Low Housing Inventory Uncovers Rental Commission Potential

Housing inventory is at an all-time low, according to research from Housing Wire. This situation dramatically impacts the amount of commission real estate agents can make on the buyers' market. In fact, the number of homes for sale in January 2022 was 42% below January 2020.

Real estate agents are undoubtedly being tested in 2022. The for-sale market in 2022 feels like a battle zone to some real estate agents. Based on first-hand agent accounts, most houses have multiple offers as soon as they hit the market. Then once the property is listed, it's in escrow within a couple days. This is why investors (who can afford it) are putting in all-cash offers.

Why rentals are a remarkable commission option

While housing inventory is low, rentals are booming. In the past year, rent prices rose by over 30%, according to The Washington Post. The increase in rent prices, subsequently leads to an increase in agent commission. Therefore, this is a unique opportunity for real estate agents to fold rentals into their business strategy to increase revenue.

Incorporating rentals into your real estate strategy is easier than ever due to digital innovation. Rental property technology is now accessible to all real estate agents that use RentSpree. For example, Lone Wolf Technologies partnered with RentSpree to increase agents' integration of rentals. Here are some results from this partnership:

• 8,000 Lone Wolf agents signed up for RentSpree
• 85,000 renters processed by Lone Wolf agents
• 37,000 listings added by Lone Wolf agents

In 2021 Lone Wolf agents added more than one listing per hour for the whole year.

With the heated competition in the buyers' market creates particular difficulties for prospective homeowners. Real estate investors are aggressively seizing the low-interest rate opportunities and outbidding would-be homeowners. As a result, many sellers face the conundrum of making a profit on their house but have nowhere to go after selling.

Plus, due to high sales prices, many agents have difficulty securing homes for their clients, resulting in infrequent commission checks. This scenario ultimately impacts agents' businesses and income. But agents who fold rentals into a full-service suite of client services stand to significantly grow their bottom line.

How can brokerages expand earning potential with rentals?

• Rental Client Management Software

Fostering loyal connections with renters is essential to transition them over to homeowners. However, keeping tabs on all potential homebuying candidates is cumbersome. The industry's future is rental client management software that allows agents to access their leads organized in place. Agents that use a real estate customer relationship management tool are more likely to stay on top of client touch points.

• Tenant Screening & Rental Applications

Offering online tenant screening helps ensure property owners, landlords and agents can find the right tenant for their rental property and keep their properties' filled with reliable, financially qualified renters. Online leasing expedites the process of getting renters onboarded and allows people from out of state to fill out these leases quickly. It also gives both renters and landlords 24/7 digital access to the lease in case they need to reference it for any reason.

• Rent Estimation

A rent estimation tool allows real estate agents the chance to plan for salary expectations. In addition, using information can indicate the optimal rental estimate in a given market takes a lot of the guesswork out of pricing.

• Rental Data Insights

When real estate professionals have access to tenant data, they have the opportunity of knowing who might be ready for that next purchase. Leveraging the renter to homebuyer journey with data is a great way to transition clients from renting to purchasing. Lone Wolf Technologies has robust business analytic capabilities to help with rental data insights.

• Transaction Management

With transaction management brokerages have everything in one place, such as agent connection, licensed forms, e-signatures, broker oversight, back-office integration, partner integration, reporting, document storage, listing upload, and digital title orders.

Real estate agents dream of that million-dollar listing that's going to rake in a massive commission check. However, the reality for the average agent isn't a Netflix Selling Sunset episode. Now is the time to diversify their real estate business and add new reliable revenue streams.

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