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Enhancing The Open House Handout With Real Estate Databases

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open house artReal estate databases can turn a golden opportunity into a platinum opportunity when it comes to open houses.

For years, meeting potential buyers at an open house has always been one of most reliable, time-tested ways to generate leads and new customers.

There are not too many instances in real estate, in fact in any aspect of business, where a potential customer takes the time on a Sunday to drive across town to see you.

There is a debate going on about this practice. In this digital age where buyers now don’t want to get in their cars, a huge percentage look for homes online from their living room.

But for many agents, open houses still work. Very well indeed.

In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, sellers that were surveyed said in 2009 about 59% of the agents they used held an open house. In 2004, that number was 49%.

And of course, sellers do love to see those open houses as well.

So why do so many agents still use the same old one-page sheet printed out from the MLS listing to give to visitors? The one with the basic MLS info – square footage, key attributes like wood floors, types of utilities, etc.

Add real estate databases to impress and persuade

In 2017, with the resources that are available out there, why not step up your game?

Integrate real estate databases and a home value estimator tool. There’s a big opportunity here.

Let’s start with the real estate databases.

By teaming up with national and credible real estate database providers such as Home Junction Inc., a broker or agent can add a widget to their website which gives them access to an enormous bank of hyper-local information.

That information includes school data, recent home sales, home price trends, demographics, cost of living indices, crime ratings and local business listings.

Here’s a simple idea.

Print a second page for any open house handouts. Heck, just use the other side. Include key info from your hyper-local real estate databases.

Now, let’s take Mr. and Mrs. Aloof Buyer. They walk into the open house. They do their best to appear disinterested and display their look that says “we’re just curious and don’t bother us.”

They might be serious buyers. They might be semi-serious. Or, they might just have nothing to do that day and decided to stop by on their Sunday drive around town.

Doesn’t matter. You got something that could just tip any one of them into becoming buyer (and a seller).

Give these visitors the handout. The serious ones have probably already reviewed the basic information on the website.

Now, here’s the kicker, show them Page 2 with real estate databases provided by Home Junction.

For example, recent home sale trends. Point out, for example, home sales in this neighborhood or marketplace are booming. It’s a hot area. If you are truly interested in a property around here, you better move fast.

It’s the law of scarcity. A powerful law that can turn a looker into a buyer, a reluctant shopper into someone who is certainly very interested in making a move, not only to live there, but perhaps as an investment property.

Do the same with home prices. Show the charts for home prices in the area. Point out how those prices are trending upward.

Gee, this home is priced slightly LOWER than other properties in the area, a visitor might realize.

Better grab it.

Home Junction also provides a valuable Home Value Estimator tool, just like those available on the national real estate sites.

Included in that tool is a percentile comparison (shown below).

home value estimator

For example, the home estimation tool crunches the real estate data and spits out how that property compares to other homes in the market for several critical factors – Size, Price, Price per Square Foot, and Age.

Show the results to visitors. Perhaps this home is in the lower percentile for prices per square foot. That’s a bargain.

Or, maybe this is a relatively new home compared to others in the area. That’s a big selling point.

Promote the home estimator tool to all visitors.

Optimize return on investment in open house

You are the local agent. They are going to trust your insight into the local market. They are also going to trust the information and tools you provide about that market on your website.

Let’s recap what happens when those visitors leave.

For one, they will have a two-page handout with in-depth analysis of that property. If they visited other open houses and other agents, they will be impressed with the information you provide compared to the others.

That will go far in looking for properties…and selling their property if they already own in the neighborhood and are looking to upgrade or purchase investment properties.

Secondly, every visitor will now realize that your local real estate website has a home value estimate tool just like the national sites.

Why bother going to those sites anymore to check out the value of their home or other properties or other relevant data such as property sales? This local agent has the same features on THEIR SITE.

Consumers would rather deal with a local agent, someone who LIVES in the area, then a national site based thousands of miles away in another part of the country.

Brokers and agents invest quite a bit of time and money in preparing for open houses. There’s the printing, marketing, advertisements, e-mail blasts, social media posts, signage, balloons, snacks, etc. etc.

Make sure you maximize that opportunity to get a return on that investment. Stack up the info. All it takes is one customer.

When it comes to open houses and frankly any home presentation, for buyers and sellers, real estate databases on your website can make a difference, an effective, hyper-local difference.

 

 

How To Use Real Estate Data To Write A Blog When You Don’t Feel Like It

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real estate data for blogsIt’s okay for real estate professionals who write a blog to admit sometimes it’s just a big pain and that’s when real estate data can come to the rescue.

