How to find homebuyers in a slow market? Part I

1. The upper end of the market

In today’s market we have to deal with the realities of what is and what is not selling if in fact our goal is to create enough volume to sustain ourselves through what is sure to be another 4 to 5 years of a depressed market. How to find homebuyers in a slow market is based on first identifying what is moving the most rapidly and what is not. There are ways of finding homebuyers in any market but how to find homebuyers in the sector that you want is a completely different subject. To find homebuyers in the jumbo loan sector is different than finding homebuyers in the middle of the market or the first time homebuyer market.

To find homebuyers in the upper portion of the market is going to depend on what your geographic area has to offer. Areas in California or New York may not have what most of us would consider the first time buyer sector. There are tools that will work such as advertising on luxury home sites. These sites are more expensive and therefore the risk can be higher and you are not going to find a great deal of high end buyers on traditional real estate sites and you are not going to create the quality of lead you are looking for if you are focused on this end of the market spectrum.

What is always important to remember is that whatever the method you use to find homebuyers it usually includes advertising. The method is still the same, the vehicle is just different. Advertising inherently creates some good and some bad leads. The complaint that internet leads are bad is commonplace with realtors as well as loan officers today who are struggling with how to find homebuyers. Let me put this myth to rest here now. And be warned I will debunk this horse $%@* continually until all the agents and lenders that used to advertise in their local newspapers are all retired and we can finally stop hearing this garbage’.

The truth is that in the old days when you tried to find homebuyers you generally placed an advertisement in the newspaper. You received one thing back. A phone call. That phone call gave you nothing more than their phone number. Trying to find homebuyers was a completely blind endeavor. In comparison, today we have the internet which generally asks the potential homebuyer a series of questions. In fact, sometimes they are the exact same questions you used to ask on the phone. So now you just have to ask them again and quit refereeing to the lead information and comparing the information they were willing to give to a computer and the information they are willing to give to you. You are a living, breathing entity and that means a great deal. Use your humanity and stop expecting it from the internet and call each client with an open mind.

You will be happier, and make more out of each contact you make with each lead.