The great Xmas real estate misconception: Michael Davoren

GUET OBSERVER

Did you know that there is an official ‘countdown to Christmas’ web site?

When I visited https://emailsanta.com/clock.asp, there were 104 days to go.

Real estate agents can easily fall into a trap as Christmas approaches.

Every year, hordes of agents go around bemoaning the fact that things go awfully quiet in the property market through the festive season.

Bollocks!

That line of thinking is out-of-date, and not indicative of buyer and seller activity in this day and age.

Often this is the period when buyers and sellers have more time, are making changes and resettling, and have more need for an agent.

It is more commonly agents in non-holiday destinations that perpetuate the perception, who predict and plan for a drop off in market activity over the Christmas-New year period. Holiday spots are not so affected.

And what happens when you don’t keep talking with the buyers and sellers, when you ease off on your prospecting and stop generating listings, and when you pull back on the advertising of your listings and stop maintaining your profile?

When you don’t keep up all this agent activity, your business activity is likely to slow… because it is a self-fulfilling prophesy!

Don’t lose three months income because of a two-week ‘wind down’.

Don’t wind down too early – and take two months to get back to speed in the New Year!

Michael Davoren is managing director, RE/MAX Australia and RE/MAX New Zealand, and can be contacted here.