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How Real Estate Data Can Help You Become An Effective Publicist

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real estate publicistHere are some ideas on how to use real estate data to become your own publicist or to hire one and help make them more effective.

Why a publicist? Isn’t that someone only a Hollywood celeb would employ?

Not necessarily. Generating publicity on a local level can be a powerful marketing tool for local real estate brokers and agent.

It’s a way to break out of the pack and make your name stand out in the local community.

Today, more than ever, there are an incredible number of content providers out there.

Here’s one way to look at it. Media outlets – newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, magazine and local bloggers are all looking for story ideas.

In many cases not only is the medium looking for story angles, but every reporter at that company probably has a blog and a social media account and ALL of them are looking for story ideas as well.

Social media can be a hungry beast. If those reporters want to build up followings, they know they must post interesting content on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram

Fortunately,  news about the home market is an important topic.

But here’s the key. To approach any reporter, you must have an interesting story to present to them.

You can’t just call up a journalist and say, “Hey do a story about me.”

One, that’s not a particularly interesting angle and two, every business in town is probably doing the same thing.

This is where hyper-local real estate data gives you a tremendous edge.

Create appealing story angles with real estate data

Big Data providers such as Home Junction gather thousands of data points relevant to real estate from sources all over the country. County courthouse records. School information. Third party providers. Etc.  Their researchers know where to find the relevant data and how to aggregate it.

Home Junction then created a proprietary software API program called Slipstream that feeds the data to any website on the internet.

Therefore, a local agent in Oshkosh can embed a few bits of code on their website and tap into this gigantic database of real estate data about their local market, zip code or even neighborhood.

This is very interesting content to consumers.

Take Recent Property Sales for example. Where is the market heading? Are homes selling in the county? Is there one particular part of the county that is outselling other parts of the county? What’s the breakdown for the neighborhoods in a newspaper’s or magazine’s particular readership area?

The possibilities get even better.

Reporters are generalists. A general assignment reporter might cover a crime story one day and an interview about an interesting character in town the next. Same goes for business reporters. They might report on the construction of a new shopping center today and interview a local CEO tomorrow.

They have general knowledge about a subject. But even a real estate reporter does not have the same expertise as a local real estate agent who works in the trenches every day.

You are the real estate expert in your area. And when you embed this relevant real estate data into your website, it makes you even more of a local expert.

One strategy you can use is to use your market knowledge to interpret that data.

Perhaps point out trends taking place in certain neighborhoods. Compare one local neighborhood to another. Compare one local neighborhood to a major neighborhood in another part of the country.

The possibilities are endless.

When you call a reporter armed with some unique type of information, not just hearsay, but backed up by a credible source (in this case a national real estate data provider such as Home Junction), people will listen.

How to get publicity

One idea you might consider to accelerate your inroads into local media is to hire a local public relations person. Doesn’t have to be full-time. And it doesn’t have to be long-term.

That person can immediately help you with the contacts they have established with newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, etc.

They know who is hungry for story ideas. They have established a rapport with many of these people so that she can call them and the editors will know his or her ideas are credible and worth listening to.

Perhaps they can’t get you an interview with a local newspaper. But maybe they can get you (and your data) featured in a local magazine. That magazine might have a readership of 10,000 people and a major email subscriber list as well. Getting your name published in front of that many potential customers is certainly valuable, especially since it is FREE.

Once your foot is in the door, there is always an opportunity for more. Remember, current news goes away after a few days, in many cases, after a day.

If your interview or content works out well, the medium might ask you to be a regular source or contributor. That’s huge. That’s a publicist’s dream.

Here are a few more tips:

– Find out about deadlines. Generally, it’s best to pitch a story first thing in the morning when an editor or reporter is looking for story ideas.

– Respect the reporter’s time frame. If a reporter is writing a story and is trying to post if before the deadline, don’t bother him or her. Offer to call back when it is convenient to them.

– Call the news media in advance. If you know you will have some interesting news or your data feeds coming from Home Junction, for example, the next quarter’s results, call the editor or reporter a week or two in advance. This way your story idea is on their radar and they can work it into their schedule. Fridays are good days when most newsrooms plan the following week’s story.

Magazines publish way in advance, generally a month, so be sure to contact them much earlier.

– Prepare visuals. The Home Junction team can also work with you to present your local data in different forms – charts, tables, etc. Show this to reporters. Especially if those charts indicate a major movement, say a huge spike in home sales or property prices.

