Once again, I must give kudos to Brande Bradford! Her post Expired Letters has inspired me to post once again to the rookies of the group that are struggling since the change in market conditions. Many that follow my posts know that I moved 700 miles into a market where I honestly had no clue, no contacts, and no Sphere of Influence. I started my RE business in Baltimore just 3 short years ago.

I believed to get a stable foothold in the market, I needed to concentrate on a Farm Market and Network like a madman, but knew that with my years of experience in investing I would carve a niche in the investment side of the business.

My focus the first 1 1/2 years was just building a name and getting the needed sales to make a living. I did this through the concentration on the farm-mail, door knocking and going to any function that involved members of the community-as well as patronizing all the local businesses in and around the farm. This began to establish me as the local expert in the farm market, and I started receiving calls from buyers that wanted to live in or near my farm community. Not to mention seller calls that were ready for their next home.

The first year in business grossed about $179K per month in sales-a $2M first year. I was pretty happy with that and could pay my bills on the commissions earned from those sales. Through the first half of my second year, my sales were still maintaining pace with that of the first year, so I felt it was time to start focusing on my niche!

Heres where I made 1 fatal mistake! If I was already on pace to have another $2M+ year then I could concentrate on my niche, which was to grow my investor clients. HUGE mistake! Two things happened almost at the same time: I stopped my farm marketing (I broke my own rule about consistency for 3 years!), AND the market turned on a dime to a buyers market! My farm market dryed up almost instantly and my investor market was not growing very rapidly.

I had started a massive ad campaign for investors and was starting to get some calls, but no real sales. (You can't make $$ selling shells for $20K-unless you move a lot of shells!) I spent lots of time on the phone, computer and driving to meet with potential clients. I did a lot of non grata research to help potential clients make an informed decision. And sometimes I ended up not taking on the person as a client.

When working with investors, I have one very hard fast rule-If we don't click personally, I don't work with them. I have had some potential clients that I could sense they were looking for unethical Realtors-Ones that would help them through their deals even if the terms were a little-or a lot-shady. I even had a Realtor that asked me to change a listing to reflect a higher price so his buyer could get back $10K at the closing table! Of course it was going to the contractor to do work in the property, funny thing was it was a completely rehabbed property-NEW EVERYTHING! Oh well another story.

So what did I learn from this? I firmly beleive that focus is key-if you want to work strictly with buyers, first time buyers, sellers, investors, luxury, expireds-whatever the case-focus your efforts on that niche and build it. Become the expert in your niche, you will build long term success.

Do I still believe in the Farm? Absolutely! It doesn't have to be a geo-farm-it can be a niche farm. My mistake was changing drastically from my geo-farm to my niche. It's like building a new business all over. I should have maintained my farm presence while including my niche in the marketing activities.

I have returned to working my geo-farm as well as growing my business with investors. If you have read my posts about working with the Gray Manor Community & Business Group, or working the Community Yard Sale, you will see that I quickly placed myself back into the farm as the local expert.

My investor list has grown to well over 100 and I am consistently working with 5-10 investors at any one time. One investor has turned 3 single family homes through me in the last 2 weeks-all closing later this month. The $20K shells that were bought last year are now ready to sell or to rent. Investors are looking for their summer and fall projects and some are looking at expansion into larger projects.

I have two investment groups that are currently interested in different projects. One is a 20 unit apartment building listed at $4.5M and another is an 88 unit complex listed at $12M. Will they get to the closing table? At this point, we are just starting the negotiations, but it could make for a great end to my third year!

Doesn't it seem contradictory that my post is titled Laser Focus when I didn't do it! Or did I? Yes there were some mistakes, but overall my focus was always to be in the investment game. I put that focus on the back burner to make sure I built a solid income in my farm.  Then I should have maintained what I had built while adding the focus on investors.

The farm market is almost on auto-pilot, so my concentration doesn't need to be with it-just maintain what I am doing. My focus is now very specific to investors and my list grows daily with new leads, prospects, and listings.

MORAL: Make a decision on your niche-although sometimes your niche chooses you! Focus your efforts, energy, and advertising to your niche market. Grow yourself as the expert in your field and most definitely Don't forget about your own education!

Stephen Luckett
LuckNet Real Estate Group
443-384-6000 office 443-912-4866 cell

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