How A Property API Helps Agents Establish Trust With Out-of-Town And Foreign Buyers

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property API

A Property API is an important tool every agent needs if they truly want to attract the out-of-town buyer by building pages aimed directly at meeting their specific needs.

And out-of-town-buyers could be a hot commodity in your market.

After all, American real estate is still recognized as one of the BEST investments in the world.

Let’s take Florida as an example.

More than 20%, that’s 1 in 5, real estate buyers from 2009 to 2017 in Florida were foreign. Not just from another state, but another country.

Last year, from August 2017 to July 2018, foreigners purchased $8.7 billion worth of property. That’s about double what they spent in 2010.

We also know that foreign buyers are acquiring properties in places like New York, New Jersey. Texas and California.

That certainly should give you a warm and fuzzy feeling about the value of real estate in America. You probably won’t find too many other counties with that level volume of interest in real estate.

That’s just buyers from other countries.

Homebuyers are on the move

What about other states?

Well, as you know, things change. Demographic groups, such as Baby Boomers, get older or change preferences.

In addition, governments make changes. Changes that have huge impacts. Take taxes for example. A flood of residents in places such as New York, California, New Jersey and Illinois are leaving their states to seek places with lower taxes, such as Florida, where the state income tax is $0.

From July 2017 to July 2018, Florida had the biggest gain in population while you guessed it, New York had the largest loss.

Bottom line. There are quite a few people from outside your town who may be looking to buy homes in your town and as an agent, you certainly want to generate leads from this group.

Here are some ideas.

For one, create a page specifically for out-of-town buyers and one for foreign buyers.

One of the MOST IMPORTANT needs of these groups is information. Local residents know about whether the local real estate market is hot for example, or they might know about the schools, transportation hubs, demographics or even the cost to live there.

But for out-of-town buyers and especially out-of-country buyers, just assume they know very little about the town.

So create pages which offer basic information about the neighborhoods your are farming.

The history. Population. Economy. Climate. Transportation. Amenities. Landmarks. Points of Interest, etc.

Provide big, beautiful photos of the downtown, malls, parks, lakes, schools, museums, etc. (If you have a WordPress Real Estate Theme website, this would be very easy to do).

Get them excited about moving to your market.

Property API provides the facts out-of-town buyers crave

Then address their concerns about investing in a property.

That’s where a Property API (Application Programming Interface) can be super valuable.

After all, these people need more than flowery descriptions and nice images of the local botanical gardens.

They want hard facts.

With a Property API, an agent can add a few snippets of code to any page and that API will pull in hyper-local data from national resources such as Home Junction.

The real estate data API can show for example:

Trends in Home Sales – what is the pace of home sales? Are they selling rapidly? Is it time to jump in? Or perhaps, are certain markets becoming too hot.

Trends in Prices – again, where are prices heading? Are they moving upward and if people want to move, they should act now? Or is there a lull in price escalation, another signal that now might be a time to buy while prices are flat.

Boundaries – where is the property located? Within city limits where taxes are higher?

School Boundaries – this is super-important, not just to families, but anybody who owns a home. Where are the attendance zones? These zones do change. They are different for elementary, middle and high schools. What about private schools as well?

Neighborhood Demographics – who lives in these neighborhoods? Perhaps a couple that is retiring wants to live in an area where the residents skew older in age. Very important data.

Cost-of-Living Indices – some places are not only expensive when it comes to real estate, but also for other items such as food, clothing or transportation. Display that information on your website.

Crime Ratings – always a concern for buyers.

And more.

Now, here’s where an agent can really show their worth.

Not only can an agent display real estate data by zip code, but with data aggregators such as Home Junction, they can use a Property API to show data for specific neighborhoods or subdivisions.

So maybe home prices are relatively high in ABC Oaks, but the latest charts reveal that prices are lower in XYZ Acres, which is located right next door.

Place all of these charts on an out-of-town page. Or put links for specific neighborhoods on those pages so out-of-town buyers can review them.

Use data API to generate leads and offer regular market updates

Secondly, create a big, highly visible lead form on that page offering to continually send those prospects updates on the market.

That will keep you at the top of their minds when considering property in that area.

And here’s one, somewhat subliminal benefit, of using a Property API to display all of this data.

Because chances are these out-of-town buyers and especially out-of-country buyers, don’t know you personally. In fact, they probably don’t know any local real estate agents.

By providing these hard facts, not fluff, you are also creating a sense of TRUST with them. Imagine how important that is for someone hundreds of miles or even thousands of miles away.

These non-local buyers don’t know people in the community. They probably don’t have anybody to refer agents to them. For the most part, many of them might be flying blind.

In addition, many out-of-town transactions tend to be made quickly, especially if someone is relocating because of a change in employment.

Or perhaps, the prospect is a seller. One of their parents lived in the home and passed away. They need to sell the home, and probably as soon as possible.

TRUST will be a very, very big factor with all of them. Offering valuable data helps to build relationships.

Now, some of this information can be found by searching general information websites. But the agent who has a Property Data API embedded directly on their own website, will MAKE THE BIGGEST IMPRESSION in the eyes of prospects. That agent can become that point of reference for distant clients.

People trust facts. They trust data. And they will trust the agent who has an accurate and current Property API that provides them with that hyper-local real estate market data.

 

 

 

Get The Best Real Estate APIs To Keep Your Clients Informed (And Close) For Life

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best real estate APIsHome Junction offers some of the Best Real Estate APIs and if you want a steady strategy for keeping in touch with your clients, then consider our Hyper-local Data and MLS products.

A smart agent knows they need the right tools (and information) to become not just an agent for one transaction, but to become THE AGENT for a client for life. Their aim should be to also include every family member and friend of that client.

So you helped a client find a new home. They struck the deal. Nothing feels quite as good as knowing the job you did will give a family comfort and happiness in their new house for years to come.

Once all the papers are signed and the keys are handed over, what comes next?

Keeping up with your customers has never been easier now that agents have the technology to create and distribute newsletters, either by mail or email, to maintain a top-of-mind presence with clients.

But for newsletters you need appealing content. To provide the most interesting content to a homeowner, you need the Best Real Estate APIs (Application Programming Interface) feeding relevant housing data to your website. (You can include tidbits of that content and links back to your website in your newsletter).

In this article, we will discuss ways to keep in touch with past clients to keep them informed on the housing market in their area and maintain their business moving forward.

Anyone involved in business knows that retaining past clients is just as important, if not more important, than finding new clients.

Not only for the referrals you can build to extend your client base (word of mouth is the most effective form of publicity), but also for potential repeat opportunities.

A simple strategy is to use a newsletter with local real estate data.

However, the key to newsletters is to address the specific needs of your subscribers. A newsletter to existing clients who have purchased a home, should be different than a message sent to say first-time buyers who never owned a house.