– Keep at it. As we said, your real estate data makes for an interesting story. Send a polite note on a regular basis pointing out different trends in the neighborhood. There will come a time when a reporter has run out of stories, or a story idea fell through, and they may contact you.

– Create advertorials. These are very popular today with the news media, especially newspaper real estate sections. In this case, a broker or agent can write a news article, but it a paid advertisement and must be labeled as such. However, if you write the piece as a news item, not a fluffy story about yourself, it can generate the same readership and almost the same credibility as a regular news article. This is especially true if you have credible information, such as the factual real estate data from Home Junction.

– Partner with other businesses or bloggers. Your real estate data is valuable. Perhaps a mortgage company would be interested in featuring it on their blog. Or maybe a builder. Many of these businesses will be working hard to create their own followings and you can piggyback onto their audiences with your hyper-local property information.

Let’s face it. In every marketplace, there are a ton of real estate agents. Some are full-time, pedal to the metal agents and some are retired, part-time agents. But to many consumers, all of these agents tend to blend together into one giant mass.

Using a publicist or acting as your own publicist is an effective strategy to separate yourself from the herd.

Even if you are only featured one time in a newspaper, magazine or TV station, you can copy that appearance and promote it on your website. Use it when you make a listing presentation to sellers.

When the public sees that a major media outlet has featured you, it immediately creates an impression in their mind that this agent has credibility, experience and local knowledge.

Movie stars know the importance of hiring publicists to keep their names in the public eye on a national basis. It pays off for them with higher box office sales and bigger paychecks.

The same results can work for you on the local level, with more listings and more calls from buyers. Use local real estate data to be the star of your community.

 

 

 

 

How Agents Can Emulate Waiters And Use Real Estate Data To Gain The Trust Of Consumers

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real estate data menuThere’s a correlation between real estate data and the menu at a ritzy restaurant if you pay close attention to what is being said.

Let’s say one day you sit at a fine dining establishment, poring over a very complex menu, not sure what to order.

Should you ask the waiter for a recommendation? Naturally, you think, they will suggest the most expensive item in the joint and will probably never tell you if a particular dish is tasty or not, especially the priciest plates.

However, every so often you come across a waiter who is willing to tell it like it is. You might ask about a particular dish and they will tell you, maybe it’s not a good idea. They might note, that personally, they really don’t like that item.

A gutsy move. Certainly, one that the guy wearing the chef’s hat in the back and holding a meat cleaver would not want to hear.

Something special happens at that exact moment. The customer begins to trust the waiter. The waiter is not just giving the “all’s great” sales pitch. He is being honest and giving the consumer the negative as well.

So you order something else. And then perhaps you order the expensive wine he recommends. And the desert he brings by later.

This is a technique that many people in the restaurant use today. Who would think honesty would be a technique? But it this day and age of the constant hustle, a bit of honesty goes a long way.

Real estate data provides the facts, not the fluff

Think about how a home buyer or seller views a real estate agent. As they listen to a sales presentation, in many instances, they know they are being sold.

This property is fantastic. This property is a perfect fit for this couple and their family. The schools are great. The neighborhood is fantastic.

Sure, as a broker or agent, you want to instill enthusiasm for a property. You want to get the seller pumped up. Certainly, nobody wants to buy anything from a Debbie Downer-type person.

But what if you also brought up some possible negatives about a home in question?

With real estate data from national providers such as Home Junction, Inc., brokers and agents have access to an incredible range of information about a particular property and a particular neighborhood.

home price trends

Some of that information might be positive. Some might be negative. It’s data. Data doesn’t lie.

For example, there’s a couple who are interested in buying property in the Sunshine Groves neighborhood.

When the agent pulls up a comprehensive data set of information about that neighborhood, they learn several things.

That data set shows the trends in home sales, trends in prices, schools info, demographics, crime statistics, weather, etc.

When using the Home Value Estimator Tool also available from Home Junction, an agent can present a snapshot of where that property lies in relation to the general marketplace.

The home value tool shows the percentile ranking how a home might be positioned compared to other homes in terms of Size, Price, Price Per Sq. Foot and Age.

The couple is very interested in a home located at 123 Maple Lane. Perhaps the home is priced a little bit more than they budgeted. But it’s the right size with the right number of bedrooms with exceptional schools located nearby.

However, they do own a home now and have expressed a reluctance to move. Taking on a bigger mortgage is a big decision for them.

