Jared Anthony is a Realtor with Texas Real Estate & Co. working in Houston.

Every week, we ask a Houston real estate professional for their thoughts on the top three stories from the week before. This week, we spoke with Jared Anthony, a Realtor with Texas Real Estate & Co. 

Houston Agent (HA): How important is it for Realtors to build relationships with people inside the industry and why?

Jared Anthony (JA): Industry driven relationships are import to drive business to certain sectors of the real estate industry. The most obvious connections are those relationships that mortgage lenders and title professionals try to create with agents. Agents feed their business on a daily basis. This is not typically the case in the reverse. I personally take a different approach in my business.  I am reach out beyond the industry and build a referral base with other industries – non-competitors, if you will. I think the key to being successful as an agent is building relationships with insurance agencies, contractors, alarm service provider and others. I create value by having face-to-face meetings with these potential partners. I discuss with them ways we can team up, refer clients to each other and provide those clients something of value. This has been extremely successful in my business as I continue to grow and expand.  One tool I use is a pre-listing package with my referral partners and special offers that they’ve agreed to provide my clients. I also provide the same package, obviously with a few changes, to potential buyers. Not only is this providing value to my client, but I’m feeding my referral partners business, as well.  This crossover networking system has really given me a competitive edge in retaining and gaining new business in this very competitive market.

HA: Builder confidence is up in Houston, but it’s far exceeding the level of new home starts. Do you think Houston builders should be confident in the new construction market, why or why not?

JA: Taking a looking at the U.S. economy as a whole, it is true that the economy is picking up steam as strong employment growth is now being seen among first-time homebuyers. Home sales are projected to increase nation wide by 9 percent in 2015. Also, housing starts are expected to grow 14 percent and home price growth is expected to moderate. All that being said, Houston historically has had steady builder confidence. However, after the first quarter of 2015, I’ve seen that confidence start to slide. We had the huge drop in crude prices, which really affected home buyer confidence. With the builders I work with specifically, we monitor various sub-markets within the city, primarily The Heights and Cottage Grove. Anyone driving around is seeing all kinds of crazy BTSA’s and buyer incentives. Buyers are more sensitive to pricing – or that’s what our research is showing. I think moving forward through the remainder of 2015 we are going to see even more reductions in pricing.  I think builders will continue to slow the pace of their construction as they have already been doing the last few months. Ultimately, I think builder confidence will slowly level out to a more realistic level inline with how the Houston market is actually performing.

HA: Working with a partner, what have you learned about the importance of delegating work in a small business?

JA: I am very blessed to work with the team I currently have. I’ve recruited several new buyer’s agents, as well as have a part-time assistant. For me, I service all of Galveston, Brazoria and Harris Counties. I have found talented agents that are available and spread out in these areas. This has taken a tremendous workload off me – and my car, for that matter. Being able to send a buyer’s agent to Galveston for a last minute showing while I’m at the office in the Washington Corridor, I’m able to stay on task and provide a more efficient service to our clients.  The importance of that alone is huge.

As far as my assistant and delegating to her, it was a slow process for me because I’m a control freak and hate to give up that control. She would tell you I still haven’t given up enough, which is true. She is amazing at what she does.  She is even bilingual, which is awesome. My Spanish speaking clients are now able to press one from my voicemail and be connected directly to her, again, adding value to my clients that I would otherwise not have access to work with. In a small business that is ours, many of us don’t have the luxury of huge corporate funds backing us with support staff. Finding the right person who wants to learn the business is essential. Another great resource for agents feeling they need support are interns. I have a few colleagues in the business that use resources for marketing, posting to social media, doing follow-up calls, etc.  Anything that can be handled by someone else frees up time for face-to-face time with clients and networking; all the things that only we agents are trained to do and that really make an impact to your income and ability to generate new leads.