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Crowdsourcing: Prepare Your Business For Fall and Winter

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with ActiveRain

Crowdsourcing:  How do you prepare your business for the fall and winter?

A good friend of mine was contemplating putting her house on the market, but decided to wait because, as she put it, “houses don’t sell in the winter.”  While I know this isn’t the case, many agents – and consumers for that matter – make this assumption.

As fall rapidly approaches, school buses appear on the streets, football season begins, and pumpkin spice everything is everywhere.   And, as the crisp weather replaces sunny days (at least here in the weather challenged regions of the country), many real estate agents often feel the crunch of the busy selling season coming to an end.

This is the time of year when many agents experience those dreaded “valleys” in their business to contrast the peaks that typically come with the busy spring season.  Since this time of year often impacts so many real estate professionals, I wanted to know what you do in order to prepare yourself for the fall and winter months.  What steps do you take to eliminate the valleys in your business?  Do you do anything out of the box to keep a steady stream of buyers and sellers in your pipeline?

The Challenge

In a blog post, share with us one or two of your go-to strategies for preparing for the fall and winter season.

Maybe you go door to door and deliver pumpkins to every house in your farm in the weeks before Halloween. Maybe you double down on mailers or spend extra time networking with people at meetings of the newly formed PTA at your kid's school. Maybe you call everyone in your database that was thinking about selling in the last year but didn't, and you convince them that winter is actually a great time to be on the market because there is less competition. 

Whatever you do, we'd like to hear about it. In your blog post, try to share your strategy in a fashion that someone reading could put your idea into practice. That means give an example, share some details, or tell a story of how you cut out those valleys in your business.

  • Leave a link to your blog post in the comment section of this blog post.
  • Please submit your post by Monday October 6th at 11:59pm Pacific Time.
  • All posts submitted will be given 1000 ActiveRain points. If we use your idea in our crowdsourced webinar, you will receive an additional 2000 ActiveRain points. 

The 'Crowdsourced' Webinar:

On October 15th, I will join Market Leader trainer Jenn Tervo (who is awesome, btw!) for a special webinar where we will take the ideas you share, compile the best ones and share some of your great ideas with everyone.

We'd love to have you join us.


~Bob

 

 

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Comments(115)

Elva Branson-Lee
Solid Source Realty GA - Atlanta, GA
CDPE - Atlanta Real Estate & Short Sale Agent

I love reading what Rainers are doing and getting new ideas. Thanks. Here's mine:

4 Business Basics for 4th Quarter 

Oct 06, 2014 11:19 AM
Tammie White, Broker
Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN
Franklin TN Homes for Sale
Oct 06, 2014 11:34 AM
Dagny Eason
Dagny's Real Estate - Wilton, CT
Fairfield County CT, CDPE Homes For Sale and Condo
Oct 06, 2014 11:54 AM
Dagny Eason
Dagny's Real Estate - Wilton, CT
Fairfield County CT, CDPE Homes For Sale and Condo

Stay Local and Social in Your Crowdsourcing

 

This is my favorite way!

Oct 06, 2014 12:38 PM
Captain Wayne - Rowlett Real Estate School
Rowlett Real Estate School - Panama City, FL
Rowlett Real Estate School / Owner and Instructor
Bob Crane
Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified - Stevens Point, WI
Forestland Experts! 715-204-9671

 Thanks for the Challenge Bob, a good excercise in writing down our simple strategy.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/4507147/avoiding-the-december-blues?show_share=1

Oct 06, 2014 01:12 PM
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville
Oct 06, 2014 01:32 PM
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Burlington, MA
Metro Boston Homes For Sale

I am sure this time I am not the last one - getting better with my plan.

Goes without saying, 

Fall and Winter: Best Seasons For Business

Oct 06, 2014 01:46 PM
Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

Bob, almost forgot about this post ---

Being sure Fall & Winter Business is Solid

Oct 06, 2014 01:49 PM
Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties
Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN
The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

Never Let Up- Here you go Bob. Now my secrets are out.

