19 Problems of being in a real estate industry [With solutions]

1. Not having enough listings

How would you feel if you went shopping at a store or an online website and found only 3-4 options? Disappointed, right?

Likewise, when a buyer comes looking for a house, they expect to receive plenty of options so they can find the property that exactly meets their criteria.

If a realtor runs low on inventory, it negatively impacts the company. An unappealing IDX website with only a few real estate assets won’t do any good for the business.

Therefore, you must ensure that there are sufficient listings on your website. This can directly affect the growth of the commercial real estate industry.

Solution: 

Grow your network; connect with local businesses and real estate investors, and list local news & events on your website.

With such helpful resources on your retail real estate website, more people will be inclined toward your website, resulting in increased traffic.

Moreover, by keeping your visitors updated, you collect more leads to convert them into customers eventually. 

Leverage your current listing. Make an irresistible ad that showcases desirable and affordable neighborhood listings.

Below is a perfect real estate listing advertisement that shows affordable housing at the best prices.

Why does it make the perfect ad?

• Use of fresh copy “Just listed – best-priced home”
• The image is clean and appealing
• Use of sections that highlights unique aspects of the house
• Not so wordy content – crisp and clear message 
• Use of words like “Quick” in the CTA 

2. Lead cost is high as compared to the conversion ratio

Your conversion ratio is sure to decrease when you focus only on capturing leads rather than nurturing them.

Your lead cost will skyrocket by capturing and buying leads from various platforms such as Google Ads, Zillow, and other paid campaigns.

The below image shows the average cost per lead for various marketing channels.

With high lead costs and lower conversion rates, keeping up with such a high cost per lead becomes impossible.

Solution: 

The only way to break free of this vicious cycle is to improve your conversion rate.

Once you achieve a higher conversion rate, your lead cost will decrease.

Your business needs a streamlined sales process to convert more leads into customers.

Once you capture the lead, segment them on their preferences, interest, location, and behavioral patterns.

This data will give you a gist of how likely the leads will get converted – gradually improving your lead conversion ratio.

Moreover, you can implement various real estate lead generation strategies to streamline your entire process.

Solve 10 biggest real estate problems with Salesmate

Learn how Salesmate CRM helps real estate teams to grow their revenue.

CRM for Realtors

3. Not having an established sales process

The real estate sales process consists of many stages, from listing a house to closing the sale.

To have a clear view of your sales process, every realtor needs to establish a solid sales process that they must follow to keep it organized. 

Solution: 

Build a solid real estate sales process that covers every aspect of your business and helps grow your customer base.

With a streamlined process, you can capture quality leads and nurture them to guide them through the top funnel.

4. Not knowing where the deal is in the sales process

 Not knowing where the deal stands can affect your bottom line.

If the deal takes too long to close, you must act upon it immediately and push it towards closure.

Likewise, when you have a hot lead, you must put more effort into turning them into customers.  

Solution:

A sales pipeline gives you a visual representation of where your prospects are in your sales cycle. By identifying the leads in the pipeline, you can take the necessary step to motivate the prospect to close the deals.

Get a bird's-eye view of your sales pipeline

See where your deals get clogged with Salesmate's Pipeline Management.

Explore Pipeline CRM

5. Failing to leverage technology

Are you still following the traditional method of listing properties in magazines and newspapers?

As much beneficial as that is, technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few decades.

If you’re not leveraging technology for your business’s growth, your competitors will gain an edge over you and attract more leads their way.

Solution: 

Use the resources such as social media, listing websites, and other platforms to build a solid customer base and capture leads.

Analyze and know which platform the majority of your target audience is found on and strategize your marketing plan accordingly.

6. Failing to leverage on referrals

If you were a customer looking to buy a property, would you rather ask your known one about their experience with a certain realtor or rely on a website?

We’re assuming that most buyers would trust their friends or family more.

Real estate markets mainly run on referrals; 25% of agents generate more than 50% of their revenue through only referrals! Shocking, right?

It becomes difficult to get more leads when a realtor doesn’t have clients backing his work and referring to others.

Solution: 

Whenever a person closes a deal, the sales process doesn’t just end there. Even after you’ve sold something, staying connected with clients and nurturing them is vital.

Building a strong relationship with your customers makes you more likely to get referred to others. So, nurture your clients by sending personalized messages, providing a solution, and consulting when required.

7. Abiding with real estate agent laws

Handling properties, selling them, or renting them comes with many responsibilities.

Buying and selling of land consist of numerous rules that the government determines.

As a real estate agent, you must abide by the real estate agent laws that consist of confidentiality, making the buyer aware of any default in the property, and so on. 

The transaction between a realtor and a buyer must have transparency to benefit both parties. 

Solution: 

Use a real estate CRM to get rid of manual paperwork and manage things in a better way.

Prepare a checklist, and ensure you’ve covered everything before making any sale.

Moreover, you can also log conversations in your CRM to use them in the future as a reference.

8. Managing the back-office task

Keeping track of all your back-office tasks can be a hassle.

If you have recently started a real estate business and think you’ve got plenty of time on your hand, you might want to rethink your decision.

The real estate industry is hectic; you need to stay on your toes all the time to capture more leads in the market.

So, you can’t stay relaxed, thinking the leads will come straight to you just because you have a website.

Solution: 

Hire a real estate agent who is skilled enough to manage all your administration tasks easily. See if they exactly map your requirements.

Some of the top skills requirements in a real estate administration agent are managing paperwork, dealing with clients, keeping the listings organized, and looking after the legal documents.

This practice can help resolve the most crucial real estate problems and help realtors manage their tasks effortlessly.

9. Increasing presence of online estate agents

With more and more Millenials and Gen Z investing in real estate, realtors have considered their preferences.

