Is Instagram a Good Place for Real Estate Agents to Market for More Listings?

May 29, 2023

A few weeks ago, we promised to update you on the latest social media demographics. We started with TikTok, and today we dive into Instagram.

The criteria we used when choosing the “best” social media options is simple: Those in your target demographic should use the platform heavily. If that includes buyers and sellers, you’ll want to hang out where baby boomers do.

If, on the other hand, you are targeting millennial real estate consumers, we can show you where to spend your time.

Remember, when it comes to marketing your real estate business, targeting is critical. Otherwise, you are wasting both your time and money.

Let’s talk Instagram

Although India leads the world in Instagram users, with more than 225 million active users, the U.S. comes in second, with “… at least 143.4 million active users,” according to DataReportal.com.

Instagram tends to attract a young crowd in the U.S., with ages 18 to 24 accounting for its largest audience share (27.7). The second-largest share of audience is those aged 25-to-34 … to which 25.7% of Instagrammers belong,” according to data from Oberlo.com.

Pay close attention to this statistic: “As of 2022, around 87% of Instagram’s 1.31 billion users who might potentially be targeted with ads are outside the United States.”

If you’re selling international real estate, this statistic may not bother you. But that nearly 90% of the platform’s targeted users are outside the U.S. should be a deal breaker for real estate agents.

Add to that the young age of the average user. There are platforms with far better demographics if you’re looking for potential homebuyers and sellers.

Who you should be targeting

Although we went over this in our last post about TikTok, in a nutshell, baby boomers are the ones buying and selling right now, making up 39% of buyers. According to the NAR, they have overtaken millennials’ share of the buyer pool (28%).

Sellers? Baby boomers again, but Gen X is part of the pool as well. NAR says the typical seller is 60 years old.

So, we’ve struck out with both TikTok and Instagram. But check back because soon we’ll have the winners of which the-social-media-platforms-are-best-for-real-estate- agents contest.

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 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 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

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Become-A-Listing-Legend-3D-Book-White-274x300.jpg

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

Take Control of the Real Estate Market Narrative and Keep it Positive

May 22, 2023

“The party’s over for America’s Housing Market …,” blasts a headline from MarketWatch.com.

“Is The Housing Market About To Crash?” asks one at BankRate.com.

This is the real estate news that consumers are hearing daily. It’s quite challenging, in fact, to find positive news.

Even though there is positive news.

It appears that agents who want the good news pushed out to help counter the bad need to take control of the narrative.

If you pride yourself on keeping in touch consistently with those in your CRM, whether by direct mail, social media marketing, or anything else, blasting out the good news is not difficult.

Real estate consumers beg to differ with the media tale

A funny thing happened to the media narrative on its way to becoming an ever-more negative Nellie. Fannie Mae released its Home Purchase Sentiment Index®, proving that real estate consumers are more positive than the media thinks.

“Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) jumped 5.5 points to 66.8 in April, marking the highest monthly gain in two years,” Adam Barnes said at TheHill.com.

62% of those surveyed said it’s a good time to sell. This represents an increase of “… 5 percentage points month over month,” Fannie Mae suggests in a recent press release.

Optimism about the housing market from those who will actually be involved in it. Who would’ve thought?

There is more positive news

March was a great month for home sellers. According to ShowingTime, there was an increase in foot traffic through homes for sale (mostly in the Midwest).

The low inventory prevents many would-be buyers from continuing their home searches, so the news that showings increased is very good.

If you have fence-sitting homeowners, share this news with them. And, just FYI, “Not all regions fared the same in March,” according to the pros at ShowingTime.

“The overall increase in showing activity was driven by the Midwest, up 18% from February, and the Northeast, up 15%. The South stayed relatively flat with a monthly increase of 1.4%, and the West dropped 2.7%.”

Your part in the process

Sharing the positive aspects of the market with your potential clients is more important than ever. Blog, post to social media, and create direct mail pieces to grab their attention and fight the negative narrative.

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

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Is TikTok a Good Place for Real Estate Agents to Market for More Listings?

