How Realtors Can Use Market Trends and Data to Empower Clients' Decisions

Buyers and sellers are finding it harder than ever to navigate the recent real estate market challenges. The home selling process isn’t as simple as it used to be, and it’s part of your role as an agent to help people understand how it all works.

Market data is the most powerful tool to help agents inform and empower their clients. But how do you find the right data and deliver it to your clients so they can understand it?

In episode 048 of the Realestatable podcast, we shared our insights on using data to streamline the negotiation process and help clients make informed decisions.

Managing Expectations with Sellers

One challenge realtors struggle with is managing sellers’ expectations. Most sellers still believe that they’ll receive multiple offers in no time and will sell fast.

Before 2022, this was possible. However, in 2024, the market has slowed down and it may take months for a seller to find a single offer.

Currently, the average time a house stays on market is 61 days. While it is down from 2023 average timing, trends show that it’s going to take time to sell a home.

Presenting clear statistics on the average days on market, pricing trends, and buyer demand helps set realistic expectations. This way you can tell your client, without directly saying it, that their house isn’t going to sell overnight.

Empowering Buyers with Data

On the buyer’s side, they want to find the best deal based on how long a house is on the market. However, days on the market don’t mean massive discounts.

Buyers need to understand that while the market may have cooled, sellers are still aiming for fair market value. This means substantial price cuts aren’t always the reality.

Relying this message to your clients can be hard to do. You don’t want to crush their dreams of buying their perfect home.

However, flooding them with too much data information can make things challenging for them. Instead of providing buyers data, focus on providing payment solutions, so they can still afford their forever home.

How to Gather and Share Market Trends with Your Clients

So, what’s the best way to gather real estate market data? One way agents can do this is by using their Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is where you can gather market information on average list prices, sold prices, and inventory levels within specific neighborhoods.

Another way agents can find market data is by using the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Realtors Property Resource (RPR) reports. These reports provide sales statistics and buyer behavior insights. State and local associations also offer periodic market updates that agents can share with clients.
 
Now for data presentation, setting it up to be easy to follow and making it nice to look at will help ensure your clients actually read it and get something out of it. It's pretty easy to create newsletters for free in Canva, or if you want a more robust program, there are a few options out there that you can pay for. This is a great way to position yourself as the expert in the market and keep yourself top of mind with clients.

Empower Your Clients with Data-Driven Insights

The real estate industry is always changing and it’s hard for your clients to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. This is where you come in!

If you want more information about how you can gather, analyze, and use market trends to help your clients be informed buyers and sellers, check out episode 048 of the Realestatable podcast, where we went into this subject in depth!