Real Estate Marketing Blogger

{…} Every time you interact with anyone, you are marketing. You are selling yourself, your services, your skills, your profession, your company, and your reputation each and every time you open your mouth, write a letter, print an ad, or answer the phone. In your profession, what people think of you and your performance directly affects your bottom line. People, who can’t find you, don’t know you, don’t agree with you, or don’t like you, will not waste their time on you. {…}  Find the full article here.

Recent shows on television have gotten people interested in “flipping” houses. This is, of course, where the person buys a house in need of repair, fixes it up, and resells it for a quick profit. These shows make it look exciting and profitable and, consequently, many people want to give it a try. This is where you come in.

You know the market. You’ve been in many, many houses for sale. You’ve kept this type of buyer in mind while touring the local inventory and digging around in your MLS and you’ve identified a number of potential flips. Now it’s time to find the people looking to buy.

Most advertisers make the mistake of talking about themselves. “Look what I’ve done.” “Look how smart I am.” “Look at all my awards.” Nobody cares about what you’ve done, how smart you are, or how many awards you have. The only thing they care about is what you can do for them. This could be a perfect advertising opportunity to really show you care about their needs and wants and are the perfect person to help them achieve their goals.

Direct your marketing to the places these buyers will look for houses to work. Newspaper classifieds are one place you might try since inexpensive and “in need of TLC” houses are often listed here. If you have a website (you should), you will want to prominently display this as one of your specialties. Be sure to include, or have the person who updates your website include, Meta tags for house flipping. These allow the search engines to identify your website when someone types in a particular set of key words.

Of course, you can’t recommend what house they should buy to make the most profit. There are far too many variables involved to even make a guess. You can, however, identify houses that might qualify. Look for houses in less than perfect condition to downright dogs. They should all be listed for considerably less than other similarly sized and located properties.

Many of these buyers are not looking to get into major renovation. They are looking for that under-priced, diamond-in-the-rough they can slap a coat of paint on and sell for a profit. Learn to notice the things experienced flippers look for. Hardwood floors in good condition but hidden by carpet, non-load bearing walls that can be easily removed to open up a closed floor plan, solid mechanical systems, and desirable locations are all things that make these houses attractive to the right buyer.

One thing you want to be especially mindful of is major structural problems. Most people will not, and should not, touch these. But, there are buyers out there with the knowledge and the resources to flip these types of properties as well, which often can be had for bargain-basement prices. These types of properties should be left to persons that know exactly what they are doing.

Once you have a list of houses and an interested buyer, encourage them to work with an inspector that understands exactly what they are trying to do, especially if this is their first such endeavor. You might also prepare an information pack for them that includes a list of inspectors, local building material suppliers, city or county office information for building permits, tool rentals, licensed electricians, plumbers, etc. More experienced flippers will already know the people they want to work with.

Finally, one thing to keep in mind is you want your buyer to do as well as they do. And, if they know you worked hard to find them the right property they made money on, why would they want to go to another agent for the next one?

This is the third post in a series of five describing things you should start doing if you are just starting your real estate career. In part one I talked about sitting open houses for other agents.That post can be found here. In part two, I gave some ideas for working with FSBO’s. You can find that one here. In this post, I will talk about marketing to your circle of influence. Future posts in this series will include farming and working with a more experienced mentor.

One thing you absolutely must do to jumpstart your career is to contact everyone within your circle of influence. This means everyone. Sit down and make a list of all the people you know. This list will eventually become your contact list. Make sure to include everyone, especially people that you don’t know well like the person that cuts your hair or the teller you just say hello to at the bank.

Once you begin writing down names, you will be amazed at how fast the list grows. All of us have an amazing number of people we know, even if we don’t realize it and you’ll want to contact every one of them. Remember, you will not only be asking them if they need an agent, but also asking them to recommend you to their friends and associates. You never know who will need your services.

You will want to use different forms of contact for the different types of people on your list. For example, all of the people on the list that you are close to should get a personal visit so you can talk to them about your new career and give them a supply of cards to pass out to anyone they think might need your services. You will want to tell them right up front that you intend to check back with them every once in a while to find out if they know of any persons looking for an agent. This gives you a way to gauge an appropriate interval between visits. Making yourself a pest will not help you, and remember, most people will want to help you, especially people you know.

