Has anyone had any REAL success in Real Estate marketing?

7 replies
I am just curious if anyone here has had any experience and/or real success with helping local homeowners (FSBO) who are trying to sell their home without real estate agents?

With economy like it is I think there is an opportunity to not just help local business owners but also to help local home owners sell their property. The only thing most of them have is a listing in local newspapers, real estate mags and the online directories with all their competition. There is really nothing that can help them stand out from the crowd that I know of.

What has been your experience(s)?

Randy
#estate #fsbo #marketing #real #success
  • Profile picture of the author myob
    You should not even step into helping homeowners with FSBO, unless maybe do some ads or sell some ebooks. There is a very fine line with stiff penalties if you don't have a real estate license in most states anyway. It's probably better to generate leads yourself and sell them to real estate agents for 50 bucks a pop.
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    • Profile picture of the author HeyAdMan
      Originally Posted by myob View Post

      You should not even step into helping homeowners with FSBO, unless maybe do some ads or sell some ebooks. There is a very fine line with stiff penalties if you don't have a real estate license in most states anyway. It's probably better to generate leads yourself and sell them to real estate agents for 50 bucks a pop.
      I apologize for not being clear on my objective.

      There are no stiff penalties in any state that I am aware of for helping a home owner get their home found by those looking for what they have to offer. If that were the case then newspapers and real estate mags would all be penalized.

      I see that people selling their home without agents (FSBO) are left basically with placing a sign in their yard (and hope enough drive by's see the sign ... not too likely in many area's), placing an ad in paper or magazine with everyone else who is seeking the same eyeballs, or even in FSBO online directories (neatly tucked away and kept from standing out in a search).

      My question is can the FSBO market be helped (in the same or similar way that we help local business owners) to be found on 1st page of Google when people are searching for a home?

      The correct answer is "YES"!

      Outside of the economical issues that some people have bought into ... the other reason homes aren't selling is that they aren't found by people who are in the market to buy that particular home.

      I am looking for answers on how to help these homes be found in the same way as we help local businesses be found when someone does a search for that particular biz category, brand and/or product.

      I hope this helps to clarify my original post as to what I am looking for.

      Randy
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      • Profile picture of the author grin
        Originally Posted by HeyAdMan View Post

        I
        There are no stiff penalties in any state that I am aware of for helping a home owner get their home found by those looking for what they have to offer. If that were the case then newspapers and real estate mags would all be penalized.

        The only thing I can think of is that somewhere on a contract if you put "I will sell your house" you could be liable because your customers felt like getting snippy about it. As long as everything you say and put on paper says something like "I will increase how many people see your house" that is completely different. Those penalties have to do with trading and selling property and can be heavily regulated - advertising is hardly regulated at all. Pretty much, don't flat out lie, and you are covered in advertising issues.
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        • Profile picture of the author myob
          @Heyadman

          Didn't mean to scare you away from this, and it may just work by offering to advertise it online for the homeowner. A few years ago one of my clients wrote a book on FSBO, and gave it away by advertising online and in newspapers. Everyone thought she was just giving away all her secrets for nothing, but the book had all her contact info inside. When prospects realized just how difficult it really is to sell their own home, they called her for the listing! LOL!
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  • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
    There is a lot of money to be made dealing with helping homeowners with FSBO.
    Don't let MYOB scare you.
    It's all about being creative about your marketing efforts, and dealing with the right homeowners.
    And for the record, there is a lot that can make them stand out from the crowd.
    You said, not that I know of.
    So, educate yourself on different marketing methods.
    I can post an ad in a newspaper and will stand out everytime.
    It's all about how you approach things.
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    Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone
    - Neale Donald Wilson -
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    • Profile picture of the author grin
      That is an interesting question. My answer is no, of course. I have been in several sales positions as well as Web related items. Real Estate makes me cringe. It's really no different in theory, but it is so bloated with so much low level advertising its EVERYWHERE. Paper ads, tv ads etc and all the rest. So I agree, a creative solution would certainly get attention. I say that because no matter how many people are using whatever kind of way to sell a house, it has to get sold.

      I know a few people who are doing SEO only for restaraunts, and doing it pretty well. Now, consider that there is the success of selling a house by way of an internet solution and then there is the success of selling the solution to the prospect in need. Regardless, you are selling "impressions" not the sale.

      I would suggest writing up a quick ebook "Using Social Media To Sell Your House NOW!" about ten pages long with some quick images, and getting that in front of people. Basically a features list of your service. Among the other basics of selling a service online I think you can get the picture.

      No matter what all the media solutions are that will be used for the final sale, when it does sell it is really hard to pinpoint what actually prompted that to happen. So, again you are selling the FSOB on the idea that they are making a concerted effort. You won't really be able to tell them that it was because of your IM campaign that it sold; but you can't disprove it either.

      Saying all that, even if I was personally doing this, and came out saying "OH YEAH, my system rocks!". It would not change anything about your success with it. But look at what the standard model starts out with. A picture or two, in a paper publication that is among hundreds of other houses, with really low quality stuff. Then there are the TV public access looking channels that are spinning houses over one by one. After that you have the real estate brokers with HUGE directories of online display ads.

      So, is anyone using "Smallville House For Sale Cheap" in their keywords? Or shooting a quick video pan of the house? Punching out fast video editing using animoto and then driving 2000 visitors across the youtube channel in a day?

      I think you could easily impress upon sellers that your efforts can easily far outweigh others. Now the only problem is that you will be dealing with retail level private parties. That makes me think that you could only get them to buy for around $300, or much less - depends really on how hard you want to sell them on it really.

      Good post though, that is an interesting venue for selling this kind of stuff.
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  • Profile picture of the author rr1455
    Some good advice.... I am lic. broker in CA and AZ. I need more people to help sell their home... I have a lot of buyer in S. CA. If anyone can help me find some sellers I would be more than willing to pay a lead gen fee... In fact anyone that can supply me with leads we need to talk, I will pay good $$$ if they are good leads....
    Roger
    Or email me direct: roger@rohrsrealestate.com
    Thx.... Have a great day, and if I can help you let me know...
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    Roger Rohrs (skype: Scottsdale.video)

    http://www.apibestinclass.com

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