Supporting first-time home buyers: Tips for your brokerage

As home prices rise, buyers continue to have difficulty finding the right property.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the price of homes increased nearly 20% between November 2020 and November 2021. Not only that, according to a survey conducted by the First Time Home Buyer Metro Affordability Report, homes were listed at almost six times the median buyer income in 2021.

Buying a home is a big deal. Especially the first. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of seeing the “sold” sign, getting the keys, and stepping over the threshold. Now more than ever, first-time home buyers deserve support that makes their experience memorable—for all the right reasons. Your agents have the power to make a positive influence. From the moment the client meets your team to when they get the keys, they should feel like they have a partner on their side.

In this post, we’re providing you resources and tips to help you provide tailored support for first-time home buyers—ensuring they walk away empowered, not frustrated.

3 ways your brokerage can empower first-time home buyers

Work together

Look inward. It might sound cliche, but it’s true. If your internal culture isn’t working, you’re going to have a difficult time providing the best experience to your clients. When brokers and agents collaborate, they can become unstoppable. Strong relationships within your brokerage improve team communication and help your agents maintain consistent, positive messages and communication with clients.

This strong internal culture leads to the collaboration of ideas, support from experience, and working through changing and evolving trends together. Though independent, fostering a sense of community and teamwork across your business is important and as we’ve discussed in the past it will make your brokerage stronger, your agents more motivated, and their clients satisfied when they close on their new home.

Brokers within the Weichert system are part of a winning, family culture that we take pride in. It’s a priority of ours to make sure that what we feel at the center of the organization filters out to all of the businesses that join us. We know that results start at the top. That’s why we encourage our broker-owners to focus on developing their leadership skills through coaching and education to ensure they can help their agents thrive.

Be industry experts

Help your team empower clients by giving them tools to stay informed. Many first-time home buyers are new to real estate. To be an ideal partner for these clients, your agents need to be prepared to answer questions about the market, the neighborhood, the school district, etc.

Inspiration for staying in the know

• Host lunch-and-learns focused on topics outside of just selling homes—such as government financing programs
• Send emails to your team with industry updates
• Create a company Slack channel to share news articles and relevant blog posts
• Encourage open communication with each other inside the office

For example, as part of the Weichert System, our franchisees can take advantage of our extensive network of owners that are willing to share ideas, as well as our team of business coaches dedicated to helping your team along the way. With regular conferences, virtual meetings, and supporting tools, like our buyer seminar in a box and materials to walk buyers through the process and current market dynamics, we make sure our affiliates are always prepared to push their business forward and find the perfect home for their clients.

Promote transparency

Buying a home is often not an easy process for clients, and your new buyers are going to need a little more hand-holding and guidance than those who have gone through the process before.

In a NAR report about first-time home buyers, respondents said they valued honesty and trustworthiness above all else. New buyers may have a lot of questions when coming into this experience. Your team can help set clear expectations by asking them questions like:

• How far will their budget truly go?
• What are their true must-haves?
• Do they understand all of the costs involved in buying a home?

One way we help our brokerages instill confidence in our buyers is with our Buyer Consultation and Buyer Needs Assessment. This allows an agent to take time upfront to get to know the Buyer and their motivations and explain how the process works. Doing this helps avoid surprises on either side and makes the process go much more smoothly.

After the purchase, be sure to follow up with your clients. It’s a simple way to let them know you’re always on their side. With myWeichert powered by kvCORE, we make it easy for Weichert agents to be in regular communication with clients with automated communications and follow-ups.

The state of the market is constantly changing but the care and attention first-time home buyers need is not. Remember, at the end of the day, we are clients’ advocates throughout the search, negotiations, and closing. Weichert brokerages understand what their clients need and our systems help them get there. Partnering with Weichert gives you and your team the tools to provide personal, professional, and memorable experiences—for every buyer.

Find out more about how we can help your brokerage thrive. Contact us today.