The more you can tailor your content to your specific audience, the more success you will have with open rates and click-throughs to links in your email.

Deploy the Best Real Estate APIs to offer the best home related content

For example, with a Home Valuation API from Home Junction, you can include a personalized Home Value Report with each publication that gives a family an idea where their property stands in comparison with the neighborhoods around them. Or you can send them a link to the Home Value Widget on your website.

This can entice them into perhaps looking to selling again. Or the data can increase satisfaction that they made the right decision purchasing the home. Maybe it will inspire them to figure out ways to increase their home’s value.

Charts and figures will show where they excel in the market and where they can improve. With a Home Value API an agent can provide estimates on the value of that property and also the position that property currently sits in the marketplace.

Perhaps the home is in mid range for Price per Square Foot, but in the Top 20% for Total Square Footage.

All that information is very informative and important to homeowners. After all, this is probably the biggest investment they own.

Along with the value report, an agent could offer recommendations for moving forward, some tips to increase that home’s particular value, or the hottest new amenity to add to a home. Even when to sell, if that is an option they are considering in the near future.

One way to increase participation would be to involve some kind of question and answer forum in your newsletter. Encourage recipients to ask you questions about market conditions. Use a Property Data API to generate the data to answer those questions.

These newsletters can show customers how loyal and informed you are as their expert on local housing data.

Use a Property Data API for neighborhood housing trends

With a Property Data API, an agent will be able to display hyper-local real estate market data on any given neighborhood, not just zip code. That is powerful. And personal.

That data would include trends in Recent Sales and the direction of Home Prices. This is sure to catch the attention of any homeowner.

Offer comparisons of neighborhoods next door. Provide neighborhood demographic data so a home owner can see the makeup of their community. Include Cost of Living indices to show pricing trends for that area.

Any data and research you can include will reinforce in the minds of readers why they chose you as their Realtor.

A handshake and a smile is never enough. The follow through of a home purchase is the most important part of the sale.

Nurture your connection with your customers by facilitating further conversation after they move in.

With a newsletter, clients can stay informed on the events happening with their neighborhoods.

Updates can be included featuring housing values over time, new amenities, schools, stores and restaurants popping up and other developments in the market surrounding a house.

Try introducing the idea of a newsletter gradually to see how it works for your individual clients – start with a paper survey following up on them housing purchase experience. Ask them if they want to receive your newsletter by email. Try sending updates through snail mail.

Perhaps find someone with graphic design skills to add an extra special touch that makes reading the content even easier.

From a business perspective, it has become increasingly important to maintain past customers to encourage referrals to new clients.

When Next Door Jim asks a client why they know so much about local market conditions, or who they used to purchase their home, or sell their home, it will be very natural for them to offer your name.

Real market data, not fluff, fosters real trust

Building relationships is the most important aspect of sales. We all feel more comfortable putting a huge decision such as buying a house into the hands of someone we recognize, connect with, and trust.

And if we don’t know any Realtors personally, finding someone a friend trusts is the next best thing. Keeping in touch with former clients opens up the door and keeps your name in the running for future business deals.

Trust is not something that can be asked for, and it takes time to develop. Providing real market data, not just fluff or hype, will go a long way in convincing consumers you are the agent with true local knowledge.

Keep your name fresh in clients’ minds with informational charts and graphs detailing local housing market and home value.

As you know, people value long-term relationships. They want to know service providers they can trust and when they find them, they tend to hang on to them for decades.

You know people who talk about their hair stylists, their handyman or their dog groomer.

You want to be known as their real estate agent. For life.

Get the Best Real Estate APIs from companies such as Home Junction so you have access to trustworthy, informative data you can continually send them for top-of-mind awareness. (We also offer MLS APIs for integrating MLS data with real estate websites as well).

These APIs and the data that comes with them give you a better chance of continuing a relationship with your clients (and their friends and family) for a very, very long time.

Tips On When To Post Real Estate Content And A Property Data API Tool For What To Post On Social Media

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property data API

Sample charts from a Property Data API.

There are two basic elements to a successful social media campaign and a Property Data API can be a big asset with one of them.

Facebook has 2 billion monthly users.  Instagram has 1 billion. Twitter has 326 million users every month. YouTube has 1.9 billion.

These are incredible numbers.

What’s even more incredible is that real estate brokers and agents have access to this enormous audience for FREE.

Okay, that’s the obvious point.

But naturally, there’s a catch.

Since these platforms are free, the competition is intense. Not only from other brokers and agents, but also just for people’s attention in general. With all those gazillion posts flying by their eyeballs every day, it’s is very difficult to catch people’s attention.

Best times to post social media

As we said, there are two very important and simple elements to every social media post.

They are:

What you post.

When you post it.

Now, what you post is a major task that really requires almost a degree in social media to succeed. But Home Junction has a suite of tools you can use to maximize your posts. We’ll get to that in a second.

But let’s start with the easy part.

If you are going to be fully active in social media, then you need to know the most optimal times to post your content.

There are two parts to this equation.

The standard part and the part that is specific to your company and your marketplace.

Here are some thoughts on what experts believe are some best times to post social media:

Facebook: one of the best times to post on Facebook is between 1 pm and 4 pm. That’s because many people will check their Facebook accounts during work, when things slow down in the afternoon.

The best days for Facebook posts are Thursday, Friday during the work week and Saturday and Sunday on weekends. Because Facebook is a place for friends and family, the highest level of engagement will be on weekends when people have the time to interact with followers and will share and like their content.

Instagram: Instagram is similar to Facebook, and in fact is owned by Facebook. But users interact differently and seek something different from this image-based platform.

Therefore, there are other times to post that are more optimal.

For Instagram post your content during lunch from 11 am to 1 pm. You can also do this again later at night from 7 pm to 9 pm.

The best days are surprisingly, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Sunday for some crazy reason, is the worst day.

Twitter: this platform is different as well. For one, the format has a limit of 280 characters (recently increased from 140).

The optimal times to post on Twitter are during lunch from 12 pm to 1 pm. Weekdays are the best for posts and to generate engagement. The  best day of the work week is Wednesday. Conversely, Twitter posts on weekends are not as effective.

LinkedIn: this platform as you know is mainly for business and professionals. Therefore, the best time for posts are between 10 am and 11 am after business people get through their email and compile their daily to-do lists.

Tuesday through Thursday are the best days. Most people are too busy on Monday. And, business people generally do not check out LinkedIn on weekends.

Pinterest: then there’s Pinterest, a whole different arrangement. This platform is very popular with moms. So, for them Saturday is an active day on Pinterest. Sundays are good too.

Interestingly, much different than other social media, some of the best times for this platform is between 8 pm and 11 pm. Understandly, that when moms get to take a break.

