Home Value Estimator Tools For Real Estate Brokers And Agents

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home value estimator tool

A home value estimator is a powerful tool to generate leads and now local brokers and agents have the ability to add this appealing feature to their own website, just like the mega-real estate sites.

It’s no secret that certain large real estate websites have put themselves on the map by offering consumers a home value estimator widget.  Consumers were immediately drawn to the site by this online feature that let them check estimates on the value of their property and their neighbors’ properties.

The great advantage of today’s data technology is that to answer that old-age question on every homeowner’s mind of “What is my home worth?”, an agent or broker doesn’t need a million dollars. In fact, the whole process of adding a home value estimator is now relatively easy and inexpensive.

Data providers such as Home Junction have the ability to provide the same technology for real estate brokers and agents, and any other business with relevant interests. These tools can increase lead generation, website traffic, and improve branding.

Let’s face it, everybody loves to check the value of their home. Not just once, but on a regular basis. It’s human nature.

If the market is strong and prices are going up, looking at recent home sale trends and watching the value of your home increasing is like some invisible entity putting money into your pocket. For consumers, that’s downright thrilling.

How To Add A Home Value Estimator To Your Website

Here’s how the Automated Valuation Model from Home Junction works:

  • Simply install the Home Value Estimator widget onto your website by adding a few pieces of code.
  • Place the “Home Value” address bar right on the homepage of your website, or another page. (Go to www.roywheeler.com to see an example of effective placement).
  • The consumer enters their address.
  • The home value algorithm kicks into gear.
  • Relevant data points are generated from a variety of sources – public record data such as tax rolls, MLS data, previous home sales in the area, etc.

The Data API creates a report with the following results:

  • Property Listing Details – number of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.
  • Predicted Market Value – This is the estimate created by Home Junction’s proprietary formula. Remember, it’s only an estimate, and be sure to educate your prospects that the result will be a broad estimation of their home’s value.
  • Confidence Range – This is a disclaimer in a way, letting the user know that the number provided is part of a wider range of values. So, to be clear to the user, a confidence range of 6%, plus or minus, is also stated along with a dollar amount. Included is a pricing range, showing the Low and High amount. Again, this tool is to inform consumers that this instant estimate is a rough overview of the potential value of their home.

As you know, there are so many variables that go into the pricing of a home, such as the condition of the house, floor plans, local market changes, etc. It really is impossible to price a home exactly without an actual visit by an agent or appraiser.

This home valuation tool is only meant as a beginning point. More importantly, it’s a catalyst that prepares this visitor to start a dialogue with an agent and ask for a more detailed comparative market analysis. Additional WordPress plugin features include:

  • Request “Professional CMA” –  Consumers who are interested in truly obtaining an estimate of what their home is worth will click here. That makes them a highly qualified & valuable lead. Your own lead, not one you need to buy from someone else.
  • Comparison Charts – Also included are charts that show a comparison range based on certain criteria such as size, price, price per square foot, and age of the property.

For example, the user’s home may be only 15 years old, while the average home in the marketplace is 60 years old. That indicates this home is newer than 87% of the other homes in the area.

Or take the size. This home in particular may be 2,500 square feet while the average home is only 1,800. Therefore, the owner sees their property is larger than 81% of other homes in the market.

Another comparison factor may be price. According to the Home Value Estimator tool, the Predicted Market Value of this home may be in the top 22% of the market compared to others.

The same goes with Price Per Square Foot. The chart will show if the average price per square foot for this particular home is higher or lower than others.

Further down the page, an agent can show another widget which feeds in Recent Sales in the Area. A homeowner can then look and see what that home down the street sold for and when.

Answer The Question “What Is My Home Worth?”

Having the right data gives homeowners an incredible, multi-faceted snapshot of their property value that can be promoted over and over again in email blasts, mailings, and social media. Combine it with other insightful real estate data tools and charts.

A promotion might read like this: “Our Recent Home Sales chart shows that prices in your neighborhood have increased this past quarter. Get a free estimate of what your home may currently be worth by clicking here.”

After a homeowner reviews this data, it could just be the tipping point that tells them, “Now is the time to sell.” When that happens, that visitor turns from an Internet surfer into a hot, qualified lead with a strong potential for a listing.

Home value estimates can be a powerful lead generation tool that is not only useful for creating leads for real estate companies but can also be offered to the public by banks, mortgage companies, investor services, and other businesses.

Adding a home value widget on your website levels the playing field and gives your business the capability to generate your own leads without paying for them. Draw people to your own website and build up your own brand.

For more information on how you can improve your website contact our team at Home Junction for a consultation.

One-Word Formula For Improving Your Real Estate SEO

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real estate seoWe’re about to give you a one-word insight into part of Google’s secret sauce for real estate SEO (search engine optimization).

That word is “engagement.”

You need it to succeed on search engines and move your company up on the search results.

Now, by engagement, we don’t mean go out and ask your neighbor to marry you.

We mean how well people engage with your website.

And there are some very simple strategies you can do to boost that engagement.

So what does “engagement” mean when it comes to Google and Bing?

It basically asks this question, how well do visitors interact with your website?

For example, Google measures a factor called “Time on Site and Time on Page.” That means how long does a visitor stay on a page and on your website, in this day of “click and go.”

If the content is interesting, obviously, they will stay longer. Google and Bing like that. It’s a signal to them that you offer relevant and interesting content.

(Remember, after all, Google and Bing base their own performance and rankings on how well they send visitors to a site that answers their search questions).

Another factor is how many pages does a person visit on your site? Again, if your site is chock full of relevant information, it’s obvious that a consumer will check out several pages as they look for answers.

Then there are referrals. If you like the content on a page and share it with your friends either by email or social media site like Facebook, the search engines will see that as another signal you offer valuable and relevant information for consumers.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Yes, Content is still King.

Google and Bing have hundreds of other factors they use in choosing where to rank a website.

