15 Mile average between last home and new home purchased
Average price $372,500 and paid 99% of asking price
1,900 Square foot, 3 bed, 2 bath built in 1993
Expect to stay 12 years in their home
Home Purchase Process
43% Began looking online, 18% Began calling an agent
Looked 8 weeks and 8 homes
87% Property photos most important to them
64% Had a satisfactory experience
Home Purchase Agent
88% Used an agent to buy
6% Direct from builder
40% Agent referred by friend
91% Would use their agent again
Financing Purchase
87% Financed their purchase
88% typical loan to value ratio
58% Down payment from savings
46% saved down payment in 6 months or less
83% Purchased because it is a good investment
Home Sellers
56 Years of age
Median household income $107,100 annually
14% Home to small, 15% closer to family, 12% work reasons
Lived in home 10 years on average
89% sold with an agent
Sold 99% of their asking price
3 weeks on the market
44% offered incentives to buyers
Sold for $66,000 more than they paid on average
69% were happy with sales process
How Sellers & Agents
67% found their agent through a referral
77% only contacted one agent when selling
91% listed on MLS
77% paid the agent’s fees
Typical seller recommend their agent pnce since selling
88% would use agent again, 77% probably, 15% would not
Private By Owner
8% sold by owner
57 years of age
Average FSBO sale price $185,000
Average agents assisted sale price $245,000
66% sold in less than 2 weeks
70% sold to someone they knew 55% knew their buyer
COVID 19 Buying & Selling
#1 reason was to move closer to family
Urgency rose 7% when covid hit
27% increase virtual tour viewings
Home sellers years owned dropped from 16 years to 11 years in 2020
Average price jumped post covid to $300,000 average vs $270,100
Finding a property biggest challenge
So there we have it the road map of who we are looking for and what they are doing. Take the time to develop a strategic strategy with your business and stop aiming for nothing and hitting it with amazing accuracy. Instead be strategic and intentional with your marketing approach this year using this incredible resource and watch your business go to another level.
Traditionally best source of free leads has been Cold calling and Door Knocking but let’s be real. In this day and age, those aren’t the only methods to choose from. (And honestly, they may not even work as well as they once did.) I want to share with you 20+ tried and tested low or no cost marketing ideas for generating free leads that actually result in revenue and work for many of my coaching clients today and even during a pandemic! Let’s start with a complete checklist of free lead gen ideas broken down by must-haves and nice-to-haves. How many of these are you already using? Which ones would be the easiest to integrate with your current lead management system?
The Must-Haves
Past clients
SOI
Referrals
Reviews
FSBOs
Partner with a lender and attorney
Open House
Use landing pages + Drip email sequence
The Nice-to-Haves
Phone duty
Video content
Virtual tours and open houses
Volunteer, speak at, or attend free community events
FRBOs
Moving companies
Marriage announcements
Start a blog
Contribute to articles, podcasts and publications
Connect on social media
Answer questions on Quora
Door knocking
Cold calling
Zoom housewarming party
So Where to Get Real Estate Leads Post-2020
#1. Office On Call Phone Duty – Great for Warm Buyer Leads. Sometimes old school is the best school. Most agents never considered it because it seemed old school. I know that agents hate traditional phone duty because they have to sit in the office and answer the phone. One reason agents become agents is so that they’re not chained to a desk But, the results are undeniable. Agents found that people that call in want to talk with an agent right now. They don’t want to talk to a receptionist, or a Client Concierge, they want to talk with a knowledgeable agent. Since you are immediately satisfying that need, your conversions go through the roof. We were converting around 1/3 receptionist call-ins in the past. We’re now converting almost 100% of the qualified inbound calls. It’s been a massive success. Set up a virtual phone duty with your broker. Follow simple rules like ‘don’t schedule an appointment’ and ‘pull over to talk if the call you take is a lead. Record all of the calls to identify opportunities for improvement.
#2. Video Content – Best Way to Consistently Generate Free Leads. Video is quickly becoming a winning formula for real estate marketing. Shoot a video titled Why You Should Move to (your town) that introduces you as your town’s ambassador and will bring you two to five property deals over time. So, what’s the secret formula for creating irresistible video content? Everyone should have a YouTube channel and create playlists that focus on the community, sellers and buyers and quick tips. create both professional and iPhone videos. I know that not everyone is comfortable with staring into the camera, but the way she sees it, we’ve already spent most of 2020 living through an uncomfortable reality. We have to get comfortable being uncomfortable, right?
#3. Video Housewarming Party – An Instant Source of Free Warm Leads. For clients concerned about having anyone in their home and maintaining social distancing protocols, their agent can plan and host a video ‘housewarming party’ on Zoom. This obviously works well for those clients who are not as tech savvy or aren’t already regularly using video conferencing. A housewarming party you can attend in your pajamas? Who could say no to that? It’s a great way for the agent to bring additional value to their client and meet the client’s potential referrals for additional business.
Bonus Pandemic Tips. Branded face masks and hand sanitizer. Connector of community support resources: who has senior shopping hours, who has opened a pop up food bank, what restaurants are delivering meals to high risk people, etc. Volunteering!
Community good-will political debate station. Virtual video open houses (marketed on social media) Concierge video home tours (marketed on social media) Hosting a socially distanced, mask-on, Halloween party for kids in your sphere.
It’s amazing how creative you can get when faced with a new challenge. Of course, there are also those classic, reliable sources of real estate leads you should always be working into your strategy.