The agent walks them through the real estate data they pulled from Home Junction’s massive national database.

The home sales chart shows home sales are increasing in that neighborhood.

So are prices.

The schools in that area have exceptional ratings and a nice ratio of teachers to students.

The two buyers have college degrees and the demographics show there are a large number of residents in that neighborhood with bachelor degrees or higher.

All the data looks very appealing.

However, when the agent shows the results from the home value estimator tool, the couple notices that the size of the home is in the small percentile compared to other homes in the area.

Not exactly a plus.

They decide to make the move, put their home up for sale and buy the new home anyway.

One possible reason why? Trust.

Consumers will reward those who provide reliable information

By showing the home buyers the complete picture created by the real estate data, the agent was able to elevate his or her level of trustworthiness with the couple.

First of all, the buyers were able to review an incredible array of information about that property, not just a sales sheet from an open house and a few subjective comments from an agent.

This is hard data. True facts. Not conjecture or vague references.

Secondly, they could see the good and the bad. The agent did not try to sugarcoat ALL the information about the property.

By showing the buyers that the size comparison information, in the mind of the buyers, the agent became someone they could trust.

That agent was transformed from just a salesperson in their mind initially, to a consultant. An adviser. Someone who could give the buyers real and complete information to help them make one of the most difficult decisions they will ever make in their lives.

(Conversely, when approaching sellers, you could point out any negatives about their property…and how you plan to overcome them if they should come up.)

It’s the waiter with the recommendations all over again.

When reaching that tipping point of trust with that agent, consumers will want to do more with that agent . Perhaps they will list their home with that person. Or, they will call them again in five years when they are considering another move.

You can also be sure they will refer that agent to their friends and family.

In this day and age of hucksters and scams, people have their guard up. They are skeptical.

Savvy businesspeople will not focus on the sale, but on the relationship. On providing solutions and answers.

It’s amazing how far a person can go with just a little bit of honesty (and a comprehensive real estate dataset).

For the waiter, the payoff could be an order of cheesecake and a big tip.

For a broker or agent, the reward could be the sale of a $450,000 home with three referrals.

That’s the power of trust. That’s something that can easily be achieved with a full menu of real estate data in the hands of a trustworthy broker or agent.

 

 

 

 

Be The Source Of Local Home Sales Data When The National Data Is Released

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national real estate dataHere’s one simple tactic agents can use with hyper-local home sales data to impress customers, competition and the media.

This tactic will impress buyers and sellers.

This tactic will establish an agent as the local agent with local knowledge.

This tactic is very easy to implement (because other people do all the work).

Here it is. Every month the National Association of Realtors releases their Existing Home Sales Report.

Those releases cover the latest home sales data and then compares it to previous months and years.

The report also mentions median existing home prices, average time homes are on the market and breaks down activity for single family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.

They also examine regional activity for the Northeast, West, South, and Midwest.

For extra measure, the researchers will throw in some facts about mortgage rates from Fannie Mae.

Tie in local home sales data with national news

Then the NAR economist will add some analysis. Such as this one in the latest release:

“Closings were down in most of the country last month because interested buyers are being tripped up by supply that remains stuck at a meager level and price growth that’s straining their budget,” said the economist.

“The demand for buying a home is as strong as it has been since before the Great Recession. Listings in the affordable price range continue to be scooped up rapidly, but the severe housing shortages inflicting many markets are keeping a large segment of would-be buyers on the sidelines.”

“The good news is that sales are still running slightly above last year’s pace despite these persistent market challenges.”

Certainly very interesting information. So interesting in fact, that you will see those national home statistics read by newscasters on the major TV networks. You will even see that home sales data reported by regional TV broadcasters. Local newspapers will be sure to pick up this information as well.

It’s a fact. Everybody loves to hear how home sales are performing.

Make your own observation about local home sales data

This is where hyper-local home sales data comes into play and makes a powerful statement about your value as a broker or agent in your particular marketplace.

Sure, the national information is important. It will catch the attention of many home owners and every home owner to be.

But here’s where an agent can swoop in.

With your own hyperlocal real estate feed, from reliable providers such as Home Junction, you can provide insight into a place where it matters, your target neighborhoods.

Because after all, Jim and Jan Homeowner don’t really care what happens in Manhattan, NYC if they live in Manhattan, KS.

You can cite the statistics from the NAR report. But with your local home sales data, you can point out how in XYZ neighborhood, prices are escalating even faster than the national average.