For those people that are not quite as close, you should send a short letter announcing your new career.This letter, ideally, would also be followed up with a personal visit or a phone call. If that’s not possible, you’ll want to keep these names close by until you work your way through them, In fact, one habit you will want to get into is setting aside some time everyday to call a few people on your contact list. Even a half hour would make a difference. You will also want to vary the time of day you call since everyone always seems to be on a different schedule.

In order to get anything accomplished, you will need a plan. You’ll also need to make your plan as precise and complete as you possibly can. One way to work your way through your list would be to sit down on Saturday or Sunday and plan out your calling schedule for the next week. Combine a half hour block of time each day with names from your list that would most likely be available at that time. Go ahead and list more names than you can probably reach for each slot since you’ll never catch everyone in on your list. Don’t forget to check your names against the National Do Not Call Registry.

I should mention here that it’s a good idea for you to get in the habit of following up all your correspondence with a call or personal visit. I know this will not be possible all the time, or even most of the time, once you start regular mailings to your farm and your list of contacts but you should always make the effort to contact as many as possible. If you called just twenty-five people from a mailing of five hundred, you could an idea of what everyone thought of what you sent. In fact, one good way to approach the people you call is with the questions, “Did you receive my latest mailing?” and “What did you think of it?” Instead of “bothering” these people, you are asking for their opinion, and who doesn’t like to give that?

One final thought about soliciting business from your circle of influence has to do with dependability. I already stated that people want to help you, and it’s true, they do want to. The only thing is they will expect you to hold up your end of the bargain. If they are going to recommend you to their family, friends, or business associates, they have to know you will do right for them. Once again, put yourself in their place. Would you ever recommend someone that you didn’t have confidence in? Of course not, and why would you expect anyone else to?

I am of the opinion that most people want to hear you say that you’ll take care of their friends or family. Put it in the letter you send and tell them the same when you talk to them. Don’t just imply that you’ll do a good job, say it. This has a way of committing you to it that will reassure the person. And, of course, it goes without saying you should then do exactly what you promised.

As a new agent, you are under the gun. You have to learn how to make money or you’ll be out of business fast. The failure rate, depending on who you believe, for new agents in their first year is higher than 80%. In order to be one of the less than 20% who make it, you absolutely must develop a good plan for what you will spend your time doing and stick to it. Included in that plan should be contacting FSBO’s in your area.

In this post, I will talk about FSBO’s and, hopefully, give you some good ideas on how to convert them into your listings. In the first part of this series, I talked about sitting an open house for another agent’s listing. You can find that posting here. Future postings in this series will include marketing to your circle of influence, farming, and working with a more experienced mentor.

You may be inclined to pass up the opportunity that FSBO’s present, but this would be a mistake. If you stop and think about who you’re really looking for when you send out letters and flyers and make personal contacts and sit open houses, you will realize you’re looking for two kinds of people; people who want to buy property and people who want to sell. FSBO’s represent at least one of these and maybe both. 

What I meant when I said you might be inclined to pass up FSBO’s is that it takes a certain amount of courage to approach these people. You may get it in your head that these sellers have heard from so many agents, all with the same “If I bring a buyer will you be willing to …” line that you were going to use yourself, you would probably be thrown out or hung up on. Maybe even worse! You tell yourself that these people have already decided to go it on their own and so surely they don’t want to hear from the likes of you.

The reality here is the average homeowner that try’s to sell by them self eventually ends up listing with a broker. Also, who do you think will get the listing? Will it be the agent that has offered their assistance, or the one who never made an appearance?

The other reality here that you have to think of is just how many agents do you think actually contacted the owners? I don’t mean how many called on the phone and spent thirty seconds telling them that they are available if the owner has any questions. Very few approaches can be this bad. In fact, you would be better to not call at all if this is the best you can do.

What will stop the seller from thinking, “Is that all I’m worth, a phone call?” The easiest way to understand this is to look at it from the seller’s point of view. Ask yourself if you would ever list your home with a voice on the phone. In my opinion, the only thing the phone should be used for when first calling FSBO’s is to ask if there’s a good time when you can come out and see the house.