May 16, 2023

In real estate, as in other businesses, it’s important to remember that you need to know who your “audience” consists of if you ever hope to effectively target them with your marketing. Many agents target “anyone who is breathing,” and that’s understandable.

It was how they generated leads as a newbie. They had little other choice. But, think back to those days. That type of marketing is not only expensive but time-consuming as well.

As we grow into our business, we know better than to shoot arrows and hope something sticks. Target marketing is far saner and more efficient.

Who is your audience on social media? It depends a great deal on the platform, first. Some are chock-full of folks you should be reaching out to, while others simply waste time and effort.

It’s time to update our social media recommendations for real estate agents, and we begin with TikTok.

First, let’s nail down your target audience

While it was somewhat lucrative to target first-time buyers in the past, you may want to change your strategy this year. They made up only 26% of last year’s real estate consumers, which is a huge drop from the previous year’s 34%, according to the folks at the NAR.

With the country’s current wonky economy, don’t look for that number to improve this year.

If you plan on sticking with the first-timers, you’ll be targeting folks in their mid-to-late 30s (NAR calls the 36-year-old “The typical first-time buyer.”)

Repeat buyers are always worth an agent’s consideration because of the very real chance that they also have a home to sell. This target’s age is 59 years.

Your largest buyer pool will be the baby boomers, who comprise 39% of all buyers. Millennials have dropped to 28% of the pool.

Finally, if you’re after listings, stick with older Gen X folks and baby boomers. “The typical home seller was 60 years old,” according to the NAR.

When it comes to social media marketing, spend your time on platforms with the robust participation of baby boomers (folks age 59 to 77).

Does that include TikTok?

Not at all. Let’s take a look at who hangs out on TikTok.

According to the platform’s survey of its users:

80 million Americans are “active users” of TikTok.
The largest share of these users (60%) are age 16 to 24. “80% are between the ages 16-34.”
Although Gen X (age 47-58 in 2023) “is highly active on social media … less than 5% of them are on TikTok,” according to digital content provider Gitnux.com.
Baby boomers are almost invisible on the platform. Those who are age 55+ make up 5.1% of users. Throw in the next youngest demographic (age 45-54), and that number nudges up to about 13%, according to Oberlo.com.

Your TikTok takeaway

Unless you love hanging out there, we believe other platforms are far more worth your marketing time and effort (Facebook is one).

Wherever you decide to market on social media, remember that your post needs to be relevant to your target audience.

Check back soon when we look at Instagram and whether it’s worth your marketing time and energy.

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

2. The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

3. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Introducing a BRAND NEW ProspectsPLUS! Rewards Program

May 1, 2023

The PLUS! Points Achievement System is a rewards program for prospectsplus.com customers.

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PLUS! Points have an expiration date of one year from the date they are converted into an account credit.

Bonus PLUS! Points: throughout the year, we will offer opportunities to earn bonus PLUS! Points by purchasing a postcard from a new series or completing other tasks. Bonus PLUS! Points will automatically be added to your “Redeem” page on Prospectsplus.com once you have qualified.

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How to Get Started

To get started achieving PLUS! Points begin at your account dashboard.

To locate your account dashboard, click on your name in the upper right corner of our prospectplus.com. A drop-down menu will appear, click on “Dashboard” (see screenshot below).

How to View Achievements

From your dashboard, click “View Achievements” in the upper right-hand corner (see screenshot below).

On the Achievement page, you’ll notice locked achievement badges and maybe even some unlocked badges as well. Be on the lookout for new badges to be added in the future.

A locked achievement badge – will be grayed out and has not been achieved yet. Move your cursor over a locked achievement badge, and it will flip over and display what you need to do to accomplish the badge and how many PLUS! Points it’s worth. To get started completing that badge, click the available link on the backside of the badge.

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When you complete an achievement within seconds, a badge will appear on your screen with confetti announcing your accomplishment (see screenshot below), and PLUS! Points will automatically be added to your Redemption account.

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To redeem PLUS! Points or view your balance, click on “Redeem Points” in the upper right corner of your Dashboard page or Achievements page.

