James and David

Luxury home prices rise nationwide

Nationwide, luxury prices rose 4.6% in Q2 compared to last year. That’s according to Redfin’s latest report on the luxury home market. Here’s more key data from Q2:

• Luxury home sales dropped 24% YoY, the smallest decline in a year

• Luxury home prices in the Bay Area and Seattle fell 10%-13%, more than anywhere else in the country

• Non-luxury listings declined roughly twice as much as luxury listings

• Nationwide, the median sale price of non-luxury homes climbed 1.5% to a record $340,000

Our take

It’s an unusual time in the luxury home market. There are simply not enough buyers and sellers. Sales at the high end keep dropping, as homeowners are resistant to list their properties and potential buyers grapple with high interest rates and recession fears. We’ll be watching how the market reacts to the latest excellent economic news. We still need mortgage rates to come down a bit, but a soft landing looks a lot more plausible now.

Homes.com traffic up 200%

Homes.com, the residential portal owned by commercial real estate data firm Costar, increased traffic by 200% year-over-year according to similarweb.com’s latest report on search traffic. Here are key points from the report:

• Zillow, Trulia, and Streeteasy combine for 52% of the market share of traffic

• 5 of the 17 sites tracked saw a year-over-year increase in traffic (Homes.com, RE/MAX, Redfin, Compass, and Trulia).

• Homes.com and Redfin were the share-gain leaders, while Realtor.com, Zillow, and Movoto saw the biggest drops.

Our take

The residential portal and listings business is very competitive. Right now, Zillow still dominates, but we wouldn’t bet against Andy Florence and the machine that is Costar. He is a fierce and litigious business tactician. We welcome the competition but genuinely hope that Costar doesn’t monopolize the residential space as it does the commercial sector. That wouldn’t be good for anybody.

Markets with the highest equity-rich homeowners

49% of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in Q2, the highest level in at least four years. According to ATTOM’s report on homeowner equity, the level of equity-rich mortgage payers went up from Q1 to Q2 in 45 of the nation’s 50 states.

Here are the top 5 states and metros with the highest levels of equity-rich homeowners:

Our take

There are a lot of ways you can slice and dice this report. We encourage you to study it very carefully and update your marketing accordingly. Equity gain is one of the main motivators for homebuyers. This report tells you exactly which locales – at the state, county, metro, and zip code levels – are seeing spikes and drops in equity. That’s valuable intel to share with your clients.

Schematics

The news that just missed the cut

• Credit Scores: Everything You Need to Know

• How to avoid capital gains tax on real estate

• Top tips for agents starting on YouTube

• How to boost your productivity and happiness as an agent

• How to sell 100 homes in one year

Foundation Plans

Advice from James and David to win the day

As we mentioned in the intro, we had a fun and revealing conversation with our friend Tracy Tutor in the latest episode of our podcast, Rise Above the Ranks. We wanted to highlight just a few of the many takeaways from our conversation:

Don’t let the morning slip away from you - We couldn’t agree more with Tracy’s philosophy here. As you’ll hear in the podcast, she makes the most of every second of her morning. It sets the tone for the rest of your day. Have your call list set the night before so you can hit the ground running.

Prospecting never ends - Even after 24 years in the business, Tracy is still prospecting! It is truly a never-ending process, but it is also ever-changing. Tracy told us some of the many clever methods she’s developed to help find leads. They are truly brilliant and show how you can add different dimensions to keep your search from going stale.

If you want to break into luxury real estate, start working in that market – Some people have this idea that they will work in a lower-tier sector of the housing market and then break into luxury later. Tracy recommends not doing that. We agree! Find a luxury team or agent to help you get into that side of the business and get started!

Watch or listen to the rest. We think you’ll learn a lot from Tracy. Apple, Spotify, or YouTube

Just in Case

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

That’s a wrap on this edition of The Blueprint!

Remember: each day is a gift and a new opportunity to lead the life you want and to become the person you want to be. The mistakes and missteps you’ve made in the past don’t define you. Live as intentionally as you can and be ruthlessly focused on the goals you’ve set out to achieve. You can do it!

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday!

- James and David