2 Real Estate Marketing Ideas For Low Inventory Areas

In practically every marketplace we work with agents, there is STILL an alarmingly low inventory. If you're an established agent with a consistent marketing plan and have been "doing all the right things," this probably isn't a concern to you, as your pipeline is always full. Even though it may be slightly less full than normal, you are far from slow. What about new agents, though? What about agents that historically haven't been consistent with their marketing?

If you fall in the latter categories, while you do have a tougher road to travel, it's not a lost cause. Today, I want to share with you two simple ideas you can use to help fill your pipeline and make sure that you have the successful 2015 that you so richly deserve.

1) Send recap postcards showing all the homes you've sold throughout the year

Even though inventory is low, that doesn't mean that nobody is selling their homes. People are putting their homes on the market and they are selling very quickly. In many areas, homes are going on the market just as fast as they are selling. The net result, of course, is no gain in the total number of available homes in your marketplace.

One way to pick up listings in a low inventory marketplace is to put yourself top of mind for the "next home seller" as the best choice in the area. Showing your successes is a great way to do this, and it's much easier to do than you would think. For instance, have your marketing agency put together a postcard to go to your farm area, showing all the homes that you have sold, year to date.

The most important part of this card is to put an exclamation mark on each sale, showing the stand-out success portions of the sale. For instance, punctuate each listing with facts like:

• "Sold with multiple offers"
• "Sold with xx offers"
• "Sold for $xx,xxx over list price"
• "Sold in x days"

These types of statements are specifically interesting to would-be sellers because it breaks things down in terms of "what's in it for them." When reading these statements on your postcard, they will get the impression that this is the same type of thing you can do for them if you list their home.

2) Work with more buyers... REALLY work with more buyers

If you haven't had a great year, and there isn't really a  "look at all the homes I've sold this year" postcard that you can send out, you are definitely in a tougher position. That said, it's not time to simply give up. There are options.

One option, even though not perfect, is to simply start working with more buyers. Getting more buyer clients could actually be easier than you think. One simple way to get in front of more buyers is to offer to work open houses for colleagues in your office.

Open houses are a great source of adding buyers to your database because not every person that comes into an open house is already working with an agent. That means they are yours to gain.

Planned correctly, a nice side effect of open houses is actually getting listings from neighbors in the area. To do this, simply drop off or mail out special invitations to neighbors a day or two before the open house. The card should detail that you are having an "exclusive, neighbors only preview" before the actual open house (say, one to two hours before the actual open house).

Neighbors for sure will show up and this will allow you to start building rapport with them and possibly find a neighbor that is considering putting their home on the market.

The fact is that there are actually many, many ways to work a low inventory marketplace. I hope these two simple tips come in handy and help you reach your business goals for 2015. If you have other ideas that you'd like to bounce off someone, please feel free to contact me anytime. I'm happy to help you in any way I can.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.