As the new year begins, renters often evaluate their housing situation, making it an ideal time to connect with those ready to transition to homeownership.
Many renters set goals to build equity, gain stability, and invest in their futures. Understanding their motivations is the first step to building connections.
Leverage Data to Target the Right Audience
Not all renters are ready to buy, so targeting is crucial. Use tools that identify renters with strong financial profiles, such as those with high incomes or long tenancy histories. This strategic approach ensures your marketing efforts reach those most likely to leap.
You can easily discover high-income renters in your local market using the Demographic tool on ProspectsPLUS.com.
Provide Educational Resources
Renters often face knowledge gaps about buying, from qualifying for a mortgage to understanding down payments.
Share helpful guides, tips, and tools to position yourself as a trusted resource. Hosting webinars and sharing direct response reports or social media content tailored to first-time buyers can also be effective.
Highlight Market Opportunities
The new year is a great time to showcase why buying now makes sense.
Use your marketing materials to spotlight market trends, such as current interest rates, available inventory, or tax benefits for first-time buyers. Helping renters see the financial benefits of owning versus renting can inspire action.
Follow Up Consistently
Building trust takes time. Create a follow-up plan including email campaigns, direct mail postcards, and personal touches like holiday greetings. Consistent communication keeps you top-of-mind when renters decide to buy.
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
Think of the home purchase process as a journey. I know, sometimes it feels like a never-ending one, but stick with me for a minute.
On any journey, we all look for signs: city names, arrows, freeway exits, and mile markers. These signs guide us as we travel. You, as the buyer’s agent, need to be your client’s sign during the purchase process.
Like all effective signs, you should convey clear, simple information and give it enough time for your client to provide a proper response.
In other words, don’t put the yield sign in the middle of the merge lane. Especially at the last minute. Give your client enough time to safely pull into an adjacent lane before the big semi-truck is on top of him.
Granted, the home purchase road is one full of potential potholes, but it’s up to you to keep your client from falling into one of them. Here are some considerations when guiding a client through a purchase.
The First Time Buyer Series is shown above. To learn more, Click Here.
Does the buyer have what it takes to keep going?
While many of today’s buyers are savvy about the market (thanks to all the media attention), and assume they have the stomach for the process, it may be a whole different story when your client is knee-deep in it.
Be honest with her about the things that may go wrong and how you will handle these issues if they come up. Don’t sugarcoat anything about the process. The last thing you want is for her to feel disillusioned after you’ve put time and effort into the deal. If she’s going to bail, then get her to bail upfront.
Communication is critical
Our goal as business owners is, overall, to build our businesses through repeat and referral clients. The client that refers you to her friends is one that was satisfied with your work.
The key to client satisfaction is communication. This is never more important than when working with a nervous first-time homebuyer. Not only do you want a client for life, but you want this particular deal to come to a successful conclusion.
Remember, you’re a signpost. Guide the client with clear communication every step of the way and she’ll get to her destination.
This is So Exciting!
While it’s tempting to think of yourself as keeping this buyer “on a hook,” it’s important to remember that she’s not a fish. She’s a person with hopes and dreams and the biggest of these right now is this house.
Excitement and enthusiasm are, thankfully, contagious. Get excited. Yes, this may not be your only client, but she may be your most frightened and frustrated. If you’re excited about her new house, she will be too. And excitement is a powerful motivator.
Keep her future-oriented. Where will she put the sofa? What color has she chosen for the living room?
Yes, you’re a new agent and learning the ropes as you go. Focus on your client, however, and before you know it, you’ll have more of them!
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 Magazin
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
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The Free Online Real Estate Business Plan
The Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your financial goals. – Click Here
4. The 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
It appears that the mortgage rate hikes have resulted in first-time buyers and others on tight budgets getting priced out of the market.
But there may be a way around this challenge.
Even though fixer homes aren’t as rock-bottom cheap as in the past, they can still present value to this pool of buyers.
And there are various loan programs that support the fixer home purchase. Let’s take a quick look at the two most popular: FHA’s 203(k) loan and Fannie Mae’s HomeStyle® Renovation Mortgage.