So now you have your suggested best times.

But as we know, all marketing campaigns are different because all target audiences are different.

So, the best advice for your own social media posts is to try these standards, but also try other times of the day. See which days and hours generate the most engagement in the form of shares, likes and impressions in general (you can find these analytics in the admin sections of each platform).

Property Data API provides content consumers want

Now the content part.

There’s a large volume of information out there about viral marketing and how to create posts that generate the most interest.

But when it comes to real estate, one of the best strategies you can deploy is the use of hyper-local real estate data.

It’s very easy to gather this data.

Just contact a national data aggregator such as Home Junction. We gather thousands of datasets for markets across the US.

That property data includes:

  • Recent home sales
  • Trends in home prices
  • School data
  • School attendance zones
  • Boundaries
  • Neighborhood demographics
  • Crime ratings

And much more.

The big advantage of data from Home Junction is that it is not just based on zip codes. But an agent can select hyper-local statistics for the specific neighborhoods and subdivisions they are farming.

This warehouse of micro-level data is powerful content.

Every homeowner is going to want to know the housing statistics for their neighborhood. Every active home buyer will want to track the movement of prices for the areas where they want to live.

And what’s great about this strategy, is that all of this interesting data will reside on the agent’s website, supplied by a simple Property Data API provided by Home Junction. An API is basically a few lines of code, applied to the pages you select.

That type of content is a strong hook to drive web traffic. Once prospects are on our website, it opens up all sorts of opportunities for email signups, contact form submissions and even phone calls.

The same strategy using hyper-local real estate market data can be applied to email campaigns and even regular advertising campaigns.

Social media is a fantastic (and free) tool for brokers and agents. But it takes smarts, a Property Data API to create enticing content and as we know, the right timing, to make it as effective as possible.

 

 

How A Real Estate API Can Make You The Micro And Macro-Economic Resource In Your Communi

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real estate API

A Real Estate API with a continual feed of hyper-local data onto your website can make you THE SOURCE of home market news in your community.

Let’s face it. Real estate is one of the most popular topics. Anything that affects where people live, or are trying to live, is going to catch their attention.

This news can also be the most frustrating for consumers.

After all, we live in the information age, a time where enough information to fill the Congressional-library is available at your fingertips.

But there’s one phenomena taking place today that brokers and agents should include in their marketing strategies.

That’s the issue of TMI (Too Much Information).

Because while we have incredible access to news and content, frankly all that access can be overwhelming.

There’s is so much information bombarding us every day like a digital monsoon.

When it comes to news, every consumer faces these key challenges:

  • Is the information accurate?
  • How do I sift through all the news out there to find what I need for my particular situation?
  • How do I stay updated on current information while still trying to live a life?

This actually presents  a great opportunity for brokers and agents. And to get started, it’s as simple as adding a few lines of code to install a Real Estate API on their website.

Real Estate API provides continual feed of micro-housing info

Let’s start on the micro-economic level.

Sure, there is plenty of information out there about national trends in real estate. Housing forecasts. Mortgage rate trends. Hot markets such as San Francisco where prices continue to skyrocket like Space X rockets.

But as brokers and agens all know, all business is local.

It might be difficult to find a house in San Francisco, but in Your Town USA, there might be plenty of homes available at reasonable prices.

With hyper-local real estate data aggregators such as Home Junction, a broker or agent can add a Real Estate API to their website and continually present accurate and current information about the LOCAL housing market.

They can send out weekly updates on trends in Home Sales.

Publish monthly announcements on the direction of Home Prices.

Announce  new amenities coming to their community such as a new middle school. Or a Whole Foods. A new Starbucks.

Post some photos of new construction taking place, whether it’s a golf course community or a Trader Joe’s. (We all know the appeal of images in this age of Instagram).

All of these items have a BIG EFFECT on local housing.

Include a brief summary with your outlook on the local market as well. After all, you are the expert. People want to know what local agents have to say about market conditions.

By providing this information in bite-size chunks, people will come to rely on you for a local snapshot on what is taking place in their area.

And more importantly, post teaser headlines with links that drive consumers back to your website to find that information.

Because while on your website, you open up all sorts of lead generation opportunities with your home listings, home value estimate tools (also available from Home Junction), requests for a CMAs or more in-depth market information.

Provide macro-housing information as well

On the flip side of the housing-related webisphere, also provide national real estate data to local residents.

Mortgage rates for example. Are they going up? Going down? Is one product, a 15-year fixed mortgage for example, becoming more popular than other products?

Are there new federal programs out there to help home buyers? Are there changes in FHA regulations?

What is the national unemployment rate compared to the local rate?

What’s the latest survey on Consumer Optimism?

Again, there is so much noise out there, if a broker or agent can provide a synopsis of this news, that would be incredibly helpful for local residents.

In addition, if that agent could interpret that data in terms of how it is relevant to local market conditions, residents would be delighted.

Another great development in this day and age for the dissemination of information is social media.

Every broker and agent should say a big Thank You to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Snapchat for providing a FREE platform for them to reach out to potential sellers and buyers.

But talk about clutter. As we all know, because these platforms are free, there is a ton of content flowing out there – recipes, vacation photos and cats playing the piano.

Same goes for email, yet another fantastic and FREE tool that brokers and agents should be maximizing in this information age. But again, most email inboxes are crammed with promotions and other clutter.

Consumers will trust a local source

There are three basic criteria for what people will read.

  • Is it informative?
  • Is it current?
  • Is it relevant to me?

Facts attract attention. Facts that people can trust. Facts about where they live or are looking to live can really stand out.

Because you are a local agent, you have an advantage because people will tend to trust someone in their community over a website located who knows where. Use that advantage.

Real estate data can be a real catalyst for change.

This is the critical  information that just might prompt someone to list their house for sale. Or to finally quit renting and start looking for a home to purchase.

That catalyst chart be a chart on your website that shows a rise in local home prices. Or perhaps, a note about a drop in mortgage rates.

Create a plan. Be consistent with your postings.

You know where to find that national real estate statistics, for example on websites such as Realtor.com.

With the help of local data aggregators such as Home Junction, you can complete that package by adding a Real Estate API to display neighborhood-related, micro-level housing news.

 

 

Home Junction Provides MLS API For dashCMA – A Revolutionary New Approach To CMA Home Pricing Presentations

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dashCMA

An effective MLS API can have a very real effect on companies that strive to make it easier for real estate agents to establish accurate prices for client properties.

For that reason, Home Junction is excited to announce that it has teamed up with dashCMA – a company that provides an innovative new approach to home pricing tools to help agents and their clients determine listing prices.

