Real Estate Listings/Sales

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by Paul Weyland 


Situation: Regardless of the state of the economy people are still selling and buying homes. Real estate agents and brokers almost exclusively use the newspaper to advertise.  Most of their ads look precisely the same.  They make their money from commissions, typically a total of 6 percent of the selling price of the home.  The listing broker (representing the seller) usually keeps 3 percent and the selling agent (representing the buyer) gets the other 3 percent. So on an average home sale of say $250,000 total commission could be $15,000.  The listing company gets half and the buyer’s agent gets the other half.  Assuming that the typical real estate agent operates on a 50 percent gross profit margin (what’s left over to reinvest in the company after the cost of labor), how many new homes must you list or sell in order to justify your teensy little $5,000 weekly schedule on your station?

Objective: To get real estate agencies to realize that they would have practically a monopoly on your station, seeing as how most bunch up in other media.  If you were looking to sell a house, when would you want that home sold? Immediately?  For a listing agent here’s what the consumer would want to hear. "I don’t know what all of the fuss is over the real estate market.  Last month we sold 15 homes."  If I’ve had trouble selling my home I’d want that person’s phone number NOW.  Another ploy for a buyer’s agent might be to educate people on what pitfalls to look out for when buying a home.

Strategy: To advertise continuously to brand into the minds of sellers and/or buyers that your real estate client is the area expert. Your client uses your station year-round to control public dialog about the home market in your area.

RBR/TVBR observation:  Another value-added with your stations’ website is the agents’ virtual video tours of the homes they have listed. By spotlighting the realtor with video, you have one-upped the Sunday edition of any newspaper.  Also remember these agents do have open houses on Saturdays and Sundays and have budget for this.

More Ideas Working Now from RBR.com/TVBR.com

(Source: Paul Weyland is a speaker, trainer, author and consultant. He can be reached at www.paulweyland.com or at (+) 512 236 1222)