My new real estate site got it's first house sale!!

[Adie]

My friend and former co-employee for 7 years resigned from her job 3 years ago and went on a full time real estate agent. Last couple of months, she became a licensed broker. She was selling an average of 2 to 3 houses per month amounting an average of $1.4M in dollar equivalent. Having 7% of this amount as sales commission is making her enough to pay everything. She didn't had any website. All sales were coming from person-person direct offers or referral from friends.

Last January 2, I visited her and we discussed about creating a website for her service (she was actually not interested). In return, I will get 3% of all sales generated by this website and she'll keep 4%. The topic of who will keep the higher percentage actually was not a big deal since we are friends since childhood so I went ahead and do a keyword research. I was actually surprised because the company where she is a broker is the biggest real estate company in my country but most of its related keywords are still available for domains. And I grabbed a brandable name related to that company.

I started a wordpress blog with a good real estate premium theme and lists all needed information. My main target actually was for myself earning through adsense (real estate is a great adsense niche). I completed the site but barely promoted it due to my extremely busy schedule. The site is around a month old now without any significant backlinks except for heavy on-page optimization. It is placed on page 27 of google on the main keyword I am targeting. Yesterday I got the very first email inquiry about one of the houses worth around $83,500. I forwarded the email to my friend and the same day, she contacted the prospect and closed the deal. The buyer paid in whole cash today!!! She was extremely happy and gave me 4% of her 7% commission. She kept the 3%. I got an instant $3,340!!

Now I am focusing on optimization of this site. I see a great potential and I think making 10 sales or more per month is highly likely if I bring the site on top of Google with its main keyword and other keywords.....

My friend can't believe we made a sale though internet. They are actually not fond of online promotion and there is no big website aside from the corporate website. I know I can put my site just behind or even higher than their corporate website on Google and make tons of cash!!!!

I'm extremely inspired!!

[paulie888]

Congratulations on this quick initial success! Real estate is a pretty lucrative niche, and it is actually fairly easy to rank for local terms in this niche. It's great that you've found a willing partner who is willing to more or less split commissions with you. Many real estate agents would not consent to that, but instead pay somewhere in the region of $50-$100 per lead generated by your website.

Paul

[Adie]

Originally Posted by paulie888

Congratulations on this quick initial success! Real estate is a pretty lucrative niche, and it is actually fairly easy to rank for local terms in this niche. It's great that you've found a willing partner who is willing to more or less split commissions with you. Many real estate agents would not consent to that, but instead pay somewhere in the region of $50-$100 per lead generated by your website.

Paul

I say that was like a selfish attitude Paul but anyway, different people have different attitudes. My friend has nothing to lose actually, except for failed transactions sometimes that has her time spent with, and me too, will surely earn from Adsense. Not many people here are focusing on online promotion and I think this is the thing I need to take for granted.

[pappyy3]

Happy for your success - well done!!

[paulie888]

Originally Posted by Adie

I say that was like a selfish attitude Paul but anyway, different people have different attitudes. My friend has nothing to lose actually, except for failed transactions sometimes that has her time spent with, and me too, will surely earn from Adsense. Not many people here are focusing on online promotion and I think this is the thing I need to take for granted.

Well, the truth of the matter is that many realtors really aren't very internet savvy, and have an inherent distrust of it, so what probably helped in your case was the fact that you were childhood friends with her.

Paul

[Brian Lett]

Nice job Adie! Way to find your niche.

[Sweely99]

Wow. I am impressed. Congratulations!

[Colin Palfrey]

Adie,

That is certainly a commission that puts Clickbank to shame.

Well done!

Cheers,
Colin Palfrey

[BurgerBoy]

Congratulations and hope you have many more sales.

[Adie]

Originally Posted by Colin Palfrey

Adie,

That is certainly a commission that puts Clickbank to shame.

Well done!

Cheers,
Colin Palfrey

ha ha, that true Colin.. and I'm not expecting a refund...

[Jouvan Johnson]

That is great stuff... i love reading things like this it gets me motivated to push on as success could be just around the corner

[Colin Palfrey]

Originally Posted by Adie

ha ha, that true Colin.. and I'm not expecting a refund...

Adie,

What you could do after you have started getting some consistent results, after a month or two, is go to another real estate broker and ask them if they want to set up a similar deal.

Use the reputation you build from the first deal to get more and more areas, and your commission to hire more and more staff. You could be on to a million dollar empire in the making.