DashCMA is the brainchild of Karen Abram.  She previously worked as an agent for Keller Williams Realty but soon became very frustrated with the 60-plus pages of data presented in current CMA documents.

The major catalyst for this new product was that Karen had a unique background earlier in her career.

She started as a “data storyteller”  for the Los Angeles Daily News sports department. This was an important role, because as you know, statistics are a part of every sports story.

Karen then honed her skills in data interpretation working for major advertising companies where she created analytical models for numerous Fortune 500 companies.

As a real estate agent, when she experienced the way CMAs were compiled, she realized it was the perfect opportunity to apply her talent.

“I wanted to be able to focus on one page that encompassed the multiple perspectives needed for effective pricing,” she said.”Understanding these pain points firsthand combined with my five plus years experience building pricing models for Fortune 500 clients was the right balance and motivation to get started.”

So she did. Working with software developers, Karen was able to condense home pricing data into a one-page, visually-pleasing dashboard.

dashCMA condenses CMA into one-page dashboard

With dashCMA, an agent can walk homeowners through the numerous factors that go into determining the most realistic price for their home.

Here are some of the datasets included on the dashboard:

·         Closed, Active and Pending Comparables

·         Property types such as Number of Bedrooms, Year Built, Living Area and Lot Size.

·         A helpful mapping tool that can be set to extract comparables from a designated radius.

·         Market status that gives an indication if current conditions show this is more likely a Buyer’s Market or Sellers Market, how many similar properties are for sale, the rate of sales, Fresh versus Stale Properties, direction of pricing and average Shelf Life of properties.

·         There is also a “Flag” section where data can be adjusted if it is not relevant to the homeowner’s situation.

·         Overall perspective of price ranges – this table presents a number of different scenarios, including home value estimates from Zillow, that give homeowners an overview on the range of prices out there that may be relevant to their property.

And, more importantly, she made the format interactive and flexible, so the agent can adjust the information to better align with the exact characteristics of any home in the discussion.

To get feedback on her new pricing model, Karen conducted several focus groups both with agents and homeowners. They all liked the way she refined the CMA data into a format that was easy to understand and customize.

“This single view allows the agent to have a focused pricing conversation with their client and to effectively demonstrate that they considered the bigger, more thorough, pricing picture,” Karen said.

As everybody in the real estate business knows, pricing a home correctly is a challenge. Sellers might have unrealistic expectations about the value of their home. Or some agents might offer to sell a home for much more than it is really worth, which leaves the listing sitting on the market for long periods of time and frustrates the seller.

DashCMA took a complicated process, and made it much easier to comprehend.

dashCMA

Marekt “Gauges” provided in the dashCMA report

MLS API provided by Home Junction

When it came to extracting data from the Multiple Listing Services, she chose to work with Home Junction and our super-effective MLS API.

“We are very pleased to be working with dashCMA and glad they chose us to connect with the various MLS services out there,” said Ed Kim, Senior Vice President. “Extracting data from an MLS can be a complicated process because each one has its own technical requirements and regulations on the use of their data.”

Karen said she found Home Junction very helpful in helping guiding her through the “nuances” of each MLS.

Brokers and agents should give dashCMA a test drive. Right now it is available in the greater Los Angeles area. Soon it will be available in Las Vegas and there are plans to roll out the product nationwide.

Right now, the company is offering a free 7-day trial.

In addition, the cost is only $15 per month. Very reasonable when if you think about all the effort and time that goes into helping clients establish a price for their property.

“DashCMA equips the agent with a modern pricing perspective that their competition isn’t showing,” Karen pointed out. “That can help them win more listings, win more accepted offers but more importantly, win their client’s trust.”

Home Junction is pleased to be involved in any project that makes it easier for brokers and agents. Our mission is to provide the technology that can help real estate professionals become more effective at their jobs.

DashCMA is certainly one of those tools.

The company has taken a very complicated (and oftentimes emotional) challenge, and with the use of a Home Junction MLS API, made it much simpler.

How Property Data Can Be Useful To Help Overcome Seller Procrastination

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Property Data can be an important resource when dealing with procrastination, an issue that researchers say hampers ONE out of FIVE adults.

Take notice of this issue. It’s 20% segment of any market!

Brokers and agents know the type. Homeowners who contact them and express an interest in selling their properties…then seem to disappear.

Psychologists say there are several reason why people procrastinate.

They include fear of failure, living in the present instead of planning for the future, avoidance of doing a task, waiting until someone else makes the decision for them, only being able to function under pressure and several others.

This self-defeating behavior can have negative consequences. Think about what happens when people delay seeing a doctor or saving for retirement.

A recent study by H&R Block found that every year taxpayers lose a substantial amount of money when they file taxes late and then rush through the forms to get their returns in the mail.

Property data provides focus

Fortunately, a real estate agent is not supposed to be a therapist. Unfortunately, sometimes it seems as though they have to act like one.

Obviously, there are quite a few emotional plates spinning in the air when people procrastinate. Mentally, their minds are wandering all over the place.

But as we discussed in previous articles, one of the best ways to counter emotions is with facts. Property data in particular.

Take that reluctant homeowner for example.

Instead of allowing them to wallow in indecision, help them focus by providing some market data. A real estate reality check so to speak.

Working with national data aggregators such as Home Junction, a broker or agent can embed a Real Estate API onto their website. This is basically just snippets of software that can easily be added to the back-end coding of any site.

But those simple bits of code open that website up into a huge warehouse of hyper-local property data. Just the type of information to get people to move off the dime.

Say a homeowner in Desirable Acres has retired. They insist they are ready to list their home and relocate. Perhaps to Sunny Acres in Florida or Arizona.

However, something keeps causing them to delay their decision. In fact, they can’t even give a legitimate reason why they are delaying. They don’t even know.

They suffer from procrastination.

Pull out those Home Sales charts for Desirable Acres from Home Junction.

Show the homeowner that their area is hot right now in terms of transactions. Homes are selling. Fast.

Also show them how prices are escalating in their neighborhood.

This will help them overcome their fear of not making a smart decision. The data is there. Now is a great time to sell. The homeowner is sure to receive a very satisfying offer with these current market conditions.

Enhance listing presentations

The agent can also use this property data to show a homeowner how they are going to market their home.

That marketing material to make that property shine can include:

  • Municipal  and neighborhood boundaries
  • School information – student/teacher ratios, enrollment figures, etc.
  • School attendance zones – those important boundaries that indicates which school: elementary, middle or high school, where a child will go to school. These boundaries are different for each school and periodically change for changes in enrollment.
  • Neighborhood demographics
  • Crime ratings
  • Area amenities – that includes parks, stores restaurants, etc. Research shows a Starbucks or a Whole Foods located near a property can definitely have a positive effect on home prices.

Another effective strategy to help overcome procrastination is urgency.