Some of those include:

– how your page is coded (the beauty of a WordPress real estate website)

– how many sites link to your website (not easy to do and definitely easy to mess up if you use bad “black-hat” techniques)

–  and numerous other items such as “site speed” or how fast a page loads onto a person’s screen when they come to your website. Hint: if it takes too long, not good.

In fact, we can’t name all the ranking factors because, frankly, nobody knows all of them. And even if somebody claimed to know them, both Google and Bing are notorious for constantly adjusting and changing their criteria (the secret SEO sauce).

But there is one thing many experts will agree is a key factor – engagement.

Improve your real estate SEO with real estate data

So as a broker or agent you have your basic real estate website.

You get your share of “looky lous,” people who are not looking to buy a home and just daydreaming as they flip through your pages (and probably at a rapid rate. Remember “time on page?”)

That’s fine. Someday they might become customers.

Then you have your genuine prospects who will spend a legitimate amount of time on your site, looking for answers.

Naturally, you want more of these people. They take substantial time, energy and money to acquire. And search engines can certainly make a big difference in the number of qualified visitors you attract.

One way you can “engage” all visitors is by offering them more valuable information on your website. Answer more of their questions.

Sure, you will have your listings and plenty of photos and descriptions.

But what else can you offer?

What about in-depth, current and accurate information about various neighborhoods? That will attract every visitor’s attention.

Show visitors:

  • Recent home sale trends – are homes selling in this neighborhood? What are they selling for? Are home prices going up? (That might just turn a looker into a buyer or a seller quicker than they planned).
  • How about School Information? Show visitors the schools in those neighborhoods. Then point out the number of students, student/teacher ratios, school demographics, etc.
  • What about Crime Statistics? Everybody will check crime stats. That’s a major concern for every citizen at all levels of home ownership.
  • Demographics of the neighborhoods? One part of town might attract lots of college graduates. Or perhaps, there is a large group of middle-aged people living over here in this neighborhood. This gives buyers a feel for who their neighbors will be.
  • Price Index? Hmm, I wonder how prices for apparel, food, transportation in my town compare to prices elsewhere.

Now, as you read down this list of important content for home buyers and sellers, do you see the benefits as far as real estate SEO?

All of this relevant information keeps readers engaged longer on your website.

Stops them from flipping from one page to the next.

Perhaps entices them to bookmark a page or share a link with a friend.

Know who’s watching all this activity? Google and Bing. They are going to like what they see.

If your site meets their other criteria as well, the search engines may see this as another reason to move your website up in the rankings, especially if your competitors are lacking in this area.

Every real estate pro, and frankly every businessperson knows, higher search engine rankings are golden.

We’re not going to say that adding real estate data is going to improve your real estate SEO overnight.

But adding any kind of relevant data is going to help.

With massive data feeds from Home Junction embedded on your website, you can easily add quite a bit of relevant real estate data. All it takes is embedding some code. You don’t need to go out and find that data – Home Junction does that for you.

(And think of the marketing potential of telling the public about all this valuable content you now have on your site. It’s definitely a traffic driver. Check out Trulia. They just moved all of their neighborhood data up higher on their pages).

Want to engage consumers better on your website for better real estate SEO?

Provide more engaging content.

 

 

 

Real Estate Data Change By Major Website Reveals A BIG Opportunity For Local Brokers And Agents

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big real estate data

A very interesting twist on real estate data took place on one of those national real estate websites recently that might represent an Achilles Heel type scenario for brokers and agents.

The twist involves the site’s re-positioning of their neighborhood data from less noticeable areas to a more prominent area near the top of the page.

In fact, on that site, consumers can easily switch back and forth from the listing…to the neighborhood data.

Why the change to put more emphasis on neighborhood real estate data?

For one, the mega company conducted a survey and found that a large majority of homeowners consider the neighborhood to be one of their top priorities when searching for a property. More than ever. In fact, many of them would be willing to give up certain amenities such as a pool or a finished basement for a great neighborhood instead.

Funny. We knew that all along.

That’s why Home Junction has focused on becoming one of the leading providers of hyper-local real estate data to broker and agents.

Use real estate data just like the major websites

But here’s where the Achilles Heel part comes in.

Local brokers and agents don’t have to look at these mega-real estate sites in envy, wishing they could provide the same valuable neighborhood data as they do.

Now, with modern Big Data technology, it’s possible for an agent in Boondock, Iowa, to offer superb, high-quality, accurate real estate data just like the big boys do.

Brokers and agents can parley that local information just like the national sites to generate their own real estate leads. But what’s great about this functionality, they get to keep all their own leads. They don’t have to pay a nickel for them.

And they can also use this neighborhood real estate data to build up their own brand as the go-to company in their market.

They can position themselves as the place with local knowledge. A big advantage every broker or agent should be exploiting against the larger sites that are based somewhere out there in the wilderness and certainly not on Main Street in Your Town USA.

Years ago the process of gathering real estate data may have seen daunting. Pull information from there. Grab information from the local Realtor’s association site (just like every other agent can do.).

But that’s not the case in today’s atmosphere of technological empowerment. Just like you can shoot a photo or a video from your phone, you can also post key neighborhood data on your website.

By just embedding a few lines of code, an agent can pull in reams of hyper-local information and display this data on any page they want.

That includes Recent Home Sales, Sale Price Trends, Local Schools, Crime Ratings, Demographics, Cost of Living Indices, Area Businesses. A wealth of stuff that homebuyers want to know (and sellers want to see next to their listings).

Because here’s another benefit that local real estate data provides. A powerful marketing tool. Don’t just show property listings in your email blasts and social media posts.

Also, show local trends in real estate. Display charts pointing out the direction of home sales each quarter. Show more charts indicating the direction of home prices (talk about a way to get sellers off the fence).

Become a resource for local business people to check the makeup of the community as far as demographics. Give journalists and bloggers some interesting tidbits on the number of college graduates in a given market. Or, let them know how the cost of food and apparel in one market compares to another.

