United States is one of the largest and most competitive real estate markets in the world and if you want to thrive in such a competitive environment, you will have to master the art of real estate buying and selling. Keep an eye on the latest trends and visualize where the real estate market is heading before making real estate investments.
According to statistics, Millennials will lead the way when it comes to home buying in 2021 followed by Gen X, as they accounted for 45% mortgages in 2019 and this trend will continue into 2021. Home values have increased 7.2% since 2018. With lower mortgages and interest rates, we might see a boom in real estate industry, so if you are a real estate investor or real estate agent willing to buy some real estate properties, this is the best time to do it.
Just because the industry is booming does not mean that you will succeed. In fact, 87% of real estate agents fail within the first five years. Real estate industry changes quickly so what’s working today might not work tomorrow so you need to keep changing your business strategy to cope up with the dynamics of the industry.
In this article, you will learn about seven actionable tips that will help real estate agents thrive as a real estate business in 2021.
1. Highlight Your Mission, Vision and Objectives
The first thing you need to do is to set a clear objective for your real estate business. What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to see your business by the end of this year? Once you have a clear goal in front of you, it is time to create a strategy to achieve that goal. To ensure that you don’t dwindle from the path, it is better that you write a business plan.
Here are some of the things you need to do to create a winning business plan for your real estate business.
- State the mission, vision and objectives of your company
- Competitors and market condition
- Business model you will follow
- Define the hierarchy and roles
- Describe your services
- Financial planning and management
2. Experiment with Different Financing Options
Where would you acquire funds from where it will be a financial institution or government or from any other source. You can choose from VA loans, business partnerships, FHA loans, home ready mortgage, crowdfunding or consider private money lenders. There are so many options out there that it can confuse even experienced real estate agents. Each of these financing options has its pros and cons. You should choose one based on your business needs. If you could not decide which financing option you should choose, you can experiment with some of them until you find the best one then sticks to it.
3. Have A Digital Presence
Having a dedicated website for your real estate business is not enough anymore. You will have to maintain an active presence on social media. Identify where you target audience spend most of their time on and target that platform. Harness the power of content marketing and publish informative and engaging content on your blog.
Make sure that your website is mobile friendly so that you don’t miss out on users accessing the web through their mobile devices. A mobile app development company can help you with that. Optimize your business website for search engines so that users can easily find it. All this will enhance your visibility online, attract new customers and convert visitors into leads.
4. Promote, Promote, Promote
Create a marketing plan that can guide your marketing and advertising efforts. Highlight your unique selling proposition in your communications because the prospects want to know what makes your real estate business stand out from other businesses. Take the omni channel approach to promotion and don’t be afraid to go offline even if you must. Attend events, exhibitions, seminars and conferences which would help you make new connections while giving you an opportunity to promote your real estate business.
5. Specialize In One Type of Properties
Have you ever heard of “Jack of all trades, master of none”? I am sure you might have but when it comes to real estate, this does not hold true. In fact, you should take the opposite approach. You should focus on becoming a specialist in buying and selling one type of property. This will help you build your credibility and establish yourself as an authority. For example, you can specialize in buying and selling rental properties. If you do, your communication and ads should present your brand in the same way. Yes, you cannot become an expert at buying and selling a specific type of property overnight but when you do, you can reap rich rewards.
6. Nurture Leads
Real estate industry experts believe that following up with leads is crucial for converting prospects into leads. You can use chatbots to send personalized messages to prospects. Moreover, it can also be used to ask questions that will help you nurture leads by answering their queries.
Here is a five-step process to nurture real estate leads.
- Share new listing with prospects via email
- Educate prospects by sharing real estate market reports
- Build trust by sharing testimonials
- Show expertise by sharing your knowledge and point to resources
- Build and maintain long term relationships
7. Choose Properties Wisely
Instead of bombarding your real estate website visitors with hundreds of listings and confusing or overwhelming them, you should reduce the number of properties you sell. Only put your most profitable real estate properties for selling. This will make it easy for users to choose the best real estate property. The biggest advantage of selling few properties is that they will sell faster with less effort and will still deliver a better return on investment. That is why it is important to choose your real estate properties wisely when you are listing them online.
Which is the best advice you have ever received about your real estate business? Let us know in the comments section below.