Keeping in touch with real estate buyers and sellers in St. Petersburg Tampabay.
I cannot speak for the whole country but here in St. Petersburg Tampabay the real estate market and how you do business has changed a lot over the last few years. Buyers find you on the internet and not in magazines anymore, sellers compare realtors and their web presence online before they call you for a listing appointment.
Knowing this, finding new clients is relatively easy the challenge is staying and keeping in touch with real estate buyers and sellers in St. Petersburg Tampabay. People that you have sold a house to years ago, a lead that came in 9 month ago, a renter that might be ready to buy soon etc. I found that one of the best ways is to send out a newsletter every month. A custom made newsletter, written by me, the Realtor, about the St. Petersburg Tampabay area. I talk about local news, changes in the real estate market, home and condo sales statistics, local events, computer tips, household tips and I also include a link to a post that I have written or a page on my website.
I e mail this newsletter to everybody I have ever met and I also post this newsletter on one of my blogs.
Been doing this for about 2 years now and so far I have only very positive feedback for buyers, sellers, old leads, friends and other prospects. I get stopped at the local coffee shop someone thanking me for my newsletter, I run into someone I have not seen in ages and they tell me that they LOVE my newsletter, leads that are long forgotten call a year later saying thank you for keeping in touch, we are now ready to buy and one goes the list. I also include links to my posts in snake mail letters that I send to my farm area.
When I get an e mail inquiry about a neighborhood or condo association that I once wrote a post about I include the link in my e mail response.
I am looking forward to see more ideas that will help me keeping in touch real estate buyers and sellers in St. Petersburg Tampabay.
Below is one example of my newsletter so you get a better picture.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1106289/real-estate-information-and-good-deal-in-st-petersburg-pinellas-county
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When I was still selling, e-mail hadn't yet become a big thing in our small town. (We're always about 5 years behind times) so the newsletters I wrote went by postal mail.
And I had the same kind of experiences you do - people would stop me in the grocery store to comment on something I'd written. Even more interesting - if I was late getting it out, some of them would call to ask if they'd been taken off my list.
I don't think anyone gets too excited about the "canned" newsletters, but they like hearing your personal messges.