Let’s face it. For busy brokers and agents who manage everything from open houses to newspaper ads to home stagings, finding the time and motivation to write can be difficult.

Of course, that’s putting it mildly. Writing a blog on certain days can be downright agonizing.

Follow these simple tips from pro bloggers

Don’t fret. Here are a few tips to help you get something down on a page even when you find it difficult to write.

  1. Write as though you are talking to a friend

First off, this is the blogosphere, not a Nobel prize contest. Don’t try to be Ernest Hemingway or JK Rowling.

In fact, don’t even think of your blog as any type of fine writing.

Think of it more as a conversation.

Pick a topic and then write about it as though you were telling a story to a friend.

Don’t worry about finding the perfect word, or the right descriptive sentence. Frankly, your readers don’t care.

They just want to get to the essence of what you are trying to say. So talk to them by writing the way you speak.

  1. Make just one or two points

People are busy. The attention-span for web users is beyond limited. Think in terms of seconds, not minutes.

Don’t try to write a dissertation on all aspects of real estate in modern-day America.

Just pick one or two key points. That’s all you will have time to present and all readers will want to know.

If you have multiple topics in mind, pick one or two and save the rest for the next blog. You will always need ideas for blogs. Just don’t use them all at once.

Real estate data will provide plenty of topics

  1. Use real estate data to add credibility to your blog

Here’s where real estate data can make your blogging life much easier.

By partnering with a reliable real estate data provider such as Home Junction, you will have access to a wealth of data about the communities in your marketplace.

Data on Recent Homes Sales, Sales Trends, Demographics, Crime Stats, Cost of Living Indices, etc.

Pick one and write about it.

Use the data you get from Home Junction to back up your commentary.

Point out how home prices in XYZ community are starting to rise. Or, let people know that homes are selling like hot cakes in ABC town over here.

Maybe there are some interesting demographics about a particular community. For example, you may notice that many people in the P&J subdivision have doctorates. Perhaps a bunch of professors from the local college are all flocking to one area.

Another item to point out are what types of homes are selling. Perhaps high-end homes are selling in one area as opposed to home sales in the county overall. Compare one community to another.

(By the way, you can point out how consumers can visit your website and use your Home Valuation Tool to see find their own estimate on the value of their home. This will give them tremendous insight into the status of properties surrounding that home and their particular marketplace. People love this functionality. Why not? It provides credible real estate data on the most expensive thing they own.)

  1. Show, don’t tell

Are the words still not coming to you? That’s fine. Add pictures.

Use screenshots of charts to provide images that elaborate on the real estate data you are discussing.

People love images. That’s why Instagram has a gazillion followers. Instead of trying to think of how you can add more paragraphs to the page, think of adding screenshots of different data charts.

Show the trend line for recent sales in one community. Or the direction of home prices in another community.

An image says a lot. And that’s a lot of words you don’t need to add in your blog.

real estate data charts

  1. Get the content on the page, then take a break

Here’s something that might surprise you – not even Ernest Hemingway could write a great page of text on the first try. In fact, he’s famous for admitting “First drafts are ____________.” (You fill in the blank).

Rather than squeeze your brain hoping for the right words to get out, just start typing something. Anything.

Eventually, things will start to flow.

After you write your first draft, go take a break. Do something else.

Then come back and edit what you’ve written. The second draft will be much better.

Rewrite again if necessary. Read the text out loud. Proofread what you’ve written one more time and you are probably ready to publish.

(If you use a WordPress real estate website, all of this writing, rewriting and posting images is much easier to do. With WordPress, you can also add plugins that will help you optimize that page for the search engines like Google and Bing. WordPress provides so much versatility for real estate professionals in this day and age that it really should be the platform of choice).

Bonus tip: Be passionate

This tip should really be number one but we made it last because we want it to be the icing on your content.

As a blogger, you don’t necessarily need to be a wordsmith. Especially if you are a broker or agent.

People don’t expect you to be a whiz with a keyboard. In fact, if your writing is too lofty or verbose with big fancy words, you will turn people off.

But what you can do to put zing into your prose is to be passionate. Show enthusiasm.

Get excited about a new subdivision opening up in your area.

Use a real estate map plugin to show where a new school is being added to the neighborhood.

Let your feelings jump up and down on the page (figuratively, of course).

For example, perhaps your local real estate data plugin indicates home prices in one particular neighborhood are finally starting to rise after years of being stagnant.

Maybe you know a bunch of homeowners who live there. You know they have been waiting anxiously for their properties to appreciate like other neighborhoods. Get psyched up. Be the provider of good news (positive real estate data). Act like a cheerleader for their properties.

