Real estate is nothing without listings. In simple terms, you cannot claim to be a successful real estate agent if you cannot get enough listings to keep your real estate business going.
It’s for this reason that listings are considered the lifeblood of the real estate industry.
But for new real estate agents, getting listings is the biggest challenge they face. You might have to go for one or two years to get a listing, meaning you have to stay the entire period without any sale, no commissions.
And even though you might have had your first listing converting into a sale, getting subsequent listings can still be a challenge. Perhaps your first sale was to a first-time buyer, and then you choose to focus more on them.
But along the way, you realize that most first-time buyers rank quite low on the affordability index, meaning you have to change strategy and look for some home buyers who can afford the kind of properties you deal in.
So how exactly do you get more real estate listings in this competitive market?
This article will look at some of the best tips any real estate agent can use to get more listings and thus become a successful real estate agent.
1. Rent back your listings
This is perhaps the most popular tactic among real estate agents. You can rent out your houses to buyers before you are ready to sell these to them.
This will serve two purposes – first, they will be able to live in your house for as long as they are comfortable with it. This means that even if you’re not ready to sell the property yet, they can still enjoy living there.
And second, this gives them the option of buying the house later because they’ve already lived in it and got familiar with its environment and structure.
Another benefit of renting back your listings is that it tells potential clients that you care about their needs and concerns since you let them stay in your house while waiting for it to be ready to sell.
2. Make it easy for current clients to refer you
If your current clients are happy with how you deal with them, they will refer you to other people. This means that getting referrals from your existing clientele is not a difficult task.
Therefore, make sure that all your services are designed with your clients’ needs and concerns in mind. That said, you can offer discounts or better commissions if their referrals turn into sales at your end.
3. Give priority to buyers who want multiple listings
Real estate agents can use another great tip to attract more home buyers and get more listings by giving priority buying options to those who’d like to buy two or three properties instead of just one.
These buyers are always in great demand because they can invest in two or three properties simultaneously. With that, you can get multiple listings for yourself, or they can buy one and then sell it later to purchase another one.
So always keep an eye out for such clients. They might not even need to rent back your listings, which means that you can quickly convert them into sales without any further delay.
4. Extend the closing date
Sometimes, a listing can be quite challenging to sell because your client takes longer to make up his mind. In this case, you have two options – you can either renegotiate the price with them or extend the closing date of their listings.
It might seem like you’re losing some money with the latter option, but this is not true. You see, once a buyer has been forced into deciding, without enough time, to think through all his options and gather more information about what he needs, there’s a greater chance that he will make the wrong purchase and end up regretting it later on.
Therefore, always try giving buyers as much time as they need to make the right decision. If at all it means giving them a few more weeks to make up their minds, do it.
5. Build confidence in your process and show your expertise
Another great way of getting clients to trust and utilize you as the go-to real estate agent for their listings is by showing them that you know what you’re doing.
This can be done by following up on every detail regarding the listing, ensuring all repairs and maintenance work is carried out, including homeowners’ association dues in the pricing.
Have a professional photographer take pictures of the property, too, so it looks its absolute best, etc.
As a bonus, don’t forget to display your knowledge about real estate investment strategies so you can prove to them that this job is not just about selling homes but also evaluating current market conditions.
And since they will have more faith in your capabilities now, they will feel more comfortable giving you their listings to sell.
6. Contact FSBOs
For those thinking of selling their homes on their own, instead of listing them with a particular real estate agency, don’t forget to reach out to your local FSBOs.
There are thousands and thousands of property owners across the country who prefer selling their homes without the help of real estate agents.
So if you can connect with even a handful of them and convince them that you could handle their listings better than they could themselves, it would mean adding more properties under your list – and adding more income as well.
7. Keep your listings updated
Since you’re working with FSBOs, you might have to deal with properties not listed anywhere. This means that either the owners themselves would not know the value of their property, or they simply don’t want to list it for sale yet.
Suppose you find out about such properties first and offer your services before anyone else does. In that case, you have a higher chance of convincing them to give you their listing without worrying too much.
If this happens, it will be another great way of getting more listings under your name.
8. Promoting home values
If you manage to get hold of some great leads looking for recommendations about reliable real estate agencies in town, try sending them e-mails or postcards promoting your property value services.
