Local market insights are more than just statistics—they are your gateway to understanding your area’s trends, challenges, and opportunities.
From shifts in property values to inventory levels and buyer activity, staying informed lets you approach homeowners with relevant and meaningful information.
Personalize the Conversation
Tailor your discussions to the specific concerns of the homeowner. For instance, share how rising home values in their neighborhood could mean it’s the perfect time to sell or how current market trends might make upgrading more affordable.
A personalized approach builds trust and demonstrates your expertise.
Use Visuals and Data
Homeowners respond to clear, visual data. Incorporate easy-to-understand charts, infographics, or postcards showcasing local sales trends. This captures your attention and positions you as a knowledgeable real estate resource.
The Market Update Series is shown above. To learn more, Click Here.
Share the Bigger Picture
Explain how local trends tie into broader market dynamics.
Homeowners may not know how national interest rates, seasonal shifts, or economic factors influence their local market. Providing this context empowers them to make better decisions.
Follow Up Strategically
Keep the conversation going by offering additional resources or updates.
Whether it’s a quarterly market report or an invitation to a homeowner seminar, consistent communication reinforces your value as a real estate expert.
Transforming market insights into actionable conversations can position you as the go-to agent in your community.
By providing valuable information, you strengthen relationships and open new opportunities.
PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.
1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine
Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct, response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here
2.The Free 2025 Q1 Real Estate Marketing Guide
Kickstart 2025 with our First Quarter Real Estate Marketing Guide, designed to help you achieve your real estate business goals. Packed with tools like a goal-setting sheet, monthly insights, tailored task lists, and marketing recommendations, this free guide is your ultimate resource for success—download it today for FREE! – Click Here
3. The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
Congratulations Casie Beran on being our $100 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card Winner!
Casie recently shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!.
“I absolutely LOVE using ProspectsPLUS! Not only are they so easy to use, the comments I get from friends, family, and clients are amazing! They love the information I provide to them and they are entertaining. So many options to choose from! I also use them for farming and see great results! I use their free Real Estate Marketing Planner and have a calendar of what I’m sending out to who and when! This company has really helped me stay organized and keep up with my prospecting! I definitely recommend them! Oh and I forgot the price is great also!”
Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospecting list tool to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!
What a year, right? With 2019 pretty much in the rearview mirror, the experts are whipping out their crystal balls to prognosticate what we can expect from the 2020 real estate market.
The only problem is that the future seems foggy to most of them
On a national level, “The housing market is in the midst of a normalization period, one that is characterized by slowing price growth, moderate sales and new supply that is slow to market,” Ralph McLaughlin, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, according to Suzanne Da Vita at RisMedia.com.
“Hey, that doesn’t describe my market!” we hear ya’all yelling.
And, for good reason. The “location” 3x thing isn’t just a mantra but a rule when it comes to discussing the real estate market. It’s the hyper local that matters to the ones asking the questions.
Then there’s the fact that home prices have slowed their upward trajectory, “but could potentially resurge, as demand picks up,” claims Da Vita. Notice the hedging of the bets there.
Another guy says we’re approaching the “end of the cycle,” but he doesn’t foresee a collapse or even a strong correction.
See what we mean by “fog” in the crystal ball? It’s more of a looking glass in many ways.
The Too Much House postcard is available in the postcard section under the Life Events Series.
So, regardless of whether the economy contracts (no surprise there; we’re overdue), the yield curve inverts or the real estate market corrects, who will you be working within 2020?
That depends
Your 2020 listing clients will, hopefully, come as a result of your 2018 and 2019 marketing efforts.
Who was your target? Aside from buyers and sellers in general, if you leaned more toward one than the other with your 2019 marketing efforts, concentrate on that group now until spring.
The same goes for the agent pursuing referrals from past clients and their sphere, those with a specific niche and agents who farm.
Looking for listings?
If it’s potential sellers you’ve been pushing down the sales funnel (with consistency, we hope), 2020 may be the year a lot of them pop out of the bottom (one can only hope, right?)
NAR studies find that the average age of a home seller is about 45 (a 25 percent share of the seller pool).
“Sellers age 64 to 72 made up the second-largest share of sellers at 22 percent with a median age of 68,” according to the 2019 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends report.
Baby boomers are aging out of homeownership in increasing numbers, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the share of older sellers increase in 2020.