#4. Smile, Dial, Email – Timeless Lead Gen for Unprecedented Times. When Covid first hit even I started calling and spoke to more people than I ever could have imagined because most everyone was at home at lockdown. No secret sauce, just consistently smiling and dialing. Your goal comes to get 5 nurtures a day minimum and to keep building my weekly email. One coaching client closed 10 transactions 30% of my business from a weekly email this year. 10 transactions from an email newsletter? There’s literally no reason not to do this.
#5. Client & Agent Referrals – Best Way to Get Quality Leads, Totally Free. According to the NAR, 64% of sellers found their agent through a referral from a friend, neighbor, or relative—or used an agent they had worked with before to buy or sell a home. Referrals cost you nothing—all you have to do is stay connected with the people you know and make sure that you’re top of mind when they or someone they know decide to transact. What could be easier (or cheaper!) than that, right? Repeat and no fee referrals are always the most profitable and reliable. All my coaching clients generate 50-85% of their business from this source.”
#6. The Property Neighbors’ Sphere of Influence – A Completely Original Source for Trusted Referrals. Everyone talks about taking advantage of your sphere of influence, but have you ever considered reverse engineering the sphere of influence of a neighborhood to get new listings? Here’s how you do it: When your buyer looks at a property in a neighborhood but doesn’t buy the property, statistically a new listing is going to come up in that neighborhood in the next 30 days and you’ve got what the potential seller wants…buyers. This is when you should send out a letter to the neighborhood and call the neighbors with the same message/dialogue.
Hi (neighbor),
My name is (Agent Name) and I work with (Brokerage Name) and I just wanted to let you know that I showed your neighbor’s property over at (Address) the other day.
Unfortunately it wasn’t a perfect match for them but as I’m sure you are not surprised, they absolutely loved the neighborhood!
What they are looking for is (describe just about every house in the neighborhood).
Can you do me a favor? If you or anyone you know is even considering selling, could you please let me know right away? I may be able to sell your house without it ever even hitting the market.”
Brilliant, right? Use the same template when they have a buyer looking for a house. The student records a video that lets their audience know what the buyer is looking for but with a specific ask – reach out if the audience or anyone they know is considering selling, because they may be able to sell their house without it ever hitting the market. Then the agent promotes that video to the target town/city so that everyone sees it and reaches out to them if they are thinking of selling or if they know anyone that is.
#7. Third Party Reviews – The New Word of Mouth for Real Estate Leads Targeting millennials or younger buyers? Reviews are the way to go. According to Consumerist, almost 70% of consumers check online reviews before making a purchase. But just like everything else, it’s all about your level of commitment. Millennials make up a third of the buying population. A millennial goes to 8 to 12 different sites before they pick up the phone and talk to an agent. What do they do when they get to 8 to 12 of those sites? They read the reviews. Watch people coming to your site in the analytics—they log in, and then they go to the review page and read every one of your reviews before they even pick up the phone and call. The conversation on getting reviews starts on day one when you meet the client.
#8. Blogging – Best Way to Attract Quality Leads. One of the best decisions I ever made in my real estate career was to start a real estate blog. Blogging is one of those free lead gen unicorns—when you’re blogging the leads seem to magically drop from the sky. But free doesn’t mean easy. It all comes down to intention and commitment. Provide a wealth of knowledge to buyers and sellers to help make sound business decisions. Buyers and sellers love working with knowledgeable real estate agents. By having a recognizable blog you are able to readily show off your expertise to those who are buying or selling a home. Over the years my blog has brought a substantial amount of yearly business. In fact it is one of my top lead generators.”
A blog as a top lead generator? Believe it. Real Estate blogging is certainly not for everyone. Like anything else, it takes time and dedication. It is not a magic bullet that will bring significant amounts of business unless you put in the effort. This means you need to have exceptionally good content combined with a strong grasp of both search engine optimization, as well as solid social media promotion. Without proper digital marketing your blog will be lost in the shuffle. Alternatively, you could try a tool like Keeping Current Matters or CityBlast that automatically publishes blog and email content, creates downloadable guides and posts personalized updates on your social media accounts for a set monthly fee. Another option is to hire a real estate VA with marketing or blogging experience or look for an affordable content writer and marketer on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. You’ll still need to set aside time to generate relevant content ideas, proofread and promote the work but a great freelancer can significantly cut down on the time you spend researching and writing, making it way easier to stick to a consistent publishing schedule. Last but definitely not least, if you’re determined to make a go of blogging, make sure you set up a drip campaign to capture and nurture any leads that come in via the blog.
#9. Niche Marketing Websites – An Amazing Organic Source for Ready-to-Convert Real Estate Leads. Thanks to various changes in Google’s search algorithm, building a niche website is now another surefire approach to rank higher on search engines than non-targeted sites. Best of all, it’s completely organic through and through. Buy the domain moveto (your town) .org .com .ca then hire a full-time content writer to write or write yourself to gain enough traction and generate leads and a robust pipeline. Create a local guide on all things (your town) and start attracting some seriously motivated leads. Agents are getting about 10-15 leads monthly. That’s not much but they are much more likely to convert. Target organic leads by targeting topics like ‘rent vs. buy (your town)’, ‘Master Planned Communities’, and ‘Reasons to Move to (your town). Then retarget to landing pages that have property listings or other information about choosing a Realtor.
#10. Thank You Card & Hand Written Notes. Most Beautifully Simple Source of Free Leads. You know, as a new agent you’re blindsided by a million other things. You just need to talk to a lot of people and get over the fear of cold calling. After talking go drop off a simple thank you card and that changes everything. In the age of automated everything, Brandon’s all about keeping the personal touch. And at $1 per card, the ROI on this lead source can’t be beat. Just write a handwritten thank you card like, ‘Hey Jill, great talking to you. Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you. And then I put your business card in there and seal it up. Easy!
