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Use A Real Estate API To Build Trust With Clients And Overcome Negative Perceptions

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A Real Estate API with a huge reservoir of hyper-local market data can be helpful to brokers to establish an overall sense of trustworthiness for their firm.

Apparently this is a challenge for real estate brokers and agents with consumers today.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, agents are on the cusp when it comes to how they rank among professionals for honesty and ethical standards.

A Gallup Poll from Dec. 3, 2018 ranked several professions for honesty and ethics. Here are the findings for Real Estate Agents:

  • Very High – 2%
  • High – 23%
  • Average – 54%
  • Low – 15%
  • Very Low – 4%

Meanwhile, the group that ranked at the top for honesty and ethics was Nurses.

This was followed by:

  • Medical Doctors
  • Pharmacists
  • High School Teachers
  • Police Officers
  • Accountants
  • Funeral Directors
  • Clergy
  • Journalists
  • Building Contractors
  • Bankers
  • Ranking below Real Estate Agents were:
  • Labor Union Leaders
  • Lawyers
  • Business Executives
  • Stockbrokers
  • Advertising Executives
  • Telemarketers
  • Car Salespeople
  • Members of Congress

Real Estate API provides facts, not hype

Now, it’s important to point out most people find Real Estate Agents honest and trustworthy. The small percentage of people that don’t, about 20%, probably get their perception from Hollywood movies or TV shows which doesn’t always paint agents in a favorable light.

It’s also important to note, the difference in ranking between agents and other professions such as lawyers for example, is substantial.

About 28% rank lawyers very low.

For telemarketers, 55% of respondents gave this profession a low rating for honesty.

And the worst, Members of Congress, had 58% of those surveyed ranking them poorly and only 8% ranking them above average.

Still, in this era of robocallers and spammers, it would be smart for agents to take measures to ensure they appear trustworthy in the eyes of their customers and their community.

One way to do this is steer clear of fluff and hype.

Offer customers the facts as much as you can.

Offer narrow-focused hyper-local market data

A great way to display facts is with hyper-local data.

 

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Charts provided by Real Estate API

That data could include:

  • Recent Home Sales
  • Trends in Property Prices
  • School Data
  • School Boundaries
  • Neighborhood Demographics
  • Crime Ratings
  • Cost of Living Indices
  • Municipal Boundaries
  • Points of Interest

Okay, a broker or agent might shrug, here’s more work for me to do.

But when you work with national data aggregators such as Home Junction, they do all the work for you.

All the broker or agent needs to do is choose the neighborhoods they want to target and then order the data from Home Junction.

Home Junction provides a Real Estate Data API (Application Programming Interface) which is basically just a few snippets of code added to a website.

That Real Estate Data API then supplies a wealth of hyper-local data for a specific neighborhood or subdivision on the agent’s website. Not just by zip code, but parsed right down to a designated area such as a neighborhood, community or subdivision within that zip code.

Talk about credibility.

With this valuable data, an agent can show buyers market trends not just for an entire city, but for the specific neighborhood where they would prefer to live.

Pulling stats from a large area can be misinterpreted and misleading. For example, home prices for a town might be flat overall.

But for the Exciting Heights Community where schools have high rankings, the hyper-local charts might show sales are booming and homes are selling fast.

Conversely, wouldn’t it be great to show potential sellers how you are going to use your Real Estate API to show prospects their street is “hot” is when it comes to desirability?

Facts mold perceptions

Consumers today have their fake detection filters up on high.

Using a Real Estate API to show them the real facts about the local housing market will go a long way in building a high level of trust.

After all, most of the real estate business transaction is based on trust.

And this simple attribute can go a very long way in helping consumers make a decision.

That trust can also be parlayed into future business and a significant number of referrals as people tend to trust their friends and family more than ever when making decisions.

As they say, perception is reality.

While a Real Estate Data API provides hard data, those facts will go a long way into shaping the perception about your firm in the minds of your clients and your community.

 

 

 

 

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

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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.

 

 

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.

How A Real Estate API Can Identify Those “Spillover” Neighborhoods Next To Hot Markets

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A Real Estate API can be an effective tool to take advantage of popular markets and paint a picture why neighborhoods nearby are the “next big thing.”