Don’t make the same mistakes many other agents make. Take the time to get a sales kit together for the seller. Make sure it includes comps and business cards and recent sales and any other information you think might help your case. Remember to point out what a good job the seller has done so far and let them know you appreciate how hard it can be. Take the opportunity to tour the house if for no other reason than you want to know all the property for sale in an area, not just those listed with a broker. You might want to point out a few things the seller should do to help them sell faster such as removing clutter, new paint, empty counter tops, and remove personal photographs for a start.

Finally, don’t be afraid of giving away the farm. I know a great many agents will disagree with this last bit of advice but I stand by it. You are not just trying to make money. You are in the business of helping people with all their real estate needs. No one was ever hurt by giving more service than what is absolutely necessary. Besides, even an agent that has worked a number of deals can’t possibly know everything that can come up in a sale so there is no way to educate a seller out of your help. Any questions you answer and free advice you give will be remembered when the time comes for the owner to finally list, providing you follow up diligently and keep in touch.

You’ve finished your schooling, passed your licensing exam, and signed on with a broker. You spent the first day setting up your desk, ordering business cards, and introducing yourself to the others in the office. Now what do you do?

You need a plan. Clients will not just come to you. You want to hit the ground running. You see the big numbers that some of your fellow agents have but you don’t even care about that. You are worried about making enough money to stay in business at all. Remember, you really have just opened a business and you are the only one responsible for its success. Your success or failure will be determined by what you do.

Let’s look at some of the best ways to start. This is, by no means, a complete list. For example, in addition to the strategies listed, you will absolutely need a good web presence in order to grow your business. Setting up, or, having someone else setup, your website will take some time though and you need to get moving now.

I have divided up five important things you should start doing into the next five postings. In this one I will talk about sitting open houses for agents in your office that are too busy to do their own. Part two will discuss FSBO’s, part three will talk about marketing to your circle of influence, part four will talk about farming, and finally, in part five, I will discuss the many benefits of working with a mentor.

Sitting an open house for an agent in your office that has more listings than they can cover can become an excellent source of prospects for you to work with. Make sure you are prepared with business cards, flyers and a place for prospective buyers to sign in. Many people will be reluctant to sign in if you leave it up to them. That’s why you should always ask them to sign, or do it for them, as soon as you introduce yourself. Another thing you will want to find out at the start is whether they are already working with another agent.

Make sure you have pictures and details of other similar properties that are on the market. Try to mix 1, 1 ½, and 2 story homes with different numbers of bedrooms and baths. Many people don’t know exactly what they want and are trying to figure out how much house they can afford.

Arrive at least a half-hour before the scheduled start time to prepare the house for the showing. Ideally, if you were working with the sellers, you would have already advised them on how to get their house ready to sell. If this is not the case, at least make sure you spend some time talking to the listing agent to get any specific details about the house. These might include a home warranty, new roof or mechanical systems, help with closing costs, or that the appliances stay with the house. You will want to know anything that helps sell the house.

Make sure you open all window coverings and turn on every light. Bright and open beats out dark and cave-like every time. Take some air freshener, scented candles, or a little pan of potpourri that can bubble away on the stove. Be careful with the last two, you don’t want to burn the place down. If the weather permits, you might want to open some windows for the fresh air. This, of course, is especially true if the sellers are smokers or have pets.

When deciding what open house(s) you will sit, give some thought to whether you want a house that is empty or one that is still lived in. Both of these have advantages and disadvantages and it comes down to what you prefer. I think the prevailing view is it’s easier to prepare and show an empty house but plenty of agents would disagree.

Fill the time between visitors working on other marketing efforts. For example, this could be a good time to hand address any mailings you are doing. If you weren’t planning to handwrite the address on your envelopes, you should consider doing so. The whole purpose of everything on the outside of the envelope is to get the receiver to open it. A handwritten address says it is a personal message and increases the odds that it will be opened.

Something else you will want to do is to write out a “Thank You” note to everyone who stopped by. Do this before you leave the house and drop them in the mailbox right after you close up. Even if your visitors spent the entire day going from one open house to the next, I guarantee, yours will be the only “Thank You” note they receive. Also, make sure to include these people in your contact list making sure you write down the date and the type of home they came to visit.

Before you start receiving visitors, you should already have in mind a number of questions you might ask depending on the circumstances. What type of home are you looking for? How many bedrooms? Do you have children? What about the schools? What is your price range? Do you need a list of lenders?