The FHA 203(k) Rehab Loan
If you haven’t had an opportunity to work with FHA rehab-loan buyers recently, there are a few changes you may not be familiar with.
The FHA 203(k) product, for instance, has new names for its two tiers:
The 203(k) Full loan is now known as the 203(k) Standard.
The 203k Streamline is now known as the 203k Limited.
Along with the new names came some small changes to each product. For instance, “Repairing or removing an in-ground swimming pool is allowed on both 203k Standard and 203K Limited loan programs with no dollar limitation as to bid amount,” according to the pros at Amerifirst Home Mortgage.
Other notable changes include:
The 203(k) Standard now allows for foundation work to take place even when the home isn’t going to be razed.
The Limited program now requires that the buyer submit a work plan wherein “… one or more contractors will provide the cost estimate or bids.”
Other changes were also made, and you can review them at Amerifirst Home Mortgage’s website.
Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae’s HomeStyle® Renovation Mortgage is a conventional loan backed by the GSE. The advantage this presents for your struggling clients is that “As a government agency, Fannie Mae exists to help make housing more affordable to mid- to low-income borrowers …” and those with “… poor credit histories and scores,” claims Lauren Bowling at Rocketmortgage.com.
This product is also ideal for those clients seeking a multi-unit home, such as a duplex, triplex, or quadplex, Bowling adds.
Naturally, there is a lot more to learn about these loan products, and you’ll find this information online at:
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 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review
The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
4. The 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
As a new buyers agent, you may still be learning the ropes. Now is the time to cultivate good habits and avoid making the mistakes that many other agents make.
One of the most prevalent among the latter is assuming that your clients know what they need to know during the home buying process.
In reality, most first-time buyers know little, if anything, about buying a home and are counting on their agents to guide them through the process.
Do them a solid and share with them the following 3 warnings.
1. Getting preapproved for a mortgage is non-negotiable
“For 41% of recent buyers, the first step that they took in the home buying process was to look online at properties for sale,” according to the NAR’s Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers.
Yes, the prospect of buying a home is exciting, and without knowledge of the process, some folks jump right over the baby steps of shopping for a lender, loan preapproval, and interviewing buyers’ agents. They hop in the car and start looking at homes for sale without even knowing how much home they can afford.
It’s a recipe for disappointment
Knowing how much they can spend is paramount, both in avoiding wasting your time and theirs.
Then, there’s the fact that sellers and their agents want to see a preapproval letter.
Experienced agents know well the couple that fell in love with a house they found open on a Sunday afternoon only to learn later that it was way out of their price range. Nothing you show them after that will stack up.
2. Help them understand the home loan process
Check this out: “41% of Americans who’ve never owned a home believe 20% down payments are required,” according to Maggie Davis at lendingtree.com.
These people are first-time homebuyers who are absolutely clueless about down payments. Yes, 20% down is best for the borrower, but a smaller down payment certainly doesn’t prohibit them from buying a home.
The First Time Buyer Series is shown above. To see more designs, Click HERE.
So, although it’s a given that agents should counsel their buyers that they need to see a lender before looking at homes, they also need to warn their clients about the out-of-pocket costs involved in the purchase of one. Then, give them the good news about low-down loans and down payment assistance programs.
3. About that final credit pull
Because they aren’t fully tutored on the mortgage process, many newbie homebuyers rightfully assume that once they’re approved for a mortgage, they will remain approved.
They can relax.
Many are so eager to get started shopping for furniture, new appliances, and other items for their new home they run up hefty credit card tabs. Additional credit changes their ratios, and they may find themselves without a home to fill with all those purchases.
Remind your clients that it’s not a done deal until it closes. Changing jobs, making large purchases on credit, and allowing credit inquiries after loan approval have all proven detrimental to many buyers. The lender’s soft pull just before closing should be explained fully to your buyers.
Yes, we all wish that mortgage professionals would pass these warnings on to your clients, but they typically don’t.
Just consider these warnings as part of what we know will be the amazing customer service you will provide all of your buying clients.
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 combined with 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 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system
The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. –Click Here
4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
5. The 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
6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast
Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here
Have you ever had something bad happen to you only to find out later on that the event was actually a blessing in disguise?
