Marketing for Listings, I want to be a Rock Star!!
Spring Hill, FL · Member since 2013 · 4 posts · 0 votes
Marketing for Listings, I want to be a Rock Star!!
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Flipper/Rehabber · Bakersfield, CA · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
13yas a direct mail guy my experience tells me that direct mail and Internet leads although great resources for leads won't accomplish your goal by themself. Frankly taking 30 listings a month is a big FAT JOB.
Too many people want a quick fix. There isn't one. It all takes work. A lot of work.
My first year as an agent I took 119 listings. Didn't do anything but cold call. That telephone will make a man out of you or kick your ***. Your choice.
The key component is to treat cold calling with respect and it will respect you.
All this said you're crazy to want to stay an agent. You do the same job I do in hopes of making 6% I make 25%. Become an investor and instead of trying to take 30 buy 5.
12 Replies
- 13yDev HornPro MemberFlipper/Rehabber · Arlington, TX · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
Thomas, if you accomplish that, you should immediately stop, create an info-marketing program about how you did it, and sell it for $995 a pop.
=) Just kidding - I appreciate your ambitious goals.
People may offer advice about farming FSBOs in Craiglist, etc. but I bet you already know all that.
I'd find an older local agent/broker that's had a lot of success as a seller's agent and offer to take them to lunch to pick their brain - how did they do it, what did they find worked the best?
The last thing I'll mention is you can purchase motivated seller leads. We have a sister company called Fast Home Offer that does only that - generates leads on the Internet and sells them to investors & agents. It turns out that agents love these leads because they can actually list a good percentage of them - like 30-40% in some areas. So agents have actually bid the prices of our leads way up in some markets. Now, these lead services may not be a perfect fit for your business as they are usually sold at a county level, so it's hard to purchase leads for just a city, etc. But, I'm not trying to sell you leads - my point is really that the agents we see that are most successful right now are going after the motivated sellers leads. You might consider partnering with a large local investor and tell them "I'll buy any leads that don't work out for you." Offer $50 a lead or whatever. That will help to offset their marketing expenses and give you hot leads for listings.
Hope that is helpful. Wish you much success!
- Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes13y
Thomas are you talking residential or commercial??
How much MONEY do you have to survive until your first closing??
Are you a new agent?? If so and you are trying to create business many sellers will not work with you due to inexperience so many agents start with buyers first.
If residential the number of listings you get starting out means NOTHING. I only do commercial real estate but if you are residential the only time you get paid as a listing agent is when the property CLOSES. Sure you could do PM stuff or lease up stuff when the property doesn't sell for a paltry fee but I do not count that.
Each time you get a sign in the yard, a lock box, showing buyers one of your listings, and marketing a property for sale it costs you time and money.
This is why it is critical to only take listings from motivated sellers. Death, divorce, baby on the way, job loss, relocation, etc. These are all strong reasons to sell and will get the sellers to move to market price to get an offer and close so you get paid and they are realistic.
We are testing the market, we would like a bigger house, we like another area better are weak reasons to sell and when the "rubber meets the road" for a price reduction many will not be motivated.
If a seller will not list at your price but starts out a little high do not take the listing unless you have an automatic price reduction built into the listing agreement in the first week and automatic reductions thereafter until the property is sold. It's okay for them to try a little high but then bring into market projections. You need to know if properties are swinging up or swinging down in value and by what percent each month. You also need to know what listings are in demand in the marketplace. If you look on the MLS and 5 bed 4 bath for 550k in your target market only 8% are selling and the rest are sitting on the market and expiring that product isn't moving. You might land a lot of listings but not be able to sell anything. If you check and find that 4 bed 2 bath with a 2 car garage in the 300's are flying off the shelves the data shows you what the buyers are wanting. These are the listings you want to go after to sell.
