The extremely slow start to the year is not just a fault of the pandemic; nor is it just sellers who were too scared to list their homes. It pains me to say this, but it is also because REALTORS® aren’t doing enough to make their clients feel comfortable. It is our job as REALTORS® to educate clients and help them understand that they can list their home without the risk of ending up homeless.

We as real estate professionals are to blame. Yes, you read that right. However, we are also the ones who can help increase inventory and solve this problem.

Our market is in crisis mode. There aren’t enough listings, and everybody is complaining about it—buyers, sellers and REALTORS® alike. The problem is that when sellers see low inventory, they become scared to put their home on the market.

In a way, this reminds me of 2007/08, when REALTORS® didn’t quite know how to work in the market. It wasn’t until about a year later that they began to acclimate themselves after realizing that the market was there to stay. In 2009, we had too much inventory. Fast forward 12 years, and we now have far too little.

Here are a five things REALTORS® can do to help improve the market:

1. Understand sellers’ fears. Once agents better understand what a seller fears, they can help guide them better.

2. Stop posting on social media about how you had 30 offers on a home and sold it in two hours. Not only is this no longer impressive, but it’s also scaring would-be sellers. This is not helping our cause.

3. Show them what protections you’re putting in place. Disclosing that the “sale is subject to the seller finding suitable housing” will help ease their minds and give them the reassurance they need to list their home.

4. Become more accustomed to domino sales. They will help us dig ourselves out of this excessive low-inventory problem.

5. Stop being so quick to believe sellers when they say they aren’t ready to list their home. Sellers say that to keep you away. Once they see the home they want to buy, they call you frantically saying they want to make an offer and list their home. Take charge and explain that it’s okay if they don’t want to list, but they should get themselves into a position to be ready if the right house comes along.

I recently filmed and posted a video on our Crush It in Real Estate Facebook page where I explained all of this and offered our sell/buy training course for free for 14 days. Visit www.HelpSellersList.com to view the video and gain access to this course so that we can make an impact on our industry.

Anthony Lamacchia is CEO of Lamacchia Companies and broker/owner of Lamacchia Realty. For more information, please visit www.lamacchiarealty.com.