The property data could indicate there is a great window for a owner to sell. Now.

But that window might not always be open.

Conditions change. Mortgage rates go up. More inventory could go on the market and drive prices down. Etc. etc. etc.

Obviously, agents don’t want to talk people into doing something they don’t want to do.

They also don’t want to be the type of overly aggressive sales person that most people dislike.

But that’s the beauty of property data.

Let the data do the persuading. In a gentle manner.

Get those prospects on your email list. With your Real Estate API, send them a regular campaign of market data and charts, showing where the market is going.

Give them a short summary of market conditions.

Suggest deadlines based on market data

Another tool that psychologists say helps with procrastinators is to set deadlines.

Perhaps work with a homeowner to agree to make a decision by a certain date.

Let them know, based on the property data and charts on your website, that typically these months are the best for selling their house. (As we all know, different parts of the country have different sales cycles).

Show people these are ideal times when a homeowner has better odds of getting an optimal price for their property.

Also, these are the preferred time periods for the homeowner to place their home on the market to get it sold quickly. Let them know otherwise they could be facing months of waiting for an offer and numerous open houses.

Consumers must make quite a few decisions today.

Which car to buy, doctors to choose, where to live, which career to pursue. All of these decisions can be overwhelming at times.

But inaction can have major negative consequences, for example, when a local real estate market goes flat.

A savvy broker or agent will realize they need the right tools to help procrastinators overcome their inaction.

That’s where Property Data, supplied by a reliable Real Estate API, can be a huge asset to help people act rather than hesitate when the timing is best for them.

How A Real Estate API Will Help You Deal With Third Party Issues

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A Real Estate API can be a very effective tool if your buyers need to bring in others to help with a home purchase.

Because here is one of the latest real estate trends: despite the famously skyrocketing education costs and low-paying jobs of this generation, Millennials are poised to make up the largest demographic of new home buyers in the country.

This is great information as a real estate agent looking to know their clients better. But there’s a twist.

Because so many members of this generation have all decided to purchase a home at once, home prices in the $200,000 to $300,000 range are scarce. Buyers now need to stretch their budgets to get into a starter home.

Therefore, many of these young adults in their 20s and 30s are turning to their parents to fund a down payment in this high-priced housing market.

Rising numbers of Millennials need assistance

The FHA (Federal Housing Administration), a government agency insuring home mortgages, offers home loans through private lenders which are typically going to be more accessible to Millennials.

The down payment can be as low as 3.5%, as opposed to 20% through a conventional loan. But even these low rates are a struggle for some. The FHA revealed that over 26% of those who received loans had financial assistance from a parent or other relative to provide the down payment. This is a definite increase, from 22% in 2011.

Is parental assistance with down payments risky?

Traditionally, home buyers who have to get help affording their down payment are viewed as a risky bet.

If they themselves don’t have as much to lose if they get laid off and go delinquent on mortgage payments, the lender thinks there is a higher chance of not getting paid.

Some parents who are called on for this assistance may think the same way, as they don’t want to give a gift which may be used unwisely or a personal loan which never brings any return.

Others in the industry feel that parents giving their adult children down payment money perpetuates imbalances in supply and demand in some competitive housing markets.

Use a Real Estate API to navigate parental risk perception

Not everyone takes such a dim view of asking parents to help with a down payment. In fact, many industry executives have said that family assistance does not entail as much risk as assistance from the seller or other types of assistance – because of the family involvement.

In a tough housing market or life situation, the borrower actually feels a more intense level of obligation to protect or pay back their parents’ gift.

While real estate agents are certainly not family therapists, in engaging with Millennial first time home buyers and their parents, this is a fact that can be pointed out if there are any questions or concerns.

Here’s something that will help with the discussion, which as you can imagine, has very emotional implications.

Bring in the facts.

A Real Estate API gives agents access to local real estate data tools to explain to parents why the home purchase is a sound investment.

The parents, being older and possibly more experienced in homeownership, are interested in this data. They know what it like is to invest in a home…and watch it appreciate. Or not.

They will be very interested in comparing recent home sales data in the area, and seeing the current trends in home prices.

Depending on the area, an agent can use a Real Estate API to display positive neighborhood characteristics including local school data, demographics, crime rates, and access to amenities.

Show hard data with proof that their investment in this home is justifiable, and that the area is being improved and poised to go up in value and desirability. Those local statistics will go a long way toward helping everyone involved feel at peace with their decision to buy a house.

Real Estate API can promote your brand as the one with local data

Agents can also preemptively support Millennials and their parents through this decision by distributing important information through their websites, newsletters, and social media content.

They can create the perception in the community that they are the agent with the local data, the ones that young people will turn to when they know they will need to convince their relatives to dish out some of their savings.

Write an engaging and informative blog about parental involvement in home loans, as well as the great attributes of the local neighborhoods they are farming.

Use real estate data tools to come up with hard facts that can be turned into helpful infographics and Instagram photo captions.

By educating the public that parental help with down payments are normal and acceptable, agents will run into fewer clients who are struggling with this important issue.

And when approaching sellers, they can show home owners that they have the tools to help convince buyers, even with help from their parents or relatives, that the price for that home is reasonable in today’s market.

Third parties will be investing in properties but not living in them. They will be more interested in the hard cold facts than the people who have already fallen in love with the spacious kitchen or the big open deck in the backyard.

Embedding a Real Estate API into an agent’s website with access to a warehouse of neighborhood data, is the tool to use to address this side of the home buying equation.

Property Data API Makes A Home Unique When There Are Plenty Of Homes For Sale

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A Property Data API can be a critical tool in high inventory markets when it comes to one of the most persuasive techniques available in an agent’s tool box.

That technique: scarcity.

Wait a minute, you might say. Now that the bloom is slightly off the rose in real estate markets, scarcity of homes for sale may not be a major issue.

According to the National Association of Realtors, their “Pending Home Sales Index,” a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, decreased 1.0 percent to 101.9 in February, down from 102.9 in January. Year-over-year contract signings declined 4.9 percent. That’s the fourteenth straight month of annual decreases.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said, “In January, pending contracts were up close to 5 percent, so this month’s 1 percent drop is not a significant concern,” he said. “As a whole, these numbers indicate that a cyclical low in sales is in the past but activity is not matching the frenzied pace of last spring.”

Property Data API creates a unique picture for each home

So how could scarcity possibly be a factor at a time when inventories are increasing?

Because an agent can use a Property Data API to make a home appear super-unique in a marketplace.

They can do that with some of the information provided by a Property Data API ( snippets of software to provide a data feed) supplied by national data aggregators such as Home Junction:

Here are some examples:

School Attendance Zones – sure, there might be plenty of homes out there for sale. But how many of them are located in the same area as the best schools in the district? That immediately creates a sense of scarcity for parents.