Or, with local home sales data trend charts, an agent can show how property sales are flat in an area, and the national increase has not hit this neighborhood yet.

In fact, you can offer consumers an insight into their particular zip code or even dig down to the neighborhood level.

Tease them with the information and offer to show them an in-depth report if they call you or fill out a lead form.

Or, let them know the full search functionality for local data is available on your website.

Play up the contrast between national real estate data and your local data on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Contact a business editor at the local newspaper. They are always looking for a local angle to national news. Offe to make a comment about local conditions.

A website visitor is not easy to generate. These are effective ways to get them to your site. Perhaps while there, they will start browsing through listings. And turn into a buyer.

For sellers, perhaps it’s just enough to convince them that you are the go-to agent in that area.

Act like an economist. Cite the NAR economist’s remarks. Then make your own. After all, you are in essence a real estate economist in your town when it comes to real estate. Show people how nobody knows the current state of their neighborhood better than you do.

As an added bonus, let consumers know there is a full array of tools for them to research all the relevant information they need about a neighborhood. There’s school information with enrollment figures and student/teacher ratios. There are cost of living indexes. Demographics breaking down the profile of who lives in the area. Even crime statistics.

National home sales data is attention-getting information. You see it all over the media.

Provide contrasting local home sales data with a local analysis to show everybody that you as an agent, know their particular neighborhood where it matters most.

 

 

 

Real Estate Data Is The Honey That Attracts, Not Repels Customers

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real estate honeyTimes are a’ changing and the use of real estate data may be more important than ever.

Why? Take a look at what is happening in several boroughs in New York State.

The residents there have become fed up with super-aggressive real estate solicitors.

Apparently, home prices in that area have skyrocketed.  Disreputable agents are climbing over each with overzealous marketing campaigns to try to find more sellers.

People talk about having agents walk in their offices and drop five or six brochures on their desk every day. Mailboxes are stuffed. People are approached on their front porches. Daily.

Residents there have had enough. They actually contacted state legislators who created a “cease and desist” zone where residents can sign up for a “Do not contact” list.  Real estate solicitors are not allowed to bother them anymore. There could be severe penalties. It’s gotten that bad.

Don’t think this practice doesn’t just take place in New York. Probably happens all over the country. Especially in markets that are overheated.

What’s the result? People get turned off by real estate professionals, which ends up throwing the reputable ones in the same basket. The trusted agents who will greatly assist a consumer when they do decide to sell.

This could be a future trend. Certainly one that agents need to be concerned about and to monitor in the event there are grumblings in their marketplace.

Real estate data is a powerful magnet

There’s a lesson here.

It starts with the old adage, “You can attract more flies with honey than vinegar.”

Naturally, we’re not saying home buyers and sellers are insects. They are people. Who deserve not to have their privacy violated.

What we are saying is that you will attract more customers by offering the right product to help them, rather than harass them.

One of those products is hyperlocal real estate data.

After all, what is the role of a real estate agent? One of their main responsibilities is to be an “information resource.”

An agent can approach consumers in one of two ways. They can constantly bug them about why they should be selling their home or buying one (and giving the agent a big fat commission check).

Or, they can act in a consultancy position. Provide consumers with a big helping hand to lead them through one of the most complex, expensive and nerve-wracking decisions they will make in their lives.

Providing local, relevant real estate data is one way to be THE RESOURCE for consumers.

Add real estate data on your web site showing recent home sales, charts with trends in prices, school information such as rankings and student/teacher ratios, demographics, crimes statistics, cost of living indices, municipal boundaries, tax districts, and more.

school data

Local school data.

That’s the “honey” that will attract buyers and sellers.

You can promote that honey in a number of ways.

On social media, share recent developments in the local marketplace. Perhaps sales reached an all-time high last quarter. Post a link that goes back to your website showing a chart with housing trends.

Send out a direct mail piece (not every day) with local real estate data stats (and the web address to find out more information).

Make it known you and your website are the place for buyers and sellers to turn to when they are ready to act.

Many people interviewed in those New York boroughs acknowledged that most real estate agents are not annoying. But those few nasty real estate agents in New York still don’t get it.

People don’t want to be “sold.” They want to buy. And they want to talk to professionals with in-depth local knowledge who will help them make a decision, not trick them into selling or buying.

Let your valuable hyper-local real estate data create an atmosphere where customers want to reach out to you, not run away from you.