#11. Craigslist, Kijiji, Classifieds – Great for Free Diamond-in-the-rough Leads. Never take a lead for granted and that includes leads from Craigslist. Some of my coaching clients most reliable source of free leads has been another source that most agents or people sometimes no longer feel is relevant or also frowned upon or thought of not to be the savviest… Craigslist.
#12. Open House – Golden Opportunity to Get Buyer & Seller Leads. Most agents have been programmed to think that it’s a waste of time. Like all marketing, if they do one and don’t get much out of it, they generally fall into that bucket. To me, it’s the easiest and least expensive way to get people in front of you. However, you need to have a system like everything else to make it profitable. Systems = profits. The best tip for bringing in free leads via open houses is don’t advertise open houses and use lots of signs. This way if someone walks into your open house and they would like to look at property, I just close the door. You need to make sure you have every possible cross street covered with an open house sign. The more signs the better. But what if you can’t meet for an in-person open house? Agents have sold houses with digital open houses and virtual tours and use Calendly to actually capture the lead info, then plug them into your CRM for focused follow up.
#13. Internet Community Pages – Perfect Source of Free Buyer and Relocating Leads. There’s a little known content marketing tip that only the best of real estate marketers typically take advantage of: Community Pages. More often than not, any buyer looking to move into a new area is going to do some fairly extensive research. By setting up community pages on your website YOU become the local go to expert. Here’s what makes a great community page:
Community pages are filled with information buyers would love to know about. Things like the quality of the schools, area attractions such as lakes and parks. Where people do their shopping, etc. They can be filled with an endless amount of information. The best community pages are crazy detailed! These kinds of pages should be optimized so they come up in search for things like “Realtors (your town)” and “Top Real Estate agents (your town)”. Consumers who are searching in Google with terms like these may be looking to hire an agent immediately!
#14. Quora – Most Untapped Source of Leads. A huge untapped online community like Quora is one of the top respondents for all things real estate, for getting you name, face and web link in front of thousands of online buyers every day. With over 200 million monthly unique visitors, Quora’s Q&A entries regularly show up on Google’s page 1, and some are re-published by major sites like Forbes and Inc. Plus, it’s completely free. All you need is an email address and you’re in. Start by looking for questions that have been asked repeatedly. If a question has been asked more than once, chances are the answers (both on Quora and Google) aren’t that great.
#15. Wear Your Company Name Badge – Easiest Way to Get Free Leads. Ever take every cushion off your couch hunting for your glasses, only to realize they’re right on top of your head? Sometimes the most obvious things are hidden in plain sight. The simple name badge is one of those things. Here’s a great tip… An often overlooked way to generate leads is to wear your name badge or company wear such as a hat or polo shirt. When people ask, ‘Oh, you’re in real estate—how’s the market? Be prepared with a concise answer about how much inventory is on the market, how much prices are increasing or declining, and offer to send them a free report on their property. Agents can use a Realtors Property Resource (RPR) to gather this data quickly and of course, you need their contact information to send them the report. Name badges have long been used by maintenance service companies to establish a connection with the client and develop trust. So, why not real estate?
#16. For Sale By Owner (FSBOs) – Excellent Lead Source for Agents with the Right Approach. There are those who shake their fists at FSBOs and there are those who go out and convert them into free sources of multiple millions in revenue. FSBOs are one of the best and most reliable sources of free leads out there. “Literally millions in commissions!” can be made. The trick as usual is to start the conversation by listening and offering value. Remember, there is a good chance this seller has been burned by an agent before, and that’s why they’re attempting to go it alone. Start the conversation by asking why they’re selling. Take time to listen, get to know their motivations and build a personal connection. Offer advice or insight on the market wherever relevant. Once you feel like you’ve truly heard them and offered them some genuinely helpful info, ask if they want any help finding a buyer. They might turn you down flat the first time. That’s ok. Ask if you can check back in on them in a few weeks then add them to your CRM for simple, friendly follow up. Sometimes it can take a few quiet weeks (or months) in the market before they come around to the idea of working with you.
#17. Ask Engaging Power Questions – Most Powerful Way to Get Free Listings. Leveraging for rent by owners and FSBOs, calling expired listings and nurturing your SOI are all classic (and classically overlooked!) ways to bring in tons of free leads. But sometimes what matters most isn’t which lead source you choose, but how you choose to approach those leads. The best way to bring in more free leads is to simply ask questions: Ask questions – How can I help your business? What does your perfect client look like? Focus on providing service and coming from a spirit of contribution – the leads will come.
#18. Farmers Markets, Swap Meets and Flea Markets – Don’t be afraid to take free leads where he can find them. That includes local swap meets, flea markets and farmers markets. The craziest ideas for lead generation are sometimes the least wanted or the most frowned upon or things that people might think don’t work. If you do frequent swap meets, flea markets and farmers markets. It totally works even though many agents feel it’s an undesirable type of method. There’s something to be said for getting out there and networking with real people. Remember, when it comes to free lead gen, it doesn’t matter what’s popular. All that matters is that it works for your unique real estate business.