Whether the move is to senior living communities, managed care or a desire to downsize or be nearer to the grandkids, many of your potential sellers in 2020 will likely be in the 65 and older age group.
The Watch Out For Instant Offers postcard is available in the postcard section under the iBuer Series.
Since the majority of real estate agents are in (or very close to) baby boomer age, you’ll have no problem appealing to them. If you’re younger, read up on generating baby boomer real estate leads and how to work with them.
Don’t let iBuyers woo your seller leads
After a lifetime of living in the same home, the thought of the work required to prepare the home for the market may be daunting, so many would-be sellers are getting letters from iBuyer companies on a weekly basis.
Steer them from these disrupters by letting them know that:
They’ll lose a pretty significant chunk of their equity. “In all, the typical cost to a seller [using an iBuyer] appears to be in the range of 13% to 15% depending on the iBuyer vendor,” according to research by Collateral Analytics.
You may also want to debunk the iBuyer claim that selling with them is quicker. Last year, it took 64 days, from listing to close (national median) to sell a home with a broker (probably quicker in 2019).
Most iBuyers promise that the longest their process will take is 70 days
It’s also time to remind potential sellers that inventory is still squeaky tight and demand high and they should strike now, while interest rates are still attractive to homebuyers.
Let them know that some housing industry experts believe that the market will shift away from seller-favorable to a more beneficial buyers’ market sometime later in 2020.
“We anticipate 2020 to continue to shift away from a seller’s market, especially if GDP slows and inventory ticks up,” McLaughlin says.
Urgency – that’s the ticket
Now is the best time to go through your CRM and pick out your seller leads in the older demographic. Drip on them from now until spring, with valuable and urgent information on selling.
Don’t discount the Gen X upsizer
Remember that the average age of a home seller is 45, putting that group in gen X (age between 44 and 55 in 2020).
This group of around 62 million made up the largest group of sellers last year and 60 percent of them were looking to upsize, according to a Value Insured study.
Many of these folks are still raising families, believe it or not. The Pew Research Center finds that “In 2014, 80% of women ages 40 to 44 with a Ph.D. or professional degree had given birth.”
Meaning those highly educated moms have 6-year olds. But having little ones in the home isn’t the only reason this cohort is looking to sell and buy a home.
Members of Gen X make up the largest pool of larger and multi-generational homebuyers. More than half of them did so to accommodate adult kids who are moving back in with Mom and Dad, according to NAR.
The Best Time postcard is available in the postcard section under the Get More Listing Series.
No, we haven’t neglected our ProspectsPLUS! buyer agents. We’ll have a rundown of what you can expect in 2020 soon.
Send at least 100 The Best Time is Now postcard from the Get More Listing Series to an area where you want more listings.
Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list toolto create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!
PLUS: When you have time…here are Free killer tools to help your success this year!
1. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here
2. “Get More Listings” Free Online Webinar
“Get MORE Listings & Begin to Dominate Your Market!” Free online webinar. Learn the 3-7-27 strategy for explosive growth, why 95% of agents have less than 20% market share, and how to become the agent everyone competes against. – Click Here
3. Get the ALL-NEW Real Estate Marketing Guide “Crush It”
The “Crush It” Guide includes easy steps to launching an effective direct mail marketing campaign, how to create a targeted mailing list, the perfect way to layout marketing materials for success, seven opportunities available to target in your area right now. –Click Here
4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan
Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan. – Click Here
5. The Free Online ROI Calculator
Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! –Click Here
There’s only one you. There are just 24 hours in a day. Put those two together and you have an insanely busy schedule.
And, it’s all too easy to get distracted by the next shiny object.
Social media is shiny. It’s distracting. And, some platforms are completely unnecessary – at least for real estate professionals.
As we head into 2018, and you’re contemplating your business plan, you’ll be prioritizing where to spend your time and money.
Take a hard look at which social media platforms you use and whether or not your time is better spent elsewhere.
Facebook – it’s not free
You may think that marketing your business via social media is a fabulous free way to get your brand in front of people.
If done strategically, it can be.
But, consider this: The majority of agent’s average about three hours a week spent on Facebook, according to a 2016 Inman.com survey.
Sadly, that doesn’t tell the whole story because more than 21 percent spend twice that amount of time – a whopping six hours a week – on the social media giant.
