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Agent of My Success - Bonner Thomason
 This
issue we have special guest Bonner Thomason of Kernersville, NC who is also
known as the Real Estate Workhorse. Bonner is a lifetime resident of the
Piedmont area who enjoys spending time with his three children, volunteering
with Cub Scouts and children with special needs as well as continuing a
lifelong practice of taking care of horses. Bonner is known for his care and
hard work when it comes to taking care of horses and he brings these same
qualities to helping buyers and sellers in real estate. One of the keys to
his success is constant research of the market and real estate values in the
area. Another key to his success is education and he includes the
Certified New Home Specialist course and Certified Residential
Specialist courses as valuable to his education.
Tell us what it means to be The Real Estate Workhorse.
 It’s
good for branding. It keeps me away from saying I’m the best or number one
like everybody else is doing. It says I am going to work hard for you and
that’s what I do. As a lifetime resident of our beautiful Piedmont
countryside, people have long entrusted me with their beloved horses because
of my care and hard work. I bring the same care and hard work to finding or
selling homes.
What have you noticed about new home buyers in your area?
They may be looking at new homes and settling for existing homes because the
new homes cost a little bit more per square foot while having a smaller lot
size. One of the big things [considerations] in our particular market area
is land and the lot size that the home sits on. As an example, new homes are
typically have .2 to a quarter of an acre and existing homes typically sit
on a lot up to a half an acre. That said, everything is relative…if you’re
coming from Baltimore, MD you’ve got a mansion with a quarter acre of land.
Meanwhile, if you’re coming from Tennessee or Arkansas where there’s a lot
of land available, there’s a shock – even a culture shock – for people
trying to buy a new home. Again it’s regional and relative…if you’re from
New York City then these are huge lots and people are thinking “how am I
going to mow this quarter acre?”
What can you tell us about your market and what trends are you seeing in
the new homes?
There are a couple of things. Larger master bathrooms are important to
buyers. As I mentioned before, lot size is a major challenge here. Because
of the [extensive] infrastructure that developers have to put in by the time
they put the streets in the cost per house is higher. We have water storm
retention issues to deal with here which means you have to deal with the
water runoff by including an impervious surface. In a development there
needs to be some watershed control and that is adding to the cost. Another
trend is that while lot sizes are shrinking we see that developers are
shifting some of the land to common areas. As an example, they’ll have a
quarter acre lot size but you have walking paths or a greenway in the
subdivision.
How are builders marketing new homes?
The absorption rate here is very good. The one thing that we’re seeing is
individual builders taking a stab at marketing themselves by just a sign in
the yard…this is what some of the “pickup truck” builders do. They’re
building 3 to 5 houses a year and they’re picking areas that are selling
well, for instance picking up lots in a neighborhood that’s almost finished.
They really are just co-broking to buyers’ agents and not really listing
through an agent because…getting back to absorption rate…they’re able to
sell them and they’re not seeing a need, but the CNHS helps with marketing
new homes and helping builders see the benefits of that.
Moving onto education, how has the Certified New Home Specialist
course helped your business?
That’s a good question. Here are a few specifics. Although I’ve been in
construction since high school, there were a lot of really good things I
found in the construction details that I can apply in my business. Another
benefit to me in particular came during the discussion about contracts and
while learning about financing and lien waivers. That information was
something that was really good and helpful for buyers. A major impact of the
training was motivating me to organize and consolidate my business instead
of being all over the board. It helped by identifying a step-by-step
process.
How has being a Certified Residential Specialist helped your
business?
It has mainly helped with the referral business. I do a lot on the Internet
and this allows referrals with Certified Residential Specialists. When you
refer a client, you have the confidence in sending someone to a CRS that
they are competent enough to take care of someone who is relocating. If
you’re selling your home and moving to my area of North Carolina I can
confidently say, “let me tell you the benefits of using a CRS to sell your
home. I can give you 3 to interview.”
With each of the CRS courses, you come away with at least one or two big
ideas that are easy to customize to your own needs. For instance, some of
the things from the courses definitely helped me as opposed to somebody who
didn’t even have a website…the courses would not have been useful to them.
For me I already had a website that was producing results and I was able to
fine tune based on some of the information they had given me in the CRS
courses. If you’re an oak tree you put out oak leaves, if you’re a pine tree
you put out pine needles. The technology course I took was excellent
[Technologies to Advance Your Business CRS 206] I would definitely take that
course again in a couple of years because technology is changing.
You also took the new CRS online course, Creating Value for
Your Clients, which helps you develop a business plan, conduct effective
listings presentations, build a referral business and more [click
here to learn more about this course]. What can you tell me about this
course?
I found that Creating Value for Your Clients was easier than
other online courses because it was very straightforward. It helped you to
articulate a presentation to your clients and even though I’m not big on
scripts, it’s a great way to go through the course and internalize the
information so that you can be proactive with your buyers and sellers rather
than reactionary. I would certainly take more CRS courses in the future.
Back to new home sales, what are some of the keys to success you might
share?
Know your market…that’s the big thing. How do the new homes compare to
existing houses? What kind of appreciation can we expect? What’s the
absorption rate? For example, in one area of the triad that we’re in, you
may find an absorption rate of five homes per year, but ten miles away the
absorption rate could be 100 homes a year. Knowing your market is a big
thing and that breaks down to every aspect you can: know specific things for
families with children, how close you are to shopping, everything you can
learn about your market. You never know what questions a buyer is going to
ask. Even know where the local fishing holes are.
How do you get to know so much about your market?
What comes to mind is hitting the ground and doing the research. Ride around
if you have an afternoon off or even just a few minutes. Drive by new
neighborhoods, stop in and talk to the agent on duty. Constantly visit the
MLS and make it regular habit of knowing how many homes were sold this
month. You can’t be all things to all people…there are going to be questions
when you simply have to say, “look, I am going to have to research that.”
Every time you do that it helps you learn your market. That’s the big thing:
realize you can’t be all things to all people, but by the same token, every
time you don’t know an answer it’s an opportunity for learning and growing.
It’s an old saying but it’s tried and true.
Send your stories
of success to
success@sellnewhomes.com...
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