#19. Social Media (Evidence Of Success) – Great Way to Get Real Estate Leads Who Already Like You. You didn’t think we were going to leave social media off the list, did you? Depending on how you approach it, social media can either be a major time drain or a brilliant way of nurturing your connections. Here’s his awesome advice for using your social media to nurture your SOI without feeling salesy or sleazy: Your sphere of influence is still an extremely overlooked source of business. The key is to not bombard your network with boring, worthless “asks” for business. Instead, you should simply be reminding your network that you’re a real estate agent, and that you’re a local expert. Posting on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat is a great way to do that, as long as you’re providing something of value to your network (education, humor, etc), along with the occasional humblebrag if you receive an award, or some recognition for something. Even a sincere humbled, gratitude post for helping a buyer or seller buyer or sell versus bragging I just sold or I just listed. I’m talking maybe once a month, or less. But if done tactfully, those humblebrags help your network see that you’re good at what you do. You heard it from the pro. Relax and have fun on social media. It can lead to some great free leads.
#20. Instagram – Easiest Source for Warm Organic Leads. It’s all organic, with posts that are more lifestyle posts and less about sales. We want people to follow us because they like our post then reach out to us for help because they like our brand and how we do things. It’s been working well and that’s exactly what happens. Leads come in from the posts and stories. From there, you follow up via DM to connect and convert. It’s easy, organic and extremely cost-effective.
#21. Shock & Awe Marketing – Funniest Way to Get Free Real Estate Leads. Every so often, it pays to go a little rogue with your marketing. The most innovative idea I ever heard of was an agent had a house that was zoned for commercial use that was located in an area where there were a lot of attorneys. She created a marketing piece that looked as if the attorney she was sending it to was being served in a lawsuit. The strategy generated leads and she sold the property. I love the expired listing paper towel tube in the mail that looks like a stick of red dynamite with the expired letter inside. Sometimes it pays to think outside the box (or, zone in this case) and do what you’ve got to do to grab the attention of your local market. Don’t be afraid to get creative.
#22. Knock on Doors – Most Classic Way to Get Real Estate Leads The level of “craziness” of this free lead gen idea is debatable. Some die-hards in Facebook groups will claim this is the best way to get free leads, but you have to wonder, do they actually get out there and do it? Tip! Knock on doors in a neighborhood where you have a qualified buyer that wants to buy and say ‘Quick question: do you want to sell your house? My buyer wants to buy here. Not sure? Talk to the Family and call me tomorrow.’ Yes. It worked. If nobody is home then leave a door hanger with the same written message and they will call as well off the door hanger! Sometimes you just never get, until you ask. While it may seem old school, knocking on doors is still a proven way to get free leads. If you’ve got the guts, go for it.
#23. Serving & Give Back – Most Fulfilling Way to Get Buyer and Seller Leads. If you focus on service like some agents do the business will come simply by connecting with the community. Serving the community and throwing great social events creates an amazing amount of people that want to reciprocate by working with you. Get involved in at least one non-profit and build your spheres through acts of charity and service. You’re meeting people in your community who want to do good. It’s not really service to transaction, it’s service to relationship. We want to build a network that people actually want to be a part of.
#24. Become a Community Catalyst – Crazy Simple Way to Get a Long-lasting Source of Leads. Your commitment to becoming THE go-to expert in your community. As real estate develops, knowledge is what makes agents more valuable to buyers. Buyers don’t want to spend time learning. As an agent, you’re the catalyst—the connector between the buyer and their new community. It’s your job to open that door and make it as easy as possible for them to walk through it.
So there you have it, a ton of great ideas for generating free real estate leads. Before you run off, we want to give you one last piece of advice. When done right, free lead gen can bring in a ton of revenue for your real estate business, but if you go into it with the wrong intention, it can backfire horribly. Don’t do this: Go to a friend’s wedding, and “sponsor” the gift bags for guests… and put your business cards, branded pens, and other absurd, unimpressive swag in the gift bags! Do not put out signs around the gift bag table promoting you and your business. Why not? Well, how would you like it if you went to a wedding and were bombarded with advertisements from some random business? You’re hijacking your friend’s wedding in an effort to get more business. But what you’re really doing is pissing people off and ensuring that they’d never hire you in a million years. How tacky and inappropriate. Next time maybe you should sponsor the punch bowl at a funeral! Leads can get pricey and real estate is a high pressure business, but the moral of this story is to ALWAYS check the situation and environment before attempting to grab leads. Leads might not cost money, but you’d better be giving something meaningful and valuable in return– and prospecting ethically! The most reliable source [of free leads] for our clients is giving great service and then implementing a great Database/CRM Value Add Plan with regular contact in a variety of ways. Feel free to share with me ways that you are generating legit leads without spending any money, would love to add them to 2022 list.
Knowing what the biggest objection you face over the next few months allows you the edge to be prepared when it strikes. We all know the #1 objection all agents are going to get from real estate buyers and sellers is “We want to wait until the spring to buy or sell our home.” So having the ability to change how the buyer and seller feels about waiting to buy or sell until the spring is imperative to your winter real estate success!! Don’t try changing their minds and building their defense mechanism up but educate them and change how they think and then they change how they feel about buying over the winter instead of spring. The fact of the matter is, the reasons and myths are endless so it’s our job as REALTORS® to be equipped with facts and a strong reality check to combat these reasons we hear every day. To help you educate the consumers through the winter season I put together some of my top reasons a client would want to choose this time of year to buy, sell and list a home.
Here Are The Top Reasons to Sell Real Estate Over The Winter
#1 – Only The Serious Buyers Are Looking Over The Winter – Yes there are fewer buyers, but those buyers are usually very SERIOUS about making a purchase or many HAVE to make a purchase. Who else would want to look at buying during the winter?
#2 – Fewer Winter Listings Means Less Listing Competition – Most sellers wait until the spring or summer to list, so your home will have far less competition. Spring = Greater supply = Same Demand = Less Money
#3 – January Is The Biggest Corporate Transfer Month – More corporate relocation moves happen during January than any other time of the year. Catch the corporate relocation buyers while you can.
