Sometimes you might be doing everything you can to drive real estate leads in a particular area, but the leads just aren’t biting.
It could be that the area you are covering is too small or niche or is struggling economically. If that’s the case, you might want to expand your coverage. But where is the best place to start?
For many real estate sales professionals, thinking about expanding coverage often includes thinking about expanding the budget, expanding staff resources, and expanding the time spent on research. If you are already strapped for any of those, it can seem overwhelming — or even impossible — but it’s critical to growing your business.
Luckily, there is a way to expand your real estate coverage stress-free: with technology.
By leveraging your real estate tools, you can research and enter new markets effortlessly. Once you’ve determined if a market has potential for you, you can then go on to drive more resources towards it.
Here’s how.
- Identify New Target Markets Through Demographics Reports
Demographics reports allow you to uncover information about who lives in a neighbourhood, community, or area. You can quickly find out:
- Age distribution
- Marital status of residents
- Structural types of housing
- Owned-to-rented property ratio
- Average household income
- And more!
This enables you to find more markets similar to the ones you already serve. For instance, if you specialize in helping first-time homeowners, you can look for areas with a high number of renters or with a younger age distribution.
This is also helpful if you know where you want to expand but need to research the area. You can find out important information without leaving the office.
- Determine Neighbourhood Comparable Sales and Trends
If you’re considering expanding to a new market area, you’ll want to know how other properties have been selling. With a neighbourhood comparable sales report, you can easily identify recent trends.
You can search by radius, sales timeframe, and even price range.
With this data you could search for properties comparable to ones you already list, quickly jump on an opportunity if a client out of your market area contacts you, or get an overview of trends in the area before you expand your reach.
- Expand Your Property Searches for Current Clients
You might not necessarily be looking to expand your real estate marketing, but you have clients coming to you from out of the area via referrals, word of mouth, and so on. Or, you might have a current client who wants to move further away.
If this is the case, you can still help them even if you aren’t familiar with the area using your property tools.
You can easily research properties in any location using technology, such as a Property Details Report, to find out must-know information for your clients.
If a potential buyer has specific requests that you know are hard to find in your coverage area (a pool, near a great school, and commuting distance to work, for instance) you can use your tools to identify a wider range of properties.
- Research Property Details/Value Remotely to Decide if a Location is Worth Your Time
Decide what sites are worth an in-person visit without ever leaving your office.
One of the most time-consuming parts of real estate sales is the in-person research — especially if it isn’t your listing. Some of it is inevitable, such as if a client wants to see a property, but it can be frustrating to spend your weekends driving clients around to see multiple properties and then having the deal not close due to a lack of client interest, or a problem with the property itself.
You can significantly reduce the time spent researching with your technology.
With a Client Report, for instance, you can view aerial imagery, important property details, demographics, comparable sales, and more to research locations for your clients.
Some professionals even use this report as a client-facing report. You could look up information in your office before visiting sites to identify the most desirable locations ahead of time.
This is also a great way to research seasonal properties even in the winter when they’re not accessible.
- Let Prospects Come to You Using Home Value Range
Knowing the value of their property can be a big reason why homeowners decide to sell. For instance, if a prospect finds out their home is worth significantly more than when they bought, they could be tempted to upgrade.
Learn more: https://www2.geowarehouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Teranet-AVM-Home-Value-Range-Flyer-R7.pdf
Whether you want to expand your coverage area for marketing, a client opportunity, or other reason, it’s easy to do so through leveraging technology.
Have you ever expanded your coverage area? What was your experience like? Share with us on social media. GeoWarehouse is on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
If you’re a real estate sales professional, you already have access to GeoWarehouse solutions through your local real estate board. Please contact your local board for instructions.
Not a GeoWarehouse subscriber? Become one today. Contact us by calling 1-866-237-5937 or visiting www.geowarehouse.ca.
