Surviving and Thriving as a Real Estate Agent: Part 3

In my last two articles, I have discussed how real estate agents can not only survive, but thrive in this challenging real estate market.  I have covered the first three points in my four point plan:

1. Develop Your Niche
2. Become An Expert in Your Field
3. Be Mobile/Adapt
4. Develop a Marketing Campaign

Today I will cover the final point: Develop a Marketing Campaign.

Once I have developed my niche and determined specifically where I am going to invest and recommend that my clients invest, I create my marketing campaign to go find the investors.  I could easily write an entire book just on marketing for real estate agents, and I look forward to sharing more articles with you in the future on this topic, but for now I will share a few brief thoughts here to put you on the fast track. The marketing materials that I use are designed to aid the investor in making an informed decision on the investment they are currently considering. 

• The first item in this package is the “e flyer.”  This flyer is a colorful,
eye catching marketing piece that lists all the features and benefits of
the potential investment in a concise, easy to understand format.  I
send these flyers out to investors in the form of email blasts and
their purpose is to catch the investor’s eye and encourage them to read
more about the investment opportunity that I am offering.  To view an
example of one of my recent investment
flyers:www.viewpointequity.com/MGMFlyer.pdf  
• The second item that I include in my marketing package is a
proforma worksheet.  I have always used proformas to analyze
my own investments and I find it is an excellent tool to share
with my clients as they consider similar investments.  If the proforma
is done well and accurately, it will not only aid the potential client
in understanding the financials of the investment, but it will also
build your credibility in the eyes of your customers as not just a
Realtor, but a seasoned investor that actually understands the
investment process.  Having actual numbers plugged into a spreadsheet
gives the investor a sense of comfort with you and with the investment,
and helps to eliminate the feeling of the “unknown,” especially for
new investors.  All-in-all creating an informative and professional
marketing package for the properties that you are looking to sell
and including realistic projections and other data helps investors
to accurately evaluate a deal and establishes valuable credibility for
you that will result in repeat business, referrals, and client loyalty.
• Another tool that I use with outstanding results is my monthly
newsletter.  Different than a typical “Realtor” newsletter that might
feature recipes and other useful but non real estate related information,
my newsletter is filled with statistics, actual deals, potential
deals, education and opinions of the market in which I am currently
working.  Sending this out to my database on a monthly basis allows me to
stay in front of them and remind them that I am always looking for the
next best deal when and if they are ready to get involved.  To see my
latest newsletter: www.viewpointequity.com/newsletter.pdf
• My final, and perhaps most important marketing strategy, involves not what
I do, but what I don’t do.  I have found that my strengths as a
business person lie in my abilities to create leads, talk to clients,
sell properties and negotiate deals.  My strengths do not lie in the field
of internet marketing or graphic design.  Because of this, rather than
spend my time working on my own e flyers and newsletters, I employ an
internet marketing/graphic design firm to handle these details for me.  When
I am ready to create a marketing piece, I do the overall concept
management, writing, thinking, and analyzing and forward it on to
my specialist for the design of the marketing materials.  Once back to me
I make suggestions and changes to put the final touches on the material. 
I suggest that you too spend more time on the areas in which you
specialize and less time playing with graphic design programs on your
own computer.  This one idea (the virtual marketing assistant) has helped
me tremendously in getting more effective marketing material produced
faster than I could otherwise produce myself, leaving me free to
pursue sales.  If you are interested in contacting the firm that handles
my marketing, you can reach them through their
website:www.spiraldigitalmedia.com

If you follow these four simple steps, you will be well on your way to thriving as a real estate agent, even in a down economy.

Surviving and Thriving as a Real Estate Agent: Part 2

In my last article, I discussed the steps Realtors can take to thrive even in these challenging economic conditions. These steps were:

1. Develop Your Niche
2. Become An Expert in Your Field
3. Be Mobile/Adapt
4. Develop a Marketing Campaign

In this article, I would like to discuss Steps #2 & #3 in further detail.

Becoming An Expert in Your Field

I cannot stress enough how important it is to identify a niche (as we discussed in the last article) and establish yourself as an expert in that particular area. Clients genuinely appreciate and flock to agents who really know what they are talking about. Do your research.

I have found that Google Alerts provides me with an excellent vehicle for educating myself and staying on the cutting edge of topics that I am interested in. All you have to do to use Google Alerts is to sign up for a Google or Gmail account, sign in to their alert system, register your key words/topics that you are interested in and begin receiving the best articles and blogs to follow on a daily basis.

When I identify a hot spot for investors, it is because I have done extensive research on that topic. I am able to combine the knowledge I derive from that research with the gut feelings that I have been able to develop over the years. I also travel extensively and am always personally checking out areas that are on my radar. There is no substitute for first hand knowledge. If you are planning on specializing in a certain development or neighborhood, make sure that you visit that area on a regular basis to stay abreast of changes, new growth, different conditions, etc. The last thing you want is to market yourself as an expert in a certain area and then be surprised when your potential client knows more about the project or neighborhood than you do.