#4 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service – By putting the home on the market during the winter you experience better, personal and faster customer service from movers, lawyers, banks, insurance providers etc. Listing realtors have more time to better serve their sellers and get all the marketing strategies in place.
#5 – More Bargaining Time to Get More Money – By starting to market your home early, you may be able to secure a higher price with more listing exposure time. This season allows a seller to not be in a rush to sell and allow for more market exposure time and ultimately generate a higher price than in the spring.
#6 – Timing Is Everything. So Sell Now & Buy In The Spring – If your home sells quickly, you will be able to shop for your next home during the winter, a great time to find a bargain! More time to look and not pressure to shop and beat the other buyers. Sell first and then buy in the spring when the inventory and selection begins to rise for you when you are the buyer.
#7 – Standing Out In A Smaller Crowd – Most REALTORS® and offices have less inventory during the winter, enabling your home to stand out even more. Less marketing noise out there for the buyers and they see your home with ease now.
#8 – 20% Of Sales Still Happen During the Winter – Buyers and Sellers are usually quite motivated to get the transaction completed. We still have 20% of the business in the year occurring during the winter. This can mean less price haggling and fewer hassles during the process.
#9 – Buying Without Having Something To Sell First – By selling now you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer during the spring, when more houses are on the market! Less “subject to the sale” offers from buyers and you are not one of them when you are buying your next home.
#10 – No Yard Work When It’s Freshly Covered In Snow – Great time for a home that needs a yard make over to sell. No need to worry about your yard work. Snow makes it look fresh and white.
BONUS…..
#11 – Buyers Time Everything Too – Buyers begin the search and purchase for spring moves in January, February. Busy move times are March Spring Break, April Easter, May long weekend and July long weekends
#12 – No Pricing Wars With Others Sellers – Less choice for buyers means less sellers to play pricing against each other. Buyers will often make more concession in their buying decision with less choice
#13 – A Holiday Magic Feel To Your Home – Property shows well, almost staged with holiday décor adding to the ambiance. Tis the season for your home to shine!
#14 – Higher Quality No Looky Loo Showings. Little chance of quick showings and not being prepared to show your home. Easier time of year to make appointments and give sellers advance notice. Higher quality showings
#15 – Right Buyer, Right Time Odds – The odds are the same for the right buyer looking at your home regardless of the season. Right buyer, right time, right home
Here Are My Top 10 Reasons to Buy Over The Winter
#1 – Fewer Or No Multiple Offers – Little or no chance of multiple or competing offers for the buyer during this time of year
#2 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service – Better service from all service providers like the agents, banks, insurers etc. Not as busy now.
#3 – Sellers Are Motivated – Sellers motivated at this time of year if still trying to sell from summer or fall. Sellers willing to negotiate, been on the market for some time now. Give and take.
#4 – Expired Listing Inventory – Buyers can shop the expired listings market, which has the largest selection this time of the year.
#5 – Better Closing Options – Good time of year to make an offer and do the due diligence, buyers can move quickly now or slower in the spring if not in a rush.
#6 – More Alternative Housing Options – Easier for sellers to find alternative housing, not as much pressure finding a rental vs. the really busy spring and summer season.
#7 – Contingencies and Subject to the Sale Of Acceptable – Great time for buyers to make contingent “Subject to the Sale” offers and get them accepted and movement on the price.
#8 – Better Available Moving & Service Providers – Easier time for a buyer to move and find help and services like movers, cleaners, storage.
#9 – Smoother Mistake Free Completions – Better timing for buyers on completions with lawyers, banks land registry. Not that busy and time to attend to you now.
#10 – Buyer Competition Lower – Less competition for the same property from other buyers on the deals that pop up this time of year.
Bonus…
#11 – Having More Time – Having time to make a decision and not be pressured in to offers or pressured into removing conditions or speeding up your due diligence time.
Now that you’re equipped with ammo to overcome any objection, educate the consumers and debunk the myths and go out there and list and sell some real estate this winter season!!
We have all heard the unwritten rule in real estate “List to Last.” N.A.R. reports state it takes four times the effort servicing a buyer than servicing a seller. Everyone wants to know the secret to working smarter and not working harder and in our business it’s Listings! Here are the top ways agents are getting listings and setting themselves up for a fantastic Q3 in real estate.
1. Your Database – you always start with the people you already know, like and trust. Small talk with them first and check in to see how they are doing, don’t jump right into business please. Just before you hang up almost like an after-thought. Ask them this question….“Of all the people you know, who would be moving next?” and watch what happens for you.
2. If we don’t ask then we don’t get. Ask your database by Emails, Post Cards, Texts, Video emails or Social Media Posts “Wade Is Now Taking New Listings” inventory levels and competition for selling is low and now it the time to List! Thinking of selling Call Now!
3. Take the time to prepare unsolicited CMA packages for your database, which include a snapshot of comparables to give them an idea what their home is worth, but don’t put the range or estimated sale price in your package. Then hand deliver or mail them to all your past clients. Call them 3 days later and ask them. “Did they get it? Any questions? Any other properties I can evaluate? Reason for the CMA was to ensure your insurance coverage was high enough, tax purposes and retirement planning. Any other people you know I could provide this valuable service for?
4. Geographic Farming – find a building or neighborhood that has more than a 6% annual turn-over rate. Then you find all the mailing addresses of the residents so you can direct mail ( not unaddressed mail ) each resident 3 times a year. Create a branded newsletter for the farm area that contains every important statistic for the residents like sales, listings, days on market, absorption rate, cost per square foot, etc. Personally mail them the newsletter. Create a landing page website that matches your newsletter to reinforce your perception of being the expert.