Percentiles in the Market – sure there are plenty of homes for sale. But, an agent can dig down into their Property Data API for comparables to see how a home is positioned in a neighborhood.

For example, that home might be in the Top 10% in terms of square footage, or the lower 20% in terms of price per square foot.

Real Estate Sales and Pricing Trends – sure there might be plenty of homes for sale in a zip code. But with a Property Data API that feeds an agent data for specific neighborhoods, even subdivisions, an agent can show that home sales are still going up in one specific area, as well as prices, for XYZ neighborhood.

If a buyer wants to move there, they need to ignore the national market and grab this particular property in this particular neighborhood.

Market Comparisons – use a Property Data API to show buyers how one neighborhood compares to another. Perhaps there aren’t any homes for sale in Town A but if you look at the data for homes in Town B, they are very comparable in terms of pricing, number of owners versus renters and neighborhood demographics. All of a sudden, that sole property that is available in Town B is very desirable.

Neighborhood Amenities – sure, there might be a bunch of homes for sale in one 10 mile area. But, there are only a few homes for sales that are located near: A great food store such as Whole Foods. A park with a playground and hiking trails. Maybe a popular country club. If the property is near a train station, well, that’s practically a slam dunk right there.

An agent can use real estate mapping tools to illustrate all these amenities on a map alongside MLS listings. Maybe a property is not unique. Or, there are plenty of others in the same price range on the market.

However, that proximity to a great store, park, golf course, transportation hub, etc., will give that home instant, unique appeal. An agent needs the tools to show this properly.

Using all of these factors and others provided by hyper-local real estate market data, an agent can show that when a buyer takes a closer look at a property in relation to their needs and desires, there really aren’t that many homes that fit their criteria as they thought.

That’s when an agent has certainly done their job.

That’s also the picture sellers will love as you demonstrate how your Property Data API can market their home as a scarce offering in a crowded marketplace.

 

 

Real Estate Data Providers Can Be Critical To Help Meet A Seller’s Time Frame

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Real Estate Data Providers such as Home Junction can supply agents with a tool that addresses one of home seller’s biggest concerns.

And it isn’t price,

According to a recent survey of home sellers by the National Association of Realtors, finding an agent who could help sell their property by an approximate target date is a big factor.

In a survey titled, “What Sellers Most Want from Real Estate Agents, Level of Service Sought From the Agent by the Seller” the third biggest concern of all sellers surveyed was “Help sell the home within the specific time frame.”

(The first concern was, “Help seller market home to potential buyers.” The second one was “Help price home competitively”).

What is interesting is how the people surveyed prioritized their concerns. Twenty percent said Marketing and Price were the No.1 issues.

A very, very close 19% said the Time Frame was the most important. So you can see, getting that house sold within a certain number of months is upmost on the minds of homeowners.

Real estate data providers can accelerate decision-making process

While everybody in the business knows obtaining the best price for your home is always an issue, as they say in marketing, timing is everything.

People don’t want their home languishing on the market for months. They have plans. They have worries about the transition into their next home. Perhaps they are preparing to move to another state.

They could be involved in job relocation. Maybe a family with children need to move in time for the school calendar.

Meeting a seller’s timetable can be an even bigger issue when you have a buyers’ market in your area as most states are experiencing nationwide.

This is where upping your game and working with real estate data providers can help.

To help accelerate the sale, providing compelling information about the property can be critical.

For example, say the listing is a standard 4/3 just like a dozen other 4/3s on the market.

Data is a powerful persuader

With hyper-local real estate market data, an agent can perhaps show:

1. Number of home sales in this particular neighborhood has trended higher than surrounding neighborhoods. Perhaps people are seeing more value in this area than others. Social proof is powerful.

2. Charts indicating that home prices in this neighborhood are trending upward, more than other areas. Again, a powerful signal that this neighborhood is super-desirable.

3. Home valuation data that indicates this particular property is in the upper 20% for square footage compared to other properties nearby. If a buyer wants a bigger house, this is one of them.

4. School data indicating favorable teacher/student ratios and other key information.

5. School attendance zones indicating that children who live in this neighborhood get to enroll at the popular XYZ School.

6. Neighborhood demographics

7. Municipal and tax boundaries

8. Crime ratings

9. Cost of living data

10. Points of interest

Savvy agents will know how to take a wealth of hyper-local information from real estate data providers and apply key attributes to show the advantages of each property.

Potential sellers will love this.

Home buyers will be influenced by this information.

Buyer’s agents will also find this data valuable in working with their clients.

Numbers help people decide, sooner rather than later

For most people, making a decision on the magnitude of a home purchase is a tough one.

They will take their time. Many will procrastinate. Others will struggle with the financing. Or the home inspection that finds minor little issues.

It can be nerve-wracking for all parties.

But it can be particularly nerve-wracking for sellers on a tight time frame.

That’s why offering this super local market information from reliable national real estate data providers can be crucial.

The hard cold facts can overcome the emotional side of the equation.

Yes, Mr. And Mrs. Homebuyer, look at the data. The statistics show this is a very desirable property. Time to make an offer before someone else does.

And time to help my listing client get out of his house in the time frame they desire.

That’s how real estate data providers can provide value for agents and perhaps it’s time to talk to one, like Home Junction, to show homeowners the tools you have to sell their property on their schedule.

 

Property Data API Can Be Useful In Attracting Millennials To Your Real Estate Business

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A Property Data API is an important asset when it comes to addressing the Millennial generation.

By now, you are aware of all of the recent research suggesting that Millennials are about to make up the largest bloc of home buyers.

You also probably know that Millennials are a special generation: tech-savvy, innovative, progressive, and they do things a little differently than some of us are used to.

You need to adapt to their culture in order to catch the wave of this upcoming group of potential clients.

Here are our suggestions for attracting Millennials as a real estate agent.

Property Data API meets the research demands of Millennials

Millennials, or young adults currently in the 22-37 year age range, are more interested in research than any other age group.

They are savvy buyers, resistant to sales gimmicks, and will read up on the best ways to do things before they do them.

Millennials will read studies, journals, and blogs; watch YouTube videos, and Google local real estate options and trends before making a decision to take the next step forward.

As pioneers of the information age, they take research and knowledge seriously.

That’s a major reason why a Property Data API can set agents apart when working with this demographic.

They listen less and scan more. You need something for them to scan such as Recent Property Sales, Home Price Trends, School Data, Neighborhood Demographics, Boundaries, Crime Statistics, etc.

Millennials have a different outlook on real estate

Millennials are entering the real estate buying and selling markets prepared and backed up with plenty of research.

Here’s are a few reasons why.

