Profiting from the real estate downturn, part II

Yesterday we talked about how Realtors can profit by targeting rental buyers, and how others who provide services should step in now and market themselves to Realtors who list repossessions.

Now think for a minute about becoming a rental manager, taking care of details for those rental buyers and freeing up their time to find and buy even more.

Not only will you make a nice little side income, if you happen to be a Realtor, you can put yourself in a firm position with next year's home buyers. Of course, if you manage enough units, your income could be substantial, so if you like it, go for the gold!

But back to next year: You begin by treating your tenants very well - making sure that they not only like but trust you. Then you offer to show them ways to improve their credit scores, save money, and have the down payment they need for a home sooner instead of later.

Read the book: "Drop Your Debt Fast" and share tidbits with them - encourage them to get it for themselves and get busy. Counsel them on all the things they should and shouldn't do while they're building that credit. And when they've made progress, begin telling them about homes they can afford. In short - create a group of "buyers in waiting" who will turn to you when the time is right.

You non-Realtors who offer cleaning, repair, remodeling, landscaping, staging, accounting, database management, etc. should get in touch with the agents who follow my advice and create a list of rental owners. Show them the work you do and ask for a referral to those owners.

Again, when you approach the Realtors present yourself as a professional - dress the part and carry a well written brochure plus business cards. I showed you yesterday how to get the business cards for just the price of shipping... and your brochures need not be expensive, either. If you use the right paper, you can even print them from your own computer.

Just make sure that your brochure focuses on what you'll do for the prospect - make sure you don't fall into the "I, I, me, me" trap that makes so much marketing a waste of time and paper. If you can't figure out how to write a Customer-focused brochure, or if you're unsure of your own grammar and punctuation skills, write me.

To make yourself look even more professional, why not go back to Vista Print and get a Free Car Door Custom Magnet? Then those rental owners will know at a glance what you have to offer - and you could get calls from people who haven't seen your marketing elsewhere.

OK, keep squeezing that lemon -

Some Realtors chase prospects from their sites

My husband has decided he wants to move - he isn't quite sure where to, but somewhere on water so he can walk out the door and get in his boat. Of course, he knows it has to be somewhere that will also accommodate a horse and a garden spot.

So, he's been searching the internet to see what's there.

And guess what? He isn't able to find out.

He's just looking at this point, not even sure whether he wants to look in Montana or Washington, or even Canada. So, he refuses to put his name and address in the boxes on Realtor sites. Therefore, he's not allowed to see what's for sale.

Tonight I did get stubborn and keep looking after he gave up. And on about page 14 of Google I found one real estate site that offered a peek at listings without first putting me through a squeeze page.

Now, we may never move at all. And if we do, maybe not to that area. But if we do, guess which agency will get our business?

I harp a lot about capturing names, but I do believe this is the wrong way to do it. Instead of turning customers away, give them this information without obligation, and then offer some useful report to capture the names of the prospects who are truly interested in moving to your area.

Not only will you make a friend, you'll save yourself the bother, time, and expense of staying in touch and pushing on people who have no intention of moving to your town.

Think about it...

What's your biggest real estate marketing challenge?

This afternoon I was talking with a friend about real estate marketing. She felt the biggest challenge was marketing herself to get new clients. But a few days ago another agent told me that writing interesting ads to sell his listings was the really tough part.

What do YOU see as the biggest challenge in real estate marketing?

Since I love writing, prospecting letters were fun. I'll admit that finding a way to position your work as different from the competition is a challenge. It takes a little work to determine what you do that's "more and better." But you can do it, even if you have to stretch and push yourself to add a little more service to your work.

My big problem was trying to find a unique selling point when I had a boring listing. For instance, in our town we had an over abundance of old single-wide trailers. Usually they sat on lots that had no landscaping, no garage, no nothing to make them special. About the only thing to say was that it would be a roof over your head for little money!

Now, of course, even those old trailers are expensive. I'm glad I'm no longer trying to find buyers for them.

The second challenge in writing good house ads is putting the buyer in the house without breaking any ADA or Fair Housing rules. That's why I love the fact that over 3/4 of all buyers search first on the internet. You can write more words, and that lets you show people what they can see, hear, walk to, etc. without using any of those forbidden words.

Are you using the full potential of the internet to bring buyers to your listings? If not, then make it your January resolution to get started.

Meanwhile, post your answer to my question: What is your biggest challenge in real estate marketing.