September is a month of new beginnings for kids going back to school and parents getting back to their pre-summer routine. With the busy-ness of the summer finally behind them many buyers and sellers that did not take action in the summer will be primed and ready to move forward in the fall. September can be the hottest activity month and you may find that your fall buyer and seller list is spilling over.

Sellers who didn’t list their home during the summer but who want their home sold before year end may be eager and ready to get their home listed or to at least have the discussion with you to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later. These are all-of-a-sudden highly-motivated sellers who are realistic about what they want and are eager to do what needs to get done to get their home sold. They are also eager to find a new home but their busy summer prevented them from putting the attention they needed into their home sale and home search. They may be ready to list and ready to buy, but you have to be on your game to capture this savvy client.

Because these clients are now super-motivated, working this type of client requires you to be two steps ahead. You must be in service mode and be hyper-vigilant about your communication. They want, need and expect you to make their home sale and search a top priority. Time is of the essence and they expect almost daily communication.

My advice is to sit down and put together your full list of potential buyers and sellers and get serious about what you are going to do for them to get them ready to take action in September. Since they may feel they weren’t able to take advantage of the market during the summer and may have “missed the market”, one of the first things you need to do is to contact them and let them know that this is still an incredible time to get their home on the market and that you are ready to help. I also recommend putting together the following:

Create a Package
Put together a package for them that clearly shows them a year-to-date snapshot of what the market has done on both the buying and selling side.

Educate Them on Interest Rates
Show them where interest rates are right now and give them a chart that shows them how much they can buy with the low rates. If you are working with a seller, show how the buyer pool is affected by a change in interest rates. Show them what waiting could mean to them if these rates went up as this applies to both buyers and sellers.

Provide a Portfolio
Give them a portfolio of homes sold, homes listed, neighborhood price appreciation and even school and amenity information for areas they are looking.

Bring them back into the market by slowly and surely providing them with the much-needed information that any serious buyer or seller would want from you. You need to show them that they have not missed the boat. Many of these September buyers and sellers could wait until the following spring if you don’t take action to get them and keep them motivated. Make sure you help them see that this could be an incredible time to be in the market.

So before you think that the fall might just be a modest market, think again! If you are on your game you could have the busiest quarter of the year!