The REALTOR Is Once Again The Product

One of the things that real estate agents have lost, I think over the last number of years, is that when consumers are searching for a real estate agent, this is outside of COVID. I mean, all they were doing was looking for houses on COVID. They just wanted a house. Get it. Anybody get me in it. Help me, please, please, please, just get me in it. But the real estate agent is the product. The houses are not the product, because there was a time that the house was the product back when there was not Zillow, there was not Realtor.com, there was not an equilibrium of pretty much everyone doing marketing the same way. Now we have our own unique marketing approaches, which quite honestly are more physical approaches than they are just digital and online, because we find that, you know, our database reverse prospecting people that, for instance, have looked at homes in the community that your house is in, if we're marketing it, that have looked at price ranges, things like that, we're able to reach out to those folks in a number of different ways, whether it is, you know, calling them, whether it's email, whether it's text message, whether it's voice drop messages, whether it is our AI assistant named Ben reaching out to you. However, we're able to get you the information and let you know that that house is coming on the market or what a great value it is. I mean, we've got those tools, and not very few agents have those tools to speak of or at least utilize them. But we also do some other things. But what I want to point out is That when an agent lists your house, they talk about all the real estate website it goes to and all the different marketing that happens. Well, just know that that happens on every listing, whether you're listing with ABC Realty or whether you're listing with XYZ Realty. That goes out. And there are tools out there that you can do. There's Matterport 3D walkthroughs. There's Zillow Showcase tours. But we're finding where people are taking those because they can look through your house and look at every little thing, and they don't get a real good perspective on spatial matters, on things that do matter, do matter, things that come off wrong in the picture, things that you just, you know, you can't get a great shot of, like bathrooms are really difficult to really get a good handle on the size element, you know, unless it's a large elegant bathroom, closet space, things like that. And, you know, I don't like 3D tours. We do them when our customers insist on them, but I don't like them because it creates what I call elimination points. When somebody's going online and looking at your house on Zillow, on Realtor.com, mostly Zillow. I mean, Zillow, the views are about six or seven or eight to one versus Realtor.com, and then Homes.com is, you know, way below that. So if you put it all out there, they can literally go through, especially in today's world when they have a lot of choices, especially new construction and things like that. I think what you see is they see things and are like, Ah, I wouldn't like that house. I wouldn't like that. That dining room looks too small. You know, that cubby's just not right. That's not what we should do. And, but if they went to visit the house and felt the house and got the energy of the house, the spatialness of the house, walked through the house, pictured their family or themselves in the house, I think that you have a better chance of getting them to buy your house. So we have gone back to doing what we call cinematic tours, where we use an AI tool that we actually build ourselves. And what it does, it takes rooms and it puts them into nice motions. But what we don't do is create a situation where something that can look wrong in a picture or a 3D tour, just because the way they're designed, is going to eliminate somebody from looking at your house. And yes, you can put too many pictures of a house, okay? There is just, I mean, don't ever put a portrait or a vertical picture of a bathroom just because you couldn't get it in there. It doesn't render well. It needs to be on a 16 by 9, 19 ratio. It needs to be on a wide ratio because every website in the world shows it that way. And you need to highlight the areas, and you need—this sounds terrible, and it's a bad analogy, but it's what I think of. It's kind of like lingerie. You need to leave something to the imagination. You need to point out the great points, and you need to let people come in and experience the house and look at the house for themselves and find the house out, see if they like it. It's kind of like the old days when we used to put flyers in front of the house and we put the room measurements. Well, you put a room measurement for a dining room that says 10 by 12, and people are like, Oh no, that don't ever work, and they just pull the flyer and I'm never going to go look at the house. Well, what they don't say is it's an open floor plan formal dining room with one column, so it may say 10 by 12, but it could feel like much bigger, especially if it's got tall coffered ceilings, the way it's laid out. It could be a completely different element. So less is more in many cases. And, you know, we've been through so many cycles in real estate. I mean, COVID days, we had to show everything because you couldn't, you know, nobody would walk in a house. We were all learning how to navigate that. What do you do? You go in the house, we're putting hand sanitizer there, booties there, I mean masks there. We didn't know what to do. I mean, honestly, it was just crazy. And people were still buying houses without even looking at them. But now you have to put some thought in it, and it takes an awful lot of experience, I think. And I think that's what people are leaning on, and that's what I go to where, once again, and this is the way it's always been, the agent is the product for a buyer or seller when they're looking for an agent to help guide them, especially sellers now. A seller that needs to sell their house, most sellers that we're seeing need to sell. It's, you know, it's to move to be closer with family because they're getting older, or have family move closer with them. It's health reasons. It's job losses, job transfers. It's, you know, it's divorces. It's all kinds of things that's going on. So they need real guidance. So the