Jackie, for instance, was fired from her job. Sure, she panicked during the first few days of unemployment, but a month or so later, she was doing something else for a living. Something she dreamt about but never had the courage to pursue.
Had she not been fired from her previous job, she may have never gone after her dream.
The transitional real estate market is a lot like that. What appears to be a time of challenge or, at the least, discomfort may turn out to be an amazing time for real estate agents.
Coming back down to earth may mean “crashing” for some clients
Home price gains are shrinking, and sellers are starting to come back down to earth. However, coming back down to earth doesn’t happen overnight, as you seasoned listing agents know.
After years of media reports of rapidly escalating home prices, multiple offer situations, and uber-quick sales, those sellers who choose to wait until the tail end of the sellers’ market to jump in are hard to convert.
They’re not going to get that their home is no longer the belle of the local real estate market, that their hoped-for price is now a fantasy, and that it may take longer than 24 hours to get it under contract.
And, those sellers who put big bucks into the house to ready it for the market are going to be more than a bit upset
Especially when buyers start nit-picking them over price, terms, and more.
The Call To Action Series is shown above. To see more, click HERE.
Then, there are the buyers
If you’ve been a listing agent for more than a minute, you can recall the last buyers’ market. Newbies, on the other hand, are in for a rude awakening.
No longer can you chuckle over seemingly stupid requests in an offer because you have three others that are cleaner-than-clean. You will actually be expected to negotiate on your client’s behalf.
“Good grief, how do I do that?” you may ask yourself as a new listing agent.
Very carefully.
While price is the typical hot button in a contract, “the devil is in the details”.
Details are important
“Details” when it comes to a real estate purchase agreement are the terms. If this turns into a full-blown buyers’ market, contract terms are where listing agents can work their magic during negotiations.
And, if you have examples of how you’ve done this in the past, use them for all they are worth. From your clients’ testimonials to full-blown case studies, let potential listing clients know how you’ve met with success in the buyers’ market.
Now is the time for all good listing agents to figure out how they are going to deal with the oncoming buyers’ market. Don’t put off your planning. Face it and go for it.
We’ll be with you all the way, so keep checking back.
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 combined with 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 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system
The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks all of these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. –Click Here
4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
5. The 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
6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast
Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here
A new Joint Center for Housing Study from Harvard University calculated 12 million American’s spend more than 50% of their earnings on rent.
This reality is probably why more renters are waking, up fed up that their rent checks are lining their landlord’s pocket and are ready to considering buying.
Renter Scheduled Campaign
In the past, Americans in the nation’s most expensive cities have chosen to rent because it appeared to be a feasible solution. In San Francisco, for instance, where the median starter home costs about $895,000, there are more high-income renters than homeowners, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
As rents rise, however, they’re realizing that perhaps a fixed-rate mortgage payment is far better than the wildly accelerating rental rates of late.
Yet, some people still choose to rent. Why?
Many are cash poor and don’t understand that they don’t have to have a huge chunk of money for a down payment and closing costs. Others assume they can’t afford to purchase, despite having a decent income.
To successfully pursue this real estate audience requires targeted marketing that dispels myths and speaks to their pain points.
Renter Scheduled Campaign
Here are some suggestions on topics you may want to use to attract these tenants.
That up-front cost
“I was a long-term renter because I wanted to wait to buy until I could afford to stay in my current neighborhood,” a new homeowner tells Jennifer Bradley Franklin at BankRate.com.
So, why the long-term tenancy? “I didn’t realize that there were affordable options,” she told Franklin.
One would think that with all the information at our fingertips, real estate consumers would be better informed about down payment assistance, closing cost help, and the overall long-term cost advantage of buying over renting.
It’s the assumption that the costs are higher when you buy than when you rent that keeps many of them out of the housing market. Dispelling this myth is a worthy goal in your marketing efforts.
Although many are reserved for low-to-moderate-income earners, there are some for those who earn more.
Renter Scheduled Campaign
In fact, with more than 2,000 down payment/closing cost assistance programs nationwide, you are bound to find one for your higher-earning, home-buying prospects.
