If you’re contemplating a career in real estate, you might wonder whether the fall is a good time to jump in, especially in a bustling market like Boston. In most traditional real estate offices lacking significant technology advantages, you may have heard that fall is the best time to take a vacation and take advantage of the “slow season” in Boston real estate. The irony is that nearly all nationally branded traditional real estate offices are actually telling the truth – it is slow for them. Most traditional national brand real estate offices simply do not have the local technology resources or specific know-how to generate enough leads for their agents to make them viable for roughly four to six months of the year. So it is fair to say that most real estate companies are not lying, and it is slow for them during the fall. The difference is that not all real estate platforms are created equal. Not all real estate platforms have been around for over two decades, perfecting and expanding their search engine optimization and localized technologies to help their agents dominate the market year-round.
Truth be told, if you are working at the right real estate office during the fall – it can be one of the most lucrative times to be in real estate. Therefore, the long answer is yes, it’s a great time—fall presents an incredible opportunity for those looking to enter the real estate industry, particularly if you’re considering a focus on multifamily investment sales and apartment leasing. Unlike residential sales companies or national firms that nearly always experience a fall and winter slowdown, companies like Boston Pads thrive year-round, with fall being an especially strategic time to build your career. Some of the highest-grossing months at Bostonpads.com come in the fall and winter, while other real estate offices are literally starving for leads and listings.
Fall: A Prime Time for Investment Property Sales and Apartment Leasing
While most sectors of the real estate market see a dip as the summer ends, the multifamily investment and leasing sectors often heat up in the fall. This is the perfect time to start strategically advising property owners on how to maximize the value of their property. You might want to consider joining a real estate office that knows how to help develop properties and strategically reposition assets to unlock the highest and best use of each property. You should never be afraid to ask the broker how many investment properties they own and how many units they have built from the ground up and/or full gut renovations. Ask the broker how many times they have strategically consulted with landlords and institutional players on developing properties and getting them leased up. If you can find a broker that is always available to you and can help mentor you in these aspects – you will be successful and enjoy the fall and winter with lots of commissions. You will most likely also learn how to develop properties for yourself, and that alone can be more rewarding than doing brokerage work!
The fall market in Boston can be dynamic, with certain submarkets becoming particularly active as people look to move before the winter or as the new academic year kicks off, bringing in a wave of high-end apartment renters. You are probably going to want to go to a brokerage that can give you customized data points for each neighborhood right at your fingertips to help you strategically guide your clients to the best possible outcome. The fall can have dramatically different price points for not only apartment rentals but also sales. Rents can dip or increase based on outcome and location. Does your brokerage or national brand know the differences between these markets? You are most likely going to want to work at a place that can train you on how to read real-time data and explain that in a cogent manner to your customers.
One of the key advantages of working with a company like Boston Pads is access to detailed, neighborhood-specific data that has been meticulously tracked over the years. This data allows you to stay ahead of market trends and identify which neighborhoods are poised for growth as the fall season progresses. With this granular insight, you can focus your efforts on the submarkets that are heating up, enabling you to offer timely and targeted advice to your clients. You can help landlords redesign their properties to unlock their sales and leasing potential. This can be one of the most rewarding parts of real estate as you can see your strategic insight help others make money that they might not have noticed otherwise. The result is a large raving crowd of property owners that start referring business to you. When you can show them results that most other real estate companies are not capable of – your book of business starts to grow.
A Season for Strategic Advising
Understanding the nuances of Boston’s diverse neighborhoods is crucial to succeeding as a real estate agent, particularly in the fall when certain Greater Boston areas see increased activity. One of the key advantages of starting your real estate career in the fall is the opportunity to establish yourself as a trusted advisor to landlords and investors. The fall also offers you a time to build strong relationships with investors. Landlords that own multiple properties will often ask you to do walk-throughs and help price out units for the following year.
When you are backed by the largest apartment leasing team with the #1 real estate website in New England – you get opportunities to rent and sell properties that no one else can get. As the market shifts, many property owners will look for expert guidance on whether to renovate vacant properties to increase rents or to capitalize on the current market conditions by selling. This is where your role becomes crucial. By providing insightful, data-driven advice, you can help clients make informed decisions that can significantly impact their bottom line. The relationships you build during this period are often the strongest, setting the stage for long-term success.
No Slow Season for Apartment Leasing Experts
For companies like Boston Pads that specialize in leasing and multifamily investment sales, there’s no such thing as a slow season. We currently have thousands of apartment units that need to be rented. Every day, our unparalleled internet presence brings us new landlords and investors. You can count on new property owners filling out our forms and sending us business that is often hard to keep up with. Unlike residential sales, which mostly taper off as the year winds down, the demand for rental properties and investment opportunities remains robust throughout the fall in our full-stack real estate ecosystem. We constantly get asked by landlords and investment professionals to visit their properties all throughout MA. We often sell large investment properties from one landlord in our database to another because they have different management styles or visions of where to place their money.
Our apartment leasing dominance opens the way for your biggest leg up in investment sales. Landlords know, like, and trust us. By leveraging our detailed historical data, you can anticipate any shifts and position yourself as an expert in the areas that matter most. As a new agent, this means consistent opportunities to close deals, build your client base, and establish yourself in the industry far quicker than any other agent. Nothing beats incoming leads and listings – and listening to the old and tired traditional offices telling you to call expired listings is so 1990s. When you have the most at your fingertips, you make a lot more money per hour than having to try to grind it out with old, overplayed methods.
The Best Time to Start
There’s never been a better time to start your real estate career in Boston. The fall offers a unique combination of market activity, client needs, and opportunities to differentiate yourself from other agents. By focusing on leasing and multifamily investment sales, you position yourself in a segment of the market that remains strong regardless of the season, ensuring that your career can grow steadily.
With companies like Boston Pads leading the way in leasing and investment sales, you’ll find plenty of support and opportunities to thrive, even as other sectors may slow down. Whether it’s advising landlords on renovations or guiding them through a sale, your expertise will be in high demand, making this season the perfect time to launch your career. If you’re ready to dive into real estate, drop us a line. Whether you are new or a seasoned agent at a traditional real estate company – you owe it to yourself to explore new possibilities and potential opportunities that take your income to the next level.
Demetrios Salpoglou
Published October 7, 2024
Demetrios has pulled together the largest apartment leasing team in the Greater Boston Area and is responsible for procuring more apartment rentals than anyone in New England – with over 130k people finding their housing through his services. Demetrios is an avid real estate developer, peak performance trainer, educator, guest lecturer and motivational speaker.