As you can see writing a real estate blog does not have to be a big chore. Follow these tips.

Remember to:

  • Make your writing seem more like a conversation with a friend
  • Get the words down on paper, no matter if they don’t totally make sense or the writing is sloppy
  • Provide some images or screenshots
  • Show enthusiasm about properties, neighborhoods and recent data updates
  • Refer to that bank of hyper-local real estate data offered by providers such as Home Junction to make the whole endeavor a whole lot easier

 

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.

 

 

 

How To Be Recognized As THE Local Real Estate Data Statistician

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real estate data statisticsHere’s a strategy on how you can use real estate data to establish yourself as the leading local property statistician in your target market.

Let’s face it, people love statistics.

Since the first caveman threw the first rock, people have been recording statistics.

Take sports for example. People eat this stuff up. How many hits has Derek Jeter managed to blast out of the infield? How many passes has Dan Marino completed? How many basketball shots did Michael Jordan take and make during his incredible career?

Statistics get attention. And they have a beautiful way of cutting through all the b.s.,  noise and hype.

There are three huge advantages of using statistics.

  1. Clarity – sure, people can sit in a bar and argue all night long about who is a better ballplayer, but that argument is easily settled when you pull out the statistics on the number of home runs, runs batted in and overall batting average. Those numbers are an acceptable means of measurement. The same is true of home prices, sales trends, etc. Someone can claim a market is hot, but where’s the proof?
  2. Perspective – statistics also give people a sense of perspective, a way to compare one entity to another. Maybe ballplayer 1 and ballplayer 2 are super popular one season, but when you dig into the numbers, you can see one player was great at getting on base, but could never cross home plate. While the other player may have a lot of strikeouts and a low batting average, but still managed to drive in more runs. It’s a way to contrast and compare that humans can comprehend. A way to measure apples to apples. Ditto for properties. How does this current market compare to last year? Are home sales rising since the last quarter? Is it time to list a home for sale?
  3. Honesty – in this day and age of fake news, fake advertisements and fake information flowing all over the internet, this attribute is more important than ever. Sure, someone can claim Joe Shmoe is the greatest ballplayer since Babe Ruth, but when you dig into the statistics, you can see it’s nothing but hype. The hype that is perpetrated by a player’s agent for a multi-million, multi-year contract. Same goes for homes. What is hype and what is real? Numbers don’t lie. And the last thing a home buyer or home seller wants to hear are lies and hype.

All those qualities of actual, hard numbers apply to real estate – Clarity, Perspective, and Honesty.

An agent can offer those numbers with a hyper-local real estate data widget embedded on their website.

In this day and age of big data technology, where you can store a thumb drive that holds 64 gigabytes, the equivalent of an encyclopedia in your pocket, data is more accessible than ever.

By partnering with a national data provider such as Home Junction, a broker or agent can easily embed an API that allows them to tap into a gigantic warehouse of real estate data, or in other words, local statistics.

How to compile real estate data statistics

There’s a wealth of data available on:

  • Local schools – enrollment, student/teacher ratios, demographics
  • Property sales – charts showing the latest trends in a marketplace for home sales. Not just the county, or the zip codes where properties can vary greatly, but down to the neighborhood level.
  • Demographics – who lives in what area and what are they like? Demographic data gives you an idea on local incomes, education levels, gender, etc.
  • Crime statistics – every parent is concerned about crime in their area. Here’s a way to avoid any opinions or hype and to give hard numbers on the safety factor of a particular area.
  • Market trends – someone can say a particular neighborhood is “hot” or in “high demand” all day long, but if they can’t back it up with actual data on home prices, well, how credible is their assertion?
  • Cost of Living indices – a person might make a remark to give the impression that a particular area is “way too expensive” but when you pull out the stats, maybe that is not actually the case. Sure, it seems like everybody in that area drives a Mercedes, but when you dig deep into the numbers, the stats show most of those people might actually be leasing those expensive cars rather than owning them.
home price trends

Sample market trend data.

Here’s the point. Sure people love sports. But at the end of the day, who hit a home run the night before is not that important compared to what a consumer is about to spend on a house.

By using Home Junction real estate data, you can establish yourself as the local real estate statistician with all the relevant facts about properties in your target marketplace.

Social media is a perfect medium for this. The great thing about these platforms is that they are free. The bad thing about social media is that it’s free to everybody else to flood with inane information.

To stand out, you need to post content that counts.

Post regular market stats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

Consistent content has a powerful impact. Put a note on your calendar to post new real estate data every time it comes out on your data feed.