Or, let them know that the FHA-backed mortgage has a down payment that can go as low as 3.5% and there are no income limits for borrowers. You would be shocked to know how few consumers are aware of this.
What demographic of renters you should target?
When creating your rental prospect list, target renters who earn in excess of $70,000 per year. Especially the 1.35 million-plus American households who earn $150,000 per year or more and who “became renters between 2007 and 2017.” (US Census data).
If you’re in a market that doesn’t provide an adequate targeted prospect list when you target $70k and up, then grab an annual salary range that better fits your market.
ProspectsPLUS! has a demographic search tool that makes it easy to build a list of high-income renters based on an annual income range you choose, under the “custom search” option.
NOW, you can convert renters into home buyers with less work
The ideal way to communicate, educate, and build trust over time with renters is to launch a renter postcard marketing campaign.
And, now, your ability to do this just got TEN TIMES EASIER with the New ProspectsPLUS! Renter Scheduled Campaigns.
In one quick sitting, you can schedule your renter postcards to go out over a period of time on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly basis.
And, YOU DON’T PAY until each mailing goes out (change or cancel up until the night prior to mailing)!
To Launch a Renter Scheduled Campaign, Pick a Postcard Series, Then:
Choose Your Start Date (see image below)
Pick your mailing interval (weekly, bi-weekly, etc)
Then attach your renter prospect list (you can schedule as little as one postcard to go out).
To get started on your renter scheduled campaign, from a desktop or laptop computer, click the “Go Now” button, below.
PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.
1. Become a Neighborhood Brand
Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.
2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide
The Real Estate Mailing List Guide outlines the top tools for generating targeted prospecting lists including Baby Boomers, Empty Nesters, Investors, Lifestyle Interests, High-Income Renters, Move-Up Markets, and more. The Guide also defines done-for-you marketing campaigns to match these markets. –Click Here
3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –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. 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
6. 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
7. The Free 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 prospect list, the perfect way to layout marketing materials for success, seven opportunities available to target in your area right now. –Click Here
Congratulations Edith Dunn on being our $100 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card Winner!
Edith recently shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!.
“ProspectsPLUS! has provided me the greatest marketing resources ever! They offer a variety of formats like no other. Coupled with the farming mailing lists for different markets ProspectsPLUS! is phenomenal! The fact is…they offer so much you simply have to check it and try them! The marketing campaign I used with their products has more than paid for itself in 2 converted leads! Wow!“.
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!
Pre-pandemic housing news was enough to give a reader whiplash. While many prognosticators had a vision of a “strong housing market through the end of the year,” others were firmly in the opposing camp. “Housing market will probably slow,” blasted the headline of a popular housing market website.
Nothing much has changed, despite social distancing mandates and the rest of the inconveniences and heartache brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fact is, the housing market is doing just dandy in certain regions across the country. Utah’s real estate market, for instance, has remained “blistering,” according to a report at KSL.com.
In March, Utah homes sold more than a week quicker than they did in March of 2019. The median sold price in March 2020 was $35,000 more than last year as well, according to the blog at UtahRealEstate.com.
Regardless of whether your market is up, down or stagnant, folks still want to buy homes. Many renters who make in excess of $70,000 are waking up to the fact that their current home is inadequate and that those monthly rent checks they write enrich the landlord’s bottom line, not theirs.
But they don’t understand that they have options.
Renter/First Time Buyer Series postcard
Why?
With an unemployment rate just shy of 15 percent, it’s easy to become pessimistic about the real estate market. After all, requirement number one for getting a mortgage is that you need to prove you can make the monthly payments.
Sadly, it’s those Americans least able to handle unemployment that lost most of the jobs. “Job losses were highest amongst the nation’s lowest-paid workers,” according to Matthew Speakman at Zillow.com.
In April, for instance “62% of April’s loss in employment was felt by workers in industries paying below-average wages,” typically those in the hospitality and leisure industries, Speakman claims.
It’s highly likely that many, if not most of these employees are renters. It’s equally unlikely that they’ll be able to qualify for a mortgage in the near future. This is not your target audience of renters.