 

 

Real Estate Data Feeds Are A Great Resource For Bloggers

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real estate bloggerReal estate data can help you write that all important 1,000-word plus blog.

A 1,000-word real estate blog you might say? Are you kidding? Doesn’t “War and Peace” have that many words?

Yes, coming up with something to write about on a regular basis is certainly not easy.  Most people have a hard time writing any blog. To think of one every week, well that’s downright torture. And now you want a 1,000 words?

Sure, the first month that a blogger starts they are chock full of great ideas. Then comes month three, four and five, etc. In fact, the months don’t stop. They just keep coming.

All of a sudden that keyboard isn’t so friendly anymore.

The key to writing a blog on a regular basis is to have a source of information that provides you with fresh ideas on a regular basis.

One of the best sources for hyperlocal ideas is a hyperlocal feed of real estate data from providers such as Home Junction.

With a real estate data feed, you literally have a fire hose constantly feeding you constantly changing local information.

  • Recent homes sales.
  • Trends in home prices.
  • School information.
  • Local business information.
  • Demographics
  • Cost of Living Indices
  • Crime statistics.
  • Etc.

Use local real estate data to lengthen blogs

Because here’s why you need as much hyper-local information as you can gather.

Google and Bing. That’s why.

The search engines Google and Bing and all the others like content. (Inman says so.) Fresh content.

And they like in-depth content.

The quality of content is one of the main factors that Google and Bing use in determining rankings. (Sure, there are about 200 other factors as well, but Content is a Big One. Be sure you have that one nailed down. It’s within your reach).

What do Google and Bing prefer in regard to content?

First of all, the verbiage needs to be relevant.

So, if you want your website to rank for Lucky Putter Country Club, it’s smart to have content about the Lucky Putter Country Club on your website and add words related to the club.

With a WordPress real estate website (also offered by Home Junction) you can easily upload tons of content on any subject. WordPress is one of the best platforms in the world for Search Engine Optimization. The software is coded in a way that Google and Bing can easily understand and index in their rankings of websites.

That’s why more than 25% of the content based websites out today use WordPress.

The second item that Google and Bing look for after relevant content is updated content.

Sure, someone can set up a web page about the Lucky Putter Country Club and not touch it for years. But if someone else posts updated and fresh content about Lucky Putter, well Google and Bing are going to notice.

Search engines are all about determining which sites offer the best answers to search queries. Fresh content is one criterion they use. Too many sites are just created and left abandoned with outdated and many times, wrong information.

Google and Bing see that a website that is continually updated, is a website worth paying attention to.

Third, there’s the length of the content.

Sure, the bots that Google and Bing deploy are very sharp. They are equipped with many mechanisms to determine quality content.

But after all, they are still bots (mini-robots).

They aren’t human.

So, one of the factors these bots rely on to measure quality content is the number of words written about a subject. Most experts say a blog or any bit of content should be at least 300 words. Many say the optimum length is 1,000 words (Yikes!).

Some experts will claim blogs should really be 2,500 words. (You’ve got to be kidding. That’s the length of a phone book, right?).

Yes, those numbers are daunting. Or writing anything on a regular basis, say weekly, is challenging as well.

That’s where real estate data can come in handy.

With your own real estate data feed, you have access to an incredible database of local and yes, relevant information.

For example, you could talk about certain neighborhoods you are targeting.

Provide a write-up about the community. The type of homes. The number of homes. The location.

Then go into your real estate feed.

Start pulling up charts for Recent Home Sales in that community. Talk about the results.

Do a screen shot of the chart. (Another key factor that Google and Bing like are images with blogs. Images, break up long blocks of text and make it easier for people to read).

property sales data charts

Do the same with trends in Home Prices in that neighborhood. Talk about where the market is going – up, down or in between. Give some predictions on where you think it is going.

With your real estate data feed, you can also talk about recent homes sold in the community. Point out how that home over there sold for a record amount per square foot, or how that home over here sold in record time for that neighborhood.

Dig deeper.

Talk about the demographics of the community. Maybe the average income is above average for the area. Or perhaps there are a lot of young people who happen to live in this particular area.

Check out your real estate data feeds for the latest school information. Talk about enrollment sizes, student-teacher ratios, rankings for the middle school that sits in the middle of that particular neighborhood.

If the population skews older, use the information from the feed to talk about the different medical facilities in that community.

Crime statistics are always important.

Not only can you use local real estate data to talk about a particular neighborhood, but it’s also great as a comparison tool (in fact Home Junction offers a comparison function that consumers can use themselves).

