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The real estate industry is in the worst shape that it’s ever been – at least in my lifetime. More than a million homes are in foreclosure and things look like they’ll get worse before they get better. 

An upside to this is that leads are plentiful; people need to sell while others want to buy. In this context real estate leads abound. 
 
Are you positioned to get some?  Do you have a system for capturing leads and converting them to warm, responsive prospects who eventually buy or sell?
 
If not there are a few simple things you can do to generate more leads, whether you’re a real estate agent, buyer, seller or investor. And if you really want to change your fortunes simply apply whatever strategies you develop consistently. 
 
For example, you probably don’t benefit as much as you think by making 50 cold calls on Monday and none the rest of the week. A better approach would be to do a minimum of 10 calls a day over five days, or up the ante and make 50 phone calls a day five days in a row. The question becomes “how many leads do you want and how hard do you want to work get them?”
 
I hate to admit it, but I’m a lazy marketer. What I mean is I believe in working smarter – not harder – and use the following tools and strategies to fuel my lead generation campaigns.
 
Signup forms.  I use sign up forms to capture the names of folk who visit my website. If they’re interested enough they’ll sign up for my free newsletter and I incentivize them to do so by offering free, useful real estate marketing tips, tools and resources.  The more I give the more subscribers I get.
 
Auto responder.  I use an auto responders to automate the process of signing prospects up for my newsletter. I use it to process their requests for information and to automatically deliver the newsletters via email. I even attach and deliver free gifts from time to time. An auto responder can quickly set you apart from other folk working the same leads you are.
 
Study and apply lead generation ideas. Finally, I’m almost fanatical about learning to earn.  I can’ tell you how many leads I generate by reading and applying both old and new lead generation strategies. While things like gathering leads via open houses and through ads and flyer distribution isn’t new many agents are still wrongly stuck on the idea that they have to have listings in order to do effectively these things and make it worth their while. 
 
Who else wants more leads? Well, me for one; I can always use more, no matter how many I have.  What about you?

In today’s competitive real estate marketplace, I still amazed at how few agents know how to communicate their real estate business story to a home buyer and seller. First impressions count, and you need to be prepared verbally and visually to tell your story and why the consumer should use you and not the competition. Soon after I started in the business I developed for lack of a better name, my brag book, that take on all listing appointments and first meetings with buyers.

My books’ contents are always evolving and are constantly updated with current information and examples. The first section has as many active, pending, and closed listings as I can fit in. I include property brochures, postcards and virtual tours on CD-ROMs. Include a variety of price points and locations.

The second section has examples of newspaper advertisements, magazine features, and screen prints from my and my brokers web site to illustrate what types of marketing I do for a specific property.

Third in my brag book are the actual cards, letters, and emails that have testimonials from clients, both buyers and sellers, about their satisfaction with my real estate business.

Lastly, any awards or non-profit work I do in the community, I like to point out that giving back to the community is an important part of my business. After a client goes through my book, they have an comprehensive idea of what benefits I bring to the table. Let your brag book help tell your story to prospective clients.

Just recently I was asked to do a talk for my good friend and co-author
of our best-selling book in Singapore titled Get Rich Now: 15
Strategies from a Self-made Millionaire, Dr Dennis Wee. (Dr Wee is one of
Singapore’s most celebrated entrepreneurs. Despite not having completed his
high school education, he managed to start and build up his own real
estate company, Dennis Wee Group, to become of Singapore’s leading real
estate companies generating S$3.8 billion worth of sales in 2006.)

He wanted me to share some marketing secrets with his real estate
agents and I was more than happy to do so because I believe there’s so much
more that agents can do to position, brand and market their services.
Sadly, most agents, whether in real estate or financial services
(insurance) or any other industries, tend to see themselves just as a
salesperson. This perception of themselves is limiting their growth and income!

By thinking that they are just salespeople, they don’t see the
possibilities of growing their careers into full-fledge businesses. There are
so much more benefits for someone to think big and build a big business,
compared to just existing, and making a living. Donald Trump said: “If
you’re going to be thinking, you might as well think big.” But that’s
another topic for another session.

Here, I’m going to show you some detailed examples of how an agent can
differentiate himself using some simple positioning and branding
strategies that I have used with other clients to great success.

Many people perceive that being an agent in any industry is like being
a salesperson. Someone who is always competing with all the other
thousands of salespeople in the industry. To a certain extend it is correct.
Those other agents are also looking for the same deals that you are. It
is a matter of who gets the deal first. So they are relentlessly going
out there to cold prospect.