The change that this national real estate website made is very, very revealing. They obviously see the importance of hyper-local real estate data. Neighborhood data. Their research backs it up.

Now, as a local real estate broker or agent, make your move with your own real estate data. You now have the advantage to make yourself more of a local resource than any website based thousands of miles away.

 

 

Real Estate Map Tool Can Help Buyers Who Need “Co-Living” Arrangements

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co-living home buyersLet’s face it, living in urban areas or suburbs close to cities is getting incredibly expensive and using a real estate map tool is one way to help home buyers get into a home using a “co-living” strategy.

Yes, home prices and rental rates are going through the roof in some markets. San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles are seeing record highs for prices. Ironically, Millennials want to move to urban areas or close by more than ever. They are in essence, creating their own dilemma.

In addition, Millennials is most markets have held off the purchase of any property. They didn’t want to commit to a mortgage (even though, in another ironic observation, mortgage rates are near record lows, even if they have been creeping up slightly. A rate of 4% is still incredibly attractive to the 9% rates and higher we’ve seen).

But that is changing. Mainly due to skyrocketing rents. So how can a young person afford to buy a home? One solution that is a growing is a movement  called “Co-Living.”  What is co-living? It’s a concept that basically says, “I can only afford this place if I find a bunch of roommates.” It’s a movement similar to the days of college dorms where a group of young people will all live together under one roof.

What does this have to do with a broker or agent?

Many home buyers today are looking at properties with the potential to rent part of the property out to help cover the mortgage.

It’s a smart strategy. The rental market is super-hot right now. If you own a home or condo in a decent location and can offer an attractive rate in an attractive area, you will get inquiries from renters.

This is where a real estate pro can paint a picture of how a property can be a good source of income.

Offer real estate map tools to help buyers attract renters

One of the best ways to paint that picture is a real estate map tool, such as a  widget offered by real estate data providers such as Home Junction.

Sure, you can tell a home buyer this is a great location.

But why not SHOW them how that property is an ideal location on a map embedded on your website? Get the wheels spinning in the buyer’s head on how they can also use this information to attract renters.

For example, with the real estate map tool, an agent or broker can point out a prospective property pulled from MLS data.

Then, with the real estate map tool, they can start displaying amenities within certain distances of that property.

Maybe it’s a coastal town and the property is located ten miles away from a beach.

Or perhaps it’s a hipster type town and the home is located three miles from downtown.

There’s a cool bookstore over here, just a mile away. Love Starbucks? Here are two within a five-mile radius. Like yoga, here are two places within two miles. Sushi restaurants, hip clubs, coffee houses – point them all out. in relative proximity to the home for sale.

Some of these amenities can have as much drawing power as a refurbished bathroom or a kitchen with upgraded appliances.

Alternative transportation is a big plus with Millenials. According to AAA, many young people are actually delaying the purchase of an automobile. They prefer public transportation or even commuting by bicycle. (Another way to be able to save enough money to purchase a property).

Use the real estate map tool to show home buyers how they can show renters that from this location, there are many amenities that are “bikeable or walkable.”

You don’t need to get in a car to purchase a gallon of milk. Ride your bike.

Tell them about the parks nearby. Paint a picture of the home buyer riding their bike through a wooded area or walking their dog along a river bank.

Paint a picture of a home buyer telling potential renters the same thing.

Same goes with train stations and bus stops. Few people want to drive into an urban area – roads are more congested than ever. Tolls are higher than ever. Parking a car in a city for a week eats up a day’s pay.

Transportation amenities are golden. With a real estate map tool, you can point out all the commuting amenities.

How about schools? There are quite a few single parents in society. They are all looking for inexpensive places to rent. Great schools would be an enormous draw and in fact, the main draw for them.

Provide a feed on your website with current school data. Show buyers a comprehensive overview of schools in the area with student/teacher ratios, school demographics, etc.

The challenge of convincing consumers today to purchase a home might seem enormous in current conditions. Inventory is low. Prices are high. Millennials are still reluctant to take out a 30-year mortgage.

But real estate pros know challenges come with the territory. They key is to be able to adapt to market conditions and use the right tools to address those conditions.

What’s encouraging, is that today, with big data and geo-spatial technology, real estate pros have an incredible array of inexpensive real estate data tools at their disposal. Tools they can display on their own website (and make sure they keep their clients or generate their own leads).

Some consumers will want to consider “co-living” as a home buying strategy. That’s fine. You can help them. And with a real estate map tool integrated into the local MLS, you will have the best resources at your disposal to assist them.

 

 

 

 

 

Real Estate Data Is Perfect For Starting A Conversation On LinkedIn

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real estate on linkedinReal estate data can be a powerful asset when it comes to creating popular and attention-getting social media posts.

Most people are obsessed with Facebook. With more than one billion users, Facebook certainly dominates the social landscape.

But as many of you know, Facebook can be kind of frivolous. You will see all sorts of content posted on Facebook – cats jumping, dogs talking and people engaged in crazy pursuits. After all, it’s a site for friends.

The same can basically be said for Instagram as well. Pinterest-  who knows, there certainly seem to be a lot more recipes than anything else.

But for those serious about doing business within their community, nothing beats LinkedIn. That’s why the site attracts 433 million users worldwide. Their stats are jaw dropping.

People on LinkedIn don’t want to see cats doing flips or dog leaping for Frisbees. They want to see interesting, business-related content.

That’s why adding a hyper-local real estate data widget to your website gives you a fantastic way to communicate on LinkedIn.

Nearly 62% of people who use LinkedIn say they have been successful in using this platform to translate online interests into offline discussions.

Data providers such as Home Junction can provide local agents with a doorway to an incredible treasure chest of interesting local information.

Real estate data can help you start a LinkedIn conversation

For example, an agent can post a notice about the latest Market Conditions. Include a chart showing Home Sales Data and the direction they are taking. Are home sales going up in a town? Flat? Dropping? Doesn’t matter. Every local business person will be interested in this.

