Real estate agent sales career » Sellers

Open houses are a great way to meet buyers and possible sellers

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:04:54 +0000

Open houses are a great way to meet buyers and possible sellers and sometimes they even help deliver a buyer for the house being held open. As a new agent for times when you are not certain what to do next, I would suggest holding open an office listing that is in a high traffic area. You can do this Monday-Sunday with the listing agent/seller’s permission of course.

Open houses can work for you similar to floor. When there is no traffic you can use the time to work on your farm area mailings, you can make calls to your center of influence, or you can create or develop new marketing and prospecting methods, etc. etc. all while sitting at the open house!

Take advantage of every opportunity to meet buyers and sellers and watch your business grow!

Are you reaching the right houses with your direct mail?

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:34:29 +0000

Recently several agents mentioned that they are receiving a lot of response from their free CMA card. This card was part of their direct mail marketing and prospecting efforts. However, after meeting with the home owners, the agents were hit with the reality that the majority of the sellers they met could not afford to list at the price the CMA suggests.

I asked the agents how they determined who the cards would be mailed to and discovered very quickly why the agents were meeting with the wrong home owners. The bottom line is these agents were sending the cards out without researching the area first. They were leaving their success completely to chance instead of increasing their odds for success by sending the cards to the right houses. What are the right houses?

If you are sending a CMA card out to someone who purchased their home within the past 2-3 years you are probably going to be meeting with owners who have little or no equity. If, however, you do the research and only send your cards to home owners that have owned their home for let’s say 10 years or longer, you have a better chance of helping these potential home sellers and obtaining a listing that can be sold.

So before you send out your first piece of direct mail ask yourself, are you reaching the right houses?

Provide the home seller a net proceeds sheet

admin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:33:01 +0000

One of the mistakes I find agents making is not providing a net proceeds sheet to the home owner at the beginning of their relationship.

A net proceeds sheet will show the seller what he can anticipate receiving when the home sells. The figures should be based on the list price. Providing this information at the beginning of the listing and the following up with a new net proceeds sheet with each offer you receive on the home will eliminate the guess work for the seller and allow you to confidently present the offers knowing that the amount the seller will receive is acceptable.