Now, I am not a fan of cold prospecting. To me, cold prospecting is
like bashing your head against the wall, hoping it will crumble before you
start bleeding… most people just end up being very disappointed. Why do
you think new agents don’t last long? I strongly suspect it’s because
they realized that their heads can’t go against the wall.

But there are ways to turn the table around. In my talks I like to ask
the audience: Would you prefer to work hard and look for prospects, OR
would you prefer to let your prospects seek you out?

The answer is obvious.

But more than just having less work and an easier time, there are
deeper psychological advantages to being able to let your prospects seek you
out instead of you cold prospecting them. Simply said, when you seek
someone out, you will be open to the person’s ideas, advice, expertise.
That is the reason you seek him/her out in the first place–to get expert
advice.

There won’t be the wall of resistance you’ve grown accustomed to when
you cold prospect. In fact, now it’s them who are jumping over hoops to
seek you out in your domain. Man, it’s always exciting to talk about
this!

Believe me, it’s a whole new paradigm. Imagine you becoming a celebrity
overnight and people are just doing everything they can to get in touch
with you. Think of stars of reality shows like Survivor and American
Idol… It is that powerful!

So how can you achieve that?

Let’s look at a typical scenario:

You have probably have opened your letter box day after day only to
find it stuffed with piles of flyers from various real estate agents. Just
take a closer look. You will realize that all of them claim to be the
“specialist” in the area. Now if everyone is a specialist, then does it
matter who you call? Absolutely NOT!

“But I’m different from the rest. I have more experience, quality,
etc…” you protest.
Let me be upfront. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your
background is. If the prospects don’t recognize that straight away, you are just
like everybody else. No matter how different you think you really are.
Repeat after me: If you are like every-body else, you are a no-body.

Remember: It’s all about their perception, not yours.

So instead of being just another area specialist, be different. So far
I’ve not come across any agent who positions him/herself as the
specialist to serve “first-time home buyers”. Do you think that is powerful?
Absolutely!

First-time home buyers are inexperienced. They don’t know what to
expect, what the whole buying process is going to be like, how long will it
take, what possible hiccups might occur, etc. They are in a place where
they don’t know what they don’t know. Do you think they have different
needs/concerns compared to those who have bought a house before? Of
course! If you are able to gain their trust, do you think they will look
for someone else?

The point is this: you have the information that first-time buyers are
looking for (in fact all real estate agents should know these
information). But by letting them know that you are the expert who can guide
them through the whole process safely, will in itself, earn you a closed
deal.

You might need to make some minor changes in the way you do things,
such as explaining the buying process more thoroughly, going through the
nitty gritty details that you won’t normally need to with experienced
buyers, etc. But all these will help to cement your positioning and
branding as the expert to serve first-time buyers. And once your branding
gets out, you will be busy with so many referrals for other first-time
buyers. Is the first-time buyers market huge enough for you?

Once you have established your branding, it is easy to market your
services. You can easily get the publicity that once used to be impossible
for you. If the media wants to get an opinion on what first-time buyers
think about a new housing policy, who do they look for? They will
interview the expert (you). And after appearing in the media, you will have
gained even more credibility. Can you see how this will snowball into
your profits?

It all starts with creating a powerful positioning, branding and
marketing strategy that is suitable for you.

What other positioning can differentiate you? How about:
o The property investments expert (investors love to work with those
who understand their investing needs, someone who is not just another
agent); or

o Divorce cases specialist (they definitely have different needs as
compared to the usual buyers); or

o Downgraders or upgraders; or

o Serve only those looking for luxurious, high-end houses worth $XX
amount and above (your service must of course reflect that); and

o Many more!

As you can see, it is critical to create a powerful positioning to get
your prospects to start looking specifically for you. I assure you I’m
not an expert of the real estate industry. But I’m an expert in
positioning, branding and marketing. These same principles can be applied in
other industries, such as the financial services industry, perfectly
well.

So start positioning yourself today!

The Jamaica real estate submarket

The general market for goods and service is made up of many submarkets. When left free to operate without private or governmental interference, each submarket and the general market as a whole should theoretically regulate itself by the laws of supply and demand.

One of the submarkets of the general market for goods and service is the Jamaica real estate market. While the real estate market differs in a number of distinctive ways from other markets, it acts much like all markets with respect to changes in supply and demand, but with a slower response time. It has the appearance of being a single, simple entity when in fact the real estate market is itself composed of many complex sub markets. This would include Jamaica homes for rent as well. This would be known as a parent category.