Your target should be renters who earn in excess of $70,000, especially the 1.35 million-plus American households who earn $150,000 per year or more and who “became renters between 2007 and 2017.” (US Census data)
That wealthier Americans in the nation’s most expensive cities are choosing to rent should come as no surprise. In San Francisco, for instance, where the median starter home costs about $895,000, there are more high-income renters than homeowners, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
As rents rise, however, they’re awakening to the fact that perhaps a fixed-rate mortgage payment is far better than the wildly accelerating rental rates of late.
So, why are these people choosing to rent rather than buy a home?
Many are cash poor and don’t understand that they don’t have to have a huge chunk of money for a down payment and closing costs. Others assume they can’t afford to purchase, despite having a decent income.
To successfully pursue this real estate audience requires targeted marketing that dispels myths and speaks to their pain points.
Here are some suggestions on additional topics you may want to use to attract these tenants.
That up-front cost
“I was a long-term renter because I wanted to wait to buy until I could afford to stay in my current neighborhood,” a new homeowner tells Jennifer Bradley Franklin at BankRate.com.
So, why the long-term tenancy?
“I didn’t realize that there were affordable options,” she told Franklin.
One would think that with all the information at our fingertips, real estate consumers would be better informed about down payment assistance, closing cost help and the various low-down loans available.
It’s the assumption that the up-front costs are higher when you buy than when you rent that keeps many of them out of the housing market.
Dispelling this myth is a worthy goal in your marketing efforts.
While most down payment assistance programs are reserved for low-to-moderate-income earners, there are some for those who earn more.
The “Most Renters Should Buy” Direct Response Report
In fact, with more than 2,000 down payment/closing cost assistance programs nationwide, you are bound to find one for your higher-earning, home-buying prospects.
Or, let them know that the FHA-backed mortgage has a down payment that can go as low as 3.5% and there are no income limits for borrowers. You would be shocked to know how few consumers are aware of this.
Buying a home builds wealth, renting doesn’t
Back in 2018, when household net worth in the U.S. hit a record $98.74 trillion, homeowners saw the most gain.
In fact, “The average homeowner has a net worth of $195,400, 36 times that of the average renter’s net worth of $5,400,” according to Patrick Sisson at Curbed.com.
This is something that many would-be homeowners don’t consider when they sign the lease agreement. From that moment until the lease expires, these renters are adding to the landlord’s net worth, at the expense of their own.
Address this in your marketing. Let them know that, as Sisson says, “Homeownership may be one of the most significant, and surefire, means of increasing net worth.”
Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to 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 some Free resources we’ve made available to support your success.
1. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide
The Real Estate Mailing List Guide outlines the top tools for generating targeted prospecting lists including Baby Boomers, Empty Nesters, Investors, Lifestyle Interests, High-Income Renters, Move-Up Markets, and more. The Guide also defines done-for-you marketing campaigns to match these markets. –Click Here
2. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –Click Here
3. 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
4. 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
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
6. The 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 prospect list, the perfect way to layout marketing materials for success, seven opportunities available to target in your area right now. –Click Here
It may seem like buyers are buyers, from one year to the next. Buyers’ agents understand, however, that no two clients are alike, and that “buyers,” as a group, hold certain commonalities.
We’ve already officially entered the decade of the first-time buyers, as millennials aged into the housing market. Classifying “buyers” became immensely easier. We know a whole lot about the largest group of them in the market.
Of course, whether buying or selling real estate, who reaches out to you for help depends on the types of consumers you’ve been stuffing into your pipeline this year and last.
And, how consistently you’ve kept in touch with these real estate leads.
In a perfect world, your CRM is impeccably organized, your leads segmented, your follow-up spot on and you perform multiple touches throughout the year.
The Ready to Own postcard from the First Time Buyer Series is available in the postcard section.
Since the world isn’t perfect (nor are most agents’ CRMs), 2020 may be feast or famine time (as usual, right?).
Here’s what the “experts” are saying
Don’t you love reading the year-end prognostications about next year’s real estate market? While in late 2018 the experts were far more committed to their guesstimates of the 2019 market, this year, they are all hedging their bets.
