If the ups and downs of the real estate market have taught us anything, it's that we must nurture our client relationships in order to stay afloat during difficult times. As a broker, you should be thinking of retaining customers for life – not just in terms of single transactions. One way to do this is to focus on core services.

Core Services

What do we mean when we're talking about core services? We're talking about looking beyond the sales of residential real estate and focusing on mortgage, insurance, title, home warranty, and commercial real estate.

We're not saying you should stop selling residential properties – although, as we've seen, future generations may be renting more and buying less. Instead, what we want to point out is that it's what you do throughout the transaction and after the transaction is complete that drives business and client retention across all service offerings.

Case Study: Howard Hanna Real Estate

Howard Hanna is an excellent example of a brokerage that has focused on core services to cement their position as an industry leader. They position themselves as a "full service" company, explaining that they can support their clients through every single step of a real estate transaction (from appraisal to closing) in-house.