As you progress in your career, you will build a list of other professionals to recommend. These will include mortgage brokers, title reps, landscapers, title reps, movers, and a wide variety of inspectors and engineers. When you start out, you’ll probably want to ask for recommendations from other agents in your office until you put together a list of your own. Don’t forget to spend some time calling these people during your first week to introduce yourself. You don’t want to put yourself in the position when a potential client tells someone you recommended them, they say thanks but they never heard of you.

It is nice to walk the house with people that come in, but please, don’t say, “here’s the kitchen” or “here’s the bathroom.” Everyone who walks through the door should be able to identify the obvious. Instead, point out the not so obvious, extra deep closets, hot water dispenser, home warranty, carpet and paint allowance, anything that might attract a buyer.

Everyone knows that sitting open houses can be a great way to connect with buyers but don’t forget you can meet potential sellers here as well. Your potential buyers might need to sell their current house before buying yours. Many times these people are trying to compare their house with what’s on the market to get an idea of what they can sell for. You will want to make sure you are prepared for this as well. So one of the questions you should ask is “Do you have a house already that you plan to sell?”

Finally, remember that nobody likes to be ignored. If you’re on the phone when someone pulls up – hang up! And, have your ringer on vibrate in case someone calls when you’re showing people around the house. How can you possibly give someone the impression you are the person to help them when you can’t even get off the phone when they are there?

This is, by no means, a complete list of ways to work an open house, but it should get you started. In part two of this series of posts I will talk about For Sale by Owner properties and some strategies for working with them.

One of the areas you’ve selected to farm is a large apartment complex. This just has to be a great place to farm. After all, isn’t it just crawling with people looking to buy a home? The answer is an unequivocal - probably.

There are a couple types of people who rent. Some people seem to rent for the long term and never become buyers. Many, however, are either currently looking for a house, saving up for their down payment, or, at least, planning to buy at some point in the future.

Your job is to make yourself known to these potential buyers and, more importantly, to get them to contact you. When farming these areas, your primary contact with the people who live there will almost certainly be through the written word. Speaking of which, this might be a good time to talk a little about what to keep in mind when writing these marketing materials.

The first thing you want to do when writing anything to potential clients is to decide exactly what you are trying to accomplish with the letter, flyer, whatever. Almost everything you write should have the goal of getting the reader to call you. Don’t make the mistake that you are trying to sell them a house. No one buys a house from an advertisement and you would be doing him or her a disservice to even try.

Whenever you begin to write to anyone, start with a single sentence describing the purpose of what you will write. Keep it right there with you while you work and don’t lose sight of it as you go. Look carefully at everything you put down to make sure it is really working towards the goal you’re trying to accomplish.

Almost every sales letter consists of the same three elements:

The Introduction – Begin with a major attention getting benefit. You only have a couple seconds to get your readers interest before your letter gets thrown in the trash. A good way to start is often with a question. “Have you thought about how easy it may be for you to buy a house right now?” “Wouldn’t you like to get out of that apartment and into a home of your own?”

The Body – This part should continue to list other benefits for the potential buyers. You could talk here about tax advantages, building equity, or anything else you deem appropriate.

The Call For Action – Here you need to ask the reader to do something and you want to be specific. “Give me a call today to discuss how I can help you become a home owner.” “Pick up the phone right now and call me at 555-555-5555.”

Remember, potential clients don’t care about those letters after your name or that you are “Number One” in the office, city, state, or country. They don’t care that you’ve sold millions of dollars of real estate. The only thing they do care about is what you can do for them.

Don’t get the wrong idea, it is important to let your potential clients know what you have done and how many years you’ve been at it. The only reason for this, however, is to show them they will be well represented by an accomplished professional that can and will look after their interests. Just don’t let your resume be your whole message.

Filter everything you write through the eyes of the persons who will be reading it. Tell them what you will do for them. Be as specific as you can. Tell them that you will take the time to listen to them. This is one of the biggest complaints people have with their agent. Tell them you will understand their wants and desires and you will work with them to accomplish the common goal of finding their new home. You will use your training and knowledge on their behalf and they will benefit from the partnership you will form.