Remember if you have 20 listings but 8 sell and the rest are overpriced and cost you a bunch of money you are spinning your wheels and if lucky breaking even. Also you will develop a rep for taking overpriced listings with unrealistic sellers and the other brokers and agents will not want to do business with you or look at your listings as there is no chance to get a deal done for their buyers.
Hope this helps you out............... I would rather take every commercial listing I know I can sell then ones I can't move. The ones I can't move will damage my reputation, cost me time, and cost me money.
- Spring Hill, FL · Member since 2013 · 4 posts · 0 votes13y
Yes I set my goals high, still achievable with help from my team.
I think I should let you know, I am not new to marketing or real estate. Have many years of both. I have a constant 10 to 15 transactions in my pipe at one time and close about 10 a month now. I have a short sale division as well which is all a bonus whenever they close, working 13 now.
I have 2 new buyers agents I am mentoring who write a few a month for me.
I pull Les pends and door knock, very good returns. 50% works very good. You have to know your business though.
I have a great listing presentation and superb marketing of my listings so its an easy sell. I only need to get in front of them. I am in the process of an EDDM program to blanket my farm area. This should bring in some new listings, along with calling on and door knocking expired listings and every FSBO sign I see I stop at and drop a door hanger, that is if no one answers.
What I am looking for is to automate my mailers, to include when a house just lists or sells, mailers are sent saying their house is next. Just not enough time do listing appointments, door knocking, mailings, calls.
I want to try automate so I don't have to hire help.
welcome any advice.
- Real Estate Agent · Milwaukee County, WI · Member since 2009 · 3k+ posts · 525 votes13y
@Dev Horn , You been holding out on me -> “ Fast Home Offer ”
Thanks for tip
- 13yDev HornPro MemberFlipper/Rehabber · Arlington, TX · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
Thomas - interesting insight about automation. It does seem like most real estate related processes are still very manual. We're definitely finding that our larger clients want push-button marketing (or, better yet, just do it and tell me what you did). The most precious resource for very productive people is time.
- Flipper/Rehabber · Bakersfield, CA · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes13y
as a direct mail guy my experience tells me that direct mail and Internet leads although great resources for leads won't accomplish your goal by themself. Frankly taking 30 listings a month is a big FAT JOB.
Too many people want a quick fix. There isn't one. It all takes work. A lot of work.
My first year as an agent I took 119 listings. Didn't do anything but cold call. That telephone will make a man out of you or kick your ***. Your choice.
The key component is to treat cold calling with respect and it will respect you.
All this said you're crazy to want to stay an agent. You do the same job I do in hopes of making 6% I make 25%. Become an investor and instead of trying to take 30 buy 5.
- Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes13y
It's about volume and pricing as well.
If a broker or agent has sells 100 houses for instance but makes 1,500 gross a pop because they are all 50k houses then that is 150,000 a year gross before a split with their brokerage or any business costs which with 100 properties would be substantial.
If the house price is 150k at 100 you are at 450,000 gross before expenses and splits and team members etc.
I do not care about volume but more about the amount per transaction I make. I am in commercial but each transaction is 5 to 6 figures in commission. I agree in the lower end of houses you might do better as an investor buying than going the commission only route.
As for automating there are card services that will do those types of things but you will pay a lot for it. I try to keep my mail per piece as low as possible and have an assistant locally that does my database for me and mailers.
- Spring Hill, FL · Member since 2013 · 4 posts · 0 votes13y
Michael Quarles your a rock star! 119 in your first year!
I started n the business flipping and wholesaling. Worked with homevestors turned over 40 houses in 08 and did a lot of short sale flips. I am no stranger to working the trenches. I had a mitigation company negotiating shorts, however when the banks stop paying a third party facilitator fee and we closed up our title company my only choice was to get a license to grab my 3 or 6% commish.
My average sale here is 120 and I am 100% commish. My leads to my team are 60 me 40 them and 50/50 for anything they bring in while I am mentoring them for the first year.
