April Showers Bring the May Real Estate Rush – Top Home Buying Season Tips So That You Can Be Prepared
April showers (or snowstorms as is sometimes the case in Canada) bring May flowers — and in the case of the Canadian real estate market, spring home buying season.
Historically, the highest number of residential listings occur in May. In May of 2016, for example, there was an average of 94,000 listings, according to Canadian Real Estate Association data. May and June also tend to have the highest number of sales, with an average of 52,000.
How can you be prepared for the spring Canadian real estate market? Our top tips can help you get started.
- Assess Your Market
The spring home buying season of 2018 could look different from spring buying seasons of years past due to new factors — specifically, rising interest rates and new Canadian mortgage rules. Understanding your real estate market and how they may be affected by these changes is important to being prepared. At the very least, you may receive questions about these changes and if your target market is particularly affected, you may want to look into different products and promotions that could help your clients.
There is an easy way to understand the make-up of your target market — a Demographics Report. For example, the Demographics Report from GeoWarehouse tells you age distribution, marital status of residents, average household income, and much more. Another tool that can help you understand the current real estate market is the Teranet Market Insights report. View the latest edition here.
- Reach Out to Your Network
Leading into the spring buying rush is a good time to get your ducks in order, and that might include connecting with your network. There are two main networks you might want to consider, the first being mortgage agents and lenders. Reaching out to your contacts in these fields can help you understand what products they are offering that your clients can access.
The second market you can touch base with before the rush are your leads, prospects, and current clients. Checking in to see how things are going could alert you to new opportunities or you could notify potential clients of opportunity they may not even be aware of — such as the value of their home or comparable sales in their neighbourhood.
- Have a Real Estate Marketing Plan in Place
The spring season can be competitive, but you can stand out from the crowd with a solid real estate marketing plan. Knowing where you’ll spend your advertising dollars and having your marketing components, be it real-world or digital, created in advance can save you a lot of time and effort once busy season hits.
Identify the top places for new real estate leads with tools, such as the GeoWarehouse Property Details Report, or the Comparable Sales Report. This data can help you target up-and-coming neighbourhoods and prospects.
- Prepare Your Team
If you work with others in your office, make sure you are all on the same page. Understanding who does what and how priorities might shift during the busy season can help you cope when the rush does come. Any tasks that aren’t essential to you can be delegated, giving you more time to work on identifying new leads and working with clients.
- Use Technology to Speed Up the Sales Process
Once the spring home buying season is underway, you’ll want the sales processes to be as smooth and efficient as possible. Technology can help with this. For example, GeoWarehouse’s reports, images, and searches make finding property information quick and easy so you’ll be able to identify the value, mitigate fraud risk, and save time and money.
Are you a GeoWarehouse subscriber? If you are a real estate sales professional, you may already have access through your real estate board. If you’re not and would like to become one, learn more about our services at www.geowarehouse.ca.
We’ve also got even more great reports in our online store, including property ownership history, instrument images, surveys, plans and other vital data that could make or break your deal. Get more information at https://www2.geowarehouse.ca/buy-now/.