Another area you will need to concentrate on if you intend to work with renters is financing options and, oftentimes, more modest homes. Many of the people you will be working with will be young and just starting out. There will be many new families or singles buying their first home. They will not have had the time to build up a strong credit rating, a large down payment, or both. Also, many young people may have already made a mess of their credit history with the ease of getting credit cards and will need the services of a good mortgage broker who can advise them what they will need to do in order to secure financing.

You may be telling yourself that I sound like I’m trying to talk you out of working with these young people. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I think these potential clients may need your services the most. And don’t forget, if you are the agent responsible for getting them into their first home you will probably be the same person that puts them (and their friends) into their future homes.

Whenever you start marketing to a new farm you will first want to plan out what material you will send and how often you will send it. Remember to go in knowing it will take time before you see real results. If you expect to see clients pouring in after a month or two you will almost certainly be disappointed. But, if instead, you write out a sound and realistic strategy to begin with and follow it, you will see results.

Now, I don’t know about every area of the country but it has been my experience that very few agents consistently farm apartment complexes. A few agents may send a letter or postcard a couple times a year but that’s about it. When they get no response, they tell themselves it was a waste of time and money and that ends it.

One plan that an agent might consider is to have a selection of letters and postcards and then alternately send one of each every month. If the complex you’ve decided to focus on permits, and also affords you access, you might want to hand deliver one or maybe both of these. Walking the area will allow you to meet many of the people you are trying to reach.

The letters and postcards you use can show available homes in the proper price range, talk about some of the advantages of buying versus renting, or point out other benefits of home ownership. If the laws in your state allow, you can give sample monthly mortgage payments for various loan amounts at current interest rates. Even though you need to be careful with this type of information, it can be one of the most effective ways to show someone they can afford a home.

Another common strategy is to counter anticipated objections or concerns the potential buyer might have, thus eliminating all the reasons they “can’t” buy. For example, many renters think they don’t currently pay property tax since they don’t own the property. Perhaps they just don’t think about the fact that the owners of the apartment they are renting, who do pay tax, pass this cost on in the form of higher rent. Try to think of any objections a person that is renting might have for not wanting to buy and look for ways to satisfy them.

Condominiums may be the answer for some of these renters since they offer some of the advantages to apartment living (no yard work for one), and many of the same advantages of traditional home ownership (interest deduction, equity buildup, etc.). I have never seen a market that didn’t have a number of reasonably priced condos.

he list of problems with renting an apartment goes on and on. Here are just a few. Noisy neighbors that sound like they’re coming through the wall, no washer and dryer or a common set at the end of the hall, first come first serve or unsafe, uncovered parking, the inability to make changes like paint or carpet colors, dogs barking, music blaring, and the 19 year olds that just moved in across the hall. Many of these and more will be familiar to just about anyone that rents an apartment anywhere in the country. Convincing them they don’t want to rent isn’t usually a problem, showing them how they can buy doesn’t have to be either.

As I write this in June of 2007, interest rates are still low and most of the country is experiencing a record number of unsold homes on the market bringing home ownership within reach for many renters for the first time. There are challenges to overcome but renters in apartment complexes can be great sources from which to find potential buyers in need of your services.

One of the best types of farms you might choose to work is one where you can walk from house to house.  This will allow you to hand deliver your flyers or door hangers directly which not only saves you the money you would spend on postage, it more importantly gets you out in front of the people you are trying to get to know. When you first go about deciding the areas you will farm, pay special attention to the areas you can walk.  These may turn out to be the most fruitful of all.

One of the many advantages of working this type of farm includes getting to know the area from a street level perspective.  There is simply no other way to get this information. Driving through the neighborhood will never give you the same feel for the area that you will get from walking.

Another advantage to working this type of farm is that you are almost certain to meet some of the owners each time you walk it. If you vary the times you walk you can be sure to meet different persons each time.  Walking the morning hours during the week will allow you to meet many stay at home mothers (or fathers) out with their children. This is also a good time to get to know the retirees out working their yards.

Changing your walk time from the morning to the late afternoon and early evening can completely change the people you meet and even give you another way to look at the area. Just imagine the impact you could have on a prospective buyer when describing how the neighborhood looks at the end of the day with the sun going down and the lights coming on and the stars coming out. Sure, its pretty much the same scene everywhere but you are setting a mood that rings true because you’re talking about something you’ve personally seen.