For one, this is the generation that went through the housing debacle back in 2008. They saw the value of their parents’ homes take a nosedive. (And they are probably kicking themselves for not moving into a home sooner as home prices recovered).

Secondly, this big wave of the population all decided to buy at once. So much of the inventory in the starter home segment – $200,000, went fast.

Now many Millennials are now considering jumping past a starter home and into the next level.

They will need guidance from a professional.

You can help them see your value and have a fantastic experience by showing them what they cannot find on Google and YouTube.

Your local real estate data tools can show research that they haven’t seen yet, such as rising price trends in a certain neighborhood and how they compare to other neighborhoods.

Your experience also gives you a sharper insight into expected property value increases, and your guidance during stressful situations like home inspections or negotiating costs will be invaluable.

Ultimately, your skilled and educated presence along the way will provide what a search engine never could.

The back story: Millennials heavily utilize social media

Millennials are on social media not just for fun and entertainment, but also for work, information, and ultimately making their lives better.

Social media is now one of the best ways to ensure that your brand is put in front of the right people’s faces.

Additionally, almost all Millennials will ask their social media contacts where to find the best “everything” – including the best neighborhoods, best schools, and of course the best local real estate agent for their needs.

If you promote yourself on social media as the agent with not just hyper-local knowledge, but for Millennials, hyper-local data, then that person could be you.

You can utilize social media to the best advantage by building a story brand.

If your feed boasts an interesting and insightful niche (not just selling, but helpful info), you will gain more followers and start to get those coveted tags and mentions in those “looking for a Realtor” posts.

Showcasing beautiful home details on Instagram, using your local data to create colorful infographics on Facebook, and providing insight into who you are and why you do what you do are some key ways that you can build trust and a following that is mostly comprised of Millennial-aged buyers and sellers.

Don’t buy into any negative-sounding news articles about Millennials.

This age group is motivated, creative, sharp, and great to do business with if you can gain their trust by being authentic.

While they are the younger generation, they are now maturing, moving up into better-paying jobs, and thinking about starting families

And most importantly, they now realize the value of not paying those high rents any longer and instead investing that money into real estate – a home of their own.

Just like Millennials have embraced the latest technology, to address this group, agents need to embrace the latest technology as well. That includes tapping into the “Big Data” phenomenon.

A local agent on Main Street can now partner with a national data aggregator such as Home Junction and compete with the large real estate portals supported by Wall Street.

By embedding a Property Data API into their website (which basically means inserting a few lines of code), a broker or agent can tap into a well of hyper-local information.

They can disperse that data wherever they want on their website – next to listings, on a Community Page or even as a News Alert on their homepage.

That’s how an agent can become a true local resource in the 21st Century.

By providing an in-depth Property Data API on your website, creating an engaging brand story on social media, and painting a picture of the digital value you offer, you will be able to successfully build a reputation among young adults in your target market.

Top 20 Best Quotes About Real Estate

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Top 20 best real estate quotes

  1. “Don’t wait to buy real estate. Buy real estate and wait.” – Will Rogers

  2. “In the real estate business you learn more about people, and you learn more about community issues, you learn more about life, you learn more about the impact of government, probably more than any other profession that I know of.” – Johnny Isakson

  3. “The problem with real estate is that it’s local. You have to understand the local market.” –  Robert Kiyosaki

  4. “It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.” –  Donald Trump

  5. “Perhaps the secret to making a billion dollars in real estate is that there is no secret.” – David Lichtenstein

  6. “A funny thing happens in real estate. When it comes back, it comes back up like gangbusters.” – Barbara Corcoran

  7. “When I gave up law to go into real estate, my mother said, ‘How can you give up the law?’ But she lived long enough to see the Bulls win all six championships. She would wear all six pendants at the same time. She could barely stand up.” – Jerry Reinsdorf (owner of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox)

  8. “I was studying acting, going to UCLA, selling real estate on the weekends.” – Burt Ward (actor who played Robin)

  9. “Buyers decide in the first eight seconds of seeing a home if they’re interested in buying it. Get out of your car, walk in their shoes and see what they see within the first eight seconds.” – Barbara Corcoran

  10. “90% of millionaires become so through owning real estate.” – Andrew Carnegie

  11. “Landlords grow richer in their sleep.” – John Stuart Wise

  12.  “A customer oriented realtor not only finds you a good home, he also finds you a good neighborhood.” ― Amit Kalantri

  13. “There have been few things in my life which have had a more genial effect on my mind than the possession of a piece of land.”― Harriet Martineau

  14. “Your home, including its location, is an inanimate physical construct. Despite this fact, this brick and mortar affects the outcome of your life more than any other physical object you will ever encounter.” ― Matt Parker

  15.  “Real estate investing, even on a very small scale, remains a tried and true means of building an individual’s cash flow and wealth.” ― Kiyosaki, Robert T.

  16. “Now, one thing I tell everyone is learn about real estate. Repeat after me: real estate provides the highest returns, the greatest values and the least risk.” – Armstrong Williams

  17. “Real estate cannot be lost or stolen nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” – Franklin Roosevelt

  18. “A Realtor is not a salesperson. They’re a matchmaker. They introduce people to homes, until they fall in love with one. Then they’re a wedding planner.” – Lydia

  19. “Owning a home is a keystone of wealth…both financial affluence and emotional security.” – Suze Orman

  20. “Find out where the people are going and buy the land before they get there.” – William Penn Adair

Brought to you by the real estate technology company and property data provider – Home Junction. If you are interested in learning ways to improve your real estate website, generate more leads and use market data for effective social media, SEO and email marketing contact us. Call 858-777-9533 or fill out this handy contact form.

 

How To Use Technology To Give Your Property Descriptions More Impact

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real estate property descriptions

Brokers and agents might be interested to know there are several ways to make writing property descriptions easier…and more effective.

Everyone knows writing is tough. And every type of writing has it challenges.

Just ask Ernest Hemingway who made writing look easy.

He is famous for saying, “There is nothing to writing. All you need to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

We’re sure the same applies to creating property descriptions. We know many times agents are faced with trying to come up with flowery and exciting text for that 3/2 town-home in a community where they previously sold four 3/2 town-homes and now they have to make this one sound different.

So first of all, our hats are off to all those real estate pros who wear many hats, one of them being those days when they need to switch from being Phil Dunphy* to a William Shakespeare. (*The dad in the TV show “Modern Family).

There are plenty of articles out there on how to make those property descriptions stand out.

Well-known tips for property descriptions

Here are a few tips most people know:

  • Specificity: If the seller just underwent an extensive renovation of the kitchen, describe as many attributes in detail as you can. Bigger counter space. Big gas oven. Marble counter tops.

In the book Freakonomics, the writers mentioned these were five power words that were common in property descriptions – “granite, marble, state-of-the-art, gourmet and Corian.” We’re sure there are plenty of other power words out there.