People will notice. Over time, they will start to look forward to reading your posts about local real estate statistics. They will turn to you for a realistic picture of the marketplace.

Because after all, you are not talking about their favorite ballplayer, you are talking about where they live or where they are about to invest a large portion of their paycheck.

As we said, people love numbers. They believe in numbers. They will trust people who provide them with those valuable numbers.

Add real estate data to your website and you can knock it out of the park when it comes to promoting your brand as the broker or agent with real, trustworthy local knowledge.

 

 

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 Can Enhance Direct Mail And Improve Response Rates

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direct mail real estateDirect mail may seem old fashioned, but when you add the new advantages available with real estate data, it’s smart to pull this strategy out of the marketing toolbox.

Sure, today it seems like all you ever hear about is social media. Even the President of the United States is enamored by his Twitter account.

The reasons are obvious. For one, it’s free. Secondly, it’s fast. All you need to do is post something and your messages instantly get served to the public on a platter of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.

All those factors make social media seductive.

But is it the only effective way to reach people?

And what about its many flaws?

Don’t ignore direct mail. Most experienced real estate professionals know this medium can be super-effective for reaching the right prospects – both buyers and sellers.

What’s happens is that many people get lured into the ease of social media. But there are lots of holes in your marketing plans if you just depend on social media.

First of all, many of your prospects are not reachable through social media. They don’t follow you on Facebook. In fact, tons of people don’t even bother with Facebook. Or if they had an account, they got tired of it and never go there anymore.

Same with Twitter or Instagram.

Not only that, for the people who do use social media, the deluge of posts and information is absolutely overwhelming. It’s not a stream of information that is coming at web users today, it’s a deluge. A digital tsunami.

The information passes by an internet user so fast, experts say you have only THREE seconds to catch their attention.

Click rates on ads and posts are brutally low. A 1% click rate on ads or links is considered good.

Real estate data can create an enticing offer

Now, take the time-tested value of direct mail.

A recent study by Epsilon researchers found 98% of people check their mail daily. Talk about high touch. Just about everybody you mail to is going to see your message. You can target whoever you like, whatever neighborhood you want and how often you like (unless they request you don’t, which is unlikely).

There are no spam folders. No one is pushing your post down. People have to touch their mail and many actually enjoy doing so.

According to experts, the open rate for a mail piece is about 45%. That sure beats the web any day. And like anything, that open rate depends on the message on the envelope or post card.

Sounds great, but like any marketing campaign, how you do make it effective? How do you compete with all those other pieces of direct mail? How do you compete with other real estate agents doing the same thing?

Experts will tell you – the key to direct mail marketing is not telling people who you are, how long you’ve been an agent in the market, or how many homes you’ve sold. That’s all important, but it’s not the catalyst that will compel a consumer to act.

You need an offer. A way that will generate a response. An offer that answers questions. Solves problems.

With today’s advancements in “Big Data” technology, one of the best offers you can provide is a sampling of valuable, hyper-local real estate data. Data and statistics focused on a consumer’s particular neighborhood.

The first one’s a no-brainer.

Offer consumers a Home Value Estimator tool. You know the technology that made Zillow so popular? Guess what? Now local brokers and agents can offer the same feature on their websites.

Everybody wonders: “What is my home currently worth?”

Offering a way to answer this question is powerful.

Secondly, with a real estate data feed you can also offer to answer these related questions:

“How is my neighborhood trending as far as home sales? Are homes selling in my area? Is it flat?”

“What’s the current trend for home prices in my neighborhood? Are they increasing? Is it time for me to sell? Is it time for me to buy?”

A broker or agent can now easily acquire this information by just partnering with a real estate data provider such as Home Junction. These data providers have access to enormous databases of local information – tax rolls, boundaries, home sales, demographics, cost of living indices, crime statistics, etc. etc.

Use that information to make your direct mail pieces more effective. Give people a reason to visit your website, sign up for your newsletter or call you. Tailor the message for each particular neighborhood or demographic you are targeting.

Sure, in the past thirty years we’ve entered a new age of communication with emails, text messages and social media.

But don’t ignore a means of communication that has been around for centuries. People still read the mail. Their mailboxes are waiting for your offer. Make it a good one. Offer them valuable real estate data and information about their most precious possession.

Here are some tips and resources on direct mail marketing for real estate professionals.

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.

 

 

Why New Technology Won’t Replace Agents But Agents Must Embrace New Technology To Survive

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agent neighborhood dataHere we go again. Every once in a while, talk surfaces about technology replacing the need for real estate brokers and agents.

