In this YouTube presentation, REALTOR® Leigh Thomas Brown explains why U.S. housing inventory is currently low and offers five practical strategies for agents to succeed despite the shortage. She first outlines the structural causes: a decade‑long lag in new‑home construction, sellers’ logistical challenges (where will they go?), and the impact of rising mortgage rates that suppress seller motivation. She then shifts to agent‑level tactics. First, she stresses adopting a positive, proactive mindset and abandoning passive social‑media prospecting in favor of in‑person outreach and visible branding (name tags, vehicle wraps). Second, she advises agents to become highly accessible and approachable in everyday community settings, turning casual conversations into lead opportunities. Third, she urges agents to develop niche expertise—probate, estate, divorce, short‑sale, and foreclosure processes—by taking classes or seeking mentorship from seasoned REALTORS®. Fourth, she highlights the importance of understanding distressed‑seller financing options (deed‑in‑lieu, short sales, lender workouts) so agents can confidentially present solutions to homeowners burdened by high mortgage payments, HELOCs, and consumer debt. Throughout, Brown emphasizes empathy, confidentiality, and personalized service as the core ways to uncover hidden inventory. The video concludes with a call for viewer questions and links to related content.
Chapters
How does a great REALTOR® navigate a market with limited inventory? And honestly, this question has come in about a blue million times over the last several years, 'cause it's not a new problem. So let me give you a little bit of background first as to why our inventory is so low. The first thing I want you to understand is that we are an estimated 10 years behind on building in this country for the increase in population. The fact that people live longer, everything is a little different. And especially when building permits are behind, we are just going to be behind. So there is no immediate fix to the inventory. That's the biggest thing you have to know here. Now let's talk about the second thing that's keeping our inventory suppressed. And it's one of those things that each one of us knows. Where's the seller going to go? So if somebody calls me and says, hey Leigh Thomas Brown, I want to sell my house. One of the first questions I'm going to ask is, that's fantastic. Where you going? Because I need to know if there's going to be a transition here or what we're going to do. I had a talk yesterday with an amazing REALTOR® friend of mine who's currently living 3 families in one house because they sold their respective properties, then decided to build. But that is a long process when it comes to time. And so if you're dealing with those logistical pieces, maybe your clients have somewhere to go and maybe they don't. So you're going to have to be able to navigate those pieces. And because there's so many navigating things going on, Some sellers are choosing to stay put. And then let's talk about the economic piece of it. Interest rates between March of '22 and October of '23 have gone from roughly 3% to roughly 8% on a 30-year fixed. That's a stiff increase in monthly payment. So what happens is maybe you're trying to sell your house or you're thinking about it and you looked out in the market and you said, oh, prices have gone up. Hey, look how much equity I have. But then you said, oh, what I'm going to pay for that house is going to be a lot stiffer. Differ because the cost of the capital is higher as well. So we do have some sellers doing what we, we actually were calling it suppressed inventory because it would have come into the market, but the interest rates have kept those people from selling. Now, it doesn't mean that they won't, it just means they're waiting for something to come into the market that makes sense for them. So now that you're thinking about these pieces of why our inventory's low, we have to figure out what actually agents can do to survive and find houses to sell. First thing is fix your mindset. Do not be the person who's going on social media saying, "There's nothing to sell. There's no inventory." Because if you're a fuss budget and a negative Nancy, nobody's going to want to work with you. Spoiler alert. And houses have been bought and sold the whole time of this low inventory market. It's just a bit skewed because we have currently more real estate agents than we have houses to sell. That means you're going to have to work. That means you're going to have to get your mind right and say, "There's something out there to sell. I want to find it." And then you have to go find it. And here's what that means. That means get off your social media, friends. Quit clicking like on things and acting like that's prospecting. That's not prospecting. Quit looking at your phone wishing it would ring, because let's be honest, realtors don't answer the phone anyway. And so what you need to do is put down the device and go out in public. Go into locally owned businesses and say hello to the owner. Say hello to the other guests. Maybe drink a cup of coffee and sit around and just say hello to people instead of grabbing it and going. When you go to the gas station, don't swipe at the pump, go inside to pay. Say hello to the cashier. I'm a little amazed sometimes at the number of real estate agents who make the assumption that just because somebody is working some particular job that they're not a home purchaser in the future. They might just be. They also might have a house to sell. Why are you assuming? Don't be assuming, just go say hey to people. That is the number one key to survival in real estate is being available and accessible and then willing to have a conversation. Conversation. