Sam Carroll : An economic meltdown like the one we are currently experiencing is harmful to all business owners, but especially to real estate agents. We rely on thriving economies where homes are being bought and sold at consistent levels. But when the buying and selling of homes comes to a near halt, we all share in the pain.

Some would argue that there's nothing we as real estate professionals can do about this, that it's just part of the cyclical nature of our business. While there is truth in the concept of real estate cycles, there is also plenty we can do to prevent housing hardships and mortgage "meltdowns." After all, we are the front-line educators on real estate topics. At least, I like to think we are.

Credit is a topic that's closely related to our industry, and it's a topic we should teach our prospective clients about as much as possible. Without a decent credit score, people have little hope of buying a home in today's market. But credit is also widely misunderstood by consumers, and that's a problem for all parties involved in the real estate process (agents, lenders, and home buyers alike).

So here's an area where a little education goes a long way. By teaching your audience about credit scores as they apply to home buying, you are also increasing their chance for home buying success. But that's not the only advantage to taking an educational stance...

The Full Benefits of Credit Education

Let's say you add a credit education center to your website and perhaps even create a credit information download in PDF format. How does this benefit you? Let us count the ways:

  1. You are setting yourself apart from other agents by providing such information.
  2. You are helping prevent a recurrence of our current mortgage nightmare.
  3. You are adding value and usefulness to your website.
  4. You are giving your website visitors one more reason to trust and contact you.
  5. You are creating a smarter pool of home buyers which benefits you directly.
  6. You are increasing your search engine visibility for credit-related searches.
  7. Most importantly, you are providing a public service to the people who matter the most—your prospective clients.

So that covers the "why" of teaching your clients about credit. Now let's talk about how to go about it.

How to Provide Credit Education

Most real estate agents have a basic understanding of credit reports and scores (as they apply to home buying). After all, it's a fundamental part of any real estate transaction. But there's a big difference between understanding the basics of credit and being an expert on the subject. So here are some tips for creating a credit guide for your own website, mainly by drawing from other sources.

Step 1 - Make a list of some websites that offer credit information for consumers, such as Credit.com and MyFICO.com.

Step 2 - Get a feel for the kind of information they are providing to consumers. Read through a few of the articles about credit reports, credit scores, etc.

Step 3 - Using these sources as a reference point, begin to create your own credit guide for home buyers in your area. Borrow ideas and topics, but don't borrow the actual content without permission (that's plagiarism).

Step 4 - Make your credit guide as specific to your city and state as possible. With a little homework (and by using a search engine like Google), you can get all kinds of city/state-specific information about average credit scores and the like.

Step 5 - Publish your credit guide onto your website. Create a PDF version if you're up for it and let your website visitors download it for future reference. You could even use the PDF version as a lead-generation mechanism by having people email you for it.

When home buyers understand the importance of good credit and how to achieve it, they are more likely to get qualified for a mortgage loan (and less likely to have problems during the home buying process). This benefits you directly.