Cheers,
Colin Palfrey

[Adie]

Originally Posted by Colin Palfrey

Adie,

What you could do after you have started getting some consistent results, after a month or two, is go to another real estate broker and ask them if they want to set up a similar deal.

Use the reputation you build from the first deal to get more and more areas, and your commission to hire more and more staff. You could be on to a million dollar empire in the making.

Cheers,
Colin Palfrey

Yes Colin, that is a great idea and I think I could use my site's SE position as leverage when it reaches first page of google. My head is filled with dreams and plans but I am going to do this slowly but surely...

[Adsman68]

Well done Adie, really pleased for you : )

[WillR]

Originally Posted by Adie

Yes Colin, that is a great idea and I think I could use my site's SE position as leverage when it reaches first page of google. My head is filled with dreams and plans but I am going to do this slowly but surely...

Get building those links and get that site to the first page. You're throwing money away right now!
Worst comes to worst you can always sell off the site to another Real Estate broker in the area.

[Adie]

Originally Posted by WillR

Get building those links and get that site to the first page. You're throwing money away right now!
Worst comes to worst you can always sell off the site to another Real Estate broker in the area.

I am building links indeed..

No way I am going to sell this site and besides, locals will never pay any amount for a site. They don't appreciate how important a site is and how valuable this thing is...

[paulie888]

Originally Posted by Adie

I am building links indeed..

No way I am going to sell this site and besides, locals will never pay any amount for a site. They don't appreciate how important a site is and how valuable this thing is...

I'd keep building this and make this into an authority site. Once you get this to the first page (shouldn't be that hard at all, especially in the Philippines), I suspect you'll have realtors knocking down your door to do business with you.

Paul

[chris187]

An option for you would be to put a phone number on your website for the potential customer to ring and then call forward to your friends company.

Put a forward message on it like - This is lead was sent to by Adie. You can also track how many calls/leads you have sent them in a week.

Just another option for you aswell as emailing your leads over to your mate.

Good Luck

[Tsnyder]

Adie...

What country are you in? I ask because the transaction
you described could not have happened in 24 hours in the U.S.

Tsnyder

[Daniel Harper]

Dude, that's awesome.

How about you help the agent build a list by offering guides on buying and selling a house in exchange for an email opt-in?

10 Quick and Easy Ways to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar

[Marketing Cheetah]

That is really cool. Why not invest this money and start a cpa offer at epid direct or some other good network? Get a lead cap and start getting potential buyers.

[Caleb Spilchen]

Hmm.. That's interesting, and something that I oughta' try with a couple of the local realtors here.

Caleb

[ADukes81]

This is awesome!

My parents are selling their house and I have done some keyword research in their area and they get plenty of searches with very little competition.

[DanielleS]

Originally Posted by paulie888

Congratulations on this quick initial success! Real estate is a pretty lucrative niche, and it is actually fairly easy to rank for local terms in this niche. It's great that you've found a willing partner who is willing to more or less split commissions with you. Many real estate agents would not consent to that, but instead pay somewhere in the region of $50-$100 per lead generated by your website.

Paul

Originally Posted by Adie

I say that was like a selfish attitude Paul but anyway, different people have different attitudes. My friend has nothing to lose actually, except for failed transactions sometimes that has her time spent with, and me too, will surely earn from Adsense. Not many people here are focusing on online promotion and I think this is the thing I need to take for granted.

Actually, it's not necessarily 'selfish.' In some cases, it's regulatory. In Florida, it is ILLEGAL for a real estate agent, or broker, to give any type of compensation for 'referrals.'

Anyone thinking about doing this, better check their state laws first. This is a fairly common regulation across states.

-Dani

[AzzamS]

Hi Adie,

Congratulations on the success

Any tips since I have a friend who is a real estate in the UK and he was thinking of doing something in this niche. I would like to go back to him and see if there is anything we can do. I know IM but not enough about the industry of real estate so wondering how easy/hard it is to duplicate what you have done over here.

I did not understand this part:

"I was actually surprised because the company where she is a broker is the biggest real estate company in my country but most of its related keywords are still available for domains. And I grabbed a brandable name related to that company. "

Are you saying that there are searches conducted under the brand of the company that are related keywords?

[ValentinJed]

It shows that offline business need new customers and sending them leads from a website works! You need only 30 leads to make six figures a year! 30!

[Adie]

Originally Posted by chris187

An option for you would be to put a phone number on your website for the potential customer to ring and then call forward to your friends company.

Put a forward message on it like - This is lead was sent to by Adie. You can also track how many calls/leads you have sent them in a week.

Just another option for you aswell as emailing your leads over to your mate.

