Profiting from the real estate downturn, part III

Sad to say, many Realtors and others who serve the real estate market will drop out over the next few months. They'll buy into the gloom and doom and stop trying.

We have to be honest here, and realize that a whole lot of agents who got in when the market was hot weren't really trying much then, either. Just being there gave them enough business to keep them in the game. During my 19 years in real estate I met dozens of them who gave little effort to sharpening their skills - either as an agent or in marketing themselves.

Their decision to drop out is good news for you! They really were just cluttering things up and making it harder for customers and clients to find you.

Now is the time to sharpen your expertise - about all the homes for sale in your niche, and especially about how to deal with selling repossessed properties. And now is the time to market yourself as an expert.

Since many of those homes are in a pre-foreclosure state, it's also the time to learn all you can about handling short-sales. They do require an extra dose of patience and persistence. They also call for your use of compassion and kindness, because those home sellers are in a state of unhappy turmoil.

For those who serve the market in other ways, you may have to shift your idea of who your customers will be - for instance, instead of marketing exclusively to home sellers, also market to the agents who handle REO properties.

But think about this: Those people who are not in financial trouble, but who need to sell and move during tight times, may need your services more than ever. We all know that a sparkling clean and properly staged and landscaped home will sell faster than homes that merely look "lived in."

Your task is to show home sellers the advantage you can give them over their competition.

So get out there and present yourself as the professional they need! And if you have a hard time developing your marketing plan, get in touch.

This really can be a time of prosperity...

Marte

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.