Comparisons are powerful for helping people sort out information and make decisions. It gives them perspective. A way to evaluate.

For example, perhaps Neighborhood A is a hip, super-desirable neighborhood. The perception that everybody has is that this is the place to be. But, with your real estate data tools, you can do a comparison with Neighborhood B and show it has as many of the EXACT same characteristics as the other neighborhood, but with home prices that are not as inflated.

Perhaps by now, the point is sinking in. Real estate data provides you with plenty of information to elongate your blog posts or your posts about a target neighborhood you want to farm.

With that information, it makes it a lot easier to reach 1,000 words in length. Just like we did here.

Do yourself a favor. Tap into real estate data feed. Your fingers and your followers will thank you.

 

 

 

Real Estate Data Is One Simple Hyper-Local Tool To Create A Successful Seminar

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real estate seminarAs a broker or agent if you ever considered offering a home buying or selling seminar, we recommend you include one critical element – local real estate data.

Sure, with all our Androids, iPads and Tweets society today is knee-deep in a high-tech world.

But most real estate professionals know the high-touch benefits of speaking to people directly. A live presentation can yield tremendous benefits in leads, referrals and brand awareness.

Here are some reasons why:

– People still want to get out of the house. This gives them an excuse and when you talk about a subject as important as investing in a property, a compelling reason to attend is certainly obvious.

– Real estate, finance, contract law and other aspects of buying or selling a home are complicated. People still grow up in a classroom setting and still believe in the power of listening to a speaker in order to truly understand what they are discussing. And they need a way to ask questions comfortably.

– In this high-tech world of viruses and fake news, making decisions is surprisingly more difficult than ever. It’s not easy to trust everyone you meet on the web or what they say. People still want to be able to evaluate people face-to-face.

All those reasons sound legitimate, a broker or agent might say, just as the sweat beads up on their forehead.

But geez. How do I meet the expectations of people today?

There are actually some easy solutions.

For one, the best formula for organizing a successful seminar is to take any idea of a sales pitch and pitch it out the window. Ironically, the less you make your seminar sound like a sales presentation, the more likely you are to generate sales from it.

To do that, you must have a program that educates people, holds their attention, and is flexible enough to answer individual questions.

So you need material. Really solid material. Material that is geared locally, for the people sitting in front of you, and not some canned speech developed by a corporation 1,000 miles away.

The best way to do that is to have a real estate data feed in your toolbox. Nowadays, with big data technology offered by companies such as Home Junction, an agent can tap into a gigantic storehouse of neighborhood data.

They can embed an API into their website that gives them instant access to a vast and current database of local property sales, trends in home prices, school data, local demographics, crime data, cost of living indices, boundaries, local businesses and much more.

More than enough information to fill any hour-long seminar.

It gets even better.  Here’s where you can create your “wow” factor.

With this big data technology, an agent or broker has the ability to go granular, so they can address the needs of John Doe on Maple Street and Jane Spain on Oak Terrace.

For example, start the seminar with some visuals on local market conditions for the county.

Show trend lines in charts for Recent Home Sales. Show some individual sales and how much the homes sold for per square foot.

Here comes the wow factor.

Ask a member of the audience where they live. Then go into the database and pull up the real estate data for just their neighborhood. Not the county, which is too big to be truly relevant. Not even the zip code, where market conditions can vary.

But the neighborhood. Their neighborhood.

Think how impressed that person in the audience will be to learn what is taking place next door to them.

Think about how ALL those people will be eager to go home, visit your website, and pull up the real estate data in their neighborhoods that is relevant to them.

Also be sure to round out the presentation.

Invite a colleague with a real estate specialty to speak as well. Perhaps an attorney, or a loan officer or a home inspector.

Provide plenty of visuals. But don’t provide a ton of PowerPoint slides with too much text. People don’t want someone to read to them, they want someone to talk to them. Get out from behind a podium and work the crowd.

And be sure to provide plenty of time for questions and answers. That’s a big reason why people are there – to get answers in person to their specific needs. Answers they can’t always find in the jumbled and screwed up digital universe.

Put all this together and you have one powerful seminar that is simple to put together.

Many people don’t like to speak in public. One of the big obstacles is trying to figure out what to say.

With today’s technology, you don’t need to write a prize-winning speech on local real estate.

Your extensive, hyper-local real estate data feed, will supply you with most of the talking points you’ll ever need.

 

 

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.