The best time to walk your farm might be on the weekend since this is the time when most people are working in and around their house. They are not as rushed and may be more receptive to allowing you to take a few minutes to introduce yourself.

Try to vary the times and days you walk your farm. In this way you can expose yourself to the greatest number of people. Everyone seems to on a different schedule and if you really want to get the most out of your farm, remember, this might be the best way to do so.

 Direct mail can and does get your name out there but will never really replace the basic human need that we have to see and meet someone face to face. Think about the people you remember from your own life. Can you really recall the names you get bombarded with in sales letters or advertisements? Or, do you remember the people that you have met in person and done business with? That’s the difference, names vs. people.  Make sure you are one of the latter and not the former.

Walking your farm is also an easy way to introduce yourself to any FSBO’s that you may run into. Be prepared for these encounters since it will probably be your only chance to actually “happen upon” the seller.  You should have already done your homework and looked up comparables for their property, as well as knowing what all of the other homes in the area are listed for. Having a ready plan for how you would market their property can go a long way in convincing the seller to give you the chance to help them.  And remember, even if they are dead set against listing with a broker, they probably still have questions about the process that you could help with. This just might be the way to convince them to list if they see you as willing to help even when you aren’t getting paid.  And, at the very least, you might find yourself getting a call from a friend of theirs after they recommend you.

If your farm consists of apartment buildings where you are trying to convert renters into buyers, you will probably run into fewer people to talk with unless, of course, your locale lends itself to a lot of outdoor activities like barbecues, playgrounds, or sporting areas.  In general though, these areas are harder to get to know the people who live there than in neighborhoods of single-family homes.  Remember though, the tradeoff of not meeting as many residents might just be worth it. Depending on the particular area, many of these renters can be converted into buyers.  You can help many of these people realize their dream of owning their own home but in order for you to be the one to help them they have to know who you are. Take the opportunity to invite everyone you meet to an open house that you’ll hold in the near future.  Talk about where the house is and why they might be interested. Remember to sell the benefits, not the product.

Each time you walk your farm make sure you are prepared to meet the people in it. This may sound obvious, but many agents aren’t really prepared. Do you have business cards in your pocket?  Do you know all the recent sales in your farm and the surrounding areas? Do you know the ages and specific builders of the houses? You may not think this last item is very important but I guarantee you will run into more than one someone that will bring it up. Are you ready to talk about how you can help with any real estate question? Give some thought to the questions you will be asked and the answers you might give.

Another thing to remember when walking your farm is that you must not put any of your handouts in U.S. Mail boxes. By law, these are only to be used for U.S. Mail. The easiest solution for what to do with them is to use thin plastic bags designed specifically for this purpose. They have a circular hole cut in the top that should be hung on a doorknob. Two obvious problems with using these bags are they are not very environmentally friendly and homeowners may even become upset because of it. Another option is to use a heavy card stock for your handouts (a good idea anyway) and insert them in between the door and the jamb. The last thing you want to do is to have people think you are littering their neighborhood with garbage.

Something that you will want to have at the ready as soon as you get done walking is a log to make notes in each time you walk your farm.  Some of things you will want to write down are the names of everyone you meet along the way. Make a few notes about what you spoke about and whether or not they might be interested in making a move sometime in the future. Write down spouse and children’s names if you were told them. It will probably be remembered that you were told them and you’re image will certainly improve if you can recall them the next time you run into their owners. In general, write down any information you learn about the people and the homes in your area. Eventually you will want a database of every home in your farm and all of this information that you are collecting will go in it.

Selecting and working the right farm will not only jumpstart your career but, if worked properly, will pay you dividends throughout your career.  While there are many criteria to think about when deciding on what area to farm, it is important to think about how you will go about getting your name out there. Walking is certainly on of the best ways to do this. And don’t forget a final benefit, think about all the exercise you will be getting but couldn’t seem to find the time for.

If you need any more convincing that walking your farm is very important to your success in becoming the top agent in that area, consider this. Deciding to buy or sell a home is usually an emotional time for most people and they will naturally feel more comfortable working with someone they believe will look after their interests every step of the way. They need to know you will be there to handle anything that comes up and that you will really put their needs first. Isn’t it easier for them to think about you this way after seeing you week in and week out walking their neighborhood?