There are about 3,000 homeless people who live in Connecticut. With that number in mind, legislators and advocates rallied around housing reforms – dubbed “Right to Housing” changes – to reduce homelessness, bring down housing costs and confront housing segregation.

It’s an effort to ensure that every resident has access to housing in one of the most expensive places in the country to live.

“Right to Housing” is not a new concept worldwide – France, Scotland and South Africa have such protections in place, But Connecticut, which has some of the most expensive housing stock in the country, is one of the first states to consider such a push.

Specifics of what that agenda will look like are a work in progress. But initiatives embraced by the Democratic legislators include making it easier for lower-income residents to purchase homes, putting tenant protections in place to reduce eviction rates, building more affordable housing and making some state aid contingent on well-off communities allowing more affordable housing construction.

The chairs of the Housing Committee on called the governor’s approach a decent one, but not enough by itself. It’s a good start.

According to Brad Inman, the real estate industry is ripe for explosive growth and drastic transformation as an expanding economy, robust housing market and a second wave of technology innovation pushes members and consumers of the industry to adopt new modes of home buying and selling.

Despite past worries about an impending recession, Inman said the economy is healthy and expanding — 120 million Americans have jobs, unemployment has dropped to historical lows, Americans’ average net worth is growing, and 150,000 to 200,000 jobs are being created each month.

Inman said 2020 will be more steady with sales expected to increase to 5.5 million by year’s end. In addition to bolstered home sales, the total value of the residential housing market will continue to rise.

Inman says, “For 25 years, the technology boom in real estate centered around the marketplace of the MLS and broker compact and building productivity tools,” “That was phase one, and we’re moving into phase two, and creating a second marketplace, called the The iMarketplace.”

HomeServices of America executive chairman Ron Peltier urged real estate professionals to focus on the customer experience if they want to survive a changing industry.

Real estate’s evolution in recent years has placed agents’ profits “at risk,” one industry leader argued, explaining that they need to evolve into more comprehensive service providers who focus on customer experience.

Real estate professionals who want to defend their margins need to think of the transaction as “just the beginning of the homeownership experience.” If they want to succeed in the business, then, they should work to become a point of contact for their clients other needs.

I don’t think anyone who isn’t successful hasn’t figured that out yet..

Top producers know what to say, how to say it and when to say it. In the book, “Exactly what time say for real estate agents” they explain how certain “magic words talk straight to the subconscious brain.”

these words circumvent “maybes” by creating “yes” and “no” answers, they enable your clients to make decisions without over-analyzing them. 

When you offer someone the chance to object, they almost never pass it up.

Questions are important because:

Consequently, the secret of sales success, as well as communicating more effectively in any situation, is asking better questions.