Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Where are most homebuyers looking for real estate for sale in their area? While it’s difficult to know for sure how people research and locate available properties on the real estate market, social media and national real estate websites have certainly changed the game in how we buy and sell real estate.
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Over the past several years, the real estate market has seen extraordinarily tough times, especially in the residential new construction sector, and many people in position to invest in property for sale are now looking in cities and towns where they may not even reside. Many parts of the United States, such as much of Florida and Las Vegas, have been dramatically affected by the ongoing economic struggles and investing in these areas may make a lot of sense long-term for investors wanting to take advantage of these highly desirable markets once the economy does recover.
RealtyTrac.com, a national foreclosure website, easily allows homebuyers and investors to search not only foreclosed real estate all over the country, but current and valuable foreclosure statistics for nearly every major market. In addition, other national real estate websites such as Trulia, Zillow, and HotPads have likely also seen a hike in web traffic because of the convenience factor of being able to search property all over the country on just one website.
So if you’re a real estate agent, understanding where home buyers are searching for property is critical towards gaining a new client and generating more revenue from home sales. Obviously, having your name attached to a property listing or real estate search website increases the chance each home buyer will contact you directly when finding a home or condominium they are interested in seeing, right?
National real estate websites can play a significant role in marketing your brand as a professional agent. Sites like Yahoo Real Estate and the others mentioned above draw millions of visitors each year that can easily translate into new clients in your area, but only if these visitors can easily find you on each specific website.
Advertising on Zillow or Yahoo Real Estate can certainly go a long way toward presenting yourself as an experienced real estate professional and a true expert in your local market. However, before you start exceeding your marketing budget on such advertising strategies, investing in your own personal website that details your local market specifically is without a doubt equally as beneficial in generating quality, local leads that should eventually translate into an increased sales volume.
Depending on how long you’ve been in the real estate business, you’ve likely already gotten a sales call or two from some of these major real estate websites; and by now, you also likely know that advertising on each is not cheap. So whatever your marketing angle, make sure it’s the best possible fit for your specific market, as well as your personal real estate business.
Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and possesses a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.