Good Luck

Yes indeed. We are actually going to put my friend's broker's license number.

Originally Posted by Tsnyder

Adie...

What country are you in? I ask because the transaction
you described could not have happened in 24 hours in the U.S.

Tsnyder

I am in Philippines. Yes, not many people are buying house the same day they inquire but if a person who is looking for a house is really interested, and meet a great salesperson (my friend), it is possible. Especially if the buyer has money on hand. And aside from that, this real estate company is the biggest in the country with great reputation.

Originally Posted by jugroo

That is really cool. Why not invest this money and start a cpa offer at epid direct or some other good network? Get a lead cap and start getting potential buyers.

Maybe I'll do that if I am in US. As much as possible, I'll do everything without spending money on advertising.

Originally Posted by DanielleS

Actually, it's not necessarily 'selfish.' In some cases, it's regulatory. In Florida, it is ILLEGAL for a real estate agent, or broker, to give any type of compensation for 'referrals.'

Anyone thinking about doing this, better check their state laws first. This is a fairly common regulation across states.

-Dani

Thank you for clarification Dani.. Really a big difference when it comes to tax laws.

Originally Posted by AzzamS

Hi Adie,

Congratulations on the success

Any tips since I have a friend who is a real estate in the UK and he was thinking of doing something in this niche. I would like to go back to him and see if there is anything we can do. I know IM but not enough about the industry of real estate so wondering how easy/hard it is to duplicate what you have done over here.

I did not understand this part:

"I was actually surprised because the company where she is a broker is the biggest real estate company in my country but most of its related keywords are still available for domains. And I grabbed a brandable name related to that company. "

Are you saying that there are searches conducted under the brand of the company that are related keywords?

Ok, I will explain.

The company actually is ayala land (biggest in the Philippines). This company runs many real estate businesses and one of their big projects is "avida homes". There are too many keywords with the word "avida" that are still available for keyword-domain. I took a great one . There is also a keyword domain I took with high search data having "ayala" on it . That's what I mean of "related keyword". The infringement thing is not an issue since I am promoting it's products and my friend is licensed broker. Aside from that, I have a DMCA disclaimer written by their legal counsel..

Originally Posted by ValentinJed

It shows that offline business need new customers and sending them leads from a website works! You need only 30 leads to make six figures a year! 30!

That is highly possible and I am actually analyzing the Google competition. I see no tough competitor

[laurenswuyts]

Wow congratulations, I will never forget my first sale

[MerlynSanchez]

Originally Posted by DanielleS

Actually, it's not necessarily 'selfish.' In some cases, it's regulatory. In Florida, it is ILLEGAL for a real estate agent, or broker, to give any type of compensation for 'referrals.'

Anyone thinking about doing this, better check their state laws first. This is a fairly common regulation across states.

-Dani

You beat me to it, Dani! I know that several states in the U.S. prohibit these types of transactions unless the recipient of the commission is a licensed real estate agent or broker. I don't know if it applies to all 50 states though.

[Mike McAleer]

This is spectacular. There are so many ways to make money online whether it is real estate or Virtual real estate, amazon sites or adsense sites, facebook or list building, ppc or cpv, so many ways but one effect: CASH!

[MoneyMonkey]

Congratulations on the new home sale. I hope that you have many more to come. This is great news in a tough economy.

[Natlex]

Good job man, do some good promotion to that website and things are looking shiny

[Adie]

Thanks to all appreciation. I am eyeing for another real estate broker with another big company. I might end up being a real estate broker myself someday if my website succeed....

[cameronwoods]

Great great work you did mate. I hope you keep it up.

[SEOpsychic]

i'm was smiling all through your story. it's great to know things work if you work at it.

now what you have to do is good SEO. with that, i mean ETHICAL SEO.

now you're hyped i guess and very happy and might be tempted to do blackhat to get to the top of pages to make more money, but you must concentrate on very good SEO! you can't afford to have your site banned in the search engines. real estate goes well with LOCAL optimization. so keep that in mind too and avoid any blackhat method.

i'm an SEO. so if you need any advice, just contact me (free)... and i'll give you advice and free tips. i'm happy about your story.

all the best!

[Oranges]

You just gave me an idea, thanks for that!
Btw, congrats on your success.

[2d0k]

Wow! Over $3,000 for a single sale! Congratulations Adie! I'm happy for you..

[liovvoil]

Wow
Congratulations ..

