TODAY S BUYER S REP A publication of the Real Estate Buyer s Agent Council, Inc. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Association of REALTORS June 2017 Volume XXVI Number 6 First-Time Buyers: Waiting in the Wings, Eager to Own! First-time buyers have always been an important segment of the real estate market. What they may lack in knowledge and experience, they often make up for in youthful enthusiasm and determination. Many buyer s reps actively seek out these buyers, not only for the satisfaction of helping them reach their goals, but also for the promise of future referrals and repeat business when they re ready to move to their next home. Even though recent economic challenges have hit this group particularly hard and some harbor general skepticism about home ownership, the vast majority of millennials (under age 35) have held onto the belief that owning a home is a key aspect of achieving the American Dream. Additionally, the ranks of first-time buyers are growing. According to NAR s latest Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, first-time buyers accounted for 35 percent of all homebuyers in 2016 (up from 32 percent in 2015). Moreover, the number of people in their 30s will grow by five million over the next decade (from 43 million to 48 million). This 12 percent growth should drive added demand among first-time buyers. To achieve their dreams, first-time buyers will need your help. Affordability is one top concern, especially as prices heat up in many areas. Show them various financing options, including any assistance programs (at the national, state or local level) for which they might qualify. Also, make sure they re considering resale value, since many first-time buyers expect to encounter changes in their housing needs within five years. If you re eager to gear up for the next big wave of first-time buyers, look inside for more insight and specific marketing tips for reaching this important generation of future owners. LOOK INSIDE... Marketing Workshop: 5 Ways to Reach First-Time Buyers page 3 Join REBAC at the REALTORS Conference & Expo page 4 Latest Research on Generational Real Estate Trends New Consumer One-Sheet: The Advantages of Buying versus Renting page 6 page 7
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE WORTH QUOTING... The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. - Maya Angelou LAST CALL for Hall of Fame Nominations! If you know of someone who has excelled in providing or promoting representation for homebuyers (including yourself), don t miss out on the opportunity to acknowledge their contributions. Nominees for the 2017 REBAC Hall of Fame must be submitted by July 15, 2017. To download a nomination form, visit REBAC.net/HOF. Please call 800-648-6224 with any questions. Congratulations to the 2017 REALTOR University Graduates REALTOR University is pleased to announce the 2017 Master of Real Estate (MRE) graduates, who were awarded their diplomas on May 19 at a commencement ceremony held in Washington, D.C. REALTOR University, the only advanced online education institution centered exclusively on real estate, is fully accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, or DEAC, an organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education. To graduate, MRE students must receive credit for at least 12 courses (36 semester-credit hours), consisting of seven program-specific courses and five elective and concentration courses, while also achieving a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or higher (on a 4.00 scale). As with any graduate degree program, the MRE at REALTOR University requires that students complete a final research project a Capstone project that integrates the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the program. Research projects must explore an original topic and make a contribution to the field of academic and professional real estate. Commercial Real Estate Investment and Analysis Charles Ngansop, Rockville, Maryland Fernando Pinzon, Pembroke Pines, Florida Real Estate Appraisal and Valuation Services Candace K. Cooke, Round Rock, Texas Adrean Larcheveaux, Austell, Georgia Fadia Sorial, Vancouver, BC Canada Real Estate Asset and Property Management Krystal A. McKinnie, Houston, Texas * Residential Real Estate Sales, Marketing and Management Deborah T. Carter, Princeton, New Jersey Janice Chretien, Spring, Texas + Lora Cusumano, Melville, New York * Beverly Foster, Cary, North Carolina * Tracie Hasslocher, San Antonio, Texas Melinda S. McCutchan, Waxahachie, Texas * Lisa A. Paffrath, Flagstaff, Arizona Robert Pedro, Redwood City, California * Nearing completion + Not in attendance Connect online with fellow ABR designees for news, tips, and referrals! @abrebac REBAC.net 2 TBR June 2017
