Move up market

Ride the “Silver Tsunami” of Baby Boomers

Jun 24, 2020

COVID-19 has changed much of what used to be considered “normal life.” In cities that have relaxed restrictions, dining out may involve having your temperature taken at the door. Shopping may require that you wear a mask and follow arrows pasted on the floor, directing traffic.

The future is at the top of many minds. Even if the world recovers from this pandemic, and gets back to normal (or something close to it), the lessons we’ve learned will be forever ingrained in our consciousness.

Home, family, taking care of our health – have all become even more important.

While the real estate market appears to be very much like it was before the pandemic’s outbreak, with low interest rates luring buyers into the market and home values holding steady, attitudes of real estate consumers have changed.

We are told to expect an exodus from the cities to the ‘burbs and perhaps even rural areas. The downsizing craze is over, we’re told, and homebuyers want more square footage. Outdoor spaces and specialty rooms (office, gym, etc.) are on the lists of those buyers who can demand them.

Most of all, many Americans who were isolated by distance from family during the lockdown, crave closeness.

*Life Event Series, Changing Needs* postcard

Especially older Americans and most especially those who live alone.

While one of the primary reasons baby boomers sell their homes is so that they can move closer to their adult children or friends (23.5% according to the NAR), we think the social distancing we’ve endured will see many, many more choosing this option.

Boomers in the real estate market

Older homeowners naturally have more equity in their homes, according to NAR’s 2020 Generational Trends report. The average equity earned of sellers age 22 to 54 is nearly $45,000. Baby boomer sellers, on the other hand, have, on average, $74,300 in equity.

The homes they will sell have at least three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (many, however, boast three bathrooms). While on the market, boomer homes experienced far fewer price reductions than the homes of younger sellers.

More than one-fourth of younger boomers have lived in their homes for 21 years or longer, while 35% of older boomers can say the same.

Younger boomers who purchased another home after selling their current home chose a slightly smaller home, while older boomers, on average, chose slightly larger homes.

Finally, baby boomers make up nearly half (46%) of the seller’s market.

How to reach this group of home sellers

Boomers love YouTube. But, before you race out to create real estate videos for this demographic you need to understand that they probably won’t watch them.

Their use of YouTube is as a sort of TV-on-demand platform. According to data from Think with Google, the most-watched categories by boomers include “… entertainment, music, and news.”

The best way to reach this cohort and engage with them is on Facebook. Pursuing organic reach, however, may be futile, according to BigCommerce.com.

*Life Event Series, New Memories* postcard

“With organic Facebook reach hovering somewhere between two and four percent, many brands struggle to gain impressions and engagement on the platform,” according to the site’s Ethan Giffen.

The solution, he says, is Facebook ads. Yes, they cost money. But it’s one very effective way to reach the group that has a higher net worth, is most likely to want to move and sells more homes than any other.

OK, so maybe Facebook ads are a bit pricey for your budget right now. Consider direct mail as a budget-friendly, highly effective alternative.

This is a generation who grew up with mail as a major form of communication to friends and family. They still enjoy receiving mail and are more likely to read what they receive than the younger generations.

But you need the right message

To send the right message requires that you know your audience. Earlier we gave you a bit of insight into their real estate habits. But to effectively market to the group requires digging deeper. Baby boomers, by and large are:

Active
More internet savvy than they’re given credit for
Independent
Not “old”

In fact, dump the word “senior” when referring to this group. Use “baby boomer” or “older American” if you must. While not all are offended by the term “senior citizen,” many are.

Overall, they value useful information. This might include local market activity, a CMA, news on mortgage rates and helpful home maintenance tips.

Get to know baby boomers’ interests by visiting aarp.org, nextavenue.org, and everythingzoomer.com.

*Life Event Series, Time For Play* postcard

Send the Time For Play postcard from the Life Event Series to your Baby Boomer Prospect List.

Need help targeting this specific niche of sellers? Use our Demographic Search 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 some Free resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

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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

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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

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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

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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”

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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

February Gift Card Drawing Winners!

Mar 4, 2020

We have both first and second place drawing winners. A first-place $250 Gift Card winner & a second-place $100 Gift Card winner!

1. Congratulations Christie Hall on winning our first place $250 Gift Card!

Christie shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!.

“I just love ProspectsPLUS! I used the Recipe postcard to farm my neighborhood and I totally got a listing! It’s easy and user-friendly! Thanks, ProspectsPLUS!“

Christie’s latest marketing pieces he’s sent out include – The Call to Action Series, Move-Up Market, and Recipe postcards.

The Call to Action Series, Move-Up Market, and Recipe postcards are available under the postcard section

2.Congratulations Monica Townley on winning our 2nd Prize $100 ProspectsPLUS! Gift Card!

Monica shared the following feedback with ProspectsPLUS!

“I placed an order on Friday and my postcards have already been delivered. I’ve even received one phone call! That is fast and efficient!“

Monica’s latest marketing pieces include Just Sold and Just Closed postcards.

Just Closed and Just Sold postcards are available under the postcard section

Take the lead from Christie and Monica send at least 100 marketing pieces to an area where you want more buyers and sellers!

You might also like:

8 Things You Can Do To Increase Your Closings in 2020

What Real Estate Agents Can Learn From Hospitality Workers

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!

Meet your 2020 homebuying clients

Dec 11, 2019

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 too l 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!

2. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan – NEW 2020!

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

5. The Free Online ROI Calculator

Listing Agent Alert: Do You Remember How to Work With Buyers?

Nov 11, 2019

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 too l to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!