Same with prices. Show charts portraying the latest direction of home prices. Every business person wants to see where prices are going, not just for their home, but also as an indicator for the local economy.

Go deeper. Post demographic information. Many local business leaders would love to see the median incomes in their area are on the rise.

Or perhaps, post a blog about how the number of people with bachelor’s degrees has risen. Give LinkedIn members a pie chart with an entire snapshot of the level of education in their marketplace.

Show the local cost of living index.

This is powerful stuff. The type of content that gets shared and liked. Many business people have acquaintances who are perhaps looking to relocate to your area. They will pass this information on to them.

Once you have this bevy of local data at your fingertips, you have assets that make it easy for you to reach out to other business people in your community.

Beef up your profile – tell people you now have awesome hyper-local information tools they might want to follow. Offer to answer their questions about the local market.

Join local business networking groups.

Create your own group as an administrator.

Join local groups with a common interest- say promoting a green environment. Or perhaps there is a local group filled with marketing people such as a local Advertising Federation organization.

This valuable local real estate data will give you the confidence to reach out to individual business people to network one-on-one.

After all, one of the keys to social media is not just the post you create, but the people you connect to. If you have followers or follow people who are not key influencers for your type of business, you might be wasting your time.

Create a target list of people you would like to interact with. When you ask to be connected with them, put in a note about how you would be glad to provide them with some local real estate data. Perhaps the person you are reaching out to is in a related field – a builder, mortgage broker, banker, landscaper, architect. They will see the value in connecting with you if you offer them something valuable.

Don’t just ask them to tell all their followers about you – give them a valid reason to share and like your posts. Research shows, people will share content if they think it will make them look good in the eyes of their followers.

When someone shares something, they are basically saying: “Hey folks, look at this information I just found about local real estate conditions. I thought you would be interested.” (And see how cool I am for providing it to you).

LinkedIn also has some premium services which allows you to send InMail (email messages) directly to people. Find those individuals who seem to have a high stature on LinkedIn. People with lots of followers.

Bottom line: if you have something interesting to say on LinkedIn, such as real estate data, people are more likely to spread the word about you. This will increase the number of your followers.

Those people are not just acquaintances. They are all prospects themselves.  Followers who are either homeowners who might sell their homes or potential home buyers. These are also people who know other people who are looking to sell or buy.

In recent years, LinkedIn has boomed as a social media platform. Just about anybody in any business will have a presence there. This is the networking tool of the 21s century. Work it.

They say you don’t sell on LinkedIn. You start a conversation. What a great conversation opener you will have with this in-depth, information that most people don’t possess

LinkedIn is for serious minded people. Get some seriously valuable real estate data to use as your content on LinkedIn and you will get people’s attention.

 

Real Estate Data Can Help You Quickly Become A “Thought Leader” In Your Market

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real estate thought leaderA “thought leader” is a buzzword that continues to circulate in business circles today but with local real estate data, a savvy broker or agent can apply this strategy to set themselves apart in their niche markets.

By basic definition, a thought leader is someone who is seen as an authority in their field and carries considerable influence.

When it comes to thought leaders, most people will think of high-profile personalities such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Seth Godin or Tony Robbins.

But the beauty of this concept is that you don’t have to have an enormous following to be a thought leader. You also don’t have to be a millionaire…a journalist with their own TV show…or the author of a best-selling book.

You don’t need to be nationally-recognized, a popular celebrity in your state or even a big-wig in a major city. The size of the sphere of influence does not have to be that large at all.

In essence, a broker or agent can become the “thought leader” in just their neighborhood. And they can achieve that status by embedding hyper-local real estate data feeds into their website.

The actual role of a thought leader is kind of vague. While the term was first seen in literature as early as 1887, the whole concept has been bantered about and applied in multiple ways with each decade.

But there are some basic characteristics that give a business person this coveted status.

Real estate data establishes authority

Here are some tips on how to achieve the mindset of a “thought leader:”

In-depth knowledge: this factor is a given if you are going to be a leader in any field. For real estate, you not only need to know the business, you need to know your marketplace. That means doing a deep-dive into all the information you can find about that marketplace.

One of the best ways to do that is to acquire a real estate data feed from credible data providers such as Home Junction.

This is a quick way to gain tons of expert knowledge. Imagine, with just a few lines of code, you can have access to an enormous database of hyper-local information.

That includes Real Home Sales, Home Sale Trends, Demographics, Cost of Living Indices, Home Value Assessments, School Information, etc., etc. etc.

Sure, lots of brokers and agents in your market have great websites, listings, fancy photographs, etc.

But you can go much, much further with all this real estate data. That’s a big step to standing out in the home sales field.

Credibility: sure, people can boast all they want about how they are experts in their area. But how do they back it up? BS only goes so far.

Thought leaders not only speak about their marketplaces with assertiveness, they back up their words and comments with facts.

In this era of “fake news,” consumers are more skeptical than ever. Showing actual real estate data to back up your comments is a major strategy when influencing people.

For example, an agent might attend a Rotary meeting or any kind of meeting for that matter. They might get up and talk about their years as an agent, the changes they’ve seen, blah, blah blah.

Now think about the agent who gets up to speak, touches on some of the same subjects, but then pulls out reams of hyper-local real estate data about recent homes sales or the demographics of the local area.

That person also displays big charts showing trends with Property Sales Data or a pie chart showing Cost of Living Indices for apparel, transportation, food costs, etc.

Who is going to be recognized as a true thought leader?

It doesn’t have to be a room full of people either. You could be making the same presentation in front of two very important people, a couple who are seriously considering listing their $750,000 home with you.

Consistency: the next big factor to establish authority is to display yourself as an expert consistently over time. Thought leaders are not just one-hit wonders. They don’t just make a big splash one time and think they are going to ride that wave for the rest of their careers.

Real thought leaders consistently demonstrate their authority. They speak before different groups. They are quoted in local newspapers. They publish important information on their website and in their blogs. They continue to have compelling, fact-filled posts on social media sites. Their emails are always filled with interesting and informative content, not just fluff.