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had at gas stations because as a REALTOR®, I feel like I'm at the gas station 2 times a week. And frankly, as state president this year, I've been there way more as I drive around the state. And honestly, almost every time I stop my car, somebody walks up and wants to have a conversation. Well, me being shy, I just totally lean into that. So, what I want you to know as well is that if you're going to be that person who is visible and available, Wear something that designates that you're a REALTOR®, whether it's a name tag or your RPAC pin or some kind of a REALTOR® R, maybe a t-shirt. Although wearing the t-shirt, hopefully that's only when you're at the grocery store and you wouldn't wear that as professional garb, just saying. But also my vehicle is completely wrapped and it is a marketing machine so that people know I'm a real estate professional. They can walk up and ask me questions, which takes the pressure off. It makes it easy for them to come up to me. It means I'm not necessarily going to have to walk around because they already knew before they came up. So I want you to think about your accessibility. I find that in today's world, we have a loss of connections, a loss of relationships, and frankly, we jump to assumptions very quickly, which we can overcome if we just have conversations. So I want you to, first of all, understand the market. Second of all, be accessible. Now, here's the third thing I want you to do to find inventory in a limited market. Understand the niches of the market. This is not 2021, the COVID era, when you could stick a sign in the yard and everybody wanted it regardless of condition. Buyers right now have decided they don't want to overpay unless the house is perfect. They are more interested in a house that's in move-in condition. They are concerned about paying too much. They're asking better questions than they did during the big bidding war era. So what that means to you as an agent is, first of all, understand the psyche of your buyers and of your sellers. Understand what's causing them to make decisions, and then know your niches. Here's what know your niches means. If you don't know probate, take a class. If you don't understand estates, take a class. If you don't know how to handle a divorce successfully, take a class. And maybe you don't have those classes available to you. Well, you can go to CRS.com and get a lot of them, but maybe just in your market, find a REALTOR® who's been in the business for 40 years and ask them to lunch. I'm always just so overwhelmed with the kindness of seasoned REALTORS® and how willing they are to share their knowledge with newer REALTORS®. All they have to be asked. So go ask somebody to be that mentor for you and to answer some questions. You're honestly going to find some really great people out there. Now, what else should you be aware of when it comes to niches? You should also be aware of the economic trouble some people are finding themselves in. One of the questions that I am asked frequently has to do with foreclosures. Are we going to see another wave of foreclosures like the Great Recession? When are we going to see the deals come back into the market? I want you to re-listen to what I said a few minutes ago about the fact that we're 10 years behind on building permits. That's probably why we're not going to see a huge wave of foreclosures. We just still have an imbalance between supply and demand. That being said, I could be wrong. But I do think we will see some foreclosures. Here's why we're going to see them. In the last recession, we had people who had no equity. They were upside down in their mortgages because the values fell when the financial markets hit turbulent waters. Right now, most people in most markets, if they've been in their house more than a couple of years, they do have some equity in their houses. But that might be shadow equity. Many sellers have a home equity line of credit that has eaten up a lot of that equity. And so it's going to have to be paid off when the property sells. The other thing that's happening is consumer debt. And I know that people don't want to talk about it. I don't know why it's so taboo to talk about credit cards because we swipe everything and credit card interest rates have skyrocketed just along with mortgage rates. So many people are barely keeping up with that minimum payment. As their consumer debt maxes out, they find themselves in an untenable situation. So if you're in a house where the mortgage is already high, and then you added a home equity line and that payment's added on, and now you're adding on credit card payments. And even if their wages have moved up, it's probably not as much as all those other things did. You could be in a market where your neighbors need to sell to get out from under all those payments. So what I would tell you is that some agents are not qualified to have that conversation. It doesn't mean you couldn't become that agent though. So get educated on how the banks work, understand the deed-in-lieu process, understand the short sale process, understand what a workout is, understand how to be a partner to the lenders who are carrying the risk of the mortgages so that when that neighbor finally says to you confidentially, "I'm in a pinch," you could say back to them, "I got you," and go sit down with them and give them some of their options. There might be a house to sell and there might not be, but your goal as a professional REALTOR® in this market or any other market is to be able to provide a personalized set of solutions to that person across the table from you. And that's honestly exactly where you're going to find some inventory, being available, being personal, being thoughtful, and frankly, don't forget the confidential piece. So for other questions you may have, type it in the comments and I'll see if I can't answer your question in the future. Check out some of these other videos about where to find some clients or how to get your business going. And most importantly, thanks for popping in.