agent has become the product again. And then Zillow and everything else is doing the marketing of the houses. When there's 94% of homebuyers looking on Zillow for the houses, don't let any agent tell you that their TikTok video or their Facebook video or their whatever video that they do is going to be the thing that sells your house. What's going to sell your house is obviously location, location, location, that goes there, but then next is price, price, price. So don't let anybody fool you with all kinds of fancy marketing brochures and marketing tricks and things like that, because in a market right now, it all comes down to price and location and certainly condition. Yeah, we got to market it right. We got to make it look as best as possible. And the biggest thing is agents need to pick up the phone and answer the phone when somebody calls. I mean, one of my biggest struggles is agents won't, you know, they want to text and email each other, but that's a different subject. But this is for agents out there and for consumers, because I can tell you right now, we're getting a lot of business now from ChatGPT. And from Google Local and from Google My Business. And the keywords that they're typing, it isn't Wilmington, NC real estate. It's, I need a realtor to help me sell my house. I'm going through a divorce, and I need a realtor who's experienced in that. I need to move closer to my kids. I've got to move to assisted living, and I need a realtor. My parents passed away, and I've got an estate to deal with. These are the things that they're looking for, and the agents are the product. And agents need to put the information out there to show their expertise, to show their experience. And I'm sorry if you're a new agent, that's more than a reason enough to be on a team so you can learn and shadow. It's going to be very difficult for you if you're not. But I think that we are moved back into a world where people are looking for professionals to help them. There was a world where anybody could help you. I mean, just get your license and let's go show a house and let's go write an offer and we'll be one of ten offers. Those days are gone. And it's hard because I'm having to have really hard conversations with sellers. I mean, it's not comfortable talking to a seller saying, Hey, you got to bring $10,000 to closing because you bought the house two years ago, and the same national builder that you bought it from is selling the same house for $30,000 less with incentives. It's just a really hard conversation. And it's a hard conversation when a seller just doesn't understand why their Zestimate or their value says one thing, but the reality is they're not going to get another. Or their neighbor sold their house two years ago for $100,000 more than these people are going to sell their house for. And it's just hard. And you got to have an agent that's willing to have those hard conversations. And I've had to, just recently, I've had to part ways with sellers in a good way because in my listing agreements, we have both the seller or myself has the right to terminate the listing agreement anytime because sometimes it just is not a good fit because they didn't like what I was telling them. But do they really want me to just tell them what they want to hear and then for six months we argue, and then at the end of it they don't even like me anymore, and it's all because of the market conditions? I didn't create these market conditions. The market makes the market conditions, and the market dictates what the houses were. It doesn't matter what you need to sell it for so that you can buy something somewhere else. None of that matters. All that matters is what a buyer is willing to pay for it. And, I mean, the shoe has already moved from one foot to the other. And I don't think that an awful lot of agents know that, and I don't think consumers know that. And if you haven't listened to Brian Buffini's, and I've posted it on my blog, just look through my blogs on my website and you'll see it, the Anaconda blog. And I think we're in it. I think we're about halfway through about probably eight- to ten-year cycle of digesting what in the world happened during COVID. I mean, where houses prices doubled, and people still think the rates are coming back and that we're going to double prices every five years. That's never going to happen again, guys. That's never, ever. Going to happen again. No more than I'm 60 years old right now, and my waist is 34 to 36 inches, and I'm not as fit as I used to be. I used to play basketball, baseball, and everything else. Well, I'm never going to get my 20-year-old body back. It ain't going to happen, all right? That's just it. I would love to have my 20-year-old body back, but that's never going to happen. And nor are these low interest rates that we saw during the COVID era and the fast appreciations and the 10 offers and all these things. So, if you're a customer, what I want you to hear, if you're a buyer or a seller, especially sellers today, shop for an agent with experience and somebody that is going to push back and be willing to tell you the truth. That doesn't mean they don't work with you when you try it your way a little bit, but have a plan to psychor down. But you don't want to chase the market down because you end up netting a whole lot less money versus just going with somebody that gives you the prettiest presentation or seems like, I mean, honestly, the prettiest person. I mean, I'm a bald-headed 60-year-old man, so I'm going to lose that battle every time. But what I am going to do is I'm going to tell you what I believe, and I'm wrong sometimes. But in today's world, after 28 years, I'm right a lot more than I'm wrong when it comes to what the likelihood your house is going to sell and what it might sell for. So I hope this is helpful, and just remember, you're looking for agents now. The houses you will find, and the houses will come. Zillow and Realtor.com, there are plenty of tools that agents are never going to be able to compete with again that have the houses. So get an agent that's going to work for you, and they're going to negotiate for you, whichever side of the coin you're on, and that is willing to tell you some hard things. It's okay if they tell you hard things. Just don't hire somebody that's just going to tell you what you want to hear.