The beauty of real estate data feeds, is that there is a never-ending source of high-value material that an agent can access and share on a consistent basis.

Profit: because one of the other characteristics of a thought leader is that this is a person who actually profits from what they preach. This person is not an academic or a journalist. They are not theorists. A thought leader is someone who actually walks the talk. They have been able to use their authority to make a living.

With this in-depth expertise and data, they are able to offer top-notch service to their clients…and it pays off.

The influence and the information they deliver is real. It’s credible. It’s valuable. If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be making money from it.

This strategy of constantly offering a  flood of valuable information will eventually lodge deep into the minds of consumers, prospects and influencers in the target area.

At that point, this agent will emerge as the “go-to” person in their field. The thought leader.  And over the years, that position has proven to provide a very high return on their investment of resources, time and dedication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Use Real Estate Data To Create Layers Of Persuasion

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real estate data layersReal estate data can be like an award-winning photograph when approaching potential listings.

For example, in Photoshop, there is a feature called “layers.” With this function you can create different layers for an image to enhance different areas.

You might want to create one layer to boost the color. Create another layer to darken the background.

Then, when you have made all these adjustments, you combine all these layers into one incredible photograph, 100 times better than the original.

Same goes for real estate data. Use this valuable hyper-local to create an compelling picture on why you are the agent that is right to sell this person’s home.

Sure, many agents will have the same old spiel. Been in the market for x number of years, sold a similar house a few blocks away and possess local knowledge (without offering any proof).

But imagine another agent going in with a complete display of hyper-local data.

And this is key. This agent isn’t going to use the local MLS to show this information or other common resources.

They are going to tell the seller this is real estate data they host on their website. (Provided of course, by real estate data companies such as Home Junction).

Then pull out those persuasive layers one by one.

Real estate data can be stacked in your favor

Here’s how to use this wealth of hyper-local data to educate a seller on how you will tell a buyer about the many facets of a property:

Local Homes Sales Data – not only show the data, show the powerful charts and how those images attract buyers.

Recent Sales Prices – again, show those eye-catching charts.

School information – here’s a complete list of schools in the sellers neighborhood and how you are going to promote the fact that this property is located near some very appealing schools with great student/teacher ratios.

Demographics – the home owner probably didn’t even know this, but in their neighborhood, there are quite a few college graduates and professionals. That’s certainly a nice feature to promote.

Cost of Living Index – show the seller that the town they are in is less expensive then that other town up the interstate that so many people think is the place to live. Sure people want to live there, but when they see how expensive it is for basic items like food and clothing, maybe they will look for an alternative. The agent can point out, “That just happens to be your neighborhood, Mr. Homeowner.”

Number of home owners – maybe that neighborhood across the street is getting a lot of action and a seller might wonder how they can compete with those homes. However, with your hyper-local insight into the true profile of the neighborhood, you can use your real estate data to point out that the area over there has a larger percentage of renters, not owners.

Then show the home owner how you are going to pound home the point that his neighborhood has a much higher percentage of home owners, which represents a stable, attractive place to live.

Breakdown of Age Groups – another powerful demographic point to make is that Mr. Homeowner lives in a community that has an older population compared to surrounding neighborhoods. That has appeal to a certain segment of home buyers.

Local business amenities – an agent can tell a potential seller that they will point out how there is a great school down the street and a grocery store on the corner. But with your hyper-local real estate data widget, you can show the home owner how you can pull up amenity data that can be tailored to any preference.

Maybe a potential home buyer is a yoga nut. Pull up the local yoga studio on your local business widget and point out how close it is to the home owners property. Same goes with a golf course or sushi restaurant. This is how you personalize a sale.  An agent can show how they will customize the seller’s property for the appropriate home buyer.

Crime rate – the real estate data shows a low crime rate. Another powerful persuader.

This is the hyper-local knowledge that consumers want. Not told verbally, but shown visually.

An agent can constantly promote that data to a neighborhood they are farming.

Tell potential sellers in mailings and social media posts, “I have some valuable real estate data about your home I would like to share with you. Data that many other agents don’t posses.”

People like to hear about  price trends when it comes to their home. They will love to hear about the many pieces of information you possess that go into deep detail about the true value of their home.

Photoshop has the ability to turn a mediocre photograph into an awesome one.

With your own real estate data, you can create a number of layers to create an image in the mind of a seller.  An image that says you are an awesome real estate pro who is qualified to represent their listing.

 

 

Property Sales Data Will Add Punch To Your Real Estate Blogs And Content

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property sales data chart artProperty sales data on your website in the form of charts can have an incredible impact on the readability of real estate blogs and frankly, any content that is produced.

This is why. Google (and don’t forget Bing) has been on a mission these past several years to create algorithims that can detect quality content. (And they’ve done the same with detecting quality links to a site, but that is another matter all together).

They have teams of computer scientists who do nothing all day but try to figure out what makes a blog post a great blog post.

In the old days of early Google, all a webmaster had to do was continually fill their website with target keywords, such as Pahokee Homes Sales, Pahokee Homes Sales, Pahokee Homes Sales, and chances are they would get a decent search ranking for those terms.

As you can imagine, webmasters gamed the system and “stuffed” all the target keywords they could stuff onto a page.

Today, Google hates that.

In fact, Google’s ranking algorithims have increased tenfold since those days and they’ve become much more sophisticated in evaluating the value of content.

We’re talking to the point where they now measure every noun, verb, preposition, comma, number of words in a sentence, characters in each word, etc.

Other factors they have determined to be important in judging the quality of content are the extras that writers add to a page.

Through their search data, they have found that blogs that include images, graphs, links, bullet points, subheads and other visual features tend to have a higher readership than blogs that don’t.

After all, on the web, where people have the attention span of an ant, content is read quickly and in “chunks.”

Property sales data charts are a magnet for visitors

As a real estate broker or agent, how well do you break up your long blocks of text with these pleasing elements that help the reader?