We all know and love those trendy neighborhoods. That’s the place people covet where the homes are pretty (and usually large), streets are clean, landscaping is immaculate, schools are great and it’s surrounded by chic restaurants and shops.

Residents of that area are fortunate to live there, but unfortunately for brokers and agents farming that area, it’s a challenge.

The inventory of homes for sale in those markets might be extremely low, or even non-existent. And when somebody finally decides to put their property on the market, they may have lost their minds when it comes to pricing.

Real Estate API can spot new hot markets

Fortunately for brokers and agents, there are effective tools, such as a Real Estate API, that can help them create a scenario to promote adjacent neighborhoods as the “next best place” to buy.

A Real Estate API is basically like a door to a giant library of relevant property data – recent home sales, trends in home prices, school information, school attendance zones, boundaries, neighborhood data, crime ratings, demographics, etc.

With a few snippets of code,  that door can reside on an agent’s website. On any page.

Of course, it would be impossibly time-consuming for an agent to amass all this data.

But there are national data aggregators such as Home Junction that gather all this information for you. They filter the information, organize it and segment it by geographic boundaries.

Those boundaries are key.

Because if you are working on “spillover” markets, you want data not just for that zip code, but parsed all the way down to neighborhoods or subdivisions.

When you have that neighborhood-specific data, you can do wonders.

For example, a buyer wants to purchase a home in Trendy Oaks. But as we said, it’s likely there aren’t any homes for sale or the price of that lone home on the market is in the upper stratosphere.

However, with your Real Estate API embedded on your website, a broker or agent can show home shoppers how Next Door Oaks is starting to heat up as a hot neighborhood as well.

With a data feed that display Recent Home Sales in a trending chart, a buyer can easily see how home sales are starting to take off like a rocket.

Another chart can show the same for prices (Better make an offer now!).

School data is a powerful persuader

School data can be another huge factor.

With current School Attendance Zone data, an agent can point out how that neighborhood also qualifies for children living there to attend the same school as Trendy Oaks children.

These zones are critical. And hard to keep up with.

They do change, depending on shifts in student numbers. They can also be different for different grade levels. While the children in one neighborhood can attend a middle school down the street, it’s doesn’t mean they can attend the same high school as the students do next door.

There’s other data as well that can be supplied by a Real Estate API.

Take neighborhood demographics. An agent can use that information to show prospective buyers how the ages, incomes, family sizes, etc. of people in Trendy Oaks matches these neighborhoods next door.

But what’s really cool, is that the average home prices are much less. At least for now.

Hey Mr. and Mrs. Home Shopper, time to make a move.

Use geo-coding to point out signs of gentrification

Other data points for “Places of Interest” can be the proverbial icing on the cake.

Naturally, Whole Foods, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and all the cool shops and stores are going to want to be located near the hot neighborhoods.

With a geo-coded spatial plug-in, integrated with MLS listings, an agent can show buyers how certain neighborhoods are located relatively close to those trendy retail stores.

Or, they can point out on a map, how some new stores are about to pop up next to new neighborhoods. A sure sign that gentrification is taking place and that area is about to become more popular.

Conversely, a Real Estate API with this massive amount of hyper-local real estate market data can be a very persuasive tool when making a presentation to a potential seller.

This data gives you a powerful story to tell. Distribute all these positive neighborhood attributes out to homeowners on a regular basis via social media, direct mail and even phone calls.

Create top of mind awareness in homeowners that you are the agent with the local knowledge and the local data to back it up.

Perception is not reality. People might want to live in that hot neighborhood and think they’ll just have to wait until something opens up.

But with your Real Estate Data API supplying you with real facts, an agent can point out how there are other similar neighborhoods starting to blossom, and smart buyers will jump on board.

 

How A Real Estate API Can Keep Your Real Estate Marketing, New, Fresh and Engaging

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real estate apiA Real Estate API is a valuable asset when it comes to content for one key reason – freshness.

As a broker and agent, you need a constant stream of new customers. Once your current customers are in their new home or out of their existing home and on their way to a new location, your service is done (until they need the same service a few years later).

