This is an in-depth guide on how to get real estate listings.
This guide was made with the emphasis of getting listings from sellers.
Offline Strategy
Farming
Proven method to work. Many of the top agents still do this consistently
What is farming? Farming refers to when you pick an area anywhere between 100 and 1000+ homes (no limit to how many).
Then you treat it like a farm and plant your ‘seeds’ which is your real estate marketing material such as flyers and distribute material to that area every single month. The idea here is to get the neighborhood to know you and grow fond of you.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Do it at least once a month!
Skills Required:
Motivation to do something every day without knowing when your marketing material might get to the right person at the right time. When starting out it’s not uncommon to farm up to 6 months without a single call.
Farming Resources:
Official Guide by Realtor.org
https://www.realtor.org/field-guides/field-guide-to-farming-and-prospecting –
Great conversation by Realtors discussing farming
https://www.trulia.com/voices/Agent2Agent/What_is_the_best_way_to_farm_a_neighborhood_How_-197664
Expired Listings
Another proven method to work, effectiveness depends on the thick skin of the Realtor
Expired listings are great because you know the owner is/was interested in selling. Something went wrong and it’s your job to figure it out and solve that problem for them.
Expired listings are also very hard to obtain and take thick skin because a lot of agents go after these and the owners know what you’re trying to do.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Do it everyday
Skills required:
Highly Motivated
Must know sales techniques
Must not be effective by being told “No” followed promptly by a door slamming in your face
Or know how to cold call
Expired Listing Resources:
Another great conversation on expired listings
https://www.trulia.com/voices/Agent2Agent/Anyone_have_any_good_tips_for_contacting_expired_l-70907
For Sale By Owners
As tough as expired but, if you go for expired listings you should go for FSBO’s. They require the same skill set.
Another great source of leads. You know the owner want’s to sell … He’s listing it himself.
The challenge: Convincing him that you can sell it faster and/or for a higher price.
The second challenge: Lot’s of agents go after these. They get fed up with agents pitching them. This is another one that takes thick skin.
Make no mistake, for sale by owners end up listing with an agent more often then not. If you have the motivation to do this consistently, you will get listings. Everything in real estate is about consistency.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Do it everyday!
Skills required:
Highly Motivated
Must know sales techniques
Must not be effective by being told “No” followed promptly by a door slamming in your face
Or know how to cold call
For Sale By Owner Resources:
Mike Ferry Script
Great overview on for sale by owners
https://neilschwartz.net/how-to-prospect-for-sale-by-owners-fsbo-2/
Another for sale by owner script
https://ninjaagent.com/ninja-agent-fsbo-call-script/
Post Card / Flyer Marketing
Highly effective, takes investment though.
Either drop these off to your farm or pay to get them sent for you through the mail.
Can cost a lot of money but, has been proven over time to be a consistent source of good leads for buyers and sellers.
If you want sellers you should design the flyer with them in mind. When you try to appeal to everyone, it’s harder to make a message that connects with them.
e.g. “Best Realtor in Orange County” VS “#1 Listing Agent In Orange County”
More specific always wins. It’s easier for your potential clients to connect with as a human being.
How to be effective with them example:
- Get a list of potential short sale home owners
- Create a flyer highly targeted to only short sale owners
- Send or drop off a flyer to all of them
- Wait for the calls (they will come)
How to get real estate listings from it:
Do it at least once a month!
Skills Required:
Copywriting to make a great flyer that connects with your potential client
Investment to print the flyers and/or send them.
Resources:
Use FlyerCo to make your real estate flyers
Direct Mail Case Study
https://www.expresscopy.com/remax-direct-mail-case-study
Sponsorships
Effective to a point.
One thing to keep in mind when sponsoring a team is that, there is a limit to clients you can get. There are only so many parents in the circle you will become apart of. Because of that this was rated a little lower but, is still an effective way to consistently get listings.
You can sponsor your local communities such as high school teams.
It’s a great way to start going to events and get to know people.
This should be on everyones to-do list whether you want sellers or buyers.
Real estate is a game of networking and what better way to network then to actually become apart of the community you are trying to become known in.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Network your butt off at every event.
Skills Required:
People skills – You have to go to these events and network to get your moneys worth.
Investment – You can negotiate the price to work out a deal that’s best for you.
Resources:
A post from someone looking for a sponsor. Read it and try to learn why people would want you to sponsor them and use it to your advantage.
https://www.reddit.com/r/howto/comments/1sz62j/how_do_i_get_companies_to_sponsor_my_school/
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Meetups
Highly effective if you’re good with people
Great way to find people with similar interests.
There is also a lot of different meetups going on all the time, this gives you access to large networks of people that you could be getting real estate listings from.
Your goal here is not to ‘sell’ yourself when you go to a meetup.
(Unless you choose to go to a networking meetup)
Your goal should be to make actual friends. The more friends you have in real estate that know you’re a real estate, the more business you will do.
Build solid relationships first and ask for their business after.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Network like crazy!
Skills Required:
People skills – You have to go to these events and network to get your moneys worth.
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Social Media Strategy
Highly effective if you take the time to learn it
Realtors have grown their entire business through social media. If you’re new to it, take it one social network at a time. Literally don’t move onto another social network until you get a listing from one and are convinced you can get another.
Were going to cover it more in-depth below
How to get real estate listings from it:
Build relationships with people and then ask for their business.