Also, in my research, there are some experts in their respective fields that I follow closely and whose opinions I respect. These individuals and groups include: Bruce Norris and the Norris Group, John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Robert Shiller and the Case Shiller Index, and local Las Vegas economist Keith Schwer. These men and their support staffs do an amazing amount of research and by reading up on their newsletters and reports it is easy to stay on top of and spot trends in the marketplace.

Be Mobile/Adapt

I would like to expand on the idea of traveling to the investment hot spots. Being in the places where people actually want to buy, and are buying, will enhance your chances of becoming a leader in your field. Specializing in a niche within a niche will also help establish your reputation as a leader in your area of expertise.

Between 2003 and 2006, I was heavily involved in several real estate markets. Whereever the hottest market could be found… I was there. I was in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and North Carolina just to name a few. I stayed tuned-in to where investors were heading, as I was one of them, and invested in all of these markets myself. Since the summer of 2008, I have specialized once again in the Las Vegas valley, but this time it has been foreclosures and REO properties… not new construction homes. I knew it was time to gear myself back up for sales in the Las Vegas area as I watched the prices of single family homes and condos drop rapidly due to the glut of foreclosures flooding the market. These lower prices created homes that could be purchased and rented for very good cash flow… better than Vegas has seen in decades. I took the opportunity to begin educating myself about this niche in this market, develop my marketing materials, and get ready to welcome the investors that I knew would soon come running into the Las Vegas housing market once again.

Even if you cannot travel as extensively as I did in the search for the nation's hottest real estate markets, it is important to stay mobile within your own home area. Perhaps one neighborhood in your city or town is in transition. Perhaps a lot of rehabbers have moved in and are turning the neighborhood around. This might represent great upside buying potential for your clients. This phenomenon will only last so long though. Soon prices in the neighborhood will begin to rise and it will be time to move on and look for the next buying opportunity.

Above all, it is important to adapt. No one real estate market, or project, or strategy will work long term. We must be willing and able to continuously adapt. Our chosen niche will often dry up and we must be ready to pick a new niche and move on.

Next time we will discuss Step #4.

Surviving and Thriving as a Real Estate Agent: Through Good Times and Bad

Surviving and Thriving as a Real Estate Agent: Through Good Times and Bad

It is no secret that real estate agents, as well as other real estate related professions, have had a difficult road over the last few years. The rise and fall of the national real estate market created a feast then famine scenario …and many agents have not survived the famine. Meanwhile, over the last 5 years, I have sold over 500 single family homes, condos, or land lots…including closing on 30 properties last month alone. This volume places me in the top 5% of all Realtors in the country (in both transactions and commissions.) I would like to share with you, over my next few articles, how I have been able to achieve this success. (And you don’t even have to buy a video course or purchase a web book!) My success through these difficult times has not been due to luck but rather due to a particular mindset that has worked very well for me.

Thinking As An Investor

This mindset has entailed thinking as an investor instead of as a Realtor. My career in real estate began as an investor. I enjoyed great success purchasing my own investment properties, and began to help other investors find deals for themselves. Several years later, the natural progression was to get my realtor’s license. As a result, I have never really considered myself a Realtor by trade, but rather an investor who helps other investors. At the moment I currently own over 20 investment properties myself. This helps me to understand what investors are looking for and the challenges they face in the current market. But owning your own investment properties is not a prerequisite to thinking like an investor. In order to position yourself as an investors’ Realtor you don’t have to own a lot of properties yourself, but you do have to develop a reputation with your clients for being more interested in their bottom line than you are in your commission. I have been able to do this, and in so doing grow a large investor database, by using the following strategies that I would like to share with you:

• Develop Your Niche

• Become An Expert in Your Field

• Be Mobile/Adapt

• Develop a Marketing Campaign

Over the next several articles, I will go over each of these steps in detail. Let’s start with the first one:

Developing Your Niche As An Investors’ Realtor

The first thing I have done is to develop a niche. I don’t try to know (or act like I know) everything about every area of real estate…rather I focus on a specific area. This area may, and sometimes must, change over time. In my case, I have always focused primarily on single family homes. For a while I worked on SFRs in CA, then I moved to AZ. I went through several other locales and for the last two years have focused on Las Vegas, NV. More specifically, I focus on the new Northwest area of the valley. 80% or more of my deals are located in this specific area. This is the area that I am comfortable with, knowledgeable about, and experienced in.

By becoming an expert in a particular area, I am better able to service my clients and identify for them the most profitable investments available. Reputation is everything in this business. You need to build a reputation for being well informed and very familiar with your area of expertise so that you can knowledgably and confidently advise your client whether or not a particular property will make a valuable addition to their portfolio.

In my next article, I will discuss how to become an expert in your chosen niche.