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What Home Buyer Incentives Are Most Popular in the Current Market?

Apr 26, 2023

“ 2 in 5 home sellers are offering concessions to homebuyers,” according to data from Redfin buyers’ agents. It appears that gone are the days when buyers felt the need to waive the home inspection and other contingencies just to win the home in a bidding war.

“… 42% of homes sold in recent months offered buyer incentives,” according to the another Redfin report.

Some cities find more buyer incentives than others. Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver, San Diego and Phoenix lead the way when it comes to sellers being willing to give something up to get their homes sold.

Since the chances are good that you may run into a situation where you’ll need to counsel a client about offering concessions, let’s take a look at some of the most popular.

mortgage rate buy-downs
cash for repairs
cash for closings costs
warranties on household appliances.

Offer to pay points

As we all know, one of the biggest disadvantages in the current real estate market is rising mortgage interest rates.

If you represent sellers that just can’t seem to get the home sold within their deadline, counsel them about what is likely the most effective buyer incentive, paying the buyers’ points.

Check this out: “… lowering the buyer’s interest rate can make their monthly payment a lot more affordable,” according to Christy Bieber at Motley Fool.

If they are weighing just lowering their asking price for the buyer, explain to them that buying down the buyer’s mortgage rate is the better deal. Especially for the seller.

Bieber explains that “… if you had a $300,000 house on the market, dropping your home to $280,000 would have about the same impact as buying down the buyer’s rate by 0.75%.”

“But reducing the buyer’s rate that much would only cost you $9,000, so you’d end up about $11,000 ahead.”

This tactic should be reserved for only those clients who need to sell and are having a hard time doing so. Keep it in your back pocket and pull it out if you suspect that it’s mortgage rates standing in the way (if your listing is a starter home, for instance).

Other popular incentives to speak with your client about include:

Pay a portion of the closing costs
Include personal property if the buyer has expressed an interest
Offer to pay for the first year or so of HOA dues
Warranties are always appreciated
Designate a specific amount of money toward repairs “Seller will pay $500 at closing for repairs.”

Offering incentives to the buyer may be a hard pill to swallow for the seller. Approach the topic at the beginning of the selling conversation so that they aren’t caught by surprise and counsel them on the benefits of offering buyer incentives.

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 Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

How to Determine Market Value in a Transitioning Housing Market

Apr 17, 2023

Depending on the condition of the real estate market, preparing a CMA for a listing appointment can be either a snap or it can cause you to go into a total breakdown.

The latter is an exaggeration, but when a market is in flux, a CMA can be challenging to put together.

In a market with rapidly rising home prices, you’ll find that recent home sale prices haven’t caught up to what is actually happening with current sales. In a declining market, the same is true, and you’ll risk overstating market value.

In a nutshell, both transition markets present a conundrum for the listing agent because “… comparable properties reflect yesterday’s home sales rather than the present market value,” which is higher or lower “… than it was even a few weeks earlier,” suggests Carrie B. Reyes at Firsttuesday Journal.

The CMA

For the benefit of the newbie, in a nutshell, compiling a CMA involves the following steps:

Go through the MLS to find recently sold listings and gather three to five that most match the subject property in age, size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and lot size.
In a normal market, you would choose comps that sold within the past six months. In a transitioning market, grab comps that have sold most recently.
Typically, you would restrict your comps to within one mile of the subject property. Again, you may have to adjust this proximity outward in the current market.

A while ago, the experts at Fannie Mae put together a guide for appraisers entitled “Fannie Mae Addresses Declining Market Issues,” a copy of which can be found at AppraisalInstitute.org.

You’ll find that some of the information included addresses how to deal with a more rapidly declining market than we are experiencing right now, but you can also take other useful tidbits from it.

Naturally, if this current market transition isn’t your first rodeo, you’ll sail through the market evaluation process with no problem. Less experienced agents, however, may find themselves in a panic or, worse, end up overvaluing their listings.

This is where a mentor would come in quite handy. Lacking such a goldmine of information, you may want to run your final analysis by your broker to ensure it fits current market conditions.