Skills Required:
Time Management – It’s easy to waste time on social media thinking you’re working. Make sure if you’re on it, you’re on it for the right reasons.
Internet Marketing – The goal of social media is two things. One build a connection with people. Two get them to visit your website and capture the lead (e-mail). Knowledge of internet marketing really helps. Anything from copywriting to conversion optimization.
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Highly effective
Facebook is a great way to connect with people you already know.
There are certain ways to go about it that we outlined in the posts under resources.
Rule of thumb: Don’t post about your real estate activity non stop. People get annoyed and it’s a sure-fire way to get people to unfriend you.
Paid ads can be great for Facebook too.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Build relationships with people and then ask for their business.
Resources:
Guide: Paid ads Facebook for Realtors
https://www.flyerco.com/facebook-real-estate-marketing/
How to use Facebook for Realtors – Non paid ads
https://www.flyerco.com/real-estate-facebook-leads/
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Highly effective
Twitter is a great way to connect with the local community by monitoring hash tags and search phrases.
Don’t create one if you’re not going to use it though. As with any social media. People may come across your profile and see you’re not active and then decide you’re not the Realtor for them.
You can literally see if someone is talking about moving and then connect with them.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Build relationships with people and then ask for their business.
Resources:
Our Twitter guide on how to get real estate listings by seeing who’s talking about moving and engage with them
https://www.flyerco.com/twitter-for-real-estate-agents/
Mashables Twitter guide for beginners
https://mashable.com/2012/06/05/twitter-for-beginners/
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Semi-effective. Great for SEO purposes and if you get really involved with communities it can drive a lot of traffic to your website
Pinterest is perfect for real estate because it’s mainly an image based site.
Posting pictures of your listings and dream homes here is a perfect way to get people talking about you, as well as getting some SEO benefits for your website.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Drive traffic to your website and convert it with a lead capture system.
Resources:
The Ultimate Guide To Pinterest
https://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/01/15/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pinterest-invites/
Very effective. People go to this site to network which is exactly what you should be doing.
LinkedIn is great for connecting with people you already know and actually seeing if they have anyone in their network that might be worth getting introduced to.
It’s the one social network where you shouldn’t be shy about connecting for business purposes. It’s a business social network.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Network online and ask for introductions to new people you’re interested in
Resources:
Linked in for beginners
https://homebusiness.about.com/od/socialnetworking/tp/Linkedin-Guide.htm
Generate leads from Linked In
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220374
Online Marketing
Forums
Semi Effective. Learn to use them right and become a member of the community. Mainly used for driving traffic to your website.
Forums are good for a couple things.
If you want to learn more on how to get real estate listings, join a real estate forum.
First: Join a forum that you actually want to be apart of based off your interests. Again. Your goal is not to sell yourself on these forums but, build real connections with people first and ask for business second.
If you have a legitament interest in painting and join a painting forum, you will start making friends. Naturally they’re going to be interested in what you do and who you are, that’s when you tell them that you’re in real estate. After you have a great relationship with them, ask for their business!
Secondly: It’s also good for connecting with other real estate forums, there are a couple forums for Realtors and you can use these forums to learn from your peers.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Use your signature link to drive traffic to your website
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PPC
Very effective. One of the most effective things you can do but, very steep learning curve which costs money
PPC – Also known as Paid Per Click. Generally talking about Google Adwords.
This is where you pay for your site to be listed on the front page of Google for a selected search term.
e.g. When people search “How to sell your home”
you can be the first person to show up in the results. Generally speaking you pay $1-$10 PER CLICK.
It’s one of the best ways to get leads but, also is one of the hardest due to the cost and what’s involved.
When doing this you have to think about things like:
Conversion Optimization – Does my website convert? (When visitors go to my website, are they signing up for something that I have available?)
If so what % of them are signing up? Conversion optimization is the art of getting as many visitors as possible that are on your webpage to do the activity you want to, such as signing up for a mailing list or calling you.
I wouldn’t worry too much about conversion optimization until you start getting traffic to your website. It’s something you want to work on but, if you don’t have any visitors then focus on getting visitors first.
Click Through Rate (CTR) – Ok I have a paid ad up on google adwords for my selected search term now, are people clicking it? This is another worry you should have. To enhance this skill you’re going to need to research copywriting and copywriting case studies that are often included with conversion optimization case studies.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Buy paid ads and send them to your website. Then convert them (get their e-mail).
Resources:
Simple guide to your first adwords campaign
How to create a profitable adwords campaign
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/profitable-google-adwords-campaign/
Small Business Guide To Adwords
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/07/15/adwords-small-business-strategy-guide#.
Google Adwords Conversion Types
https://searchenginewatch.com/article/2336772/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Google-AdWords-Conversion-Types
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Sponsor Websites
Semi effective. Worth the price though. Definitely add this to your marketing plan
This is a unique idea that not many people do. Find out what local companies have websites in your area and ask if you can sponsor them.
This means you would get your ad on their website on terms you set personally.
e.g. You can make a deal for $100/year.
The great thing about this is you know you’re in control of the actual deal and you know everyone going to website is local. Essentially this is the cheapest local advertising you can get.
How to get real estate listings from it:
Use your ad to show off that you’re a local Realtor. Get traffic to your website and convert it.
(ps here is a list of real estate flyer templates )