Therefore, you need  a constant stream of new customers and new leads.

To attract new customers, you need a constant stream of new information to catch their attention.

You can’t keep up client volume with stale or sporadic marketing techniques – especially when it comes to social media.

So how can you ensure that you are consistently marketing to your target audience with fresh and interesting content?

Real estate APIs addresses the wants of different groups

Finding out exactly the type of information that would spark interest in your clients is the first step before spending time or money on the actual marketing actions.

Some are young families interested in the best schools.

A few are young couples looking for their first home.

Others are investors looking to rehab properties.

Maybe they have specific interests such as golf or hiking or yoga and want to live near those amenities.

When you know who you’re talking to, you can begin to create a list of both original and shared content to distribute in order to attract a specific crowd.

Measure your results

With a Real Estate API, a broker or agent has a wealth of data coming into their website. They don’t have to constantly look for updates on schools. They also don’t need to send prospects to other websites for local real estate market data such as homes sales.

Real estate data aggregators such as Home Junction do all of this work. All you do is add the Real Estate API, which is essentially just a few lines of code embedded into your website.

They can post that data on different pages. Integrate it with MLS listings.

School Data next to properties for sale. Perhaps a separate page on local Market Activity.

The same can be done with social media. Post a link to a chart showing the latest trends in Home Prices.

Definitely use that content to enhance email blasts. Don’t just send listing information. Show how the number of homes sold in on their market has changed.

Compare one market to another to show why now is the time to buy. Or show neighborhood demographics and average home prices.

Keep a close eye on your marketing results. What type of content are people clicking on? Which article resulted in more leads? Or phone calls?

Tracking results will help you see the type of content people want to read. The great advantage a broker or agent has over other businesses, is that just one solid lead can lead to a big commission.

Use local real estate data to generate topics

Whatever your content, it must be fresh and relevant.

By using adding a Real Estate API with hyper-local data, you have instant access to endless content ideas.

Has a popular local school been in the news lately? Share it.

Are home prices in a certain neighborhood skyrocketing? Write a blog about it.

What are the housing trends in your city? Create a social media infographic about them.

This data isn’t just useful for helping clients find what they’re looking for via your website: you can use the data yourself to bring the useful information directly to them via your blog, newsletter, and social media.

And the best part? As this information is always being updated, you’ll never run out of fresh topics to disseminate.

Manage your marketing hours effectively

If you don’t come up with a marketing plan and stick to it, you’ll quickly burn out and feel discouraged by throwing everything you’ve got at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Many top earners balance their time by setting aside one day at the end of the month to plan out and schedule all of their marketing content.

This could include writing blogs, creating social media graphics, and writing newsletters.

Tools such as Facebook, Mailchimp, and HootSuite allow you to schedule these things to go out on the day and time of your choice, freeing up a lot of your time that otherwise might have been spent hunched over the phone or computer.

While you are likely working with a team or under a firm, you should still cultivate your own brand to help you stand out from the pack.

Colors, logos, writing styles, and your own unique voice are all things that can make up your personal brand.

Every piece of information you put out to market your real estate business must be consistent with your brand.

When you create content such as social media graphics, be sure you are using the same fonts, colors, and types of images consistently or your audience will become confused and distrusting.

You don’t have to rely on Facebook and mass postcards.

Consider branching out and trying something different. Is your target market a Millenial? Use Instagram and Snapchat.

Is your target market a trend-savvy mom? Start creating home design boards along with local real estate market data on Pinterest.

Education-based marketing can be very helpful in service businesses, so consider a blog series based using local real estate data. Perhaps a YouTube video, or an online class or webinar.

Marketing your real estate business doesn’t have to be an endless source of frustration.

By making a plan and sticking to it, and getting fresh content ideas by using local data, you can set up your marketing to work for you: not the other way around.

Humans are wired to be attracted to anything new. New gadgets, new clothes, new TV shows or new recipes.

A Real Estate API is an automatic content generator that can help you attract new clients with new data.

Real Estate API And Other Tech Tools Are Essential To Agent Success Today

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It’s 2018, and in today’s competitive environment, adding a Real Estate API is a necessity if an agent truly wants to become a local resource for buyers and sellers.