Ask yourself this question:
Is six hours each week better spent chasing after new business on Facebook or reaching out to former clients and those in your sphere?
Both are “free” in terms of money, but the latter isn’t as much of a time stealer and the return on time invested has a better chance of being higher.
Multiply your time spent by the number of social media platforms you’re currently using. While they all have something to offer, they aren’t all worth an agent’s time.
Instagram – A waste of time?
Unless you have an in-house marketing person, don’t feel guilty about not being on Instagram, and don’t listen to the hype saying you should be.
Here’s why.
Most online articles pushing the use of Instagram for businesses point out “In 2016, Instagram grew its daily user count by 100 million users and now has more than 600 million active users.”
What they fail to do is dig deeper. So, let’s do that right now. First, however, let’s take a look at your average homebuyer.
According to the NAR, “the typical home buyer is 44 years old, married, no children at home, and has a median income of $88,500.” Keep these statistics in mind while taking the deep dive into Instagram.
Who’s hanging out on Instagram?
80 percent of Instagram users don’t live in the U.S.
Of the users who do live in the U.S., only 28 percent of them are on Instagram, according to Pew Research.
The largest demographic of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 29 while only 18 percent are between the ages of 30 and 49 – the most likely buyer pool.
The largest demographic earns less than $30k
The average Instagram user “misses about 70% of the posts” in their feed, according to Influencer Marketing Hub.
Until Instagram begins attracting an older, wealthier demographic, it’s an ineffective use of time. Your time is better spent on other lead-generation strategies.
LinkedIn – A good investment
No, it doesn’t have the largest share of online users (only 29 percent of American adults), but LinkedIn’s demographics are ideal for real estate marketing.
77 percent of users are age 30 and older
50 percent are college graduates
45 percent of LinkedIn users earn more than $75,000 per year and only 21 percent earn less than $30,000.
Again, recall the profile of the average homebuyer and seller and you’ll realize that this is the demographic you should be chasing.
Not only are the demographics ideal on LinkedIn, but Hubspot gathered data from more than 5,000 companies and found “LinkedIn 277% More Effective for Lead Generation than Facebook & Twitter.”
Hubspot’s Rebecca Corliss points out that “because most of the content posted on LinkedIn is of a marketing nature, as opposed to family photos or social ‘chatter,’ there is less clutter…
…so business’ marketing posts are more likely to be noticed on LinkedIn than somewhere else.”
Social media is an ever-evolving resource.
What’s hot this year may die next year.
When choosing where to spend your marketing time, don’t judge a platform by its number of users – that figure is useless for real estate agents.
Do a deep dive, periodically, into the demographics of each to decide when the time is right to jump in.
Can we start with how cool our customers are? They are always there to share ideas and what’s working in today’s markets and we so appreciate it. We know other agents do as well, because while most like hearing from industry coaches and experts, sometimes hearing what other agents just like you are doing is a just what you need most.
That’s why we wanted to showcase some of what our awesome customers have shared with us that could work for you too!