🎙️ Real Stories with Buddy Blake — Episode How to Choose the Right Wilmington Real Estate Agent Buddy Blake explains that in today's digital real estate market, the agent—not the house—is the actual product buyers are shopping for. With homes readily available on Zillow and Realtor.com, what distinguishes a great agent is their market expertise, honest communication, advanced marketing strategies, and ability to guide clients through complex situations. The episode emphasizes that homebuyers and sellers should prioritize finding a trustworthy, experienced professional who will tell them the truth, even when it's difficult. 📋 Chapters 0:00 - The Real Product: Agent vs. Houses 0:29 - Why Agents Matter in the Digital Age 1:17 - Advanced Marketing Tools and Prospecting 1:56 - Avoiding Elimination Points in Online Listings 3:28 - How Buyers Actually Search for Agents 4:12 - Having Honest Conversations About Market Reality 5:54 - What to Look for When Hiring an Agent 🔑 Key Takeaways • In the digital age, homes are commodities available everywhere online; the real product is an experienced agent with market expertise and honest communication skills • Effective real estate agents use advanced tools like reverse prospecting, cinematic tours, and AI marketing to reach qualified buyers without creating elimination points that discourage showings • Buyers search for agents based on life situations (divorce, relocation, estate settlement) rather than generic real estate keywords, requiring agents who understand specific client needs • Market values are dictated by current conditions, not seller expectations or historical prices; agents must have difficult conversations about realistic pricing and market trends • When hiring an agent, prioritize experience, willingness to push back with honest feedback, and skilled negotiation ability over presentation style or personality alone 🔍 Topics Covered in This Episode • The Real Product: Agent vs. Houses • Why Agents Matter in the Digital Age • Advanced Marketing Tools and Prospecting • Avoiding Elimination Points in Online Listings • How Buyers Actually Search for Agents • Having Honest Conversations About Market Reality • What to Look for When Hiring an Agent ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ About Your Host Buddy Blake, Buddy Blake Real Estate 📍 Wilmington, NC 📞 (910) 395-1000 ✉️ buddy@buddyblake.com ❓ Questions Answered Q: What is the most important thing to look for when choosing a real estate agent? A: Choose an agent based on experience, market expertise, and honesty rather than personality or presentation skills. Look for someone willing to tell you difficult truths about your home's value and market conditions, and who will negotiate effectively on your behalf. After 28 years in the business, an agent's track record of accurate market predictions matters more than how likeable they seem. Q: Why do online property photos and 3D tours cause buyers to eliminate homes before viewing? A: Homes can be eliminated from consideration due to poor angles, awkward photo perspectives, or unflattering renderings that make rooms look smaller or less appealing. Bad bathroom angles or portrait-oriented photos don't display well on websites. Cinematic tours and strategic 16:9 ratio photography help avoid these elimination points while leaving something to the buyer's imagination, encouraging in-person showings where buyers can feel the space and imagine their family living there. Q: How has the real estate market changed since COVID-era appreciation? A: COVID-era conditions—doubled prices, low interest rates, multiple offers, and rapid appreciation—will not return. Today's market is normalized, and buyers should not expect the same level of appreciation or favorable selling conditions. Agents must help clients understand that market value is determined by current conditions, not historical prices or what sellers need the home to be worth. Q: What tools do top real estate agents use to find qualified buyers? A: Experienced agents use reverse prospecting from their databases, targeting people who viewed homes in the same community and price range through phone calls, text messages, emails, voice drops, and AI assistants. They also leverage advanced marketing like cinematic tours, Matterport walkthroughs, and optimization for discovery through Google Local, Google My Business, and AI search systems like ChatGPT. Q: How do real estate agents find clients in today's market? A: Buyers and sellers no longer search using generic keywords like 'Wilmington North Carolina real estate.' Instead, they search for solutions to life situations—'I need a realtor to help me sell my house because I'm going through a divorce' or 'I need to move closer to my kids.' Top agents understand these real-life situations and position themselves as professionals who can guide clients through complex, emotion-driven transitions, not just list houses. 📱 Follow & Connect: • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@buddyblakenc • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buddyblakedotcom 📎 Resources & Links 📖 Read the full blog post: https://www.buddyblake.com/blog/choose-the-right-wilmington-real-estate-agent 🌐 Website: https://buddyblake.com 💼 Free Home Value - No Registration Rquired: https://expresshomesale.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🏠 FREE HOME VALUE ESTIMATE Curious what your home is worth? Get a free instant estimate. https://www.buddytheblogger.com/r/isnw9tzC 📊 COST OF WAITING CALCULATOR See what waiting could cost you — the real numbers. https://expresshomesale.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚖️ Equal Housing Opportunity Powered by https://buddyblake.com 🚀 Amplify YOUR content with AI — Learn more at https://reiosai.com