e ou s, s * Marketing Workshop: 5 Ways to Reach First-Time Buyers There are many excellent options for promoting your services to first-time buyers. Try using one or more of these strategies: 1. Bring Your Message to Their Door You may be able to obtain mailing lists for specific apartment buildings, but if not, take other steps (literally!). Walk around and leave door hangers or flyers that talk up the benefits of buying, the pride of having your own home, etc. Expand your efforts to include singlefamily homes in your farm area where millennials may be living with their parents. For the best results, follow up with a second or third campaign, emphasizing slightly different benefits of home ownership in each round. Member Tip: The REBAC Print Shop (rebac.net/member/marketing-materials/print-shop) offers customizable brochures, flyers, and postcards with these and other themes: Homeownership: Take a New Lease on Life Homeowners Can Paint Their Walls Yellow Cross a New Threshold Your Home. Your Life. Your Way. 2. Host Homebuyer Seminars Since first-time buyers lack experience (and may not know what they don t know), short, helpful seminars can be a great way to meet them and earn their trust. Pick a topic and a title that will grab their interest, such as: What $150,000 Buys in Middleton s Up-and-Coming Neighborhoods New Paths to Home Ownership: Latest Down-Payment and Financing Options The 5 Best Ways to Move from Renter to Owner Aim to make your seminar both educational and entertaining. To lighten the load of developing material and promoting the event, consider working with a partner (lender, inspector, etc.). You may also want to order (customizable) copies of the Home Buyer s Toolkit, another member benefit available in the REBAC Print Shop, to hand out to attendees. For more tips, check out The 4-Step Guide to Successful Home Buyer Seminars. It s yet another member benefit that can be downloaded in the Member Center at REBAC.net. 3. Leverage Your Website Make sure your site has lots of good content that appeals to first-time buyers, including information that helps them navigate every aspect of the process (think checklists, calculators, and articles on neighborhoods, mortgages, inspections, moving, etc.). Even if they don t read everything, this content will include many of the same keywords that first-time buyers will be using to learn more about buying a home, which increases the odds that your site will appear in their online research (especially if you re also using locationbased keywords for your market). To go a step further, consider developing a specialized guide for local first-time buyers. This could be as simple as repackaging your other website content into a tightly written, downloadable summary that mixes general home buying advice with information specific to your local area. Think about making this a lead capture tool, offering it as a free download after visitors provide a name and email address. Continued on page 6 Millennial buyers, at 85 percent, were the generation most likely to view their home purchase as a good financial investment. Source: NAR s Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2017 TBR June 2017 Continued on page 4 3
Join us! UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITIES FOR ABR DESIGNEES! Numerous pre-conference course offerings Exclusive REBAC Member Events Private ABR & REBAC networking opportunities Knowledgeable speakers and exciting entertainment 400 exhibitors showcasing new products, services and ideas ABR, GREEN and SRES Networking and Awards Reception Saturday, November 4, from 6:15 8:15pm Always a highlight of the REALTORS Conference & Expo social scene, this year s reception promises to be better than ever. Right after the General Session, head to the ABR /GREEN/SRES Reception to help induct the newest members of the REBAC Hall of Fame (ABR ), along with the SRES Outstanding Service Award recipients and EverGreen Award winners! To Register or Learn More For a complete roster of conference events, or to register, please visit REBAC.net/courses/conference-expo. For questions, contact REBAC at 800-648-6224 or REBAC@realtors.org. NAR/REBAC complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Anyone needing special assistance to participate should notify REBAC in advance at 800-648-6224. REBAC s Sweet Home Chicago Sweepstakes! Be sure to select ABR /GREEN/SRES as your primary affiliation when you register, so you ll automatically be entered in our sweepstakes. Prizes are: WRIGLEY FIELD One night s stay at the Marriott Magnificent Mile, REBAC s 2017 Conference & Expo Headquarters 4 VIP tickets to the General Session with NAR President Bill Brown Early Bird REALTORS Conference & Expo registration ($350 value) $200 gift certificate to the REBAC Print Shop NAVY PIER 2 VIP tickets to the General Session with NAR President Bill Brown Early Bird REALTORS Conference & Expo registration ($350 value) $100 gift certificate to the REBAC Print Shop MILLENNIUM PARK 2 VIP tickets to the General Session with NAR President Bill Brown Early Bird REALTORS Conference & Expo registration ($350 value) Winning entries will be drawn October 13, 2017. Please note that REBAC reserves the right to substitute alternate prizes of equal value. Complete sweepstakes rules are available upon request to REBAC. 4 TBR June 2017