Look at Expedia and travel agents people say. Or look at Uber and taxi drivers.

Now that Zillow introduced their “Instant Offer” service where investors will offer to buy a home quickly, another round of articles have surfaced about the fate of real estate professionals.

Here’s the crux of the issue. There’s a big difference between booking a $10 ride downtown or a $199 airfare compared to the purchase of a $475,000 home. A humungous difference.

And Zillow’s “Instant Offer?” We all know how investors act. They buy low and sell high. How many sellers are going to accept their low offers? We will have to see.

But if you look at the latest statistics in 2016, about 95% of home sales involved the use of a licensed real estate professional. That percentage has actually increased over the years.

The one big flaw is trying to turn homes sales into commodity sales is that homes are far from anything resembling a commodity.

Just about every home is different. Every street is different. Every neighborhood is different. That’s just on the seller’s side.

When it comes to the buyer’s side, every home buyer is different. They are at different stages in their lives – first time home buyers or retirement home buyers. That are different stages in their family makeup. They are at different stages in their financial situation.

Agents can tailor real estate data for each client

The great thing about humans is that they are not made with cookie cutters. We all have different preferences and tastes. One home buyer might love to golf and would never think about sitting on a yoga mat. Another home buyer needs to sit on a yoga mat three times a week and thinks a birdie is that creature in the bird bath in the backyard.

Every market is different. Some are hot, some are not. Some have numerous amenities, others don’t.
This argument about tech replacing agents is going to continue for decades.

One key strategy brokers and agents can use to squash this talk is not to scoff at technology but embrace it.

Sure, Mr. or Mrs. Real Estate Agent may still rely on wearing out the tires driving buyers to look at homes or scuffing up the shoes walking people through open houses.

But the savvy agents will also be immersed in the latest technology that makes them a better agent and resource for the worried home buyer and home seller. That might include drones and virtual reality videos.

And take real estate data for example. Sure, with the web, home buyers can search all over the place for neighborhood information. They can look up crime statistics, school information, and demographics. Or they can turn to national websites.

But, how great would it be if the local broker and agent already had that information available on their website?

Because here’s a fly in the Internet ointment. There is soooo much information pouring out of the web these days, that it’s difficult to tell what’s credible and what is not.

The beauty of the Internet is that it’s an open source of information. Anybody can post relevant content. The bane of the Internet is that it’s an open source of information. Anybody can post content and pretend it’s reliable.

Look at all the fake news out there. How many articles have you seen with the fake headline about how “Oprah did this” or “Obama did that.” Fake. Fake. Fake.

People don’t have time for fake.

If you as a real estate professional, gather up all the relevant information a homeowner might need, then you take away the need for a buyer to conduct their own searches (along with the frustration).

With data providers such as Home Junction, a local broker or agent can literally provide everything a consumer needs:
– Recent Home Sales
– Trends in Home Prices
– School Information
– Crime Statistics
– Demographic Information
– Local Businesses within a certain radius
– Boundaries
– Transportation hubs
– And more…

In essence, a broker or agent can make it seem like when a consumer visits their office, they are also visiting a gigantic data warehouse of hyper-local information.

(However, instead of having banks and banks of high-end servers in a room, an agent would simply load a simple real estate data API with a few lines of code onto on their website. Home Junction would actually gather and manage all that data on their website. It doesn’t get any better than that).

Agents and brokers can also embrace the latest geo-spatial technology.

Present maps on their website showing property listings from MLS integrated into a neighborhood database.

Location is still critical in real estate.

Show where the schools are located compared to properties in question. Show the golf courses and the yoga studios as well.

Here’s the big flaw in all this talk about the end of the real estate professional.

Buying a home, especially in today’s market where prices are booming, is still a big, scary decision. In fact, there is so much real estate content out there that it becomes overwhelming at times.

Consumers are still going to need to hold the hand of a dependable real estate broker and agent.

The smart agent or broker will have their other hand on their smartphone or laptop, ready to access a wealth of high-tech services such as real estate data feeds that they can provide with confidence and credibility.

One-Word Formula For Improving Your Real Estate SEO

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

That word is “engagement.”

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

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

We mean how well people engage with your website.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some of those include:

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

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

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

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

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

Improve your real estate SEO with real estate data

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

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

That’s fine. Someday they might become customers.

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

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

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

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

But what else can you offer?

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

Show visitors:

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

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

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

Stops them from flipping from one page to the next.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Provide more engaging content.

 

 

 

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

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big real estate data

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

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

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

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

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

Funny. We knew that all along.

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

Use real estate data just like the major websites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Offer real estate map tools to help buyers attract renters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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