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

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 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

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Get Your Market Leaning in by Using These Three Simple Rules

Apr 12, 2023

Before you launch your next direct mail marketing campaign, add these rules to your list of MUST-DO’S.

Rule #1 Provide a Compelling Call-to-Action

Retailers have an easy time using a “call to action.” Offering a percentage off, free shipping, or buy-one, get-one-free are all popular examples.

What about real estate agents, though? What kind of call-to-action can you provide that might compel a postcard recipient to lean in for more information?

The following are a few attention-getting examples that can potentially engage homeowners and get them to request more information.

• Free Buy First vs Sell First Evaluation
• Free Home Equity Analysis
• Free Local Market Stats
• Free Pre-Listing Consultation

The above call-to-actions are included in the Call to Action Series available on Prospectsplus.com.

Remember that when you use call-to-actions in your marketing, the number of hoops your prospects jump through to redeem the offer impacts the response rate, according to Bob McCarthy at DMNews.com.

The more they have to do to receive that offer, the lower the response rate. So make it as quick and easy as possible for them.

Rule #2 Utilize Standout Designs

“One strategy we use to get our highest response rates is to make the call-to-action the centerpiece of the direct mail piece,” McCarthy claims.
Whether you include an image representing the free offer or use text to describe it, mention it boldly and repeatedly.

Your message (its length and graphic requirements) determines the size and style of the medium.

Plan on keeping it plain and simple? A standard-sized postcard may do the trick, although jumbo, panoramic, and mega-sized postcards stand out in mailboxes, making a genuinely lasting impression.

If it is graphics-heavy and you include substantial copy, using one of the larger postcard sizes (jumbo or panoramic) becomes even more important.

Choose a font that is easy to scan as people sift through their mail. As direct mail experts, we recommend using a sans serif font, such as Arial, rather than Times New Roman or another serif font.

Consider varying the font size throughout the text. For example, you can highlight important items with a larger version of the font you choose.

Additional design tips to keep in mind include ensuring your headline is bold and compelling yet short and specific. Use lots of white space to make the piece appear to be easily digestible.

Subheadings are important, as they help guide the reader through the text. Don’t forget to use high-resolution photographs, and avoid placing text over photos.

Last note, ensure that your call-to-action stands out and that your contact information is easy to find.

If you want to save time and ensure you’ve followed the above rule, these crucial best practices have been applied to the Call to Action Series available on prospectsplus.com.

Rule #3 Track Your Results

Tracking your results is vital to your direct mail campaign. One of the most popular methods agents use is creating a dedicated website landing page.

The URL should be unique to the campaign so you can learn your exact response rate (the number of responses divided by the total number of pieces sent). Marketing experts vary when quoting an “average response rate” for direct mail.

The most recent figure puts it at 9%. How close or far you are from that figure depends on how closely you follow the guidelines outlined above.

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

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

3 Strategies to Prevent Your Real Estate Deals From Going South

Apr 10, 2023

In recent months, more than 15% of home sales fell through nationwide, according to a Redfin analysis. If you’re a Phoenix, Las Vegas, or Tampa agent, you’re undoubtedly familiar with this, as these cities have the highest number of incompleted real estate deals.

According to a survey from Cinch Home Services, the top 5 reasons for these derailments include:

The buyer walked
The buyer’s mortgage application was denied
Seller backed out
Home inspection issues
The home didn’t appraise

Don’t wait for your deals to start falling apart. Being proactive rather than reactive will help avoid some more common problems.

1. Vet the buyer

According to the aforementioned Cinch survey, 42% of derailed deals in recent month’s resulted from a denied loan application.

Buyers’ agents should thoroughly vet their clients to ensure they qualify for a loan and are prepared to financially complete the deal.

Listing agents might want to consider requesting “… a recent pre-approval letter from the lender, written within the last 30 days,” suggests a Boulder, Colorado agent at realtor.com.

