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
One thing that hot and heavy real estate markets bring is anxiety for buyers. In slower markets, homebuyers have time to leisurely view homes for sale.
Today, they have to act so quickly they let common sense fall by the wayside. Remorse sets in and, can you blame them?
Buying a home is a huge financial commitment and feeling rushed or challenged in a bidding war can make even the strongest buyer develop lingering doubts.
Think about buying a car. Unless you walked onto the lot knowing exactly which make, model, and year you wanted, you may have had to do some comparison shopping. When you finally narrowed down the choices to one, did you hear that little voice in your head that questioned your choice?
The First Time Buyer Series is shown above. To send a one-time mailing, Click Here. To send a recurring campaign, Click Here.
“Am I making a huge mistake? Maybe I should choose the Nissan instead of the Honda.”
That, my friend, is known as “cold feet,” and it’s the first symptom of a full-blown attack of buyer’s remorse.
Knowing the signs puts you in a position to help your client and save the deal, so let’s unpack this.
Watch out for these warning signs
Not all buyers prone to remorse will exhibit the same symptoms, but do pay attention if any of the following occur:
The buyer is concentrating on the minutia when deciding whether to make an offer. “Asking about when the roof was replaced or how old is the water heater are good questions and the buyers are thinking straight,” suggests Conor MacEvilly at myseattlehomesearch.com.
“But when they start asking about the wine stain on the living room floor, the hairlike crack in the kitchen ceiling, and the dripping bathroom faucet before making an offer, you are probably going to end up with one extra picky buyer …,” he concludes.
The buyer complains of feeling “rushed” or pushed into making an offer. Whether this is because you are actually rushing them (please don’t) or market conditions are putting pressure on them, pay attention to this warning. This is the time to remind them that contingencies are their friends and that nothing is a done deal until those are removed.
Deal with it
Always insist on a buyers’ consultation session before viewing any homes for sale. This is your opportunity to learn more about them and to get a feel for their motivation. It’s an important factor when judging whether they will stick with a deal.
During the consultation, ask them their reasons for buying a home. Here is what you should hope to hear:
Their monthly housing payment will remain stable (at least with a fixed rate loan)
Build wealth
Tax advantages
Freedom to own a pet and make changes to the home
Starting a family or a growing family
Need a larger home to accommodate an aging parent
Just moved to the area and need to move quickly
Want to cut their commute time
While there are others, these are strong motivations for a homebuyer. When feet appear to be getting cold during the buying process, remind your client what motivated them to buy in the first place.
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 esthetic. 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 when. Four key market segments are included, 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 it is 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
Too many Americans who want to buy a home feel they can’t because they don’t have the cash to put 20 percent down on the mortgage.
Yes, we know that 20 percent is “so yesterday,” but the general public is still operating under this illusion, specifically first-time buyers.
In fact, according to a NerdWallet.com survey, 44 percent of Americans think that the 20 percent down payment figure is written in stone.
Sadly, the respondents who don’t currently own a home said that what’s holding them back is the lack of this large down payment.
It’s safe to say that the down payment is one of the biggest obstacles to home buying today. And, it doesn’t have to be.
Get the word out to renters that there are various first-time homebuyer programs that many can qualify for.
We rounded up four that we think agents should bone up on.
1. Fannie Mae’s 3-percent-down mortgage
Launched a few years ago, Fannie Mae’s Conventional 97 is a brilliant alternative to the FHA-backed loan. In fact, it is “among the most in-demand programs for today’s homebuyers,” according to Dan Green at TheMortgageReports.com.
Conventional 97 is what FHA used to be — ideal for both the first-timer and repeat homebuyer who lacks a large down payment. While borrowers are still required to purchase mortgage insurance, the premiums “are usually less expensive than those of comparable FHA home loans,” according to Green.
4 Mortgage Options, Direct Response Report, Click Here
Best of all, according to Tim Lucas, editor at MyMortgageInsider.com, borrowers can qualify with scores as low as 620, and “gift funds can be used for the down payment and closing costs.”
Speak with your preferred lender to learn more about how to sell this to potential homebuying clients who think they can’t afford the down payment for a home.
2. Freddie Mac HomeOne℠ loan
If your preferred lender isn’t among those conventional lenders approved to offer the HomeOne loan from Freddie Mac, it’s time to add another to your vendor list.
Like Fannie Mae’s loan, it allows you to help your eligible first-time homebuyers achieve the dream of homeownership.
Features include:
No income limits
No geographical limits
Allows for the purchase of a single-family home, condo or townhome
Buyers are required to have at least 3 percent for a down payment and a credit score of at least 620. If first-time buyers, borrowers must agree to attend a buyer education course.