Nobody is really sure what the real estate market will be like in 2020. Except for Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Shiller.
In September, he stated “that the U.S. housing market could start to see a fall,” according to Harsh Chauhan at CCN.com. Chauhan bases his predictions largely on the fact that existing home sales fell 2.2 percent in September.
Hey, isn’t that the time the market slows every year?
The Six Move-Up Mistakes Homebuyers Make Report is available in the Free REport section.
The truth is, Americans, by and large, are optimistic about the economy. NAR’s latest quarterly survey finds that 63 percent of buyers “feel optimistic” and 52 percent are happy with the way the economy is humming along.
So, will 2020 be a buyers’ market or a sellers’ market?
I really wish that the media would survey the country’s real estate agents when putting together their year-end roundup of expert opinions.
What are the chances that an economist or other “expert” sitting behind a desk, set in front of a wall of framed college degrees, has actually worked with real estate clients? Day in, day out, over the past year?
It’s agents who are closest to the market’s pulse, who feel the changes as they happen. It often takes a month or more for the media to catch on.
Agents across the country have told us they agree with Freddie Mac’s forecast of “a projected upward tick in housing supply” next year. While it may not be upward enough to balance the market, it will bring relief to many buyers.
Speaking of which, look for demand to remain high for homes in the lower price ranges. In Chicago, for instance, this includes anything priced lower than $325,000
Who are these buyers and what do they want?
“If you’re selling a house next year, expect to see a lot of young couples walking through your doors during open houses,” claims an unnamed writer at AZBigMedia.com.
Oops. Millennials, by and large, don’t like open houses. Members of Generation X, on the other hand, love them. According to NAR studies, 63 percent of Gen X homebuyers claim to have visited open houses before buying.
Which is great news for open-house holders
Unlike Millennials, Gen Z clients are more likely to have a home to sell before buying, giving their lucky agents a twofer.
They’re buying more expensive homes as well. They require less hand-holding. Hopefully, you’ve been pursuing this cohort because they and baby boomers will be the clients who bring you the best commission checks.
Yes, Millennial first-time buyers are expected to still loom large in the 2020 real estate market, so if the cohort is among your target clientele, relax.
If, on the other hand, you’re pursuing the more-bang-for-the-buck type of Gen X transaction, get to know the master-planned communities in your market. Specifically, those that offer homes with:
Three to four bedrooms in a minimum of 2,300 square feet
Single-story homes for the older members of the cohort (many hope to age in place)
Plenty of nearby amenities, such as parks and good schools
Quick commutes to the nearest city
Baby boomer homebuyers, on the other hand, are typically looking to downsize, so they’re competing with Millennials for those low-priced smaller homes.
Many in the cohort have decided to rent while others are aging out of the housing market entirely.
Boomers’ hot buttons?
Efficient floorplans with lots of storage options
A laundry room is a must
Energy-efficient appliances and windows
Homes that offer smart-home technology
Home office
Lots of natural light
Single-story homes with no stairway access
Homes in walkable neighborhoods near shops and eateries
The cohort’s cold buttons are just as important, so don’t show them:
Homes in golf course communities (unless they voice a preference for them)
Homes with an elevator or wine cellar
Anything with more than one story
The Perfect Timing postcard from the First Time Buyer Series is available in the postcard section.
Fortunate is the agent who steadfastly targeted the older demographics this year and last. Next year may just be your most prosperous yet.
Send the Perfect Timing postcard from the First Time Buyer Series to a targeted list of renters.
Need help targeting the perfect list of renters? Use our mailing list tool to 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. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan – NEW 2020!
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –Click Here
2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan – NEW 2020!
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
3. Get the ALL-NEW “Insider Secret “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. 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
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
It’s not as if listings were a dime-a-dozen over the past few years. You worked your rear end off to even generate seller leads, let alone actually list them.
Sellers had it so easy – fielding multiple offers and selling lightning-fast and for major bucks.
But the times they are a-changin’, and you may need to dip a toe or two into the buyer pool in the future.
It naturally depends on if increases in inventory outpace demand. And, there’s a whole bunch of stuff that could happen to impact that scenario.