[Adie]

Originally Posted by SEOpsychic

i'm was smiling all through your story. it's great to know things work if you work at it.

now what you have to do is good SEO. with that, i mean ETHICAL SEO.

now you're hyped i guess and very happy and might be tempted to do BlueFart to get to the top of pages to make more money, but you must concentrate on very good SEO! you can't afford to have your site banned in the search engines. real estate goes well with LOCAL optimization. so keep that in mind too and avoid any BlueFart method.

i'm an SEO. so if you need any advice, just contact me (free)... and i'll give you advice and free tips. i'm happy about your story.

all the best!

I been doing SEO since 2003 and blackH is actually not my game... I don't even use any tool other than roboform.. lol Thanks for appreciation..

[Brian Lett]

It might be a good idea to put your real estate site on your Twitter account, and start marketing via social media as well.

That way you can more easily target your niche locally with "nearbytweets (dot) com".

[Adie]

Originally Posted by Brian Lett

It might be a good idea to put your real estate site on your Twitter account, and start marketing via social media as well.

That way you can more easily target your niche locally with "nearbytweets (dot) com".

facebook is my ultimate target. My page is getting fans in faster pace...

[JeromyS]

Originally Posted by MerlynSanchez

You beat me to it, Dani! I know that several states in the U.S. prohibit these types of transactions unless the recipient of the commission is a licensed real estate agent or broker. I don't know if it applies to all 50 states though.

Interesting. I actually am in the final throws of building a community portal for my region. A part of that is Real Estate. I had wondered if/what sort of regulations might exist regarding this. If I can do it, without getting in trouble, and further, if I can charge for people to list. I think I can do that part....In this case though, a Realtor would just pay a listing fee and that's it. I like the idea of a higher paid referral system. I don't know that I can work that into my community portal, but it is a great idea for a regional real estate website. Anyone know what the Canada rule might be around this? Or, where to find them?

Thinking I should open up a dialogue with my Realtor!

Thanks for sharing this, I think this is really really good. Best of luck for loads of future sales!

JeromyS

[RentItNow]

I've birddogged in my offline ventures for agents but have not tried IMing for the leads. A majority of agents will not touch IM with a ten foot pole (mostly old school sales people) but with my own ventures using it, they are starting to see the advantage. Most agents will give you at least 25% for your leads and it seems from what you are saying they will give more. My soon to be wife and I have actually been researching doing just this and I see almost NO competition in my city and neighboring cities (even from internet sauve RE agents). These agents just have no idea how to market correctly. Well done by the way. I've made the most money birddogging then anything else in real estate. Takes virtually a few calls to make $2000 to $5000.

[Cantbedone!]

Be careful. I am a Realtor and I know that paying kickbacks or referral fees in excess of $50 to anyone who is not a licensed agent is illegal in Texas. If the law is the same for your state, you agent friend could lose her license permanently. Real estate is very highly regulated by federal, state and local law and the courts take it very seriously because there is so much potential for fraud in the industry.

Be careful. Check the laws.

Just my 2 cents but congrats on your successes.

[frogman]

Ya, in the USA you need to be a licensed realtor to take a commission on the sale. But the realtor can pay "marketing" fees to "web consultants".

Good job Aide!

[dagaul101]

That's fantastic news, nothing feels better when working on a site and seeing your efforts rewarded with a sale

[rinor81]

Congrats man, very inspiring stuff!!

Good Luck getting more 4% commissions the large 4%

[dannyogolo]

Nice one. Really inspiring
I got to ur post while researching on setting up a wp listing website with a super theme for my country (or at least my state)
I was planning on charging a listing fee randing from about $4 to about $10 (variables incl Photos, contact ad, map, etc), but I have read a lot of stuff about these realtors not wanting to part with a dime, and im now searching for other monetising options.

Ideas welcome

[ddDonPaul]

this is where big money cames from. internet promotion for physical products. the internet is the largest market to promote products. with about 7.000.000.000 people each day on internet, you can sell everything. it doesn`t matter what you chose to sell, you will definately get buyers. you just have to be smart for a second

good job with that sale and let`s hope there`s a lot more on the way!
thanks for making us believe

[remodeler]

Originally Posted by Cantbedone!

Be careful. I am a Realtor and I know that paying kickbacks or referral fees in excess of $50 to anyone who is not a licensed agent is illegal in Texas. If the law is the same for your state, you agent friend could lose her license permanently. Real estate is very highly regulated by federal, state and local law and the courts take it very seriously because there is so much potential for fraud in the industry.

Be careful. Check the laws.

Just my 2 cents but congrats on your successes.

C'mon, read the thread. Adie lives in the Phillipines... NOT the U.S.