Finding success in the real estate business is no longer as simple as just getting out and pounding the pavement.

You must use the latest tech tools as well.

What should you be learning from those who have already blazed the trail? If you interviewed a hundred different successful real estate agents, you would probably encounter a hundred different styles and personalities.

Some are more aggressive, while others are reticent. Others have a large and charismatic demeanor, while others are more subdued.

However, no matter how different their personality type or philosophy, there are a few things that every successful real estate agent has in common.

They stay in touch with clients and keep them informed

One of the most important approaches that a successful real estate agent takes is to prioritize the needs of the client. No matter how busy you are or what you have going on, if a client calls or emails you, you should strive to make them feel like they are the most important client you have ever had.

This could include returning correspondence immediately, always answering the phone with a smile, and following up promptly on every possible occasion.

Tech tools such as note-taking apps have helped preserve many an agent/client relationship – if you promise a client you will make a call or send them some information, and you forget to do it once they’re out of sight, this will erode the client’s trust in you.

Another very helpful tool is Listing Leader – a real estate marketing automation program. Combined with a Real Estate Data API, this tool uses email to automatically send new MLS listings and updated real estate market data such as Recent Home Sales, to prospects on a regular basis.

real estate api sales

A Real Estate API automatically feeds recent market data onto an agent’s website.

Customers like consistency. This program continually keeps agents in touch with their clients. Automatically.

Without leads, there are no clients – and without clients, there is no business. A successful real estate agent considers all possible avenues for collecting and retaining leads. Whether focusing strongly on social media and web presence, or trying out old-school methods such as mass mailings, experimentation and analysis of what worked (and what didn’t) helps you fine-tune your business to attract the right kind of clients from the right types of marketing.

In addition, high-earning real estate agents curate and nurture an extensive network. Not because they think it will translate to loads of clients instantly, but because they know they can be the most successful by partnering with companies who provide the highest level of service – just like they do.

Whether an insurer, a contractor, a home inspector, a mover, or another related professional, they know who is the best in their industry and pride themselves on connecting them with their clients. And if they find out someone is slacking on good customer service? They aren’t afraid to cull them from referrals.

Agents use a Real Estate API to offer more local info

This generation’s crop of successful agents know their way around a smartphone and a social media account.

They multitask, they go paperless, they make transactions from anywhere, and they build their email list in their pajamas.

They are able to combine their customer service skills with the latest technology.

With a Real Estate Data API on their website, they don’t just claim to have local knowledge, they offer a wealth of in-depth market data about Schools. School Attendance Zones, City and County Boundaries, Cost of Living, Crime Ratings, Neighborhood Demographics and Comparative Analysis.

Real facts. Current market data. A vast array of key information buyers and sellers want to know. All on the agent’s website (fed by a Real Estate API – a few simple lines of code embedded on the site).

With a WordPress real estate theme they offer big, bright images of listings. They add useful WordPress real estate plugins for generating leads with contact forms and they optimize their website’s rankings on Google and Bing.

And because they use a WordPress real estate platform, their desktop website easily converts into a mobile website that can be read and navigated on an iPhone, Android smartphone or tablet. The world searches for answers on their mobile devices today. Google recognizes this and ranks websites on how well their site transitions to mobile devices.

When you can have offer complete and up to date local real estate information with just a couple of clicks, on any device, you have already set yourself apart from the crowd.

Sure, every real estate agent fancies themselves a neighborhood expert, but the highest earning and most in demand real estate agents are on another level.

Having the information from a Real Estate API at your fingertips means that you too can provide answers to questions like “What’s for sale?” “What just sold?” and “How much house can I get for my budget?” on any particular street or neighborhood in your city.

You will know exactly what to suggest to a client, according to their needs: where is the closest hospital, church, gym, school, playground, or golf course in their desired area?

This technology can not only serve to train you in committing these details to memory, but also to show clients who visit your website your dedication to meeting their need for instant and in-depth information.

The climate may be very different when it comes to building a real estate business in 2018.

But some things remain the same: customer prioritization, keeping in touch and knowing your market inside and out.

What’s different is the new technology, including a Real Estate API or a WordPress real estate website, that makes for an easier time climbing the rungs of success.

