Ten Housing Market Predictions for 2021

Geoff riffs on Redfin's 10 housing market predictions for 2021, translating each one into tactical opportunities for loan officers. Topics include purchase market growth, relocation trends, new construction, site-unseen offers, and the one-stop-shop consumer expectation. Best for LOs planning their 2021 business focus during the holiday downtime.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Search Google Trends and YouTube for phrases like 'moving to [your city]' or 'best cities to move to in 2021' — then create one video per week answering those exact search queries to capture relocating buyers before they pick a lender.
• If you work with builders, call 3 builder reps this week and reference the stat that building permits rose 21% Sept–Nov 2020 YOY — use it as a conversation opener to deepen or start a preferred lender conversation.
• When your buyer's offer is submitted, call the listing agent directly and say: 'I'm [name] at [company], representing the buyer on 123 Main. I've reviewed their full file — assets, income, credit. They have a pre-underwritten approval. I want you to know this contract will close.' Do this on every offer.
• Audit your current loan process for friction points: schedule one 15-minute pipeline review with your processor at least 3x per week, and conduct a post-close interview with your last 5 clients asking 'where did communication break down?'
• Pick one relocation trend city your market is receiving buyers FROM (e.g., California, New York) and create a YouTube video or blog post titled 'Moving from [City] to [Your City]: What You Need to Know About Buying a Home Here' — optimize it for search.
• Teach a class to real estate agents on how to host a virtual open house via live stream — position yourself as the tech-savvy LO who helps agents adapt to site-unseen buying, which represented 45% of offers in spring 2020.

The playbook

1. 1. Identify which relocation trends apply to your local market (people moving in or out).
2. 2. Search Google Trends and YouTube for what those movers are already searching.
3. 3. Create content (video, article, newsletter) that directly answers those search queries.
4. 4. Pair content with agent outreach — co-create market update videos or virtual tour walkthroughs with one agent per month.
5. 5. On every purchase offer, call the listing agent personally to make the case for your buyer's financial strength.
6. 6. Run a quarterly audit of your customer journey — pipeline reviews 3x/week, post-close interviews, and identify where friction exists.

Worth quoting

“You get what you tolerate. If you're tolerating inefficiencies, if you're tolerating unprofessional agents, maybe it's time to re-evaluate.”

“Content is how you become known. Content is how you engage with others — people are searching for content.”

Best for

LOs who are strong on referrals but have done nothing with content or YouTube and want a concrete reason to start in a strong purchase market.