Additionally, ensure that the buyer has a lock on the interest rate. “Buyers that have a mortgage rate lock are more likely to close the purchase versus those that still need a rate lock,” according to zondahome.com’s chief economist Ali Wolf.

Jason Gelios, author of “How to Think Like a Realtor,” offers up some signs for a listing agent to be on the lookout for that might indicate that the buyer isn’t as strong as you might hope. These include:

A small down payment
Requests for credits or concessions from the seller
A pre-approval letter from an unfamiliar lender

2. Tighten up those contingency timelines

Not too long ago, we were engulfed in a hot, hot, hot sellers’ market, so much so that the word ‘contingency’ almost became obsolete.

“Now, the supply and demand balance has changed,” Aly J. Yale at money.com reminds us. “Buyers have leverage, ushering in a new age of contingency-laden deals.”

“Homebuyers now will agree to buy a house and be doing the inspection, and then back out because they found another home they love more,” cautions a Redfin agent in Las Vegas.

Before accepting a contract, counsel your client to counter with a request to shorten any overly-long contingency timelines. The less time the buyers have to shop around for another home while still under contract on your listing, the better.

3. Consider a pre-sale home inspection

Nearly 40% of failed real estate deals can be blamed on home inspection results.

We get it: Many agents hesitate to recommend a pre-listing home inspection to their clients. Some say it’s because it presents additional disclosure items. Whatever the reason, the truth about the home will come out in the buyers’ inspection report anyway.

Be proactive so your client has the full picture of what she’s facing when the buyer’s inspection results come in. This allows your client to fix or replace anything you’re sure will be an issue for the buyer.

At the very least, you’ll have time to strategize how to handle negotiations if there are problems with the home.

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

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

5 Reasons Smart Agents ALWAYS Send Just Listed/Just Sold Postcards

Apr 3, 2023

Real estate agents are always looking for ways to increase their exposure and generate leads. One effective marketing strategy that has stood the test of time is sending Just Listed and Just Sold postcards.

If you’re wondering why even the highest-producing agents still spend time on this marketing tactic, read on.

Five Reasons Why Smart Real Estate Agents Continually Send Just Listed/Just Sold Postcards:

Builds brand awareness

Just Listed and Just Sold postcards are an excellent way to build brand awareness. By sending regular updates on your recent listings and sales, you remind potential clients of your expertise in the field. This can help you stand out in a crowded market and increase the likelihood that clients will choose you over competitors.

Even if you don’t have any current listings or solds of your own, you can still send a postcard announcing to your farm or targeted neighborhood what property was just sold or just listed in the area.

Or highlight a property listed or sold by someone in your office. This can still trigger inbound leads for you.

Targets potential clients

Sending postcards to a targeted audience can help you reach potential clients looking to buy or sell a property. You can purchase mailing lists segmented by location, income, and occupation, making it easy to target your ideal demographic.

Creates a personal touch

In today’s digital age, getting lost in the noise of email and social media is easy. By sending a physical postcard, you can create a personal touch that sets you apart from competitors. A postcard is tangible, and people are more likely to remember it than an email or a social media post.

And I often hear of agents who show up to a listing appointment and are shown the collection of their postcard mailings that have been kept by the homeowner.

It’s cost-effective marketing

Compared to other forms of marketing, sending postcards is a relatively inexpensive and fast way to get in front of prospects in your market. This makes it an affordable way to reach potential clients and generate leads.

Generates referrals

Just Listed and Just Sold postcards can generate referrals from your existing clients. When people receive your postcard, they may share it with friends or family members who are interested in buying or selling a property. This can help you generate leads without having to do any additional marketing.

Bottom line

Just Listed and Just Sold postcards are a highly effective marketing strategy that has been proven effective time and time again.

By sending regular real estate activity updates to potential clients, you can build brand awareness, target your ideal demographic, create a personal, tangible touch, and generate referrals.

If you’re a real estate agent looking to increase your exposure and generate leads, consider adding Just Listed and Just Sold postcards to your marketing strategy.

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

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Make an Unforgettable Impression with your Real Estate Website

Mar 29, 2023

According to a study by Nielsen Norman Group, your website visitors will leave your homepage within 10 to 20 seconds unless you give them a reason to stay.

