Baylor Real Estate Researcher Notes Trends For Agents

Newswise — Dr. Chris Pullig, Director of the Keller Center for Research in Residential Real Estate Marketing at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business, noted today that while existing home sales are on the decline there has only been a marginal reduction in National Association of Realtors (NAR) membership, hence fewer transactions are available to each individual agent. “For the agents who will succeed in this kind of environment, the key is going to be who can operate more efficiently and are more strategic in the way they allocate marketing resources,” Pullig said.

(Refer to graphic chart at http://business.baylor.edu/hsb/news/NARchart.jpg. Source: National Association of Realtors.)

Though existing home sales have been waning since 2005, there has only been a marginal reduction in NAR membership, a response that does not reflect the strong correlation these two figures have shown in the past. During the recent housing boom, which began in the mid-1990s and continued through the first half of this decade, NAR membership nearly doubled – from 729,266 in 1993 to 1.27 million in 2005. But as the number of homes sold shifted downward in 2006, the number of real estate agents continued to rise.

“When we see these kinds of trends, we want to investigate the means by which real estate agents most effectively generate revenue: What lead generation techniques are most effective?” said Dr. Kirk Wakefield, chair of the Marketing Department at Baylor. “What marketing strategies work best given this environment? Taking this aggregate trend into consideration, the focus of the Keller Center is on agents and what makes them successful as individuals. We want to examine things such as the best ways to promote and communicate an agent’s business and the best ways to brand individual or group real estate agencies.”

The Keller Center is currently looking at issues that affect residential real estate marketing strategies including lead generation and conversion, branding issues, consumer expectations and pricing. While the research will remain academic in nature, the Keller Center also focuses on making the information learned accessible to the working real estate agent. Articles discussing the center’s studies will be available online at www.baylor.edu/business/kellercenter, beginning June 2008.

“Moving forward, the center will focus its studies on the factors that influence individual home buyers in their decision, as well as marketing and management issues that are important to real estate agencies and small businesses,” said Pullig. “The faculty associated with the center will generate research in areas yet untouched by academia, finding real answers to age-old questions about buyer-seller relationships.”

The Keller Center supports an academic major in Professional Selling.
The Keller Center encourages the participation of realtors in their research. To be added to the Keller Center mailing list, please send your name, address and email to Laura_Indergard@baylor.edu.

About Baylor Business
The Hankamer School of Business holds to a visionary standard of excellence whereby integrity stands shoulder to shoulder with analytic and strategic strengths to build leaders, not simply careers. Visit www.baylor.edu/business for more information.