Geez, you might think, it’s hard enough as it is to come up with the words for  a blog or content. Now you want me to add visual elements in there too? Ouch.

Don’t fret. There’s a very simple and powerful solution.

Property Sales Data charts.

property sales data charts

With today’s big data technology offered by providers such as Home Junction, brokers and agents have this incredible ability to add monstrous feeds of hyper-local real estate data to their website.

Property sales data. Market trend data. School listings. Boundaries. Business listings, etc., etc., etc.

A giant treasure chest of local data – not just down to the zip code, but even to the neighborhood level.

For those of you who remember the old days, in essence it’s like adding an encyclopedia of local knowledge to your website.

Not only do you get the data embedded on your website, with providers such as Home Junction, you can determine how that data will appear on your pages.

As we said, consumers don’t like long lists of words and numbers. So, you can also embed charts and graphs on your website. Show a chart with property data sales for example.

Here’s the beauty of having access to all that content.

You can also take screenshots of your graphs for property sales data and insert them into your blog. (This is very easy by the way with WordPress, the most user-friendly content management system on the planet).

People love images. Think how great your blog about current market conditions would be if you included an image showing a chart with trend lines for homes sales or home pricing.

It would be huge!

Use home sales data graphs in social media posts

An agent can take this even further. Post those charts for property sales data on your social sites – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. People will click on the chart and then sent to the agent’s website. How great is that? Qualified visitors. All for free.

Provide those charts in email blasts to prospects. Promote them right in the all-important subject line.

Headlines could be: “See Latest Property Sales Data For Your Neighborhood” or “Check Out This Chart On Home Sales In Your Town.”

How can a consumer NOT click on those posts or emails?

Wow. This agent is presenting information on the most valuable asset a person owns, their home, or the most expensive purchase a potential home buyer will make in their lifestimes. They will be interested.

These aren’t just electrons floating through the air, this data is golden.

Another benefit is that charts for property sales data can be used over and over again.

Hand them out at open houses.

Include them in any brochures.

Refer to them in podcasts.

Call up the local newspaper or radio station. Reporters are always looking for stories. Tell them you have some super-valuable, breaking news on the latest property sales data trends taking place in town.

What’s super-important about these data feeds, is that you have solid information to back up your claim. Sure, any agent can call the local media and ask them to interview them about local market conditions.

But reporters will give more credibility to the agent who can show they actually have access to that data. Real data. Not just conjecture or opinions.

If you have a regular email newsletter, put those property sales charts right at the top of the page. Consumers will look forward to receiving that chart regularly in their inbox.

And when you make those critical presentations to potential sellers, show them these charts and immediately establish in their mind that you are the go-to agent with local knowledge and the tools to attract buyers.

That includes FSBOs. They won’t have the data you have. That will have an impact on them. They will quickly realize they don’t have all the tools it takes to get the attention of prospects. Not just one buyer. But multiple buyers with offers.

Let these visual charts with property sales data do the talking for you…you will find a simple chart can go a long way to establishing credibility, generating better search engine rankings and attracting valuable clients.

 

 

 

 

Use Real Estate Data To Create Your Own Google-Type Alerts

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real estate data alertHere’s a way to use real estate data for one of the greatest and often overlooked inventions of the Internet.

We’re talking about “alerts.” That beautiful byproduct of web technology that is an effective way to attract customers and build valuable email subscribers. It’s a simple gift that can bring in major deals.

On the web today, you can get alerts for anything. Go to Google News, pick a list of your favorite subjects – any subject from your favorite local sports team to your favorite stock to your favorite pop star.

Google will congregate all the information it can find on that subject. Then send it to you. And you will read it.

Okay, you might say, Google is a gazillion-dollar company. How can I as a local real estate broker or agent offer the same service?

With hyper-local real estate data.

While people can choose to get an alert for any little silly subject, you can provide alerts for one of the most valuable items that people own – their homes.

With real estate data from providers such as Home Junction, you can offer consumers a Market Trends alert for their neighborhood (or for home buyers, alerts for areas they are interested in).

Call it a Market Trend Alert. Very simple to do, with the right tools.

With the advanced big data technology that is available today, you can easily embed a widget on your website that will provide you with a treasure chest of local real estate data.

You don’t have to go out and find that information like Google does. Data providers such as Home Junction gather it for you from several different (and reliable) sources. And then send it to you in a data feed.

Now you have the ingredients to create your own Market Alerts.

Hyper-local real estate data will draw people to your emails

For example, say you want to you offer an alert for the neighborhood around Bashful Bear Country Club, a neighborhood you are farming.

Send out a mailing to home owners in that neighborhood offering to provide Market Alerts. Make the same offer with posts or ads on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest.

In that offer, you could give a brief outline of what your will provide. Market Trend data and charts for the number of sales in that neighborhood. A snapshot of what is going on with recent transactions and prices. Show charts with trend lines either pointing up or down.

With in-depth real estate data, you can go even further.

Provides Home Sales Data as well. Show recent sale prices, sales date, year the home was built, number of beds, number of baths and square footage.

Then, to be super-helpful, add in a geo-spatial element. Show the actual location of those sales on a map on your website. Then below it, show homes for sale in that same area.

How cool is that? How helpful is that insight for people who live in that area?

And most importantly, how important is that real estate data going to be as a catalyst for people in Bashful Bear County Club who are thinking about selling their homes.

When that market data hits their email inbox, illustrating how home prices are taking off for example, it might just prompt some home owners to decide it’s time to sell.

Who are they going to call to list their homes?

One strong contender will be the broker or agent who supplies them with that super-valuable information. He or she is going to certainly have top-mind-awareness and a leg up on all the competition.

Data creates a competitive advantage

For one, providing that data shows that this broker or agent is a real pro.

Secondly, talk about local knowledge. This agent not only knows about the neighborhood – the schools, the sales trends, the local amenities, they invested in being able to provide the data to back it up. That’s  true local knowledge.