“To gain several minutes of user attention, you must clearly communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.”

Lose visitors here, where they land, and you’ve lost them forever. This page is your curb appeal – your first chance to make such an unforgettable impression that they will register and return.

Who is landing on your site’s homepage?

Knowing your audience is marketing 101, and figuring out who comprises your site’s audience is a no-brainer: a real estate consumer, either a buyer or a seller.

Naturally, a homebuyer wants to see listings, but that’s not all your visitors are searching for. A NAR study found that these visitors also crave information on the purchase process, from getting a loan to closing on the purchase.

Homeowners thinking of selling want information about that process, and many visitors will want to learn more about you, your services, and what you’re like to work with.

To keep these people on your site long enough to convert them to a lead requires making your home page the best it can be. Let’s look at one of the most important fixes you can perform on your real estate website.

Customize your homepage

The area that shows up before you begin scrolling down the page is known as “above the fold.” It’s your homepage’s most valuable real estate, so not one inch of space should be disregarded.

The most common mistake agents make on this part of the page is not mentioning their location. Most of the sites we viewed before writing this included the name of the brokerage, the agent’s name, and his or her phone number and email address.

Aside from a handful of agents, all sites lacked any mention (above the fold) of where the agent works. None of them mention a city, a community, or even the state that the agent serves.

Let visitors know, above the fold, that they’ve landed in the right place. The best way to do this is to localize the text that came with your site.

Something as simple as changing “YOUR DREAM HOME AWAITS” to “YOUR DREAM HOME IN ANYWHEREVILLE AWAITS” will let visitors know they’ve found a local real estate site, and it will help search engines get that too.

Scroll down your homepage, and you’ll find plenty of other localizing opportunities on the homepage. For instance, “SEARCH FOR HOMES” can be “SEARCH FOR HOMES IN ANYWHEREVILLE” and transform “Selling your Home” to “Selling your Anywhereville Home.”

Aside from posting your best and most flattering review above the fold, customizing and localizing the first page a potential client might see will help visitors and SEO.

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

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

How to Market your Real Estate Team, so they STAND OUT!

Mar 22, 2023

Although there is no “typical” home sale, the process shares many similarities. As you know, most for-sale homes are advertised in the MLS and have a sign out front and a lockbox on the door.

How many agents do you know who either hesitate to spend the money required to robustly market their listings or lack the know-how? These agents consider the three previously-mentioned tasks a good marketing program and leave it at that.

Team Homes & Life Magazine, See more, **HERE**

However, we know you beg to differ when it comes to the significant investment that is your clients’ home.

Since you aren’t like those other agents, you need to get the word out. Not all real estate teams are alike; you’ll want to point this out in your real estate team’s marketing.

“No, it doesn’t “take a village” to sell a home in [“Our Town], but to sell it for the most money the market will provide requires a team.”

Comparisons you might want to consider include:

Services you offer that other area agents don’t, such as various programs popular with real estate consumers.

These include the “Worry-Free Listing,” wherein the client can cancel your listing anytime, no questions asked. A free pre-market home inspection, free move-out house cleaning, free anything really, and a discounted commission (sorry, but it is wildly popular).

Brag about team members and their role in your real estate business and community. For instance, if you have an on-staff transaction coordinator, write about his/her duties and how this person will be their point person during the transaction. “Someone to call with any questions or concerns.”

Your marketing plan. Explain how it’s proven to work and why.

The Photo Introduction Postcard is shown above. See more **HERE.**

The proof of that is in your sales statistics:

If you have a decent sales record, tout it. For instance, compare the number of homes your team sold last year to those of the “average real estate” agent or team.
Do your team’s listings sell faster, on average, than homes listed by solo agents or other teams? Shout it out from your marketing materials and website.
Do your listings sell for more than yours of other teams? We recently spoke with an agent in Spokane, Washington, who said he checked his stats for this, and his listings only sell for 1.6% more. Although that doesn’t sound like much, break it down to a figure.

