Whether the housing market is hot or cold or somewhere in between, consistently practicing solid real estate basics will ensure your success as an agent. But what does it mean to “get back to basics” in real estate? Following is a blueprint that outlines the basics of real estate that never go out of style regardless of market dynamics.
EVALUATE AND REBOOT
To start, you need to know where the market is right now and who your customers are. Currently we are in a cooling housing market with the balance of power going more towards buyers. Additionally, we see record numbers of Millennials hit the real estate market as they mature into career, marriage and starting families. With this in mind, ask yourself: What might I need to change to meet the needs of today’s market? What tweaks will I need to make in my business model to ensure better success in an evolving market landscape?
BACK TO BASICS: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Relationships are the backbone of real estate. A successful real estate business is all about building relationships with those in your neighborhood and community. Relationship building as a real estate agent generates business when you are perceived as capable, knowledgeable, professional, trust-worthy and familiar. Focus on those qualities and figure out what things you need to be doing to foster those perceptions. It may mean volunteering, joining groups such as rotary club or the chamber of commerce, being active in the school, local advertising, and so forth.
BACK TO BASICS: FARMING LEADS
Farming leads is a traditional real estate practice as old as the hills that still works today. Farming is a lead generation and marketing strategy that generates consistent business from a specific geographic area. How do you do this?
Use your local MLS and title company to choose an area where there’s healthy demand and good turnover. Choose a place that you know and where you have the most name recognition. Use your title company to supply a list of names and addresses for a certain area. Then, reach out by way of postcards, market updates, social media groups, and neighborhood websites (like Nextdoor and Parkbench). Make sure you create a calendar that organizes your messages and when you plan to send them. Note what value it provides to your audience.
And don’t forget to target FSBOs (For Sale By Owner) and expired listings, which can be a rich farming ground for picking up new listings.
BACK TO BASICS: OPEN HOUSES
Working open houses has always been a great way to get yourself out in front of the community and develop new leads. If you are new to the business and don’t have your own listings yet, offer to work someone else’s open house. The recent COVID pandemic put the kibosh on open houses, for good reason, but now it’s time to get back to basics and work open house opportunities. Make sure you have a good Show Sheet (a handy flyer that lists the home’s best features and contact details). As part of our “new normal” today’s post-pandemic open house should mandate the use of masks and hand sanitizer (click here to view our handy open house tents). Finally, there are numerous apps now available for capturing leads for open houses. Some of these include Curb Hero, Spacio and Home Pro, to name a few. Figure out which one may work best for you in the area you are working.
BACK TO BASICS: MARKETING
As we trend further into a cooling market, now is not the time to cut back on your marketing. Quite the reverse. Smart agents understand that a cooling market means doubling down on marketing. Back to basics for marketing includes the following:
- Website: A user-friendly website with a property-search feature. And remember that everything you do with your marketing should ideally feedback to your website.
- Email: A regularly scheduled newsletter via email, in addition to coming soons, just listeds, open houses, and just solds.
- Market Updates: A regularly scheduled blog featuring market updates (blogs are necessary because they greatly enhance SEO for your website)
- Social Media: A commitment to using social media as a way to get yourself in front of prospective buyers and sellers. Best social media for real estate include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIN, Twitter and Youtube.
- Home Warranties: Adding a Seller’s Home Warranty is a fantastic way to have an edge on a new listing and entice buyers. It also helps to protect you if and when things go wrong after closing. Most home warranties run around $400 – $600, which is a small price to pay for extra marketing leverage, extra listing leverage, and extra buyer leverage. It also makes a thoughtful gift for buyers at closing.
BACK TO BASICS: TECHNOLOGY
It’s no secret that Millennials dominate the real estate market today. These are your buyers, and also more and more, your sellers. As such, it’s critical to embrace technology since Millennials do most of their shopping, at least initially, online. Technology tools you must have at the ready include anything that will make an online experience seamless for your Millennial customers. See our blog Catering to Millennial Buyers for details on everything you can do digitally to appeal to the Millennial consumer.
BACK TO BASICS: REFERRALS
Finally, if you don’t have a referral system in place, you are leaving money on the table. It’s important to implement a referral practice because of today’s changing marketplace. With the advent of the pandemic and the work-from-home movement, more people than ever are moving around the country. The primary impetus for this shift is getting out of a city to a more relaxed and less expensive area. Referrals are necessary when you have an out-of-market transaction or an unqualified transaction. Click here to learn more about the ins and outs of referrals and how they can positively impact your business.
Ideally, getting back to basics in real estate should be something you never stopped doing, even when the market was red hot. The most successful agents do these ”basics” on a consistent basis, regardless of what the market is doing. Embrace the basics over the long haul and your real estate business will thrive.