Susan Baldwin, who celebrated 2024 as the No. 1 Individual Agent at Allie Beth Allman & Associates with $138 million in sales, has a simple, tried-and-true formula for success in a challenging real estate market.
Baldwin focuses on relationships with her clients and consistently invests in a sales plan that includes staging, correct pricing and strategic, integrated marketing to get the deal done for the highest price possible.
“There are always challenges each year in the real estate market just like today, but you are successful if you develop a plan and keep to the plan, create momentum and make sure you are up to the minute on pricing,” said Baldwin, who also was the top individual agent at Allie Beth Allman & Associates for 2023 with $108 million in sales. “I am a partner with my clients and I do what it takes and spend what is necessary to get the job done.”
Baldwin employs a team of professionals in all facets of the real estate market to help sell the properties.
Updating, staging, lighting and decluttering a home are critical because they make for better photographs and videos and allow potential buyers to see themselves in the home.
Baldwin consistently invests in top-of-the-line photography and videography, and leverages social and digital media and print media and materials to help market her properties.
“I have a strategic sales and marketing plan tailored to specific properties and it’s a really crucial investment on my part to ensure that we are constantly and consistently getting the properties out there for potential buyers to see,” she said.
Just as important is understanding the neighborhoods and market conditions to set the correct pricing. Baldwin calls the current conditions an “equilibrium market” or a “fair market.”
“It seems like a buyer’s market in comparison to where we’ve been, but it’s more of a healthy market,” she said. “There’s more inventory in some areas and when priced right, a home can have multiple offers and sell quickly at or close to the asking price.”
While fluctuating mortgage rates kept some would-be buyers on the sidelines in 2024, Baldwin thinks that is going to change in 2025 because she believes buyers would rather pay a bit more than miss out on a great property that checks off most of the boxes on their list.
Many of her clients are repeat sellers and buyers, and the most successful transactions are those in which everyone is flexible and adaptable, she said.
“I feel very optimistic about the future because there is a lot of energy in Dallas,” she said. “People love their homes not only for their families and for entertaining, but because real estate should be a very good investment.”