Real estate is a commodity just as wheat, gold and sugar. By combining the other factors of production with land we can produce wheat, gold and sugar or buildings.

Major sub markets of Jamaica Real Estate
Most authorities agree that the five major submarkets of Jamaican real estate are:
1. Residential homes for rent in Jamaica;
2. Commercial;
3. Industrial;
4. Agricultural;
5. Governmental and special – purpose properties

Each of these five categories is further divided into minor submarkets. For example, “residential” as a major submarket can itself be divided into minor submarkets as follows:
1. Urban;
2. Suburban; and
3. Rural

Each of the minor submarkets can be divided further into single-family and multifamily, which could then each be classified as owner-occupied and rental. The point is what appears to be one big, but simple real estate market is in reality, a complex structure of many individual submarkets, each of which contributes to the overall market.

The characteristics of the real estate market
If the real estate market were allowed to operate without any interference or restraint whatsoever, each person could use his or her property in any way that would produce the greatest return. This could result in one person’s use of Jamaican property causing a loss in value to another person’s property. Obviously, we cannot permit land to be used for whatever purpose the owner thinks best for his or her private gain.

For example, if you lived in a very fashionable up-market residential subdivision and your neighbor bought two undeveloped lots adjoining your property for use as a pig farm or for a paper mill with its offensive odors, the social costs to you and the rest of the subdivision would far outweigh the private gain to your neighbor. Therefore, the real estate market cannot be permitted to operate free of all controls and restraints.

Listed below are five primary characteristics affecting ownership and sale that set real estate apart from other markets.
1. The market is local in nature; the product is immoveable.
2. It is slow to respond to change in supply and demand.
3. There is relative permanence of improvements; land is durable and fixed in location.
4. The market is not organized and is without central control; there is no standard product and no central information.
5. Governmental controls influence the market through zoning, building codes, taxes, etc

Local in Nature – The market for real estate is uncommonly local in nature compared with other markets. The reason, of course, is that land and the improvements thereon are immoveable. For example, we cannot transport sugar cane lands from Westmoreland to Kingston. If we were in the market for tomatoes we could haul our produce to the place where demand might be greatest. However, despite the demand for housing in Area A, we cannot produce an apartment complex or single-family subdivisions on land located in Area B and take it to where there is greater demand.

Slow Response – The property market is unusually slow to respond to changes in supply and demand. Very often the number of houses (supply) in an area begins to fall behind the demand, however, since the design, land acquisition, site preparation and construction phases of real estate are so time consuming by the time demand responds the market becomes flooded. The equilibrium between supply and demand is thus destroyed because the supply of the town houses exceeds the demand at the time.

Permanence of improvements – The characteristic referred to as permanence of improvements is also closely related to the above characteristics. The typical bungalow-housing unit has a long economic life compared to other commodities. Once we have built a block of offices we are stuck with it when perhaps we could have invested our time and money in a hotel. Therefore, the permanence of the improvements created eliminates many alternatives available to markets.

Decentralized nature – Another characteristic of the real estate market is the lack of a single, central exchange for dealing with the real estate island wide. If one wishes to buy 100 shares in General Motors, California, the product will be the same as General Motors, Florida. However, if one wishes to buy 100 hectares of beachfront property in Westmoreland, Jamaica the product will be different in many respects from beachfront property in Portland. This focuses the attention on the two main reasons why there is not a central exchange for real estate.

First, the product cannot be standardized. No two tracts of land are the same. Even two lots side by side on a street have different geographical locations on this earth. This concept is referred to as heterogeneity or non-homogeneity.

Second, no central data bank or information source tells about all real property in Jamaica. Also, one needs to be careful when using information about properties in one area to assess properties in another. If one wants to know about real property in any location, it is best to go to that particular place and seek local information.

Governmental Controls – The fifth and last of the primary characteristics of the real estate market, governmental controls, plays an inordinately important role when compared to other markets. Most people are familiar with direct controls such as zoning and building codes which govern construction and use of property.

Governments also exercise indirect controls, such as the monetary policies of Central Government. For example, if Government reduces the overall money supply to slow the inflation rate, higher rates for mortgage bans turn, drives many potential buyers out of the real estate market in Jamaica. This does impact heavily on the drafting of a rent agreement in Jamaica.