5. Expired Listings – If your marketplace allows you to do expireds. Check with your broker first. They already own a home, want to sell, want to work with an agent and pay our fees. Does it get any better than this?! Everyone is mailing and calling. I am a huge believer and say go knock on their door and go see them! They need to see me to decide whether they like or trust me first!
6. Door knock – Using a bona fide buyer or a just sold and have buyers still looking in your area. Both of these methods work because they trigger some sense of urgency with people when they know we have a buyer for their home or someone just sold for a significant amount of money and you may have another buyer for their home.
7. Open house – Another great way to connect with people who want to buy but they have something else to sell before they can buy. I love the face to face activity because it is where we all are at our best.
8. Direct mail – Using a bona fide buyer or a just sold but have buyers still looking. Just like the door knock approach this is the most effective way to get listing appointments. The direct mail and then follow up door knock is a fantastic one two punch for generating listing appointments!
9. FSBO – They already own a home, they want to sell. They don’t want to pay the fees but if they can’t sell they tend to list with an agent after 10 weeks of trying themselves.
10. B2B – Creating value and interacting with other business owners and other service providers in our community is such an untapped area for most agents. Do a business video shout out with the owners and encourage to buy local. Run a gift card giveaway with a small business owner to your people and that businesses people. So many agents don’t go after the B2B and focus only on the P2P.
11. Online Ads – What’s my home worth? Or curious of how much equity you have in your home?? (FB, Google PPC) running ad campaigns targeting consumers with click ads to get their value of their home has been something we have used the last number of years now. Hire a VA on www.fiverr.com create FB, Instagram ads for you. Have the ad click to go to a landing page from www.carrd.co then the form send their contact info to your email.
So there you have what I think are the best of the best for agents to ramp up their listing inventory. Please comment below any other powerful listing generating activities you might use with us below!
Knowing what the biggest objection you face over the next few months allows you the edge to be prepared when it strikes. We all know the #1 objection all agents are going to get from real estate buyers and sellers is “We want to wait until the spring.” So having the ability to change how the buyer and seller feels about waiting to buy or sell until the spring is imperative to your winter real estate success!!
Don’t try changing their minds and building their defense mechanism up but educate them and change how they think and then they change how they feel about buying over the winter instead of spring. The fact of the matter is, the reasons and myths are endless so it’s our job as REALTORS® to be equipped with facts and a strong reality check to combat these reasons we hear every day. To help you educate the consumers through the winter season I put together some of my top reasons a client would want to choose this time of year to buy, sell and list a home.
Top Reasons to Sell Real Estate Over The Winter
#1 – Only The Serious Buyers Are Looking Over The Winter
• Yes there are fewer buyers, but those buyers are usually very SERIOUS about making a purchase or many HAVE to make a purchase. Who else would want to look at buying during the winter?
#2 – Fewer Winter Listings Means Less Listing Competition
• Most sellers wait until the spring or summer to list, so your home will have far less competition
• Spring = Greater supply = Same Demand = Less Money
#3 – January Is The Biggest Corporate Transfer Month
• More corporate relocation moves happen during January than any other time of the year.
• Catch the corporate relocation buyers while you can.
#4 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service
• By putting the home on the market during the winter you experience better, personal and faster customer service from movers, lawyers, banks, insurance providers etc. Listing realtors have more time to better serve their sellers and get all the marketing strategies in place.
#5 – More Bargaining Time to Get More Money
• By starting to market your home early, you may be able to secure a higher price with more listing exposure time. This season allows a seller to not be in a rush to sell and allow for more market exposure time and ultimately generate a higher price than in the spring.
#6 – Timing Is Everything. So Sell Now & Buy In The Spring
• If your home sells quickly, you will be able to shop for your next home during the winter, a great time to find a bargain!
• More time to look and not pressure to shop and beat the other buyers. Sell first and then buy in the spring when the inventory and selection begins to rise for you when you are the buyer.
#7 – Standing Out In A Smaller Crowd
• Most REALTORS® and offices have less inventory during the winter, enabling your home to stand out even more.
• Less marketing noise out there for the buyers and they see your home with ease now.
#8 – 20% Of Sales Still Happen During the Winter
• Buyers and Sellers are usually quite motivated to get the transaction completed. We still have 20% of the business in the year occurring during the winter.
• This can mean less price haggling and fewer hassles during the process.
#9 – Buying Without Having Something To Sell First
• By selling now you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer during the spring, when more houses are on the market!
• Less “subject to the sale” offers from buyers and you are not one of them when you are buying your next home.
#10 – No Yard Work When It’s Freshly Covered In Snow
• Great time for a home that needs a yard make over to sell.
• No need to worry about your yard work. Snow makes it look fresh and white.
BONUS…..
#11 – Buyers Time Everything Too
• Buyers begin the search and purchase for spring moves in January, February.
• Busy move times are March Spring Break, April Easter, May long weekend and July long weekends
#13 – No Pricing Wars With Others Sellers
• Less choice for buyers means less sellers to play pricing against each other
• Buyers will often make more concession in their buying decision with less choice
#14 – A Holiday Magic Feel To Your Home
• Property shows well, almost staged with holiday décor adding to the ambiance
• Tis the season for your home to shine!
#15 – Higher Quality No Looky Loo Showings
• Little chance of quick showings and not being prepared to show your home
• Easier time of year to make appointments and give sellers advance notice.
• Higher quality showings
#16 – Right Buyer, Right Time Odds
• The odds are the same for the right buyer looking at your home regardless of the season.