Finally, that local real estate data is embedded directly on the agent’s web site. For potential sellers to view that information, they need to go to the agent’s website.

That’s a perfect lead generation opportunity. Provide a lead form. Perhaps make it a pop-up a visitor needs to fill out to see that data. Or provide a post visit pop-up before they leave the site with an offer to put together a market comparison proposal.

Alerts are an amazing tool. With the right real estate data tools, you can create your own amazing neighborhood alerts and start attracting consumers just like Google. You don’t need millions of visitors, you just need a few with properties to sell.

 

Responsive Real Estate Website Can Earn You Big Rewards From Google

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mobile real estate websitesYou walk into your office, click on your desktop computer, see your website looks fine and anticipate another happy day at work as a real estate professional.

Wrong!

Because, while your desktop computer might show your website is working well, there’s another digital trend with responsive real estate websites that cost you clients, opportunities and commissions.

While you sit there at your desk proudly starting, you could literally be losing a bunch of highly qualified and eager leads.

At the same time, unbeknownst to you, your competitors could be steadily climbing over you and up the Google and Bing search rankings for high-quality, best converting keywords.

In essence, somebody could be eating your lunch.

And the solution is right there in your pocket or your pocketbook.

What are we talking about? Mobile websites.

Sure, your website looks great on your desktop computer.

But how does it look on a mobile device?

Do the pages realign themselves so they can easily be read on an iphone or an ipad?

Do annoying pop-ups take up half your screen with no way to click them away?

Does the text look tiny and unreadable?

Do the letters in your headlines mash into each other?

Have the photos of home listings resized correctly?

Are the navigation tools reconfigured so consumers can easily search the site?

Does your website make the correct adjustments for the myriad of mobile devices – not only iphones, but smartphones, tablets, ipads?

Does your website make the correct adjustments for Apple software, Android, Samsung, Google products, etc.?

Responsive real estate websites are a necessity for every broker and agent

If you haven’t figured it out by now, mobile browsing is the future.

Google certainly sees it that way. And if you want proof, go to PageSpeed Insights.

That’s where Google will give you the page speed data for your desktop website…and your mobile websites.

Why? Because Google sees the data from a billion searches a day. And it sees a trend.

According to Search Engine Land, in Aug. 2016, more than 60% of searches were performed on a mobile phone.

This is the number that should get you to stand up straight in your chair – 48% of users searched on mobile for real estate information.

Here’s what else researchers have found:

  • Average smartphone conversion rates are up 64% compared to the average desktop conversion rates.
  • Google reports that more than 60% of mobile users are not likely to go back to a mobile site that was not responsive and 40% said they will immediately seek a competitors site.
  • Nearly 80% of people in the survey said they use their smartphone for reading email, more than they use it for making actual phone calls.

What Google is trying to warn you, is that you had better get your mobile act together with a responsive real estate website. In fact, the search behemoth will reward if you do, and penalize you if you don’t.

For example, you might think you rank well on Google for certain keywords in your marketplace – say, “My _________ market home listings.”

You occupy the third position and get quite a few calls.

However, if your site is not a truly responsive real estate website, you will have different rankings for mobile searches. Instead of the third position, you could be on the second page in the 16th position. In that case, you are missing out on a tremendous amount of prospect phone calls and lead generation opportunities.

Mobile is big and getting bigger. In case you haven’t noticed, desktop computers are starting to disappear. Most people have ditched their bulky desktop computers for light and portable laptops.

However, younger consumers now rarely use their laptop computers. When it comes to online searching they are totally mobile.

So what happens when these Millennials who are now converting from renters to home buyers start searching in your area for a home.

Are they frustrated with slow load times? (Check the Page Speed tool).

Is your content all jumbled?

Is it easy for them to fill out a lead form online?

How do the pages look at ipads, tablets, Google Pixels, Samsung Androids and Apple iPhones?

And, most importantly, can they get the information they want in under three seconds?

If not, you are digital toast. The best thing to do is to work with a real estate website developer such as Home Junction to help you develop a responsive real estate website that adjusts to mobile inquiries.

Home Junction uses the WordPress platform for its customers – one of the most mobile responsive content management systems in the world.

Conversely, you can also use a top-notch responsive real estate website  as a marketing tool.

Imagine talking to a seller and being able to show them how super responsive your website is on a mobile platform.

Point out how fast the site comes up. How the photos neatly fill the frame. How the listing text is easy to read.

Now compare your responsive real estate website to the competition and their clunky, hard-to-load mobile pages.

Then watch the seller’s eyes light up with, “Where do I sign?”

You can literally land a high-six figure listing just by turning on that simple device in your pocket or purse.

As you know, with today’s technology, things change. Quickly. Align yourself with a company that can help you keep up with that change and make you mobile ready for a rapidly-advancing mobile world.

 

 

The Millennials Are Coming And Do You Have The Real Estate Data To Attract Them

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real estate data soldFinally, Millennials are tipping their toes into the real estate market and here’s how you can help them with a real estate data API on your website.

The housing market is hot. According to Redfin, home sales rocketed up 9% in March compared to a year ago. The typical home was under contract in just 49 days, compared to 60 days in 2016.

It certainly took long enough. The real estate industry has seen some incredible highs and lows in the past decade.

But for real estate brokers and agents, these are the good times.

Why? Because Millennials, that generation that went through the Great Recession and saw the value of their parents’ homes plummet, at long last are seeing the light about home ownership.

The timing is perfect. This generation of workers is starting to move up in the ranks as far as pay scale. They are also getting married. Starting a family. Rental rates are getting ridiculous. Interest rates are still very low, but they are climbing. Conditions are ripe for owning a home.

Studies show first-time home buyers now see buying a home as a good investment because:

– they are building equity

– they believe they will get a future return on their investment

– they prefer to own their own space

– they like how they can control their own space and make changes as well

The Millennial generation is different, however. They are very skeptical. Some brokers and agents will just try to tell them that everything is fine and real estate is still the best investment.

However, smart brokers and agents will have solid home sales data embedded on their website to make their case with hard facts.