  • Brand Recognition: if the seller added something fancy, such as a Wolf oven, be sure to point out this is a “Wolf oven.”
  • Emotional Words: This part can be tough when describing that 3/2 townhome just like the one you sold last month. But go to Thesarus.com or  WordHippo.com and see if you can find some new, exciting words that might evoke some feelings in the reader.

That might be tidy closet space with extra shelving; spacious and brightly-lit living rooms; a yard where a dog can run, kids can throw a ball and mom can relax on a lounge chair on a deck overlooking it all.

  • Custom Stuff: Sure a 4/3 is similar to the other 4/3s on the same block. But chances are there is something unique about that property.

Maybe custom closet space or a custom made tiki bar in the backyard.

People like different. Humans are wired to look for new. Dig it up. Promote even the smallest upgrade. (This writer once lived in an apartment that had a built-in ironing board in the closet. When you are a 20-something who has to iron their own shirts, a built-in ironing board is one of the coolest things ever).

  • Borrow from the Web: if you think great writers don’t borrow ideas from other sources, you are in for a big surprise. Because they do. So should you. The beauty of the internet is that if you are selling homes in Annapolis, you can go view homes listings in Los Angeles. That will definitely help you brainstorm new and invigorating phrases.
  • Be Chunky: Web readers are different than book and magazine readers. They read fast. Real fast. They also don’t read long paragraphs. They prefer to get their information in “chunks.” Avoid long text. Use lots of paragraphs. When possible, use bullet points or numbered lists.

Tech tools to optimize writing

Here’s the tech part.

  • Average Session Duration: Another big advantage of the Internet as opposed to old school mediums such as newspapers is that you can track everything.

The perfect place to track how well your pages are performing is to use Google Analytics, a free tool from Google that measures the number of visitors, pages they visited, where they came from and a myriad of other factors.

For property listings, one of the most critical factors you could check is Average Session Duration or what is also referred to is “Time on Page.”

This feature tracks how long a person spends on each page.

Say for example, you write a property description for a 4-bedroom ranch.

You post the description on your website.

You promote the new listing.

After a few days, go to Google Analytics and check the Average Duration  statistics.

To establish a baseline, first check out how your other pages have performed. If it appears that the average person spends 3 minutes on your listing pages, then that’s a indicator. (Obviously, these times are going to vary greatly depending on the property, price and location. But still you will see a pattern).

Now, after promoting your new listing, check out the Average  Duration times.

If it’s very low, just a few seconds, then one issue could be your property description. Maybe it’s a dud.

The verbiage is not grabbing anybody’s attention. Maybe the description is too short and does not contain enough attributes.

Then, there’s always the main photograph. As we discussed before, that initial home photo is so important in some cases you could almost forget the text.

If that photo is not powerful, you are already starting from behind. Same goes for other photos as well.

In this day and age of smartphones with high-resolution, there’s no excuse for not showing a ton of images. Consumers expect that.

As we all know, you only have about 3 seconds to catch the attention of most web visitors.

So, that initial photograph has really got to pop. So do the first couple sentences of that product description.

  • WordPress Real Estate Website Design: Now, many brokers and agents are not going to want to hear this and many already know this.

But it’s worth mentioning because there is a tech twist.

The secret to effective writing is rewriting. Nobody, not even the greatest writers such as Hemingway, get it right on the first draft. That’s nearly impossible.

Secondly, after you publish that description and you see it online, that’s when all those other ideas start flooding in. But give yourself a day or two. Then look again to have a truly objective view of your writing and where improvements can be made.

That last phrase is critical. How easy is it for you to make improvements? Is it a big deal to go into your website and revise the text? Or the images?

If it is, consider switching to a WordPress Real Estate Website Design.

Because this is what you need to know about WordPress – this platform was designed specifically to make it easy for people to write. It was originally built for bloggers.

The concept behind the software was to make it super easy for a person to create a web page and starting putting their thoughts into electrons online.

It’s like the invention of electronic paper for the common man.

With a WordPress Real Estate Website Design, an agent can jump right in and revise their property descriptions. Instantly.

They can easily add more photos. Or delete crummy photos.

Then there’s the Search Engines.

The developers of WordPress not only built this content management platform to make it a breeze to write an online blog. They also made it super easy to maximize the site so it can be found easier by Google, Bing and other search engines.

There are simple fields where people can enter keywords.

  • Plug-ins: There are also WordPress plug-ins such as Yoast that tell you how well you are maximizing that page for your target keywords.

Yoast will let you know if you have enough keywords, or too many. It will also give you other hints to optimize that page for search engines.

The plug-in actually reviews your writing and gives you a Flesch score rating. That rating indicates the “readability” of your text based on factors such as sentence-length. Most people don’t read on the 12th grade level.  They read on a fourth or fifth grade level. This is particularly true for web readers who read fast.

After spending all that time struggling over the wording for your property descriptions, you certainly want it to be “readable” by most of the general public.

So, if you are promoting a property in Hidden Harbor, WordPress and Yoast will help you build a page that is easy for Google and Bing to determine is relevant to that neighborhood.

That in turn, will help make sure your property listing is not hidden way back when people search online for properties there.

Because WordPress is an “open” platform, there are tens of thousands of plug-ins available out there to help you make your property pages more powerful. That includes plug-ins for hyper-local market data or home valuation widgets just like the large portals use to attract leads.

Because of all these factors, a WordPress Real Estate Website Design is incredibly effective. That’s why this one company commands 30% market share of ALL websites in the World.

Certainly worth looking into, right?

  • Grammar Helpers: There are also many programs online that can be integrated into your computer to help with spelling checking and grammar. Grammarly is one of them. They have a free version you can use for initial review and some minor tips. They have a paid version for in-depth reviews.

If you struggle with writing, you might want to sign up for this program (or other like it such as Ginger).

Jetpack is a writing program that’s available as a WordPress plug-in. (See how we told you there are thousands of these helpful tools built specifically for WordPress websites?)

Real estate is not an simple business. And wordsmithing is certainly not easy either.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “All good writing is swimming underwater and holding your breath.”

Sure, writing a book is hard. But few people ever get published or earn money doing it.

Conversely, if you think  about it – writing a winning description for a $1.5 million home that results in a sale will pay a lot more than most published authors make from a book.

Property description are very, very important.

Luckily, in this day and age, there are tools out there that can help agents stay afloat through the process.

When it comes to content management, consider a WordPress Real Estate Website Design to make it effortless to revise text and images, to incorporate many of those plug-in features and add extra SEO impact to your pages.

If you want to learn more about WordPress Real Estate Website Design, Real Estate Plug-ins or Analytics, feel free to call the experts at Home Junction.