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Want More Listings? Using Buyers to Land Listings

Reblogger
Real Estate Agent with Re/Max Preferred Associates, Toledo, OH 353315

It is true--a person who has listings has sales.  This has been said time and again.  Whether you blog to get listings, buy leads to get listings, or some other way.  It doesn't matter--you need to list to get sales.

Original content by Bob Stewart

Get more listingsI left a comment on a post from Dick Greenberg yesterday. I think it deserves it's own post.

You Have to List to Last

We've all heard the adage, 'You have to list to last' or something along those lines. Pretty simple, if you want to have longevity in the real estate business, you need to figure out how to get more listings. Pretty simple to say......a little bit more challenging to actually do.

How Do I Get More Listings with My Blog?

One of the main questions I get from agents who are using a blog to generate prospects for their business is 'how do I get more listings'. Courtney Cooper wrote a good post about getting very niche specific with the keywords you target. That's certainly one way, as sellers are going to investigate who is the best agent to market and sell their particular kind of home. Courtney gets listings for houseboats now and has built a presence as the Seattle Houseboat expert. At this point, if someone is thinking about selling their houseboat in Seattle, and they go online to figure out who is the person to do that for them, they will find Courtney.

But these kind of strategies can take quite a while to see your efforts pay off.

Getting Listings is Something You Have to Get Out and Do!

Get out? Gasp! Do you mean getting out from behind my computer and actually talking to people? Well yes and no. I just mean getting out from behind your computer and doing something with the resources you currently have. How many of you currently have a buyer that wants a home that isn't on the market? Maybe you've shown them 30 houses and nothing is just right (you should dump them as clients, nothing will ever be right for these people......don't show this many houses, they don't know what they really want!). Or maybe they've given you a list of ten features they want and there just isn't a house on the market that meets their criteria. A ton of our markets have inventory shortages. So what do you do?

Go Find The Listings

I've told this story in comments on ActiveRain a few times. I can not recall having blogged about it.

I have a friend who was drafted by a professional sports team here in Seattle a number of years ago. It was when the Seattle market was red hot and homes were flying off the market with multiple offers as soon as they hit. He was looking for a particular sort of home in a particular area of Seattle, along Lake Washington. There was nothing available for him. Did his agent just sit on his hands and say 'Sorry qualified and able buyer, there's nothing on the market for you, I'll set you up on an MLS search and maybe something will come up'. No, his agent went to work and found him something to buy.

How Do You Find a Listing When It's Not on the Market?

This agent decided he was going to mail a letter to every house that fit his client's (my friend) needs. And after a week, he was going to go out and knock on the doors of each of these houses to see if anyone was interested in selling. He had a ready and able buyer who was willing to purchase their home.

(as a side note, this was a million dollar + home purchaser, so the agent had extra motivation to find him a house, but once you see what happened for him, it makes just as much, if not more sense, for you to do with any client who can't find a home)

Before he ever set out to knock on doors, two people of the 40 he had mailed called with an interest in potentially selling. Neither home was exactly perfect for the buyer. So the agent set out to knock on doors. He was able to get about half of the people to answer the door, of those, 2 were interested in selling. So 4 of the 40 people he targeted had some interest in selling. His client would end up making an offer on one of the original two that responded, and even though the house wasn't perfect, a sale was eventually put together (there are a few rounds in which you can be drafted where you have the money to make the not so perfect home more suitable).

But It Doesn't Stop There

Of the three remaining people that showed an interest in selling, the agent would over the course of the next year, list two of those homes. One almost immediately and the other about one year later.

Be prepared that your client may not necessarily buy the home of the person that responds. In this agent's case there were three other people who didn't end up selling to his client. But two of those turned into his clients. You need to know how to turn these people into sellers with you.

("I'm sorry my client didn't end up making an offer on your home. He ended up buying 123 Main St. down the way. But I still think if you are interested we could get your home sold for the most amount of money in the least amount of time. That's what we do for all of our sellers. What day would be a good time for me to come over and sit down to talk about getting your home on the market?")

All he did was get out there and try to find his client a home. He had a real buyer, with real needs and he leveraged those needs to get himself in front of potential home sellers. That's the key to getting listings

1. Say the Right Things: I have someone that wants to buy your home.

2. Say it to the Right People: The 40 people that lived in the area his client wanted to buy

3. Say it Enough Times: He didn't just stop by mailing something, even though that worked. He followed up by going door to door and introducing himself, and reiterated his message.


I stole those three things from Ben Kinney. He probably stole them from someone else. Very few ideas are completely original, right? But think about it, that applies to just about any way someone goes about getting listings. Expired listings? People that have success with them have scripts for when the call on expired listings. They are obviously saying it to the right people, owners who had a listing that expired. And they end up saying it enough times. It's a routine for them, many will make their expired calls every day. FSBO? Same thing. Say the right thing, say it to the right people and say it enough times. I mean this works for people that just randomly go door to door knocking in neighborhoods. It works! Say the right thing to the right people enough times and someone will eventually say yes.

So What Did the Letter Say?

This isn't word for word, but it went something like this.......:

"My name is (smart agent) and I'm with (lucky company) in Seattle. I am currently representing a well qualified client who is interested in purchasing a home (in the area the letter is going, for his case it was 'on Lake Washington'). As you may be aware, inventory in Seattle overall, but in your area specifically, is at very low levels. In fact, there is nothing currently on the market that matches what he is looking for.

I realize that your home is not currently on the market, but my client asked that I reach out to you and see if you might be interested in entertaining an offer on your home. There are three things that are vitally important to him and we believe your home meets those needs.

1. Lake access
2. 4 Bedrooms
3. over 3000 square feet

I would love the chance to speak with you about your potential for selling your house. I plan on coming through the neighborhood in the next week and taking some time to speak with some of the homeowners to see if I can find that home for which my client is searching. Feel free to call me before then or I look forward to speaking with you next week."

The letter was hand addressed (I want to say he got a list of some sort from his title company, but I can't remember exactly) It was typed on his company letter head, he personally signed each letter, and included his business card. Cost? Minor paper and printing costs and then $.32 per mailed letter (or whatever postage is these days). Think about it......how often do people get hand addressed letters? I'll bet his open rate was close to 100%.

Try It, What Could it Hurt?

Anyone up to get out and find your client a home? Who knows, if you say the right things you could even pick up an additional listing or three. Don't comment on this post unless you plan on trying this (.......or you think I'm full of shit). Either way, someone here is going to try this and get a new listing. Don't let yourself be the one reading the success stories from other agents!

 

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Posted by
LINDA SABO, REALTOR
RE/MAX PREFERRED ASSOC.
Office:  (419) 867-8022
Mobil:  (419) 481-3117  
http://HomesForSaleLucasCounty.com
sabo@HomesForSaleLucasCounty.com
 
 

Comments (1)

David Cooke
DLC Jencor Mortgages - Calgary, AB
your Calgary mortgage broker

Linda,

   The calling potential sellers is what realtors have done for years. Many newcomers to the industry forget that you had to beat the bueshes for both buyers and sellers. I recall years ago I often would get calls from realtors saying they had a buyer for my home. I lived down the street from a school and one block from the commuter train station. It was a desireable neighbourhood.

  Since I moved, I have not received a call from a realtor . It's been 14 years.

Jan 16, 2013 03:57 AM