Hey guys, Ron here, and welcome to blog number six of our seven blog series on the seven big ways that new construction homebuilding is broken right now for buyers all over the United States. And how as a Realtor, you can step into that space. You can step into that gap and begin to make a real difference to affect the outcome for your buyers, land developers, homebuilders, and most of all for you.
Wherever there's a big problem, very often there's an even bigger opportunity and that is the case when it comes to homebuilding.
My name is Ron Williams and for about a decade now, we've been drilling down deep into these problems and the opportunities around helping buyers, builders and land developers grow their businesses.
I'm a coach to Realtors who are growing a business in new construction and a coach to builders. I'm also the founder of a website called Hoodle. I'll tell you more about that in just a minute. We've written a seven blog series on how you can step into these sets of problems that buyers and builders have when it comes to new construction. As a Realtor, you can begin to build thought leadership. You can begin to create a real strategic difference. You can begin to leave all of your competition in the dust very quickly and grow your business.
Today we are on blog number six and I'm calling this one, "Technically it's not steering", and that might give you a little idea of where we're going.
What I'm talking about here today is the tendency, habit, proclivity, the propensity of Realtors, when we are working with a buyer who's looking to build new, this tendency to show them what is easy for us to find, what's convenient, what's top of mind awareness or what works in our favor.
I know that never happens, but sometimes it does. Let me give you a couple of examples just to make a little bit more sense. I will not mention names or locations here; you can't pry it out of me. One time Cindi and I were in a small community several hours from here. Because we're so fascinated with residential new construction, we stopped in at a local Realtor office and talked to one of the Realtors and said, "Hey, if somebody was wanting to build a new house around here, where could they build? Can you tell me a little bit about the neighborhoods that are available to build in?” The guy promptly told me it "doesn't exist". What do you mean it doesn't exist? "There's just no new construction around here at all. Doesn't exist." I took him at his word and we went on our way and enjoyed our weekend.
About six months later we were back to that same community. It just so happened that we were staying at a bed and breakfast and as we were filling out the forms the owner of the bed and breakfast says, "so what do you guys do?" And I said, "well we have this website about home building. It's a web platform for people who are wanting to build a new home all over the United States". And he said, "Really? Well, when are you going to bring it here?" I felt sorry for the guy because he did not know that there was no new construction in their beautiful community.
I said, "We talked to a Realtor last time we were here and I don't know if you know, but there's no home building that's going on around here." And he's like, "I don't know who you talked to but I'm the head of zoning for our fair community and I can think of 17 or 18 neighborhoods where somebody could build a house. " Wow. That was one of the many experiences we've had like this. Now, maybe the Realtor just didn't want to do new construction, but what he shared with me was there was no new construction and that was not an opportunity.
Let me tell you one more. So Cindi and I were traveling to a bigger city and we were invited to meet with a group of Realtors about what we were doing. We sat down and one of the Realtors said at the start of the meeting, "In our city, there are 360 new home neighborhoods. That's all there is.” 360 sounds like a lot, but I'm telling you, it's not. In many areas, we're finding that there are thousands of new home neighborhoods that nobody has put together or knows about. He said, “there are 360.” Here's the deal. We had already researched and studied it and I knew there was probably upwards of 1200 or so, maybe more than that. Places where somebody could build a new house. The guy said there's 360. He guaranteed it. That's all there is.
We didn't want to embarrass him. We just went ahead and had our meeting and later on in the meeting, he said it again 360. I said "I don't know where the discrepancy is because we've done some research and we're thinking there's probably closer to 800, 1000 maybe 1200 new home neighborhoods in the greater area. And then he said, "Oh, well I only do production builders." Okay, that's fine. But here's the thing, he's sharing with people that their options are 360 neighborhoods because that's what's convenient for him.
Let me be clear now this happens. Realtors are dissuading somebody or persuading them not to build because it's not in their best interest or when they are doing what's convenient or what's easy. They found this on the MLS or it's a production builder and it's easier for them to get to.
That is not steering, it is not tying, and it is not redlining. It's not anything that I can think of. But let me ask you a question. Where does it fall in your thinking? If we are convincing a buyer to do something that maybe is not fully in their best interest because it's what works for me.
Okay, so gray area “alert” here.
