Do Realtors Engage in the Entire Homeowner Lifecycle?

People buy, own, and then ultimately sell a home. This cycle starts over again when the homeowner decides it is time to do it again, usually triggered by some life events. This homeowner lifecycle of buying, owning, and selling a home repeats itself, on average, every six to nine years for most people, depending on individual consumer lifestyles.

Why do Realtors tend to ignore the ownership phase of a home? There are approximately 120 million homes in the US, and about 5 million homes are bought and sold every year. It is natural for the real estate industry to focus on the people actually in the market to either sell or buy a home, but in the competitive landscape of real estate, there is an opportunity to engage clients sooner when they are selling, and after they bought and moved in.

Realtors are perceived by many consumers as "just chasing the deal." After a sale, consumers tend to forget who their real estate agent was, and those same real estate agents lose a valuable opportunity to build a long term, loyal client base. The real estate profession has a large opportunity to evolve from an agent chasing a transaction to a "home consultant" that is elevated to a trusted advisor on the entire homeowner lifecycle.

Owning and managing a home is filled with a myriad of important details. Keeping track of all the monthly, seasonal maintenance tasks are a challenge. Planning, managing, and tracking budgets, costs, photos, and documents for home improvement projects can be overwhelming. Having a digital home inventory of both the home's fixed assets and personal contents is important for risk management.

The real estate industry always promotes that "we help you buy and sell your largest asset." Why can't the industry help homeowners actually manage this asset? Buyer's agents can provide content and tools to help them manage their home when they move in, which develops a relationship after the sale. Listing agents can get involved earlier in the process by helping homeowners get the home prepared to list the home by aggregating digital information that will help market the home online.

Which industry has the best opportunity to build a closer relationship with consumers during the entire homeowner lifecycle? Is it the real estate agent/broker, the mortgage broker, the insurance agent, the home remodeling contractor, the home improvement store, the appraiser or someone else? The real estate industry has the best chance, but they will have to evolve their services beyond just the buying and selling of homes.

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