REBAC s Pre-Conference Courses All pre-conference courses will be held at the Marriott Magnificent Mile. Visit REBAC.net/courses/conference-expo for updated information regarding REBAC course offerings and the 2017 REALTORS Conference and Expo. Accredited Buyer s Representative (ABR ) Designation Course Wednesday, November 1 and Thursday, November 2 Instructor: Maurice Hampton, ABR, CIPS The ABR designation two-day course is specifically designed to help you conduct a buyer counseling session, sign buyer-clients to a written buyer representation agreement, negotiate buyer-clients offers, and bring the transaction to a successful close. Course fee: $175.00 per person through October 17. $225.00 per person after October 17. Pricing Strategies: Mastering the CMA Thursday, November 2 Instructor: Melanie McLane, ABR, CDEI, CRB, CRS, e-pro, GREEN, GRI, PSA, RAA, RSPS, SRES, SRS Enhance your skills in pricing properties, creating CMAs, working with appraisers, and guiding clients through the anxieties and misperceptions they often have about home values. Course fee: $75.00 per person through October 17. $95.00 per person after October 17. e-pro Certification Day 1 Course Thursday, November 2 Instructor: Marki Lemons, ABR, CIPS, e-pro The e-pro certification gives you a roadmap to build your business and serve the hyper-connected consumers of today and tomorrow. Learn about the changing market, manage your online reputation, generate leads and gain referrals. Course fee: $75.00 per person through October 17. $95.00 per person after October 17. Inform a friend or colleague about the importance of being an ABR designee by telling them about the opportunity to take the designation course! More Opportunities to Learn! Over 20,000 REALTORS and other industry affiliates attend the REALTORS Conference & Expo, including roughly 1,000 ABR designees. They leave with countless insights and inspiration on a host of topics. Here s a small sampling of this year s educational options: UNDERSTANDING AND WORKING WITH CLIENTS Addressing the Most Frequently Asked Housing Questions Successful Tactics to Win Seller and Buyer Loyalty Five Steps to 5 Stars How Mobile and Apps Have Forever Changed Consumer Expectations PRODUCTIVITY 90% of All Success is Not Knowledge It s Execution 10 Habits to Refocus and Revitalize Your Career Be Productive, Not Busy: A Platform for Improving Productivity 7 Financial Habits of Highly Successful Real Estate Professionals MARKETING Increase Your Business with 7 Innovations from Around the World Triple Your Business by Using the Power of 3 Explore Global Growth Keeping in Touch with Your Sphere NEGOTIATION When Trust is High, Negotiating is Easy: 1st Connect, Then Convince Are You a Messenger or a Negotiator? Negotiate Like a Pro (NLP) TBR June 2017 5
Marketing Workshop: 5 Ways to Reach First-Time Buyers Continued from page 3 4. Be Mobile Friendly Buyers in all age groups are using their phones more than ever to view online content. However, according to NAR Research, 99 percent of millennials search online when shopping for homes and they re more than twice as likely to do this on their mobile device as their parents generation. If your website doesn t display well on mobile devices, first-time buyers probably aren t going to find you. 53 percent of millennials already own homes, which is more than the percentage who have purchased tattoos, Sriracha sauce or musical instruments. Source: Accel + Qualtrics Latest Research on Generational Real Estate Trends Check out these recently published resources for important insights on preferences and generational differences among today s buyers and sellers. Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2017 By the National Association of REALTORS Key findings: Roughly two-thirds of millennial buyers are married and their households are growing (49 percent now have at least one child, versus 45 percent and 43 percent in the last two annual surveys). The need for affordable space is pushing them to the suburbs: Only 15 percent of millennial buyers bought a home in an urban area, down from 17 percent last year and 21 percent two years ago. Download: www.nar.realtor/reports/home-buyer-and-sellergenerational-trends 5. Think Beyond Millennials It s true that the majority of first-time buyers tend to be people in their 30s and younger, but they aren t the only group to factor into your marketing efforts. For example, recent research by the Urban Land Institute points to immigrants as another important segment, noting that foreign-born population growth in most of the gateway cities included in their research outpaced overall population growth between 2006 and 2014 1. Former homeowners who were forced out of the market during the recession represent another important group. While these so-called boomerang buyers are probably more savvy to the ins and outs of the housing market than true first-time buyers, they may face many similar hurdles, such as securing financing and down payment assistance, improving their credit scores, and finding entry-priced homes. 