Matt Schafer, another top-selling agent, along with his wife, April, says working with banks takes a very different skill set.
“To earn the traditional listings, you need to market yourself with mailers and use technology to separate yourself from the competition,” he says. “With the banks, it was all about applying and keeping a relationship with that bank by properly handling their properties.”
And an improving market lends much-needed confidence to agents, something that was lost when the housing bubble burst, says Mary Bujold, president of Maxfield Research, a Minneapolis housing research firm.
“I don’t know that people are jumping in to become real estate agents, but the market is starting to turn around,” Bujold says. “Prices are starting to increase. We’ve got people out looking to buy. I think there are a lot of positive signs.”
©2013 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Distributed by MCT Information Services
