KW Broker Utilizes RPR to Help his Agents Build Skills for the Market Shift
Our usual RPR Success Story Q&As focus on agents, both residential and commercial specialists. However, this time around we were introduced to Randy Vanderpool, a Supervising Broker for Keller Williams Realty Partners, out of Overland Park, Kansas.
Randy manages three different market centers and over 1,100 agents in his role with Keller Williams, which is quite an accomplishment in its own right. Not to mention a sales volume over $4B and closing on over 10,000 transactions in 2021.
But what drew us to his story, is how many agents he manages that are using RPR (Realtors Property Resource) to enhance their business. Randy has 769 (and counting!) agents with RPR accounts, and their 90 day usage metric clocks in at a whopping 70%!
With numbers like that, we knew Randy had an interesting story to tell…
Q Hi Randy, thanks for joining us. Your brokerage stats for agents using RPR are fantastic. I’m guessing you know why…
We push and promote RPR to all of our agents because it’s such a powerful resource. I firmly believe that RPR is the best tool that the NAR (National Association of REALTORS®) has ever given us!
Q We certainly like to hear that! What kind of promotions do you offer to help agents learn RPR?
We continually offer classes and educational opportunities. In fact, one of my assistants is a Certified RPR Trainer, which really helps. I’m not one yet, but I teach enough RPR that I should become one soon!
Where RPR comes up the most is during a class I teach on real estate market statistics. It’s really important for agents of all experience levels to know their local market numbers, but it’s especially crucial for newer ones. Think about all the new people who only know an appreciating market. As the market corrects and normalizes, which it’s already doing, how will agents handle that?
I believe it will soon be a skill based market for real estate agents. You have to know how to price it to get it sold. You have to know about inventory, absorption rates, and days on market, etc. Key market stats. No more put up a sign and take offers. You need skills! You need to be that local economist of choice in your area. And you need to know these things deeper than your competitors. And RPR is one of those main components that can help you do it. The simplicity of RPR makes it so easy. In ten seconds I can make a report for a buyer or seller, and the functionality and ease of use is incredible.
QSo you’re saying that utilizing RPR housing market trends data is a great way to help agents prepare for the market shift?
Absolutely! Our job as REALTORS® is to give clients the facts and information so they can make the decisions. And those facts have to be relevant to their situation and their market. Today’s consumer needs that info and RPR provides it for no extra cost! Other resources can contribute too, but they simply don’t have the depth and ease of use that RPR provides.
I look at it like this: it’s opinion versus fact. RPR data is fact. NAR data is fact. Today’s consumer, they hear stuff in the news and they think it all applies to them. But 40% isn’t here where I live! That’s California, Idaho and Florida. Of course, we had appreciation, but not that high. We have to deliver local market data and explain what that data means. It’s silly not to use these tools. And I’ll repeat myself: skill based agents will be in demand soon due to the market shift.
PRO TIP
Want to be like Randy and educate and motivate your agents to use RPR? Check out this article, especially for brokers, on how to do just that: Brokers: Get Your Agents in Front of the Market Shift With RPR Housing Data
Q Agreed. Do you have any memorable RPR “Wow” moment stories to share?
I can think of two: as a favor I represented one of my agents who was purchasing a home. She was being treated very poorly by the listing agent, a male, which I found infuriating. Once I stepped in, that nonsense stopped, but he still tried some different shenanigans. I asked about some of the improvements that had been made to the home, and he rattled off a list of them. After that I pulled up the home in RPR and checked out the historical data of the property. I easily saw that the improvements he mentioned, had been made before the current owner even purchased the home. He was trying to pass off those improvements in the asking price! I promptly sent him the report with the historical data, and he quickly changed his tune. So that was interesting.
Another was recently when I welcomed a new agent into one of my offices. He was only new to us, as he was a top producer in the area, doing over 58 million, which is quite a bit where we do business. I asked him what RPR reports he runs, and he had no idea about it! I showed him and explained to him how it works, and how it’s available to all REALTORS®. He called me the next day and said he’s been up all night playing with it and that he was really impressed!
QGood “Wow” stories, Randy. Any final thoughts?
The market shifting is a great reason to get up on RPR. You’re going to need to know how to price a property when they’re not flying off the shelf. If you’re a broker, get your agents going in RPR.
Broker: “Get your agents going in RPR”
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