1 To download Home in America: Immigrants and Housing Demand, go to uli.org/ wp-content/uploads/uli-documents/homeinamerica.pdf Improving America s Housing 2017: Demographic Change and the Remodeling Outlook By the Joint Center of Housing Studies of Harvard University Key findings: Millennials home-ownership decisions are more influenced by affordability than lifestyle. Their home-ownership rates were five percent higher in metro areas where median home prices were 20 percent below the national median (examples include Birmingham, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis). Download: jchs.harvard.edu/research/improving-americashousing Review of Top Millennial Home-Buying Hot Spots By realtor.com Key findings: The country s urban areas tend to be more segregated in terms of generational buying interest compared to other areas, meaning that different generations are most interested in different neighborhoods within urban areas. Older millennials (25 to 34 years old) represent the largest age demographic of prospective home purchasers. View: research.realtor.com/review-top-millennial-homebuying-hot-spots/ 6 TBR June 2017
The Advantages of Buying versus Renting Deciding to buy a home is a highly personal choice that involves weighing numerous financial factors and individual preferences. While renting may be easier on your budget and provide more flexibility to relocate for new work opportunities, there are a number of strong reasons to purchase a home, including: FINANCIAL FACTORS Build Equity For most mortgages, monthly payments include both principal and interest, with principal representing your actual ownership of the home. Over time, the principal portion of each monthly payment increases, helping homeowners build equity faster. Owners can also build equity by making smart improvements, especially if the cost of the project boosts your home s resale value by more than what you invest in the improvement. Tax Benefits If you itemize your federal income tax return, you can deduct property taxes and any mortgage interest paid during the tax year. You may also be able to take advantage of other local, state or federal incentives, such as home improvements that qualify for an energy tax credit. SUBJECTIVE CONSIDERATIONS Creative Freedom Your home is your space, and you can do whatever you want with it, just be mindful of zoning violations. Paint the walls, add a deck, create a workshop for your favorite hobbies, etc. When you own a home, you re only limited by your imagination. Privacy In contrast to sharing space with roommates or other family members, owning a home provides a private sanctuary. Even if you ve been renting your own apartment space, you may be craving a retreat from noisy (or nosey) neighbors. Sense of Belonging Buying a home involves a larger, longer-term commitment (than renting) that often extends beyond a house into a community, opening the door to participation in local events, meeting and supporting neighbors, and building deeper friendships. Potential Rental Income At some point, you may decide to convert your home into an investment property by leasing out some or all of your space. (For example, keep your first home for rental income when you decide to move to larger quarters.) Just be sure to investigate local rental property laws first. The Accredited Buyer s Representative (ABR ) designation is awarded by the Real Estate Buyer s Agent Council (REBAC), a subsidiary of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). To learn more about REBAC and access various home buyer resources, please visit REBAC.net. TBR June 2017 7 TBR April 2017 7
Real Estate Buyer s Agent Council, Inc. 430 North Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611 1-800-648-6224 REBAC@realtors.org TODAY S BUYER S REP June 2017 Volume XXVI Number 6 Plan Now for the 2017 REALTORS Conference & Expo! It s not too soon to make your plans for the annual REALTORS Conference & Expo, November 3 6 in Chicago, Illinois. Registration opened on May 3. See pages 4 5 for details on REBAC s pre-conference educational offerings and other special events. When you register, be sure to indicate ABR /GREEN/SRES as your primary affiliation. Why? First, you ll help REBAC receive a larger royalty, which helps finance REBAC programs and events at no cost to members. Additionally, you ll be automatically entered in REBAC s Sweet Home Chicago Sweepstakes and be eligible to win prizes that include complimentary conference registrations, free hotel accommodations, gift certificates for the REBAC Print Shop, and more. Learn more at REBAC.net/courses/conference-expo.