Networking in real estate can be the key to a successful portfolio, which is why effectively engaging, learning and sharing with other real estate professionals are requirements that every professional needs.
We have come up with 6 effective tips that will help you improve your networking in real estate, but before we learn them, let’s briefly discuss what networking in real estate is and its importance.
What Is Networking in Real Estate?
Real estate networking is very similar to networking in other industries – you meet likeminded people, discuss markets, share innovative ideas and visions in pursuit of long term collaborations to acquire more business and growth.
Networking may be conducted in a number of places like networking events, meetings and even social events where professionals are present. The aim is to create meaningful relationships with relevant professionals that help improve business.
Importance of Networking in Real Estate
Whether you are new to the real estate industry or an experienced professional, everyone needs networking in order to maintain a successful portfolio and experienced professionals know this better than anyone.
Networking is important for a number of reasons, including:
Exposure
Meeting new professionals will help you gain exposure to new and emerging markets, trends, approaches and the general mindset of experienced professionals working in real estate.
Contacts
When you effectively engage other real estate professionals, you can make a lot of contacts with those that have expertise in fields of real estate where you may not. This can include contractors, managers, realtors, attorneys, investors and other professionals.
Access
Real estate is all about selling and buying properties. Given enough exposure, you can get access to deals, investments and partnerships to become part of more profitable ventures.
Education
You can learn a lot from other professionals about the market and its trends. Networking events, in particular, have speakers and experts sharing information that is relevant to real estate markets and you can gain crucial knowledge which is otherwise hard to come by.
Engaging and involving professionals and leaders in the industry can go a long way to help you create a network of helpful individuals, improve your knowledge, close deals and climb the ladder of success.
Keeping that in mind, here are:
6 Effective Tips for Real Estate Networking
1.) Research
If you want to network effectively, one of the best and most important things you can do is research before engaging others. Having prior knowledge, understanding how you want to approach people and what you want to discuss will eliminate wasted time on directionless conversations.
Researching will also help you understand what questions to ask and how to communicate on relevant topics. You want to engage and be a part of the conversation but, if you do not understand the topic, then you are at a significant loss.
You need enough research to be able to ask honest, relevant and clever questions that attract genuine and insightful responses. You do not need to be an expert in conversations. In fact, you can let others know you are a beginner, but researching will help you develop your questions better and understand perspectives much more easily.
2.) Set Goals
Setting goals is important for everything in life, same goes for networking. If you know beforehand what you want from networking sessions, you will have a much more effective experience and connect with the right people.
This does not mean that you enter the real estate networking world with a closed mind set, you need an open approach to absorb as much as you can while filtering what is important to you. Setting goals will help you create that filter for yourself.
You can then use that filter to find out which professionals have common goals and are beneficial for effective engagements. This can be anyone, a contractor for flipping houses, an expert to gain insights or an investor or lender for investments.
If your goal is to find investors then engaging a contractor may not be the best approach. Although a contractor may be able to help you find investors, such is the beauty of networks, you will have a more effective approach engaging those with common goals.
3.) Maintain Connections
Speaking of the beauty of networks, you never know where the next big deal or investment may come from. Which is why it important to not lose connections, that contractor may lead you to a once-in-a-lifetime deal that changes everything for you.
You want to learn as much as possible about what others have to offer and maintain a certain level of interest. At the same time, you do not have to waste all our time with professionals that do not have common goals, but maintaining a connection with people can be beneficial in the long run.
Not every person you meet will bring you a life changing opportunity, but if you cut and lose connections, you may miss the one person who could.
4.) Engage Locals
Networking is not limited to industry events and meetings, you can network with anyone that improves your portfolio. An effective way to network is through your local community, engaging them may bring you opportunities that were otherwise left unchecked.
This will also help you sharpen your communication skills when networking with professionals, by connecting with different types of people in your community, you will learn a lot about effective communication and networking. You can engage locals and develop your presence through many ways including:
- Volunteering for local organizations and groups
- Sponsoring local events and school teams
- Partnering with local businesses
Engaging locals will also give you a better understanding of neighborhoods, the people that live there, what problems they face and how it affects the real estate of that community. This can help improve your perceptions, expand your client base and bring more business.
5.) Offer Assistance
Effective networking is a two way street, it is dependent on creating meaningful connections based on mutual benefit and understanding between parties. You need to know how you can help others to build long lasting and mutually beneficial relationships.
Your existing connections, expertise and experience may help others achieve their goals in the real estate world. Which is why it is important for you to not only look for assistance but offer assistance as well. Try to think of ways you can make a difference for others and follow through.
This will organically build good relations with professionals who will then trust you and be open to reciprocating your help moving forward.
6.) Use Technology
The internet and mobile devices have changed the world forever. You can take advantage of the powerful tools that technology has to offer to effectively network with other professionals that share your common goals.
With channels like social media platforms and specialized applications, it is easier than ever to find individuals and groups of individuals that share your interests. More and more real estate professionals employ the power of technology to network effectively every day.
Which is why you want to do the same and start growing your network to reap the benefits. A great way to use technology to start real estate networking is by using OktoHub.
OktoHub is the first ever on-demand real estate assistance program that helps you connect with other real estate professionals for assistance and build a network of reliable partners you can trust.
We hope our effective tips were helpful, for more information on real estate, visit our blog.
