Be The Source Of Local Home Sales Data When The National Data Is Released
Here’s one simple tactic agents can use with hyper-local home sales data to impress customers, competition and the media.
This tactic will impress buyers and sellers.
This tactic will establish an agent as the local agent with local knowledge.
This tactic is very easy to implement (because other people do all the work).
Here it is. Every month the National Association of Realtors releases their Existing Home Sales Report.
Those releases cover the latest home sales data and then compares it to previous months and years.
The report also mentions median existing home prices, average time homes are on the market and breaks down activity for single family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.
They also examine regional activity for the Northeast, West, South, and Midwest.
For extra measure, the researchers will throw in some facts about mortgage rates from Fannie Mae.
Tie in local home sales data with national news
Then the NAR economist will add some analysis. Such as this one in the latest release:
“Closings were down in most of the country last month because interested buyers are being tripped up by supply that remains stuck at a meager level and price growth that’s straining their budget,” said the economist.
“The demand for buying a home is as strong as it has been since before the Great Recession. Listings in the affordable price range continue to be scooped up rapidly, but the severe housing shortages inflicting many markets are keeping a large segment of would-be buyers on the sidelines.”
“The good news is that sales are still running slightly above last year’s pace despite these persistent market challenges.”
Certainly very interesting information. So interesting in fact, that you will see those national home statistics read by newscasters on the major TV networks. You will even see that home sales data reported by regional TV broadcasters. Local newspapers will be sure to pick up this information as well.
It’s a fact. Everybody loves to hear how home sales are performing.
Make your own observation about local home sales data
This is where hyper-local home sales data comes into play and makes a powerful statement about your value as a broker or agent in your particular marketplace.
Sure, the national information is important. It will catch the attention of many home owners and every home owner to be.
But here’s where an agent can swoop in.
With your own hyperlocal real estate feed, from reliable providers such as Home Junction, you can provide insight into a place where it matters, your target neighborhoods.
Because after all, Jim and Jan Homeowner don’t really care what happens in Manhattan, NYC if they live in Manhattan, KS.
You can cite the statistics from the NAR report. But with your local home sales data, you can point out how in XYZ neighborhood, prices are escalating even faster than the national average.
Or, with local home sales data trend charts, an agent can show how property sales are flat in an area, and the national increase has not hit this neighborhood yet.
In fact, you can offer consumers an insight into their particular zip code or even dig down to the neighborhood level.
Tease them with the information and offer to show them an in-depth report if they call you or fill out a lead form.
Or, let them know the full search functionality for local data is available on your website.
Play up the contrast between national real estate data and your local data on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Contact a business editor at the local newspaper. They are always looking for a local angle to national news. Offe to make a comment about local conditions.
A website visitor is not easy to generate. These are effective ways to get them to your site. Perhaps while there, they will start browsing through listings. And turn into a buyer.
For sellers, perhaps it’s just enough to convince them that you are the go-to agent in that area.
Act like an economist. Cite the NAR economist’s remarks. Then make your own. After all, you are in essence a real estate economist in your town when it comes to real estate. Show people how nobody knows the current state of their neighborhood better than you do.
As an added bonus, let consumers know there is a full array of tools for them to research all the relevant information they need about a neighborhood. There’s school information with enrollment figures and student/teacher ratios. There are cost of living indexes. Demographics breaking down the profile of who lives in the area. Even crime statistics.
National home sales data is attention-getting information. You see it all over the media.
Provide contrasting local home sales data with a local analysis to show everybody that you as an agent, know their particular neighborhood where it matters most.