Naturally, there is more to know about Freddie Mac’s HomeOne loan. You can get the details either from your preferred lender or online at SFFreddieMac.com.
3. Freddie Mac Home Possible®
Freddie Mac offers an alternative to the HomeOne loan and that’s the popular Home Possible mortgage. This program is ideal for your lower-income buyers who lack a big down payment and require “flexible sources of funds.”
These sources can be family members, employer assistance “secondary financing and sweat equity,” or a combination of these, according to Freddie Mac’s website.
Your buyer’s qualifying income (on an annual basis) cannot exceed 80 percent of the AMI.
There’s a 3 percent down payment, but unlike other similar programs, a borrower can quality for 105 percent LTV with Freddie Mac’s Affordable Seconds®.
Consider mentioning Home Possible to your very-low to low-income buyers, move-up buyers, and retirees.
4. HomePath Ready Buyer™ program
Another Fannie Mae program, HomePath Ready Buyer, offers 3 percent down payment assistance for qualified borrowers who agree to participate in an online homebuying course and then purchase a HomePath property.
The bonus for agents whose clients use this program is that you end up with a client prepared for the process.
It’s important for you to understand your part in the process as well. Your client will need to request a course completion certificate and then you’ll need to include it when you submit the offer on a HomePath property.
“The request for closing cost assistance must be made at the initial offer in the HomePath Online Offers system,” according to information on the HomePath website.
The website includes the verbiage the buyer’s agent needs to use to make the request for closing cost assistance for the buyer. You’ll find that when you scroll to the bottom of this page.
Your buyer must not have owned a home within the past three years, they must agree to reside in the home as their primary residence and take possession within 60 days of closing.
There are plenty of other programs out there that will help you to assist reluctant buyers who think that they can’t buy without a huge down payment. Learn about them, then use them in your marketing.
Ready to generate some new listings to show your newly converted buyer clients? Launch a Get More Listing Campaign
They’re currently on sale 10% OFF the first month – (sale ends 8/14/21).
Get More Listings Scheduled Campaign (shown above). Learn more, HERE
TO LAUNCH A GET MORE LISTING CAMPAIGN:
Hit “CLICK HERE”, below, to schedule your campaign (from a desktop or laptop computer).
Use promo code: LIST10 to save 10% off the first month.
And, remember, YOU DON’T PAY for each mailing until it actually goes out (cancel or change each mailing up until the night before it goes out).
Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you with your success.
PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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.
4. 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
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
There’s No Better Way Than Launching a Scheduled Campaign
Choose From the Following Six Powerful Campaigns:
Sphere of Influence Campaign – Stay top of mind with your SOI by sending 150 Jumbo-sized postcards, standard-class for only $121.00 a month. Farm Campaign – Keep new listings coming by sending 150 Jumbo-sized postcards standard-class to your Farm area for only $121.00 a month. Expired Campaign – Own the expired marketing by sending a postcard every day for 27 business days for $18.09. Absentee Owner Campaign – Get absentee owners calling you by sending 100 Jumbo-sized postcards, standard-class for $81.00 a month. FSBO Campaign – Convert the FSBO market by sending a postcard every day for 27 business days for $18.09. Renters Campaign– Turn renters into buyers by sending 100 Jumbo-sized postcards, standard-class for $81.00 a month.
And, remember, when you schedule a campaign, you don’t pay until the mailing goes out (change or cancel any time til midnight the night prior to mailing).
Make life easier in 2021 while taking your real estate business to the next level with Scheduled Campaigns!
STARTING TODAY, Launch a Scheduled Campaign and Get “Unlock Success” For FREE ($159.00 Value)
Just schedule any campaign shown, here, starting today (December 29th, 2020) and we will automatically send you Unlock Success in the mail (please allow 5 to 10 business days for delivery). Offer available while supplies last.
Unlock Success contains 101 of Floyd Wickman’s greatest dialogues in audio format (on USB flash drive).
Topics include negotiating commission, building trust, overcoming objections, mastering prospecting skills, and more.
Launch your Scheduled Campaign today and get Floyd Wickman’s Unlock Success for Free, click the “GO NOW” button to get started.
PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.
1. 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
2.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.
3. 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
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
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
Never will you find a cardiac surgeon dispensing advice about gynecological problems. Nor will you likely find blog posts on pet websites counseling readers about DIY home projects.
Yet, many real estate agents have the notion that they can be everything to everyone. Those that typically sell single-family homes think nothing of listing a condo. Those that list mobile homes don’t hesitate to take on a luxury home listing.
