10 Ways to Get Ready For the Spring Real Estate Market

The spring real estate market is almost here, which means it’s nearly busy season for real estate agents. As an agent, you’re going to want to take the time to get yourself set up the right way before new business starts pouring in.

According to these 2022 housing market predictions from Zillow, existing home sales are expected to total 6.35 million this year, compared to an estimated 6.12 million last year.

In light of that, we’ve brought you ten tips to help you prepare for the spring real estate market. Take a look at each one to determine which ones will work best for you.

Get ready for the spring market, real estate agents!

Here are 10 ways agents can prepare for the spring real estate market

1. Set goals for the season.

Whether or not you got around to setting goals in the New Year, as you head into the spring housing market, it can be a good time to revisit those goals and to adjust them accordingly. Many agents are aware that they’re going to be busy during this time, however, it can be helpful to set some benchmarks for just how busy you want to be.

In particular, you may want to consider setting a few goals like the following:

• I want to sell x listings in the spring market.
• I hope to work with x buyers this season.
• I want to follow up with x leads per week.

2. Clean and organize your workspace.

Believe it or not, now is the time to clean up your workspace. Once you get busy, you won’t be able to take the time to stop and get organized. Set yourself up for success and get ready for the spring real estate market by making sure that everything is in place before you get overrun with new business.

Sometimes cleaning and organizing means physically cleaning up your workspace. However, often, it also means making sure that everything is in place with your digital files. It can also mean cleaning up your CRM and getting rid of dead leads.

3. Develop a system for managing your calendar.

Once you’ve organized your workspace, the next step is to organize the productivity tools that will help you during your busy days. One of those tools is your calendar. On the surface, it will help you to keep track of all of your appointments. However, it can also allow you to ensure that you block off time to take care of administrative duties or other essential tasks.

After you’ve landed on a calendar app that works well for you, it’s important to take the time to create a calendar management system to help you use it more effectively. For example, you could institute a color-coding system where you give each client their own color. Alternatively, you could use one color for showings, another color for listing appointments, and a third for lead follow-up.

In either case, you’re going to want to learn how to set alerts for the events on your calendar so that you stay on schedule.

4. Devote time to lead generation.

Before the housing market heats up, you’re also going to want to devote time to lead generation. If you don’t have a lead generation campaign in place already, now is a good time to set one up. Even just sending out one direct mailing can help you form a stable of leads who will be ready to go when the busy season starts.

To that end, sit down and take some time to figure out what your most effective marketing move has been to date. Maybe it’s offering a free CMA or maybe it’s calling past clients and asking for referrals.

In either case, it’s important to take the time to work those leads now so that you have some warm prospects by the time the spring market comes.

5. Follow up with warm prospects.

Remember, lead generation doesn’t end with the first contact. Sometimes you need a little persistence in order for your hard work to pay off. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to keep track of the leads that you’ve gotten in touch with recently and any additional follow-up attempts you’ve made.

Odds are, your CRM system will be able to track this for you. However, if not, it’s also possible to use a spreadsheet for the same purpose. Simply create columns for the contact name, contact date, the result of the contact, and any notes from the conversation.

6. Automate as much as possible.

This tip works hand-in-hand with devoting time to nurturing leads. In particular, you’re going to want to take the time to investigate how to automate your lead generation process as you get ready for the spring market.

Put simply, many agents allow lead generation to fall off their calendars when they get busy. However, this does them a disservice because then they’re left without warm prospects when the fall slow-down arrives. If you figure out how to automate this process, you can ensure that it keeps working even when you’re out of the office.

That said, in addition to your lead generation process, you can also automate other things. In particular, you can automate social media posts and email drip campaigns to your client list. Do your best to take these tasks off your plate by letting technology take care of them for you.

7. Ask for the help you need.

If you’re only one agent, it’s impossible to be everywhere at once. After all, you can’t be taking out buyers, on a listing appointment, and at the office taking care of your administrative tasks all at the same time. If you feel like you may not be able to keep up with all of your commitments during the spring season, it may be time to ask for some help.

For example, maybe you could explore the idea of hiring an assistant to take care of some of your administrative tasks. Alternatively, you could consider asking some of the agents in your office to join in providing coverage for each other when needed.

8. Make sure your buyers are ready to compete.

Next, it’s important to check in with any buyers who have already committed to working with you. Specifically, you’re going to want to take the time to talk to them about how to be competitive in a busy market.

First and foremost, it’s important to make sure that they talk to a lender and get a current pre-approval. Beyond that, you may also want to talk to them about why it’s important to put their best foot forward when submitting an offer.

On the back end, you’re also going to want to update any searches for them so that they are getting the most appropriate listings sent to their inbox.

9. Give sellers homework so they can get ready for the spring real estate market.

After you check with your buyers, it’s important to do the same thing with your sellers. In this case, you should give them homework to get ready for the spring home buying and selling market so they’re prepared as soon as it opens up for the season.

Ask them to make small fixes around the house. Have them talk to an interior designer about staging. Set up a time for them to work with your photographer on getting listing photos taken.

In this instance, anything that you can do ahead of time to get them ready to hit the market will save you time and energy later.

10. Rest and recharge.

Lastly, it is absolutely crucial to take some time to rest and recharge. Once the spring real estate market starts, you won’t be able to rest as often as you can now. With that in mind, make sure you schedule some time to relax. Your future self will thank you.