This generation wants everything online; from shopping to acquiring services, everything is just a click away.

Therefore, an increase in online real estate agents has boosted the competition.

And if you want to keep growing your business, you must stay on level with others. 

Solution: 

Build an online presence and share resources as well as information.

It would help if you had top-of-the-funnel traffic when you want to drive more visitors to your website.

Therefore, stay active on various social media platforms and leverage them to build a community that puts trust in your business.

10. Dealing with unrealistic sellers

You must have come across sellers with highly unrealistic expectations from their properties.

Whether it’s the price they’re quoting or the time frame they have given to sell the property, if it doesn’t go well with your calculation, keep it clear from the first day.

Many sellers compare their houses to those in the neighborhood and want to sell them as quickly as others.

It’s your responsibility to make them understand the real scenario. This is one of the most common problems that real estate markets face.

Solution: 

Understand the seller’s requirements and think from their perspective to gain insight.

If you believe the property is overpriced or underpriced, communicate the same.

Moreover, make your seller aware of the closing cost before you share the final amount so they’re not shocked at the end and your deal falls through.

Pay attention to the right deal at the right time!

Score leads and identify the right prospects to chat with every day.

Explore Sales Pipeline

11. Managing paperwork 

If you don’t want to get lost in a pile of paperwork, you need to form a proper workflow.

Managing the paperwork of every property and client can take a toll on you and consume most of your time. In fact, this can also hamper your overall productivity at work.

Solution: 

Get a CRM that eliminates the dependency on manual paperwork and digitizes your documents. 

Have access to all your documents within your CRM and exchange e-signed documents for speeding up the documentation process.

Moreover, you can also implement real estate marketing automation into your business process for lead generation, outreach, etc.

This way, you can access all the important information even when you’re on the way to meet your client.

12. Finding common ground on pricing with another party

Every seller or buyer has different prices in mind when they come to a realtor. And when their price doesn’t match your offer value, clashes are bound to happen.

A realtor considers the location, market value, competitors, and closing costs before finalizing the price.

On the other hand, sellers usually compare their prices to the neighborhood’s house, making it a difference between parties.

Solution: 

Find common ground where both parties can agree on the price.

If they deny your rate, make them understand the entire property valuation process so they can get on board, and it’s a win-win for both parties.

13. Calculating taxes and other deductibles

This is one of the essential stages of selling any real estate property.

Many realtors find it challenging to miss out on certain taxes or deductibles before quoting a price.

And the difference between offered price and the final cost creates trust issues among the client and real estate agent.

Solution: 

You need to consider property tax, escrow charges, application fees, and warranty before finalizing the price of any of your listings.

You can create a chart explaining all the taxes so that the seller or buyer knows them. 

14. Dealing with tons of rejections 

With the growing competition among real estate agents, rejection is inevitable.

Not every client will go through your offer, so at some point, you will face rejections, and that’s part of the process.

However, just because a couple of clients rejected your offer doesn’t mean your services aren’t up to the mark.

Solution: 

Even if you’re facing rejections, don’t give up and keep nurturing clients.

They might not be interested in the property you offered, but they may be interested in your future projects.

So, you can keep sending personalized messages and emails to stay connected with cold leads.

60% of customers say no four times before saying yes whereas 48% of salespeople never even make a single follow-up attempt.

15. Real estate appraisal issue 

Real estate agents face appraisal issues regularly.

According to the National Association of Realtors, appraisal issues cause 18% of real estate contract delays.

A professional appraises a property’s value after the deal is closed.

Therefore, the appraisal of property causes clashes between parties. A professional will assess the property and determine the fair value to the seller.

Solution: 

Price the property fairly, so even when the appraisal comes in, it doesn’t have a vast difference. Educate your clients about the appraisal process and always keep them in the loop while making any important decision or modification.  

16. The home isn’t insurable 

Sometimes, real estate agents take up properties that can’t be insured.

It’s possible that the house is at high risk and can’t get any insurance, and that drawback puts your deal on hold.

In the case of such property, FHA denies insurance based on the house’s condition.

Solution: 

You can communicate with your client and convey the situation in such a scenario.

In fact, if the property isn’t insurable by FHA, you always have an option to approach private insurance agencies; just keep in mind that their premiums will be comparatively higher based on the risk.

17. One of the parties has cold feet

Since purchasing a house is one of the major decisions for anyone, it’s natural for the client to have a cold foot.

This usually happens when you’re just about to close the deal, which may put all your efforts at risk if not handled properly.

Solution: 

Put forward a strong proposition that offers value and communicates clearly with your client.

See it from their perspective and approach accordingly so you can close the deal without any hassle.

Hear from the expert: 

18. No certainty of payout for brokers 

Real estate brokers put all their effort into preparing the listing, staging the property, and approaching interested clients just to gain the brokerage that also sometimes doesn’t go through.

It’s a fact that there’s no certainty of payout for brokers, which puts their job at risk.

Solution: 

Ensure you convey the brokerage fee to your client before closing the deal.

In fact, including the brokerage in closing costs is recommended, so when you’re explaining all the expenses, the client will be aware of the broker’s fees.

19. Title issues

Another common real estate problem is title issues, making the title transfer difficult.

The reason for this could be anything from illegal deeds, forgeries, unknown liens, and undiscovered wills to errors in public records.

Solution: 

To avoid this problem, you can thoroughly research the property beforehand.

Moreover, to ensure your client doesn’t face any problems, it’s best to protect the property with title insurance.

Title issues are covered in the ‘owners policy’ when you have the title insurance.

Final thoughts

You’ll certainly face challenges at every step of your real estate journey; the key to overcome is to abide by the rules and prepare a streamlined workflow.

With a CRM for realtors, you can seamlessly manage your entire sales process and tackle these real estate problems.