Developing a successful real estate portfolio requires a lot of effort and smart decision making, which is why starting locally is always a good idea. It gives you an upper hand on background knowledge and makes for easy local management.
Many real estate professionals aim for areas that are over the top or in demand to add to their portfolios but they forget that the competition for such areas is also much higher. This does not mean that completion or demand in your local area will be any less, but you may have an edge that outside real estate professionals lack.
Let’s look at some of the things that can help you while capturing your local real estate market.
Expand Your Knowledge
The best part about targeting your local area is that you already have a good understanding of the area and this gives you an advantage over outsiders. You may already know the problems and benefits of your neighborhood and its surrounding areas.
When buyers or sellers come to you for property deals, they can be sure that you have the right knowledge regarding the properties in the area because you are a local. Here are a few things that you should know about your neighborhoods and what clients expect you to know:
- Which are the in-demand neighborhoods?
- What is the pricing in each neighborhood?
- What type of properties are available?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of each listing?
- Which schools, parks or businesses are nearby?
Capturing your local real estate market, as with any other market, requires you to know these things. Apart from statistics and data, you need to have insights on your town and its people to become an expert in your local real estate market.
Additionally, attending your local government meetings will keep you updated with local situations. The discussions that are being held at town hall are all concerning the living conditions of the community and you can develop insights on them.
You can even voice your concerns, or the concerns of your clients or community, to those in power and establish yourself as someone who knows and cares about the local community. You do not need to become politicized or run for office, simply showing up and being a part of the discussion goes a long way.
Become a Part of Your Local Community
In order to capture any local real estate market, it is important to be a part of the local community. This will help you build trust and loyalty among the locals and they will feel easily inclined toward coming to you for all their real estate solutions.
You can start by volunteering for local organizations which are doing any kind of social or charitable work and recommending others to do so as well. This will get you involved in the community and raise the locals’ awareness of you.
You can alternatively host events on your own where you collect donations for local charities, homeless shelters, schools, orphanages and you could even host a blood drive for hospitals. Sponsoring local teams and events is another excellent way to promote your business.
Local teams for basketball, baseball, football or even scout troops offer you the opportunity to sponsor and support them for effective local marketing of your real estate business. You can sponsor uniforms or out of town trips for matches or local events taking place in your community.
The locals will certainly notice your support of their teams and events, and it will further market you and your business in a positive light. There are plenty more options to engage locals and you can be creative with your approach.
What matters is that you are honest and genuine in these matters so that locals truly appreciate your efforts in their community. You have to engage them in a friendly and positive manner, and talking to locals and neighbors will also help you sharpen your communication skills while giving you better knowledge and understanding of local neighborhoods.
Networking With Local Businesses
Effective networking is one of the most important things for capturing your local real estate market. If local business owners and other real estate professionals know about your work and expertise, you may be able to get a lot of referrals through them and grow your real estate portfolio.
Reaching out to local businesses can help you create a local network that brings in regular business. Communication with these individuals will also give you insights on the local business community, which is good for you to know because after all, you are looking to grow your own business in the same community.
Always remember that for networking to work effectively, it is important that you build upon relationships and offer assistance as much as you require it. Only then will you get any profitable referrals coming your way.
Utilize Technology
The modern world has provided us with powerful tools that can help businesses and markets grow and expand more than ever – your local real estate market is no different. The people in your community all use the internet and modern technologies in their daily lives and you should take advantage of this.
Investing in a website that is focused toward the local real estate market will help you gain more clients and build your portfolio. You have to make sure your website is user-friendly, dynamic and not static, promotes your local expertise and efforts, and is targeted toward local audiences that are interested in real estate.
You can also take advantage of social media platforms and build profiles and pages for your business that are regularly updated to keep visitors engaged. You can apply the same measure on these pages as the ones we mentioned for your website and link the pages back to your website as well.
This will help paint your image as an expert and the right person for local real estate solutions. Creating local community group pages on social websites like Facebook will allow prospects to reach out to you for any advice on local real estate matters if they feel you are an expert.
There are also some specialized applications that can help you boost your business through local networking with other real estate professionals and groups that share your interests. Which is why you want to start utilizing them early and grow your network immediately.
More and more real estate professionals employ the power of these specialized applications to promote their businesses effectively through every day networking. OktoHub is one such application that will help you network in your local real estate market.
OktoHub is the first ever on-demand real estate assistance program that helps you connect with other real estate professionals for assistance while building a network of reliable partners you can trust. Networking with locals will never feel easier and you will be well on your way to capturing your market!
We hope our methods on capturing your local real estate market are helpful, for more information on real estate, visit our blog.