While this may be ok for your bottom line, it does a real disservice to real estate consumers. In all other professions they have a choice of specialists.
Fence Sitters Series
They can consult a divorce attorney instead of a bankruptcy lawyer. When they need a root canal, they see an endodontist not an orthodontist and they can take their Porsche to a mechanic who specializes in them.
Remaining a real estate generalist is easier. It’s safer. After all, you don’t want to miss out on even one deal by narrowing your business focus, right?
What’s unique about that?
It’s unfortunate so many real estate agents harbor a reluctance to break away from the herd. The truth is, however, if you always follow the leader you will always be behind.
Then, there’s that lump in the gut when you think of closing off your business to some parts of the real estate industry and narrowing your focus to only one or two specialties.
This move away from being “a jack-of-all-trades but the master of none” is necessary if you’re to become the best in the market in your niche.
Seth Godin, blogging master and best-selling author, suggests that real estate agents should consider “micro-specialization.”
Choose a niche and work to dominate it.
Step away from the Herd
“… you’re either the best in the world (where ‘world’ can be a tiny slice of the environment) or you’re invisible,” Godin continues.
He says that to become “visible,” requires “… being Draconian in your choices. No, you can’t also do a little of this or a little of that. Best in your world means burning your other bridges and obsessing,” Godin says.
Scary thought, right?
Let’s look at a scenario:
You’re an agent in Las Vegas, chasing after every lead that comes your way – single family homes, duplexes, condos, whatever, you’ll take it. Your website even proclaims as much – “I can help you will all your real estate needs!”
If you consider yourself the average agent, you make about $45,610 a year, give or take a few dollars, according to Daniel Bortz at Realtor.com.
Life Event Series – Downsizing
Suppose you decide to step away from being “average” and that you will specialize in listing and selling high-rise condos. Last year, 607 Las Vegas high rise condo units sold, with an average sales price of $598,728. This represents a commission of about $17,962 per side (based on 6 percent total commission).
As a generalist, how many of these condos would you have listed or sold? Be honest. The average Las Vegas agent was lucky to have listed one or two in an entire year.
The specialist that targets the high-rise condo market with a laser-like focus and dominates the brand as the niche expert in the area increases his or her chances of taking more than a handful of those sides from other agents.
Let’s be conservative and say that you only close one of these condo-deals a month. Even on a 50/50 broker split, you’d be making nearly $9,000 a month in GCI, give or take a few dollars and nearly $108,000 a year – almost three times what the average agent in the Las Vegas Valley brings home.
Remember, our scenario is based on conservative estimates. Your mileage may be a lot better.
The bonus is that the more you enforce your condo-specialist brand, the more condo leads you’ll get and folks that want to buy or sell high-rise condos will seek you out.
Imagine selling 5 of these condos a month.
If you’ve been casting as wide a net as possible in the hope of reeling in the maximum number of leads, consider setting yourself apart from other agents by claiming a niche and dominating it.
Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our Demographic Search Toolto create the ideal list (it’s easy). Or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!
PLUS: When you have time…here are 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
Most agent website mistakes are easy to fix once you know how. Let’s take a look at the three most damaging agent website problems and their solutions.
1. Lack of focus
Many agent websites seem to reflect a common agent mindset: “I am a jack of all trades and master of none.” When agents are trying to reach every, last conceivable prospect, their websites end up with a vague and meaningless focus.
No, “Buyers” and “Sellers” aren’t target audiences – at least not in a way that sets you apart from every other agent in town. If you truly want these two, overly-broad groups as a target, create two websites, one for each.
The same holds true for the seller-focused site: first-time sellers, downsizers, selling the luxury or waterfront home, for instance.
“One of the biggest marketing mistakes is to attempt to appeal to everyone at once.”
Suggests Tom Hallissey at Fat Guy Media. “The most-efficient way to reach more qualified consumers is to target smaller, more specific groups.”
We once worked with a woman who specialized in mobile home buyers. Sure, one mobile home here and there seems hardly worth the effort, but this lady specialized and marketed herself as the expert. She made a killing in the mobile home market and, her website was one of her best lead generation tools.
2. Overly-focused on the wrong things
Real estate prospecting is all about building relationships and each visitor to your site is a prospect. What happens then when visitors are immediately bombarded by how great you are, how many homes you’ve sold and how much money you make?
Is the braggadocio the person you would want to build a relationship with? Of course not. Self-important bragging is unattractive and doesn’t tell your website visitor one thing about “what is in it for them”.