That includes: Recent Homes Sales Data. Market Trend Charts. Demographics. All sorts of convincing information.

Because here’s the problem with a hot real estate market – prices steadily march their way upward, making it scarier and scarier for a young person to commit. Sure, you could have purchased a home back in 2008 for a song, with historically low interest rates, but those days are gone.

That’s where Home Sales Data can be a tipping point.

Real estate data is key in a booming market

For example, Joey Coachella wants to quit paying exorbitant rent for the 800 square foot apartment he lives in. He’s got a good job, pays his bills on time, keeps his eye on his credit score and saves money for a down payment.

He’s ready to buy. But as a Millennial, he has different needs

As one housing expert said, “Millennials expressed a higher level of dissatisfaction with their communities and local housing options than did other demographics. They say that neighborhoods lack convenient outdoor space to run, walk, bike and exercise.”

More than 60% of Millennials want to live in areas where they can use their car less.

Like his peers, Joey prefers neighborhoods that are “walkable” or “bikeable” where he can easily get to a coffee shop or restaurant without climbing in his car, driving all over the place and then trying to find a parking spot.

He also wants to live near his job. Or he will want to be close to a public transportation hub.

Promote your listings that are “walkable” and “bikeable.” With a user-friendly WordPress real estate website, you can easily insert these terms into your content. There are super valuable keywords that will be picked up by Google and Bing when people use these terms to search for properties.

Go a step further. As a real estate broker or agent, you can address these location issues with map search tools similar to the ones provided by Home Junction.

That tool shows different points of interest on a map in relation to a property. Say, for instance you have listed a property that is within walking distance of downtown. You can create a screenshot of this property showing its location on a map and blast it out on social media and other outlets.

Show how this is a “walkable” and “bikeable” property. Point out the amenities nearby – cool coffee house, great sushi restaurant, popular bar.

When Joey finally gives you a call, that’s when the Homes Sales Data on your website will come in handy. Chances are a property that is close to downtown, is going to be more expensive than others out in the hinterlands.

Joey might like the property but is reluctant to commit to the higher price and the 30-year mortgage that goes with it.

But with your Recent Homes Sales Data chart, specifically geared for that neighborhood and not just the zip code, you can show Joey how home sales are taking off in that area.

There are other key points you can make with a full basket of local Real Estate Data. Demographics for example. Draw attention to how this is an upscale neighborhood that is attracting professionals and pushing up home prices.

Illustrate how this property will not only be a residence, but also an investment that should pay off if the Market Data trend line continues.  There is no reason why it shouldn’t. You can also show Joey home sales data and trend lines in neighboring markets, assuring him there aren’t any better deals across town either.

If he wants to lock in the offer price, he has to make a move now. With your real estate data, he will have a comfort level knowing he did his research and is making a sound decision.

Millennials are different. This is the first generation that learned techno-speak at an early age and practice it every day. They will know how to search for data. They will believe data presented to them in a credible way on a credible website.

Talk to them in their language with trustworthy Real Estate Data that is embedded on your site and makes you a trustworthy source of information.

 

Home Sales Data Can Help When Dealing With The Difficult Client

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real estate difficult clientHome sales data can be one of the most helpful tools when dealing with a client who is difficult or uncooperative.

Every broker and agent encounters them. It’s just human nature. And when you throw in a transaction that involves someone’s home and hundreds of thousands of dollars, that’s a recipe that will only exacerbate the situation.

The challenge of how to handle the hard-to-please client. Those individuals who are stubborn, poor listeners and unrealistic. Hard to talk to. Require the patience of a saint.

For example, I remember one woman who priced her home way too high and then battled a low-baller who made an offer way south of what she wanted.

The negotiations transformed from a business transaction into a personal vendetta. Each side calling the other names. Each side really, really mad at the other. The agents were caught in the middle. The seller and buyer expected the agents to persuade the other party that they were wrong. That’s a chore nobody wants.

There are tools out there than can help a broker or agent deal with difficult situations and probably the best tool is to have Home Sales Data available to help both sides get a clearer picture of the situation.

There’s no better way to give people a reality check than with unemotional, plain hard facts.

Those plain, cold hard facts have added credibility when that data is not just pulled out of the air somewhere, but clearly displayed on a broker or agent’s website. Displaying that data on your own website gives clients the impression that this agent obviously believes in the accuracy of this information and has staked their reputation on it.

This also prevents a situation where an individual might go off on the Internet searching for this information on their own and finding who-knows-what, many times biased, to support their own views.

We’re talking about critical real estate data such as Market Trends or Recent Homes Sales for example. With data providers such as Home Junction, brokers and agents can have this data fed directly onto their websites with a simple API.

This is hyper-critical. For one, the agent can direct both buyers and sellers to the same source of information. This way there is no disputing the facts. Secondly, authority is a powerful persuader. People will listen to experts. It’s makes their decision-making process easier.

Home Sales Data Offers A Reality Check

When a broker or agent has a wealth of neighborhood statistics on their website such as home sales data, it reinforces their image as true experts in the marketplace. This broker or agent isn’t someone who just drives people around to look at homes. They are professionals who thoroughly understand the market and have access to a large number of tools, such as local real estate data, that does make them authorities in their field

Showing challenging people the facts can have a sobering effect on them. A seller can argue all day long about how their house is worth X, but the Recent Home Sale prices for the area will bring them back down to earth. Perhaps they live in a blue-collar neighborhood but are expecting boardroom prices.

A buyer can throw out their low-ball offer, but Market Trends showing a rise in home sales will move them off their mark and let them know if they continue to play this game, someone else is going to be moving into that house.

Real estate brokers and agents may be business people, but one of their biggest roles is as educators. Helping consumers understand the current status of the marketplace.

While human personalities vary from one person to the next, the great thing about home sales data is that the facts don’t waver with moods or impressions.

When dealing with a ticklish buyer or seller, those data tools can be a welcome relief for brokers and agents.