“At the [Name of Market], the average home-sale price works out to nearly $6,500 more for the seller than another team will bring in.”

These are just random considerations when you first think about forming a team. You’ll find tons of good information online, including Linsell’s article at theclose.com and Matt McGee’s piece at homelight.com.

Finally, look at Ben Kinney’s “LEVERAGE – Team UP! How to Build a Team” YouTube video.

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

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

Starting a Real Estate Team? Here are a Few Things to Consider

Mar 20, 2023

Imagine a trip to a doctor’s office. You approach the front counter, and there she is, ready to check you in for your appointment. Then, she is, again, prepared to accompany you from the waiting room to the exam room. She performs your exam and is at the desk out front to take your check for your insurance co-pay and schedule your next appointment.

Aside from seeing patients at various times during the day, this doctor will clean exam rooms after each patient leaves, call-in prescriptions to pharmacies, order and interpret diagnostic tests, work on bookkeeping, schedule appointments for other patients, follow up on telephone messages, meet with pharmaceutical company representatives and clean the office.

If this were your doctor, we’d bet you would think she’s either crazy or arrogant. After all, she’s most likely not a trained bookkeeper, administrative assistant, or skilled in sanitation practices in physicians’ offices.

The Market Update Postcard is shown above. See more **HERE**

When any professional works in a practice with many moving parts, it’s simply foolish to presume to wear all the hats.

Many agents across the country figured this out long ago. “We aren’t professional photographers or stagers. Nor are we phone specialists or transaction coordinators. And, we don’t want to be any of those,” says a friend and agent in Los Angeles, California.

This is why this agent built a team, offering professional specialists to each client. In her estimation, this team’s approach to real estate has made her so successful.

When you reach a specific volume, taking your business to the next level requires assistance. Most agents start with admin help.

However, the next level is to build a real estate team.

Structuring your team

Before you jump into the hiring process, consider how you’ll structure your team. This helps you learn who you need to hire and which skills to be on the lookout for. Check out Chris Linsell’s brilliant but simple Real Estate Organizational Chart at theclose.com.

To give you an idea of how to staff your team, take a look at our California friends:

3 listing coordinators
3 staging strategists
An architectural photographer
Marketing Coordinator
6 phone specialists to attract and reach out to potential buyers
17 buyers’ agents

Photo Introduction postcard. See more, **HERE.**

Naturally, you won’t need this many team members when you start but consider adding as your business increases.

Each cog in the aforementioned well-oiled wheel works in tandem with the others. For instance, the phone team recently received a call from a homebuyer interested in one of the team’s listings.

“The call came in at 10:30 on a Saturday morning,” according to our friend. “Our phone specialist returned the call two minutes later, at 10:32, and alerted one of the showing agents on the team. This agent met with the buyers to show them the home at 1 p.m. An hour later, they wrote an offer. This team approach had our listing sold in four hours.”

Impressive, right?

Check back soon for more ideas on forming a real estate team.

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

3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system

4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

marketing strategies

Let’s talk Instagram

Who you should be targeting

Real estate consumers beg to differ with the media tale

There is more positive news

Your part in the process

First, let’s nail down your target audience

Does that include TikTok?

Your TikTok takeaway

Get started earning PLUS! Points NOW, CLICK HERE.

How to Get Started

How to View Achievements

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How You’re Awarded PLUS! Points

How to Redeem PLUS! Points

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Offer to pay points

The CMA

Rule #1 Provide a Compelling Call-to-Action

Rule #2 Utilize Standout Designs

Rule #3 Track Your Results

1. Vet the buyer

2. Tighten up those contingency timelines

3. Consider a pre-sale home inspection

Five Reasons Why Smart Real Estate Agents Continually Send Just Listed/Just Sold Postcards:

Builds brand awareness

Targets potential clients

Creates a personal touch

It’s cost-effective marketing

Generates referrals

Bottom line

Who is landing on your site’s homepage?

Customize your homepage

Comparisons you might want to consider include:

The proof of that is in your sales statistics:

Structuring your team