• Right buyer, right time, right home
My Top 10 Reasons to Buy Over The Winter
#1 – Fewer Or No Multiple Offers
• Little or no chance of multiple or competing offers for the buyer during this time of year
#2 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service
• Better service from all service providers like the agents, banks, insurers etc. Not as busy now.
#3 – Sellers Are Motivated
• Sellers motivated at this time of year if still trying to sell from summer or fall.
· Sellers willing to negotiate, been on the market for some time now. Give and take.
#4 – Expired Listing Inventory
• Buyers can shop the expired listings market, which has the largest selection this time of the year.
#5 – Better Closing Options
• Good time of year to make an offer and do the due diligence, buyers can move quickly now or slower in the spring if not in a rush.
#6 – More Alternative Housing Options
• Easier for sellers to find alternative housing, not as much pressure finding a rental vs. the really busy spring and summer season.
#7 – Contingencies and Subject to the Sale Of Acceptable
• Great time for buyers to make contingent “Subject to the Sale” offers and get them accepted and movement on the price.
#8 – Better Available Moving & Service Providers
• Easier time for a buyer to move and find help and services like movers, cleaners, storage.
#9 – Smoother Mistake Free Completions
• Better timing for buyers on completions with lawyers, banks land registry. Not that busy and time to attend to you now.
#10 – Buyer Competition Lower
• Less competition for the same property from other buyers on the deals that pop up this time of year.
Bonus
#11 – Having More Time
Having time to make a decision and not be pressured in to offers or pressured into removing conditions or speeding up your due diligence time.
Now that you’re equipped with ammo to overcome any objection, educate the consumers and debunk the myths and go out there and list and sell some real estate this winter season!!
We are past the end of our spring market and have entered the summer market. Let me ask you this question. Do you have a listing that just isn’t selling? Or even worse, sellers are dominating the conversation because of what is happening in the media? This week I’ve got solutions for both of those scenarios so you can sell your properties faster and get your customers what they want. So why isn’t the listing selling? Write this down….. If it isn’t compelling, it isn’t selling!
Action Steps to Help Sell Your Real Estate Listings
#1 Face-to-Face Meetings
Start by making sure you are meeting with all the decision makers involved in a face-to-face meeting. When you meet face to face ask them again “Why do you want to sell?” Help remind them of their “why”, what they are avoiding (Pain) or what they are moving towards (Pleasure).
#2 Understand Their Point of View
If you don’t start by understanding your customers’ point of view, you’ll instantly be out of rapport with their perspective. Think of the things they are reading like the WSJ, Globe & Mail, Fortune Magazine, CNN Financial, and similar publications. All those media sources are saying there is no inventory! Most people only see the news story of millions of people wanting to buy homes and there are no homes for sale!
#3 Break Down The Information
Let them know the national, state, provincial and city stats versus what is happening locally in the community. Get them out of the global mindset and have them focus on what is happening in their backyard. That starts by meeting them at their perspective and world view.
Know Your Market – What makes a listing compelling in your market? It isn’t just price because most clients just hear that and assume you want to lower the price because you are an agent… Educate your client with some of the following tips.
Opportunity – Is it an opportunity problem? In my neighborhood, if a property was built in the 50’s or 60’s a builder is going to come in and scrape the whole thing and build something magnificent. Those properties are priced sometimes 3-5% above fair market value and still get 5-6 offers! This also goes for fixer uppers and residential lots too!
Exclusivity – You know those one of a kind properties! Kudos to Gary Gold and Mauricio Umansky for selling the Playboy Mansion. Other unique factors could be the designer, architect, or even the year the property was built.
Turn Key With No Competition – We all know turn-key properties are really compelling especially when there is no competition. What if there are 5 homes that are exactly the same on the inside and priced the same too? Something has to be compelling…
Want to try something different? Take your clients to see where the new homes are being built. Those companies are spending millions of dollars to win the minds and hearts of the sellers! That is the competition and they are creating compelling products for the market.
Price – Price trumps everything! Which brings us to the options for pricing your listings..3 Options For Pricing – The average agent shows the comps to the seller… Even though the seller has seen the median sales price and comps, they still want to see that bigger number! This is because they have this emotional attachment and hallucination about what the market really is… Remember if it is not compelling it isn’t selling! Show your customers these 3 pricing options…
Above Fair Market Value – Not Compelling. Talk about pricing above the fair market value, and how having a higher pricing strategy hasn’t worked so far… The data and the market have showed at their current price the home isn’t compelling.
Fair Market Value – Compelling Pricing at the fair market value is really just going off the comps. This will make the property more compelling, but there is an even better strategy…
Below Fair Market – Extremely Compelling What really makes property more compelling? When the price is extremely compelling, you create a bidding war and feeding frenzy around the property! Announce a price that is below fair market value to everyone!
The Challenge – I’m issuing you a challenge, if you have a listing that isn’t selling execute on this plan! Repackage and reposition with this strategy and let me know how it goes in the comments below!
Are you the first agent your leads think of when they want to buy or sell a home? I talk to agents ALL the time who are driving down the street and see a house they know sold by another agent or someone an agent knows bought a house from another agent. You CAN stand out among the competition when you follow the 4 Step Lead plan!
What is the 4 Step Lead plan?
It is a simple 4 step plan you can do to stay top of mind with all your leads…
The Top of Mind 4 Step Lead Plan for More Referrals is:
1. Call or Text
You want to connect with your clients every 90 days. Don’t just call to talk about real estate. Bring relevant news, check in, and have it be to the point your database expects your call! Stats say you get a 23% chance of response with email, 43% chance of contact with a call and 97% chance of response with a text! Do you have your leads and databases cell phone numbers?!