Just in case the “experts” are correct in assuming we’re headed for a buyers’ market; do you remember how to work with them? Let’s take a crash, refresher course.
“Buyers are liars” – or are they?
Sure, it’s a common saying since real estate agent caveman (and women) days, but it’s still creepy.
First, don’t we all pretty much lie when we’re thinking of buying anything? Think about it: you may know exactly what you want when you walk into Macy’s.
Say what’s on a home buyers mind (Available in the postcard section under Fence Sitter Buyer Series)
Even when you can’t locate the item or even which department it’s located in, you’ll tell a salesperson that no, you don’t need help, because you’re “just looking.”
Americans, by and large, don’t like salespeople. We don’t trust them.
When will real estate agents get it that the vast majority of consumers consider you salespeople? Every year when that “most disrespected” professions list comes out real estate agents rank among the most despised.
Yeah, it sucks, because we know better – we love you. But they don’t know you, so don’t take it personally. Again, people don’t like being sold to (which is why used car salespeople rank on that list every year as well).
So, when a buyer tells you that he or she isn’t “ready” yet or is “just looking,” it’s not fair to think of him as a liar.
Your best defense here is to do everything in your power to banish the perception of real-estate- agents-as-sharks. Take off the sales and promotion hat for starters.
Buyers are time and labor-intensive
Listing agents have it made. Breeze in, get a signature on the contract, stick a sign in the front yard and let all the town’s buyers’ agents sell the home.
Help a renter become a home buyer (Available in the postcard section under the First Time Buyer Series)
Yeah, I know, that’s pretty simplistic and not entirely realistic, but you have to admit that a listing agent’s job (especially if he or she is good at it) is a whole lot easier than a buyers’ agent.
While other agents are working on selling your listing, you’re out taking more of them.
Compared to listing clients, buyers are time and labor-intensive. And first-time buyers will gobble more of your time than repeat buyers.
The key to saving some of your precious hours is by putting the proper systems in place:
Prepare a buyers’ consultation that nails it. Create handouts or website content that walks the buyer through the process, step-by-step and answers every possible question he or she could have.
Consider creating in-depth buyer guides – one for How to Buy a Fixer, How to Buy a Newly Constructed Home, How to Buy a Waterfront Home, How to Buy a Home on a Septic or well or whatever.
And, don’t forget Mortgage 101 guides on the various government-backed loan programs.
Get your preferred vendors lined up so you won’t waste time trying to round up a lender or home inspector or contractor for your buyers.
Stick all these valuable guides on your real estate website to make it even easier for buyers to access them. Education is power (and a time-saver for you).
These things not only provide a better client experience but save you time in the long run.
Buyers have totally unrealistic expectations
Don and Joan want to buy a condo in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. High on the wish list is panoramic views “We need lots of natural light, low fees and on-site amenities, such as a gym, pool, and a pet spa,” Joan said.
Don chimes in with some of his must-haves: “We also really want heated floors, a gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, a wine cooler, and a walk-in pantry,” he says.
“We would love a media room, a sauna, and a fireplace in the master bedroom. Our lender says we can pay up to $250,000,” adds Joan.
Yes, uneducated home buyers tend to be unrealistic. Sadly, when Don and Joan actually lay eyes on what that $250k will buy them (it won’t be in Beacon Hill, where the lowest-priced home right now is $1.5 million), they’ll be crushed.
Although “buyers are unrealistic” may be an accurate statement, whose fault is it? They don’t, after all, work in the real estate market every day so naturally, they don’t understand it.
It’s why the pros create a buyers’ consultation
Back to that, again, huh? A consultation should be the backbone of every real estate agent’s buyer’s system.
With the market potentially changing, as a listing agent, you’ll also be facing unrealistic expectations from your listing clients. They will no longer have the luxury of demanding top dollar for homes that need work.
2020 is going to be an interesting year in real estate.
Help them take the next step (Available in the postcard section under the Move-Up Market Series)
Send at least 100 Considering a Move postcard from the Move-Up Market Series to an area where you want more listings.
Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool to 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. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –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
ket Opportunities
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