I have access to transactional funds still and built back up my nest egg in the last 2 years as a realtor. Now I would love to get back into wholesaling. You are all right about wholesaling I much rather hit 25% then my 3. I made some of best money wholesaling. The last wholesale deal I did made 19k. so I still dabble a bit with reservations and only if I can build my commission into the deal paid on the HUD. If the deal has a good enough spread I will just take it down with my cash, freshen it up and stick signs ( being my house can do so legally) I welcome any insight on how I could still wholesale without putting my license in jeopardy????
I still have a huge cash buyer list as well as 2 investors that will buy all the 3-2-2 I bring to them with 5k assignment fee. They rehab it and then I list it. The other little 2 bed houses will More then likely be sold after I Group text out the property website. Its the ones that don't sell to my preferred cash list. Being licensed now it a bit difficult to stick signs and market a property without having the right to do so.
I have no problem getting a 75k property under contract in my LLC and wholesaling, where I am gun shy is if that seller sees that I made a 20% return after I beat them up on price to create a spread for myself and as an agent if they put a complaint in I am basically equity stripping and marketing a property I do not own or have a listing agreement on. *** Yes I got away with it back in the day by putting a deposit down and calling it equable interest. However very grey, FREC is pretty clear anyone marketing, showing real estate to make money must be licensed.
I have so many buyer leads its easy to keep my pipe full however very time consuming and that is what i am trying to get back in my life. In the last 2 years I had about 40 listings myself, which most were sold in less then a month. Hard in my market to keep the pipe filled and when I figure the system to keep 30 listings in my monthly pipe at one time, I will be turning at 30k a month on listing sales, not including pushing all the buyer calls to my team.
I would welcome any thoughts on how to wholesale as a licensee? my mentality now is that of a realtor.
I will continue to search out to automate my listing campaign, once I do be on the look out for a new Info course! LOL get the techees on it now.
- Flipper/Rehabber · Greeley, CO · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes13y
It sounds like the buyer leads take up your time. I have listed over 100 homes each of the last three years and I have worked with 4 buyers, all friends and family. My buyers agents have their names on the signs and calls go to them, not me.
- Real Estate Professional · West Palm Beach, FL · Member since 2012 · 23k+ posts · 13k+ votes13y
I'm licensed too, and also do some rehab/flip. How do you see that the NonLicensed wholesalers, who have a property under contract, have a problem with our Florida licensing laws? I haven't seen any specific new laws or reg's that address this.
- Spring Hill, FL · Member since 2013 · 4 posts · 0 votes13y
FREC is pretty clear on if you market, show or act in any way to sell a house to profit you are acting as realtor and therefore must be licensed. Now myself back in day and many other Wholesalers get the property under contract with a deposit. I used to say I have equitable interest and the right to market and sell that property. That would be hard to defend, you are not on title and do not own the property. I even went as far as to build into my contract that the seller grants me the right to market it. Again problems. It's black and white not grey. I say this because I did have complaint for marketing a property I didn't own and not being licensed. Nothing came about because I was in a L/O and had 5k down. I got lucky!
- Wholesaler · Sugar Land, TX · Member since 2013 · 49 posts · 7 votes13y
Hi Michael,
119 Listings in one year, that's impressive!
How do you get the list of people to call? What do you say?
I don't mind cold calling, but I am not sure how to say it to attract people.
thanks
Originally posted by Michael Quarles:
as a direct mail guy my experience tells me that direct mail and Internet leads although great resources for leads won't accomplish your goal by themself. Frankly taking 30 listings a month is a big FAT JOB.
Too many people want a quick fix. There isn't one. It all takes work. A lot of work.
My first year as an agent I took 119 listings. Didn't do anything but cold call. That telephone will make a man out of you or kick your ***. Your choice.
The key component is to treat cold calling with respect and it will respect you.
All this said you're crazy to want to stay an agent. You do the same job I do in hopes of making 6% I make 25%. Become an investor and instead of trying to take 30 buy 5.
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