Unlocking Inventory: Why Retirees Could Be a Good Resource for Listing Leads

Home inventory has been lower than is ideal for many years now. During the era of low interest rates, when there were plenty of qualified buyers, low inventory was a pain point, but the big wheel of real estate transactions kept turning because demand still outpaced the supply.

Today, brokers are facing a different challenge. Inventory is still low, which makes it difficult to meet buyers' needs. And because mortgage interest rates are so high, there are fewer qualified buyers interested in purchasing a home, which means that potential sellers are reluctant to list now; they want to wait until there are more buyers for their home.

It's a circular conundrum that can be most easily solved by unlocking inventory and finding more homes to list (at least, until brokers are put in charge of mortgage interest rates). But where are those homes? And how can brokers get their foot in the door (so to speak) of a soon-to-be listing before the competition realizes that the homeowner might be willing to become a seller?

The latest Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) offers a suggestion: Focus on retirees.

Why Retirement Presents a Big Opportunity for Brokerages

To put together the profile, NAR asks people who have bought or sold a house (or who have done both) in the past year to answer questions about their experience, including their reasons for engaging in the transaction. According to the most recent report, 8% of sellers decided to move due to retirement, and an additional 23% said they wanted to move to be closer to friends and family.

This proportion became significantly larger when results were parsed by the distance of the move. Of the sellers who moved 501 miles or more, 18% moved because they had retired, and 35% moved because they wanted to be closer to friends and family.

How to Harness Soon-to-Retire Homeowners

Not every retiree is going to be ready to move as soon as they stop working, of course. But for many of them, retirement is the perfect opportunity to start fresh somewhere new. If they are moving away from the area, you can potentially introduce them to a brokerage or an individual agent in their new neighborhood and collect a referral fee on that transaction. And if they're moving in-town, you can offer to help yourself!

Start by combing through your own brokerage-level database of clients. To find possible homeowners who might be close to retiring, you can search by their tenure of homeownership (the longer they've been in the house, the more likely they are to want to move sooner than later), their year of birth, their job title, or other variables in your brokerage CRM.

Next, after you have a list of possible clients in your sphere who might be close to retiring, it's time to reestablish contact with those people. Reach out and ask them if they would like a free CMA or other resources to help them understand the value of their homes. If they haven't already signed up for a "homeowners under management" platform, encourage them to do so in order to keep track of home maintenance and upkeep.

When the conversation has started, it's time to start gently asking about their future plans. Where and when would they like to retire? Do they have plans yet for their residence? A second home in a vacation area where they plan to move?

By being smart about where your past clients are in their current homeownership (and career) journeys, you can unlock more inventory for your agents and generate more revenue for your brokerage.