Something very strange happens at my house every spring. The two trees in my front yard wake up, but one seems to be an early riser and one most definitely keeps hitting the snooze.

These are the same variety of tree. Planted at the same time. Fertilized the same amount. Watered the same. They get an equal amount of sun.

BUT for a few weeks of the year we have two thoughts:

1. Is one dead?
2. Why are they on such different schedules?

I know you probably want me to solve this mystery for you, but you are out of luck. It’s still a total head-scratcher for me. 🤔

Looking at these trees has me thinking about change, not just the physical springtime natural change, but the changes that are barreling toward us like a derailed uncontrollable train.

In my Sunday night email we started our conversation about the proposed NAR settlement and what it means. Enter the train.(If you missed it, read it here.)

As it stands change is coming. And you, my friend, get to choose what tree you are.

Option 1: Welcome the change, sprout your new leaves and start flourishing now.

Option 2: Hit the snooze, wait until something forces you awake and let people wonder if you are dead.

In today’s email I’m going to give you my action item list if you’ve decided to go with option #1…

1. Study your buyer brokerage agreement and start using it with every buyer.
2. Start sharing with buyers how you get paid and how that is changing.
3. Have conversations with buyers about their ability to pay your commission should the seller not be offering compensation now or in the future.
4. Check your email templates and make sure to change out any wording about your pay and add in explanations of when your buyers will sign the buyer brokerage agreement.
5. Start conversations especially with your sellers in first time buyer/VA/low down payment typical price ranges about the importance of protecting homeownership in America and getting smoothly to closing by having a buyer represented by their own agent. Let them know that offering buyer’s agent compensation is not required but it may greatly impact who can purchase their home and how smoothly that transaction goes.
6. Consider standing out from the crowd by getting your ABR(Accredited Buyer Representative) being offered for free from NAR right now. https://become.abr.realtor/
7. Listen to this week’s HH episode about making your own luck. Recorded before the settlement news, it is still a timely reminder that there will always be reasons why clients buy and sell and they WANT an agent to help them.
8. Remember that industry changes are actually opportunities. The agents who lean into the change and create systems that serve their clients will continue to have success.

Need a little assistance with items 1-3? Grab our Buyer Brokerage Agreement Cover Letter here. It gives you a framework for explaining buyer brokerage to your buyers and gets them comfortable and ready to work with you!

I loved getting all of your feedback from my last email, so if you have other ideas or action items to add to this list, please email me at Team@HustleHumblyPodcast.com and let me know. I’m sure we will be recording another episode on this soon.

Yours in rap and real estate, Katy