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Event Ideas & Calendar Planning for Realtors

How does the time of year impact you as a realtor?

You’ve probably heard the musical verse, “To Everything There is a Season”. That’s very true with real estate! As with any other industry, there are both busy and slow periods throughout the year.

Depending on the season and the weather, you might be managing more of one type of property than another. For example, not a lot of beachfront property is usually sold during the icy months of January! However, this seasonal supply and demand can actually work to your benefit as a realtor. A slow period in the early winter can give you the time to set up your schedule for the rest of the year and to make big plans and improvements.

The changing seasons can also impact your client interactions, and dictate what kind of events you want to hold throughout the year. Strategic calendar planning can turn those peaks and valleys into advantages for anyone who works in real estate.

Real Estate Client Events

Client events can be a terrific idea. They help build your relationship with your clients, both old and new, they’re a great way to network with other realtors, and they can actually be a pretty fun time, if planned properly. The trick is to make sure that your events are planned with seasonal appropriateness.

Be Community Oriented

You might consider attaching your client event to a particular theme or fundraiser near and dear to most people’s hearts. Ideas might include anything from an SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) fundraiser, National Cancer Prevention Month in February, or a promotion for the local elementary school’s spring fling. By not making it “all about you”, you’ll actually gain more goodwill from your clients while serving your community in the process. You should be a realtor who is part of a community, not just market in it.

Summer Ideas

In the summer, you have a lot more options for client events. One of the most popular type of event is a summer BBQ. It’s a universal rule that people love free food and they love the people who give it to them! Holding a BBQ for your clients during the warm days of summer can show a huge return on your investment. The value of those hamburgers, hot dogs, ketchup, and buns could multiply exponentially in future sales.

Winter Ideas

In the winter, your options are a bit more limited. Not a lot of people want to haul out the ol’ grill in freezing cold temperatures. If you have a larger office, you could hold a client appreciation party right there at the office. Although it might be a pain to get your office ready for lots of guests, there can be a huge benefit to have clients visit your office for an informal event, as it will help build their level of comfort with you. The next time they come in to sign a contract, they’ll remember the office party and feel more at ease in the space. If you don’t have a large office, you could rent a room at a restaurant or pub and put out a good spread for everyone. An open bar might be tempting, but very much optional!

Seasonal Trends

The time of year can have a huge impact on your business as a realtor, especially if you live somewhere with wildly swinging temperatures.

Let’s put it this way: you’re more likely to sell the same house when it’s a nice balmy, summer day than when it’s frigidly cold outside. When clients imagine their ideal home, they rarely cover it in snow and ice. If the property is covered, your clients might not be able to get a good feeling for the landscape and property as a whole.

If you live in a warmer climate, your business is obviously less likely to be impacted by the snow. If you take your clients out to see homes during a mild winter, that will also factor into their decision. They could make the unconscious assumption that this mild weather is normal for that time of year, thus raising the possibility that they’ll want to live there.

Holidays & Back to School

The biggest seasonal shifts that can impact a realtor during the calendar year are the holiday season and the summer break just before the back to school start.

Generally, families don’t want to move when their children are in school. That kind of change can create a huge amount of pressure on a child. They often need to move to a new school, with new kids, get used to a new teacher, and have to catch up on whatever work they’ve missed from the disruption. Families tend to want to give their kids a clean start at a new school, which is why they’re more likely to sell and buy homes during the summer months. That way, they’ll be well settled before September and their children can start the new school year with all of the other kids.

The holiday season can also make a huge impact in your market. Just think of all of the headaches you need to deal with during December. Presents, family, food, weather… Can you just imagine tossing moving into a new home onto that pile of stresses? That’s why the market tends to slow down significantly during December. This might not necessarily be a bad thing, as it can also reduce the stresses of work on your during the holidays, but it’s something that you should prepare for. You might consider having a holiday client appreciation party in late November or early January rather than December, simply because people are so busy.

The seasons of the year can make a huge impact on how you do business so you need to be well-aware of the potential market fluctuations that can occur. You should get to know your market as well as possible; know all of the trends for prices and sales that come with the seasons in your region. Being well informed about the fluctuations will give you the edge when speaking with clients, giving them the best advice possible, whether it’s summer or winter.