Any Real Estate (Website) Experts in Here?

I don't know what I'm talking about... to be honest.

Let's pretend there were no such thing as agents/realtors/websites specializing in Equestrian Real Estate.

If you wanted to carve this niche... but could only do it with a virtual business*.... what would be the best business model?

* = to save on expenses, but also because the vast majority of cities/towns do not have enough Equestrian Properties to sustain a physical real estate business.... but when pooled together on a State or National Level, there is a large money opportunity by carving out this niche.

Thanks
2 replies

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Killer Joe 15 years ago

Michael,

You're walking into a spinning propeller on this one...

Real Estate is a highly regulated arena and you can find yourself in hot water with the local/regional/national RE boards before you can say "I was only trying to make a little money."

I got shut down once, and a friend of mine was used as a guinea pig to help create some case law in our area. Cost him a small fortune.

I'm NOT saying that you can't make money in the RE niche, I'm just giving you a heads-up that those waters are mined with explosives.

Bottom line...do your homework, dot all your Is and cross all your Ts. There's a reason this niche looks untapped. (I'm running out of mixed metaphors :p)

KJ
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- Ichabod 15 years ago
  
  I'm in real estate.
  I don't put loads of cash to purchase (then re-sell) property.
  I put deals together and get paid.
  So, I wouldn't consider myself an "investor", rather a dealmaker.
  
  Let me know if I can help.
  
  Thanks
  
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lassitermarketing 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Michael in CT

I don't know what I'm talking about... to be honest.

Hee hee. I manage the Adwords accounts of some big real estate investing gurus and local investors and it can be done. A company like HomeVestors for example has a huge "buy house" "sell house" presence in several local markets.

I co-founded a site a long time ago where we generated buyer and seller leads via PPC and then sold them to investors on a membership site. We generated a lot of leads - only problem was the metro areas got the most. Poor little Boise, ID guy got screwed.
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Susan Lassiter-Lyons
http://www.LassiterMarketing.com
Have fun. Create value.
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barbdear

15 years ago

Hi Mike,
I was a real estate broker for 20 years, but not an expert on websites. For what it's worth ...

Yes, I think you can make a national website work. LoopNet.com is an ultra-successful website for national (and international) commercial properties. The buyers and sellers are usually from different cities/states and the brokers work co-operatively all over the country.

Just like any other website, the key is making sure it is known to the people who would potentially use it. So do you have a good way to market the site to equestrian property buyers ... and to listing agents who might specialize in such property? You can probably target the buyers pretty easily, but I don't know about the brokers. As you said, not many communities have enough of this type of property for a broker to specialize in it, so you would have to market your site to almost ALL brokers in order to reach the few who could actually make use of it.

How are you planning to monetize the site? I would expect you would have to sell equestrian related products, because I doubt there would be enough traffic to sell advertising space. But that's just my gut instinct. Do have any data that would indicate the potential size of your market? Any idea how many people own horses in this country ... and how many of those folks want to keep horses on their own property rather than boarding? These numbers might give you a good feel for the potential of the niche.

I'm curious to see what you do with this. Let me know if you want to keep spit-balling the idea. Best of luck!

Thanks

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Michael in CT

15 years ago

I was just thinking about generating listing fees.... from agents/homeowners who have this specific type of property, and want to list them.

I can easily find the "buyers" who are interested in them, as they are a very focused market.... not spread thin.

The thing I would need to do is let the agents/homeowners of these properties know about the website. Is it easy to contact agents across the country and let them know... should they come across these niche properties... this is the first/only website in this niche?

How does one get agents across the country to participate?

Thanks for all the replies thusfar, everyone.

Thanks

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Networking_now

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Michael in CT

Hi gang,

I see an untapped real estate niche market out there... and I am researching to see if I can tap into it.

Here is the thing....

1. This niche is not big enough in EACH INDIVIDUAL city/community to support opening a physical real estate agency in one specific location. However... since there are a small number of properties in each community that fit into this niche.... it becomes a large number when you take it to the state or national level.

....which means the only way I can connect buyers and sellers of this niche real estate is through a website.

Given that I know little about Real Estate Business Models.... is this a common and feasible business model to simply have a state or national listings website for a particular niche?

Can anyone briefly talk about this?

I appreciate any feedback!

Real estate can fit in with the 'government grant' niche - under the category of housing grants- i have merged these niches successfully before,

Pm me if interested

Thanks

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Joint venture With Me in the
CREDIT REPAIR Niche or the...

GOVERNMENT GRANT Niche
(Private Message me)

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ayolov

15 years ago

I have worked in the Real Estate niche online for several years. It is very profitable and you can pursue it from many angles that are quite safe. From just placing ads on your site, to referring leads to tying the deals together. You can send traffic to a certain development or to a specific realtor for a fee as well.
The niche you are looking at looks something great for an online business; something a local market can't support because it is small, yet, small enough for the big players to ignore... you should go for it.
look online for places where properties are being offered, forums for property owners and realtors, you can start fishing there.
Best of luck,
Mario.

Thanks

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Desarrollo Negocios Web CÃ³mo hacer un prÃ³spero negocio web, Â¡en espaÃ±ol!
A bilungual site to grow and prosper online

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Nato Guajardo

15 years ago

I'm in the real estate niche. I sell leads to Real Estate Investors. Let me know what questions you have.

Thanks

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competitive

15 years ago

Hi Michael I have been in real estate for many years, whilst real estate is regulated in the US it is not regulated in the UK. Anyway I put up a website targeted at investors with below market deals. The website was national and was linked to my ebook I wrote (as in my signature link) which captured subscribers into my autoresponder. Then we would broadcast deals to the list, the phones would go red hot and we sold some £192million worth of property over the last five years.

So yes you can sell real estate from a website presence.

Regards
Barry

Thanks

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Any Real Estate (Website) Experts in Here?

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