NAR’s PSA certification provides a well-rounded approach to pricing strategy
When it comes to building a successful real estate career, real estate professionals across the board point to continuing education as a key piece of the puzzle in laying a solid foundation upon which they can build year after year. Looking to broaden your knowledge base and enhance your skills in pricing properties, creating CMAs, working with appraisers and guiding clients through the misperceptions they often have about home values? The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Pricing Strategy Advisor (PSA) certification is the best place to start.
Determining property values depends on professional expertise and competence, the best use of technology and approaching the pricing assignment from various perspectives. NAR’s PSA certification course, Pricing Strategies: Mastering the CMA, provides a well-rounded approach to pricing strategy.
For Cynthia DeLuca, a REALTOR® with ERA Grizzard Real Estate, the decision to become a course instructor centered on her commitment to imparting the lessons she’s learned throughout her real estate journey to other agents—whether they’ve been in the business for two years or 20 years.
“I achieved my GRI (Graduate, REALTOR® Institute) and Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) designations within the first year of my career, and I realized at that moment how important education was. The designations and letters are great to have, but the education from the class is the real value,” says DeLuca, who has been teaching for the past five years.
Specifically designed for residential real estate agents, the PSA course helps mold passionate real estate professionals, while also being extremely practical. In fact, the lessons DeLuca teaches can be applied to agents’ businesses on a daily basis.
Drilling down even further, DeLuca believes that the PSA course provides incredible insight into an appraiser’s mind, as well as their guidelines and thoughts on the entire appraisal process.
“As REALTORS®, we stress so much on the CMA, but we never discuss the appraisal much, which is always a mystery,” says DeLuca. “It’s great to dive into the appraisal process and really understand the end result so that we can start with the end in mind when pricing the property.”
When teaching classes, DeLuca spends a great deal of time focusing on the CMA and how to approach it from a broker’s perspective. And while she admits that she doesn’t necessarily correlate the appraisal process with the CMA, bringing clarity to the end result is helpful.
“This course provides amazing clarity. I love the ‘aha’ moments that students have when they realize they should have known something all along, but didn’t. That makes the entire day or class worthwhile, as that one nugget can make all the difference in their career,” says DeLuca.
“For most students, the light bulb moment occurs when we complete the workgroup activity for making adjustments,” adds DeLuca. “The students have already chosen comparables based on parameters an appraiser would use, which we discuss, then we make the adjustments.”
At the end of these activities, it’s clear that DeLuca’s students have gained tremendous clarity, as all the pieces of the puzzle come together to achieve the final product.
But it doesn’t end there, as DeLuca goes on to explain that her students leave the course with a much better understanding of what the appraiser does behind the scenes, as well.
For DeLuca, watching students reach those light bulb moments is what makes the PSA certification course so significant.
For more information, please visit pricingstrategyadvisor.org/earn-psa.
Jameson Doris is RISMedia’s social media/blog editor. Email him your real estate news ideas to jdoris@rismedia.com.