2. Weekly Email
Send weekly emails for open house invitations, events, and other updates. Emails need to contain value add and focus on content that offers insight to the challenges in today’s market or something every consumer has questions about. Email is not about spamming but enhancing, pulling and adding value to the leads and thinking that was really great and helpful content you sent.
3. Two Direct Mail Pieces
Send out two direct mail pieces every month. One of them should be a “just listed/just sold” or “we have a buyer”. If you’re new to real estate you can use your company’s stats, listings, sales, buyers (just be sure it says that on the mailer or get permission from the agents. Your other mailer can be: “Curious about the value of your home?” This makes you the expert they think of and you provide them with the information they are looking for.
4. Activate Your Base, the Secret Weapon
Do a Facebook Live video and your instantly connecting with your leads. I even had a client who did a live mention which lead to a listing! He got a response from an old friend who said his mom was looking to sell her house. Show your base you are the local market expert.
4.1 Know Your Unique Selling Factors
There are four things you should know to boost your confidence and swagger. You may not use all of these stats, but you should have them ready when you talk to customers.
1. We sell (x) times more…
2. We sell our homes (X) times faster…
3. We sell our homes for (X%) more on average…
4. We have (X) more five star reviews than any other agent in the marketplace.
When you use these unique selling points you can use a script like this….
“Clients work with us because we have the experience, we sell homes faster, and get our customers more money. We pride ourselves on customer experience and relationships, and we have 7x times more five star reviews than any agent in our marketplace. Our number one aim is to make sure you are our next five-star review and we want to deliver that experience to you. These are my competitive advantages (mention points above) that you can hold me accountable to.”
Remember if you are a new agent, you can use the stats from your office/team. You can leverage their numbers to support more customers.
Are you following the 4 Steps Lead plan? Or are you comfortable having $15 billion being spent from really large companies who want to take your clients and have them go somewhere else? Remember your strategy matters, and now more than ever, your ability to stay top of mind absolutely rules!
Over the past two decades I have seen the importance and huge impact on agents businesses from having systems and processes. One of my all time favourite books “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber is a fantastic read about the secret to small business success from the implementation and execution of systems and processes into any business. Systems and processes provide us all with leverage and more time as a real estate business owner. Every good organization has an operations manual for consistency, scalability and execution. Let’s look at some of the simple and powerful systems and processes you can use to take your business to the next level.
10 Real Estate Business Systems to Implement
1) Files – Colour code your files for quick reference. For example green files for listings, blue files for buyers, red files for sales and pink files for prospects. You can argue we are now a paperless business but nothing beats a simple and quick color coding filing system with your real estate business.
2) Labeling – Buy yourself a labeling machine and label your files by Name, Property Address or both for quicker identification. The best $60 I ever spent was on a labeling machine. Simple and easy way to identify files, contacts, property addresses in your office, hands down.
3) Location – Strategically place files in the right spots. For example listing files top drawer, buyer files second drawer, prospect files close to your desk phone and sales and deal files in the drawer right next to your office chair. The more important the file the more important the files location. That is why sales files were immediately located by my desk chair and listing files were always in the top drawer of the filing cabinet in the office.
4) Checklists – Make a checklist for everything, for example create a listing checklist, buyer checklist, lead or prospect checklist,lead generation checklist and sales checklist. The key to good checklists is they need to be read by someone else and can be performed exactly how you would want them to be done yourself.
5) Auto Email Responder – Stop reacting to your email and mobile devices and start your day with an auto email responder letting the sender know you will be responding to emails say 10-11 am and 3-4 pm and if time sensitive or urgent then have you paged for a quicker response. Take your time and focus back from reacting all day.
6) Real Time Voice Message – Stop reacting to your mobile phone and start your day with a voice message letting the caller know you will be returning phone calls say 10:30-11:30 am and 3:30-4:30 pm and if they are urgent and time sensitive to have you paged for a quicker response. Again a game changer for taking control of your time, energy and focus during the day and be present!
7) Processes – Have consistent processes with all your marketing and lead generation. Take the time to write out a step by step process you can follow for all your marketing, lead generation, lead conversion and customer service, Including pre sale and post sale activities. Break down each activity in your business and make lists of step by step processes to keep consistent and streamlined with your business.
8) White Boards – Paint a whole office wall with white board paint or buy white boards to visually post and systemize the following items. Write on your boards the things to do, things you are doing and things that you have done and get it out of your head and up on the wall to visually keep things on track. Write on your boards the names of your buyer and seller leads. Then write on your boards all your current listings, sales and important dates and activities to again free your mind and keep things organized.
9) Calendar Reminders – Use a digital or physical calendar to remind you of all the important things to do, important times and when certain activities need to be done and leave nothing to chance.
10) Day Timer – Use a digital or physical day timer for all your appointments. Block all activities in advance and only allow yourself to break pre booked activities in your day timer if they are absolutely necessary. If we don’t take care of our time I know someone or something else will! Take control of your time and schedule.
I trust these tips on processes, systems and checklists will serve you and your business better the balance of 2016 and take your business to another level the second half of the year.
It’s that time again to look at the trends and statistics of buyers, sellers and real estate professionals in 2020. The great resource from N.A.R. is for our real estate profession and providing incredible data for more than 35 years that helps REALTORS© track, measure and predict our business better every year. Again we take time to look at the trends and profiles of today’s real estate consumer and reflect on how we can better serve, attract and engage our customers in 2020 and 2021. So let’s have a look at what the data is saying!!
Knowing what the biggest objection you face over the next few months allows you the edge to be prepared when it strikes. We all know the #1 objection all agents are going to get from 