 

Real Estate API Offers Powerful Tool To Use The “If…Then” Sales Technique

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real estate api

A Real Estate API with hyper-local real estate market data helps brokers and agents pose the persuasive “if…then” question.

A Real Estate API embedded in your website adds impact to a simple yet effective sales technique involving just two words.

Those words are “If…Then.”

The technique goes like this: Dear Mr. Potential Home Buyer/Home Seller. IF I do ____  for you, THEN would you be willing to do _______.

A Real Estate API, which is just a few snippets of code added to your website, can help you fill in the first blank in a variety of persuasive ways.

A basic Real Estate API will link your website with the local MLS database.

The best, most powerful Real Estate API, such as the one offered by national data aggregators such as Home Junction, will also tie in thousands of hyper-local property datasets to offer home buyers and sellers a true comprehensive picture of where a home is positioned in the marketplace and the pluses associated with that house.

Those detailed datasets include:

  • School data
  • School attendance zones
  • Municipal boundaries
  • Recent Sales
  • Charts with market trends
  • Home price activity
  • Neighborhood demographics
  • Cost of living data
  • Crime ratings
  • Property comparisons
  • Area businesses nearby
  • Geo-spatial map displays

And much more.

Even a Home Value Estimator Tool similar to the popular one displayed on that real estate portal starting with the last letter in the alphabet.

Best real estate API provides market data as well

As you can see, now a broker or agent has a whole bunch of data they can use to fill in that first “IF” blank.

For example, an agent might approach a young couple who indicated they are about to start a family and say, “IF I put together detailed School Data about schools in the area with School Attendance Zones, THEN would you be willing to meet with me to discuss your housing preferences?”

Or, they could tell a potential home buyer, “IF I prepare a detailed report for you on Recent Sales Activity, Trends in Home Prices and how your property fits in the marketplace as far as Square Footage, Price, and Price Per Square Foot, THEN would you be interested in reading it?”

If you provided that real estate market data, do you think many prospective home buyers and sellers would respond favorably to that proposition?

Of course they would!!!

The beauty of the “IF” proposition is that it doesn’t put a hard question to a prospect right off the bat, such as “Can I come over and give you a sales pitch?”

Instead, the phrase first offers a free benefit.

It’s as if the agent is saying, “I know your time is valuable and you are leery of canned sales presentations. How about if I start the conversation by giving something of tremendous value to you first?”

Talk about an ice breaker.

Secondly, the “IF” proposition not only shows you are willing to give the prospect something, but it also shows you are the agent with true local knowledge (and data). This illustrates the breath and depth of the information you can provide.

It is as if you are really saying, “I’m not only going to tell you I have local knowledge, I’m going to back it up with reams of local statistics and facts.”

In-depth real estate market data helps tailor your message

The benefit of having an extensive Real Estate API on your website gives you access to different segments of data that you can tailor specifically to the person you are talking to.

For parents, offering school data is a no-brainer.

For a home owner, showing them detailed info about their most valuable possession should get you in the door.

Go even more granular.

Single female home buyers, a growing segment of the market, will be interested in crime data.

Golfers will be interested to see neighborhood amenities. With a Real Estate API with geo-spatial coding, you can pull up a listing from MLS and then show on a map the distance to the nearest golf courses. Very powerful.

For home owners, a Home Valuation Estimator Tool shows an estimate of the value of a home. The tool from national data aggregator Home Junction, goes even further and shows a comparative analysis of that home in the market place.

The Home Value Estimator Tool also calculates which percentage a property falls into for Size, Price, Age and Price per Square Foot.

With a little prep work, an agent can approach a home buyer and say, “IF I show you some market data that indicates you live in one of the biggest homes in your neighborhood and if you price it at a certain amount, you will fall right in the middle for Price per Square foot, THEN would you be interested in learning more about those numbers?”

Who wouldn’t?

Here’s another important “IF” to keep in mind.

If you really want to persuade prospects, in this day and age, hype won’t cut.

Facts will.

IF a broker or agent adds a truly comprehensive and data-rich Real Estate API to their website, THEN they will have a deep well of those facts to draw from.