Move-Up Market Series
So, skip the hype about you and, instead, make your website client-focused. If your ideal prospects visit your website, what do they want to know? How can you help them find it? Use your knowledge of and experience in real estate to demonstrate why you are the agent they should hire.
3. Wait … isn’t real estate all about location?
We recently read a Facebook post from an agent who was complaining that, after six months, his website just wasn’t “working.” He was blaming the website company.
Yet, one look at his site points the finger right back at the agent. The only mention of his market – his geographic location – was in his email address, posted at the bottom of the page.
He bought a template website and did nothing to customize it, except to plaster his own name all over it. This, despite there being numerous opportunities on the home page alone to stick in at least the name of his town.
His neighborhood pages consisted of his IDX for the area. That’s it.
According to NAR’s study, Real Estate in the Digital Age, nearly half of homebuyers using the internet are interested in neighborhood information.
Many agents ignore this section (if they even have one) of their websites, and it’s a pity. What’s it like living in a particular community? What are the good points? Why would I – as a first-time buyer, a move-up buyer, a commuter, retirement buyer, someone with a family or any other type of buyer want to live there?
Use your website to show pictures, discuss local news and events in your blog posts and anything else that captures why this neighborhood is a great place to live.
If your website isn’t converting as you hoped it would consider tweaking it to be more consumer-focused and offer the information they’re craving.
Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our Demographic Search Toolto create the ideal list (it’s easy). Or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!
PLUS: When you have time…here are 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
Gen X – those born between 1965 and 1976 – was the hardest-hit cohort during the 2007 Recession, with a nearly 60% drop in median household net worth. Blaire Briody, at BusinessInsider.com says that this is “the largest drop of all age groups.”
Amazingly, this is also the generation who has seen the greatest comeback since then.
Between 2010 and 2018, “… the median net worth of Gen X households has risen 115 percent,” according to Andrew Soergel at USNews.com, citing a researcher at Pew.
Today, we have a new crisis (the pandemic) and it’s impacting members of two generations: Millennials (age 25 to 43 this year) and Gen Z (age 24 and younger).
To deal with closed college campuses and the financial impact, many of these younger folks have gone home, to Mom and Dad.
Many of their parents want to help. If you have clients who are parents of Millenials and Gen Z the following are ideas you can share with them to get their kids to finally and forever leave the nest to feather a nest of their own.
Rent By Number Series with custom sub-heading
How to structure the deal
Many parents fear creating a financially-dependent, adult wanna-be by helping their Millennial or Gen Z child purchase a home.
If their son or daughter is generally mature and responsible and just needs a bit of temporary help, parents most likely have nothing to worry about.
A lot also depends on how they structure their assistance, and this is where you come in, offering solutions.
The different forms of “help”
Helping an adult child realize the dream of homeownership comes in many forms. Naturally, if your clients have the means, they may just want to purchase a condo or starter home outright and gift it to their child.
But there are alternatives, including:
Loaning the money, at a lower rate than lenders charge, which will help make the mortgage payments more affordable.
Buy a home using a share-equity agreement.
Gift the child the down payment and closing costs for a condo that he or she purchases.
The “Bank of Mom and Dad”
The best advice you can give your clients is to meet with their financial advisor, accountant and/or attorney to obtain advice about loaning the adult child the money for the home – either the down payment or the purchase price.
This way, they’ll understand all of the ramifications and have legal documents drawn up to protect themselves.
Whether they will charge interest on the loan is up to them, but, again, urge them to get the advice and assistance of professionals.
Rent By Number Series with custom sub-heading
The co-ownership option
Co-ownership of a condo or starter home offers parents the opportunity to share in the equity that is built up over the period of ownership.
This option isn’t without its pitfalls, however. For instance, when the home is eventually sold, it may subject you to a capital gains tax.
“However, if parents are going into the purchase simply to help the kids qualify for the mortgage and intend their contribution to be a gift, they can structure ownership so that their interest is nominal, and work with a lawyer to place that interest in a trust for the benefit of the kids,” according to Derrick Penner of the Globe and Mail.
The operative words there are “work with a lawyer.” We cannot stress enough the importance of ensuring your clients get professional financial and legal advice.
Mom and dad own it and lease it to the kid
If your clients have been contemplating buying an investment property, this may just be the ideal way to get their child into homeownership. Your clients will retain the tax benefits of owning the condo and the rental agreement can be structured so that they gift a percentage of ownership annually until the child owns the condo outright.
There are a number of ways to help an adult child move into homeownership. Go through your CRM and make some phone calls to parents of young adults. You may just have found a goldmine.
Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our Demographic Search Toolto create the ideal list (it’s easy). Or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!
PLUS: When you have time…here are 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
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