After sending out my monthly cards, I received 3 calls!!! – Marlene Shelton Giles
I received an email with Just Listed postcards on my new listing from Prospects PLUS!. I changed the copy a bit to announce my first open house sneak preview for the neighborhood. The turnout for the Open House was awesome, and I got an offer from one of the neighbor’s family members within a week later! Thanks! – Margie D’Anna BirchI
The first time I used ProspectsPLUS! just listed post cards it was a winner. I received several calls within the first month for new listings and I’ve already ordered my second set. Thanks so much for making my job a little easier. I also donated to my favorite charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. – Kathy Christian Reynolds
Prospect PLUS! was a great way to send out my Just Closed Postcard. I was able to also add my lenders information so future clients will know that we work as a team to get the home and the loan that is right for them. – Sasanna Strozier
I have been very impressed with the service I get through ProspectsPLUS. I just started implementing Just Listed/Just Sold cards and have gotten two listings; what an amazing return on my investment. I also enjoy the engagement I get from you with your catalogs and Jumbo postcard discount card. Market Dominator is next for my farm! – Duane Wright Realty
ProspectsPLUS! is a great tool for Realtors® everywhere! Their variety of products and services is perfect for any of your real estate needs. I have ordered a number of different postcards and have never been disappointed. The content is effective and gets results! Also a huge fan of their MasterMarketing Schedule and the fun ideas for social media sharing. Highly recommend. – Brittany Bair
I decided to try something new so I ordered Expired Listing door hangers instead of making cold colds or sending out letters. I ordered them on a Thursday evening, and the package was at my office on Monday morning. That was standard delivery. That’s fast! I spent Monday morning putting out the door hangers. This is Thursday. I’ve had 5 listing appointments and 4 new listings as a result. WOW! Thank you ProspectsPLUS! for designing incredibly professional artwork and allowing me to edit/make content changes online. I’ve found my new go-to advertising source. You guys rock! Thank you so much! – Wanda Bond
I found ProspectsPLUS.com while searching online for prospecting material. I’m glad I did. I placed my order and received it promptly. Love the door hangers. So professional looking and great price. I was so excited that I referred a friend who placed an order. Then, the next thing I know I’m being sent a $25 gift card because of my friend’s order! Thanks and I’m ready to place another order and spread the word about ProspectsPLUS.com! – Landa White
Wow! I ordered postcards to mail to a 55+ complex that included recent sales and existing sales. Within two weeks, I had two listings from my mailing and I couldn’t be happier! Because of ProspectsPLUS!, I had the opportunity to work with a client from another state to help him sell his mother’s condo. It was listed and sold within two weeks. I will use them on a regular basis! – Sandy Schafer Hayford
We love hearing from our customers and we are always thrilled to give away $400 or more each month in gift cards to those agents who join in the conversation and share their strategies on our Google+ Page and our Facebook Page. If you haven’t joined in the fun yet, please head over to one or the other of those today and share your story! You could be one of our next winners.
You may also want to head over to our Master Marketing Schedule and see what’s in store for the rest of this month and all the fun fall ideas we have for you as well. This week’s tip is to send the Hello Autumn postcard from the Holiday Series to your Sphere-of- Influence.
Need help getting started? We’ve got you covered! Head over to www.prospectsplus.com or call our marketing team at 866.405.3638 today and they’ll put you on a path to marketing success!
3 Great Strategies for Creating PRESENCE This Season
By Julie Escobar
It’s that time of year. The holidays are here and with them much of your competition is settling in – for shorter days, slimmer work calendars and that ‘wait ‘till the first of the year’ slump. Not you. You’ve got your eye on a new year filled with promise and kicked off with momentum-right?
Here are three things you can do to create vital PRESENCE now that will carry you through the holidays and long into the New Year with powerful, forward, full-steam-ahead strength.
Commit to Consistency
You know what you see a lot of? Agents who ONLY send a postcard or greeting card once a year. Start now and make it a point to ‘touch’ your sphere and farm at LEAST once every 21-30 days for the duration. Consumers today are savvy – they’re not swayed, influenced or impressed by the ‘one-and-done’ marketing efforts. From their perspective? If you’re that lax in how you market YOURSELF – how will you be at marketing THEIR property? Show the consumers in your market place that you’ve got the chops – and the commitment to be front and center not just once, but again and again and again.
Community Counts
Want to be known as the neighborhood resource or the market specialist? Get out of the office, out from behind your desk and out in FRONT of the people in the community you serve. Make it a point to calendar at least ONE community event in your market per quarter – or even per month. It’s an edge that will set you apart, win favor and create a presence that you’re the top agent to talk to. Team up with your local schools, libraries, chamber of commerce, or even a network of like-minded business professionals to help create awareness, increase attendance and bring a wide spectrum of information to those who want it most.
Think AHEAD
The smartest agents in the business are never satisfied with doing things the ‘same old way’. They’re keeping their ear to the ground, eyes open, and thinking ahead. What can you do to make a splash? How can you best keep the ‘buzz’ going? I love Tony Robbins who has served up the motto ‘Constant And Never Ending Improvement’ for years. In a 24/7, 365 world, you can’t let your skills, your top-of-mind awareness, or your passion to coast or slip to the back burner.
Need help? Call us at 866.405.3638. We’ve got answers you can count on. From direct response postcard marketing that keeps you top-of-mind, to Holiday messages that make a difference, to real world resources that you can adopt and make part of that empowered new marketing and business plan for 2017 that we know you are ALREADY working on! Have a great week!
The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
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