We're deep into a gray area here. What does it mean when we're doing that? Because as a fiduciary, and we've talked about this, and you guys know this, as a fiduciary, my responsibility is not to do what's in my best interest or what's easy for me, but what's in their best interest. That's why they have chosen you or me or somebody else as their trusted fiduciary and their trusted guide in this process. So here's the thing. This happens all the time all over the United States.
When it comes to selling used homes, here's what's interesting. When we're selling a pre-owned home, it's not an issue because we all have access and so do they to the MLS. They can see everything that is listed and everything that's on the market, minus the for sale by owners.
When it comes to new homes, it's an entirely different scenario. The buyers deserve to know their options. So do we ever lean towards what's easy? What's convenient for me? What's top of mind or what works in my favor, including maybe a lot of Realtors who will say, "you don't want to mess with that because it doesn't fit with me. Don't worry about new construction. Let's just go get a pre-owned home. It's easier. I get paid faster."
That never comes out quite like that. But that's really what's happening in a lot of cases. I know it's happening because I have a lot of buyers that tell me this all the time. A lot of times buyers will say, "we've never had a Realtor who's offered to walk us through the process."
So here's what I'm not suggesting in this whole thing. I'm not suggesting that the buyer is going to want to talk to every builder. They're not. Nor would a builder want to talk to a buyer who's meeting with every builder, nor do you, nor should you. But here's what you should do. We need to be pressing forward. We need to be pushing the envelope towards learning every neighborhood that we can, every builder that we can and understanding the differences in all those options. Because whether or not the buyer wants to meet them all or travel to every neighborhood, they at least want to know what their options are. This is arguably the most complex purchase that anyone will ever make in their life where they've got a lot of decisions to make.
It's a very big impact effect for most of them. It's even a bigger impact than buying a pre-owned home. They've done that several times. Buying new is a different scenario. And here's the thing, you have the opportunity to step into this and begin to learn the neighborhoods, builders, types of construction, and the mortgage options. Very quickly, you will separate yourself from all your competitors because they're not doing it and you are. All of a sudden there's not 5,000 or 10,000 competitors, there's maybe five or ten.
You truly want to be in a place where you become the go-to resource, the go-to Realtor for all things new construction in your market and you can do it. Now I'm not saying it's simple. I'm not saying it's overnight. This is not like driving up to McDonald's and saying, Hey, I want to order up conversations with all the Realtors in my market. I want to know who all the builders are from my market and know their differences.
This is building a business, it's building a brand and it's building thought leadership.
There is an enormous opportunity right now in every market in the United States. Because in every market there are very few Realtors who are doing it and you can do it. I want to encourage you, in fact, this is why we built Hoodle in the first place to empower the buyer to see their options.
Hoodle is a new home web community. It's a web platform for the whole building process where the buyer can find their neighborhoods, builders and the handful of Realtors who specialize in new construction, maybe that's you. And empowering them, but also empowering you to help them make their dreams come true in building their dream.
I would love to get your feedback on this issue. I know it's a grey area. It's not steering, it's not tying, but it's certainly not providing the utmost best service that we can to those people who are wanting to build a new home. You have an opportunity to step into this space and begin to make some massive changes here that are going to play out for everybody's best interest, the buyer, the builder, the land developer, and you. We would love to have you join us on this journey.
We've gotten so much feedback. I'm so grateful for those of you who reach out to us and say, "Hey, thanks for calling this stuff out and thanks for this teaching.” I would love to get your feedback too. If there's anything that you want to cuss or discuss, reach out to me. Send me a message, comment on the blog, but just get in touch with us.
If you're interested in downloading the e-book on all seven problems homebuyers have with homebuilding, go to newhomenicheblueprint.com. It's free. There's also a little course that we put together for Realtors to teach you the foundations of starting your own new home niche business in your market. It's needed in every single city in the United States, bar none.
We have a Facebook group that we just started called New Home Niche Blueprint. You can join us there and finally, if you haven't been to the Hoodle website, you really should check that out.
If you're interested in becoming a part of Hoodle as an Affiliate Realtor, reach out to me. If you're interested in bringing it to your city or helping to grow it in your city, there are enormous wins that you can get from being a part of it.
Next week we're doing blog number seven. It's a really important one. It's one where you can step into it and quickly begin to get wins for yourself, your buyers, your builders, and create thought leadership for yourself. I invite you to come back next week for the next blog. Thank you for your time. God bless you guys. Have an amazing and productive week and I'll see you again. Thanks.
Download our FREE e-book at www.newhomenicheblueprint.com.
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