Oct 06, 2014 02:53 PM
Sharon Kowitz
CRS-SRES-ABR-GRI-E-Pro-CREN ~ COMPASS RE - Cary, NC
Cary, NC Relocation Specialist ~ Buying or Selling

This looks like an interesting webinar. I will plan to checking in to pickup a few pointers. Enjoy our beautiful weather.

Oct 08, 2014 11:10 PM
Jon Kolsky
Kolsky Realty & Management - Long Beach, CA
Licensed California Real Estate Broker

~ I look forward to the webinar

 Keeping It Real!

 

Oct 09, 2014 05:20 AM
Bobbie Smith
Stroudsburg, PA
570-242-1891

Oodles and oodles of great entries here. Good Luck with the judging.

Oct 09, 2014 10:04 PM
Sharon Miller
RE/MAX Platinum - Crane Hill, AL

Try this on for size,

Being a waterfront/lake home specialist.....from late fall until early March I hear from many of my clients contemplating the transfer of their listing to inactive status until the warm temperatures of late spring return. Unknown to an almost unanimous majority of these people, serious waterfront improved property buyers surface when you least expect. Follow along as I explain the rationale behind this "winter buyer" mentality. Why would anyone wait until the sunny days of early April or May to begin looking for improved lake property? By the time you complete the process of finding a property, purchase and close, it will be well into summer before you can begin to enjoy your acquisition.

Fact: late season improved waterfront buyer's generally come prepared. They have determined what amount they will spend on a property, how they will finance the purchase and have a defined timetable in place to purchase and close. These buyers will often consumate their purchase before year's end or during the January through early February period.

I find it beneficial to publicize the information I have shared here through print and online mediums, (blogs, social media etc.) as it encourages both seller's and buyer's to question the generally accepted perception that Holiday time is a "dead time" for real estate sales. 

Many times, efforts during the first quarter of the year produce over forty percent of my annual sales. The "myth" that waterfront property buyers don't show up until the dogwoods bloom is just that.....a myth. When summer arrives, people, at full throttle, are enjoying the lake. In actuality, only a small percentage of buyer's are "still looking" at property during July through Labor Day.

Educating buyer's and seller's is a continuous process. Publicizing the fact you demonstrate a working knowledge of your area real estate buyer habits and activity.....will set you apart from the rest of the pack.   

 

 

Oct 13, 2014 02:13 AM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

I'm late to the party but I am still going to leave a link even if I get no points.

http://actvra.in/4pH6

I've been busy using what I talk about in this post.

Oct 14, 2014 07:19 AM
JodiAnn Garone
Century 21 Action Plus Realty - Freehold, NJ
Bringing you Home!

I'm with Gene but I believe what they say better late then never.

I wanted to share my ideas anyway. I hope that you enjoy them.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/4516219/crowdsourcing--preparing-for-the-fall--winter-real-estate-months

Oct 17, 2014 01:05 PM
Debbie Gartner
The Flooring Girl - White Plains, NY
The Flooring Girl & Blog Stylist -Dynamo Marketers

Hey Bob.  I'm hoping you post the link to the recorded webinar soon. I signed up for this, but couldn't make it (and I had a few local agents sign up as well). I didn't see the recording in my email, but perhaps I missed it.

Oct 18, 2014 06:18 AM
Karen Johnson, Realtor, ABR
Addison Wolfe Real Estate - Doylestown, PA
"Bucks County PA Homes"

Hi Kerrie and Bob, thanks for posting a great contest challenge.  Any chance you will bring back the Cloudburst?  I miss them.  I learned so much for them and enjoyed paritcipating each month.  Just some food for thought.  Happy Halloween!

 

Oct 31, 2014 10:36 AM
Laura Cerrano
Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY
Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

This one steps up my game to a whole new by making me have to analyze myself a little more than I do usually and with so much detail. Thank you!

Mar 17, 2015 02:51 PM
Laura Cerrano
Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY
Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

I like the cloudburst idea too. I personally like certain pieces in that respect that remain the same. Karen Johnson

Mar 17, 2015 02:56 PM