How Every Agent Can Help Solve Our Inventory Shortage

Every agent today needs more listings. If you had another listing, you would have another sale; it's that simple.

What's not simple is solving our inventory shortage. According to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), inventory in July 2020 was 21 percent lower than 2019's already anemic levels. Making things worse, homeowners move once every 13 years today, up from every eight years in 2010, according to Census data.

Unlocking Inventory

I recently wrote about a new "bridge" solution to help agents unlock inventory, allowing homeowners to buy their next home before selling their current one, solving the chicken-and-egg problem.

zavvie is giving leading brokerages coast to coast the tools their agents need, including this bridge solution, to help homeowners get moving again.

Unlike the previous solution, a bridge loan, homeowners can buy their next home with a cash offer and then move in immediately. It's a noncontingent transaction.

Homeowners Are Overwhelmed

Many homeowners are not only stuck, they're overwhelmed. They want to sell, but they don't know where to move, so they see selling as too much of a hassle. They are fearful and have safety concerns, especially with the impacts of COVID. They are in lockdown mode and sitting on the sidelines.

How can an agent change that mindset?

The easiest way to get homeowners off the sidelines is to show them an offer. The zavvie platform provides brokerages with an Offer Optimizer to do just that. Agents can show sellers the different options available: an all-cash offer, an instant offer from iBuyers, a bridge solution, concierge services (to take care of the prep and repair before a home goes on the market) or selling a home on the open market.

We know that 90 percent of homeowners want to see an iBuyer offer, but only a few will select it. Most folks are going to list on the open market or wait to sell. An agent should be the one to walk them through all of these options.

Becoming a Modern Agent

A modern agent doesn't just talk to clients when they're ready to sell. A modern agent talks to clients about options and solutions that are available today. That's how an agent can move from being transactional to advisory.

Any modern agent can show homeowners all the options available to them—you don't need zavvie to do this. However, two things happen when you use this strategy:

1. The agent stays at the center of every transaction—iBuyer, bridge, concierge or open market. zavvie helps give sellers what they want: a professional agent they trust.
2. Sellers are willing to pay an agent to bring those options to them and represent them no matter which path they choose, including selling to an iBuyer.

We have to create more inventory. Our inventory problem won't be solved anytime soon, so the modern agent needs to take action.

Contact five homeowners you know are stuck. Walk them through the new solutions available today. That's the best first step we can take to solve our inventory shortage.

Lane Hornung is CEO and co-founder of zavvie, a complete platform offering all selling options for real estate brokerages, and is CEO/founder of Colorado-based 8z Real Estate, one of the nation's most successful brokerages.

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