Sending offers to your leads will boost your business and help you convince sellers who are trying to sell their homes themselves.
9. Use social media
Whether you want to promote your home value services or simply create a website where people can recommend your agency as the best in town, make sure you have a strong presence on social media too.
You might even want to speak with a web design expert who can design a great online property evaluation platform for your real estate agency.
And if at all possible, try including reviews from past customers. Many internet users give serious consideration to reviews before buying anything online.
So you might as well leverage that to grow your brand awareness and popularity while providing potential clients with helpful information.
10. Contact Expired Listings
If a property listed with another real estate agent remains unsold for quite some time, try contacting the seller and ask if they would be interested in your home value services.
This way, they might just give you their listing – after all, what’s one more real estate agent jumping on to their bandwagon?
That being said, be careful about going after expired listings. According to David Reiss from Real Estate Issues – a web portal for legal issues within the real estate industry – there is always an element of risk involved by going after expired listings.
While this strategy works out for some agents who manage to convince the sellers to sell through them instead of listing their homes with other agencies, some agents end up being unsuccessful in their attempts.
It’s better to be careful with your approach here because this would mean that you have more control over the outcome of your efforts. You wouldn’t want anything unfortunate to happen, right?
11. Turned down listings
Many real estate agents get turned down by sellers who refuse to hire them for whatever reason they might have.
But when it happens, you can always try again later until you convince them of the value proposition you offer so they won’t have to list their homes with other agencies.
If you keep trying long enough, chances are they will eventually give up and reach out to you – or even list their properties with you, sooner or later.
12. Connect with withdrawn listings in your MLS
These are listings that have been pulled out from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for some reason.
Now, if you track down these kinds of leads and convince them with your proposal before anyone else does, it would be much easier for you to get their listings.
Instead of going around looking for a new listing after someone else has already snatched it from under your nose, you can simply ask the sellers if they would consider working with you instead.
13. Host an open house happy hour
This is a great strategy if you want to get potential clients and other local real estate agents who would be interested in trying their luck by going after these kinds of listings together under one roof.
When other people share your open house happy hour event on social media, this will help you create more vital brand awareness and a positive image online.
Aside from that, it can also be a great networking tactic as you could meet someone who might just gain from being introduced to the right person at the right time.
Make sure to take photos during your open house happy hour so that you have materials for follow-up posts on social media sites.
You can also use them as a future reference when pitching your listings to the right real estate investors who might want to buy them.
14. Use social media ambassadors
Anytime you post about your open house happy hours, make sure to include links to your website where interested parties can find out more about your agency.
If you already have loyal followers on Facebook and Twitter, why not ask them if they are willing to help as well? You could simply explain what their role as social media ambassadors would be.
But of course, you should only choose those who believe in what you do as a real estate agent and who see benefits from being involved with something like this.
15. Build your listing agent team
Who says that you have to do everything on your own? Suppose you find it challenging enough to get listings even with the help of other people.
Why not consider creating a team of friends, colleagues, and family members who are also real estate agents that can support one another in getting more listings?
This way, you’ll be able to benefit from each other’s success stories too.
16. Have home valuation ads on social media
This is one of the most effective ways to get referrals from other people and have an open-door policy that would allow you to reach out to more home buyers and investors easily.
You just have to make a Facebook or Twitter post about it, offering any interested parties a free valuation estimate on their homes – without expecting anything in return.
Of course, you can also include a link to your website where they can learn more about your agency too for future reference once they are ready.
17. Attend networking events and meet-ups
This is as simple as it gets – really!
As long as you’re willing to put in the effort and time to attend all of these events and meet-ups, there’s no better way for you to simply walk up and down the streets or knock on doors so that people will notice that you exist.
Of course, this does not guarantee that they would consider working with you. But at least the more active your presence online becomes through your social media posts, there’s a higher chance of establishing an online community around your brand, which could help boost future sales too.
Conclusion
As a real estate agent, your ultimate goal is to get listings and convert them into long-term clients who want to stay loyal to you for years.
With the right strategy, you can find out what works best for your business and build it up based on what you’ve learned so that you no longer have to struggle to get more of these listings.
