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Blog Posts

Mar

18 The Realtor's Slow Market Survival Guide

By Nithya_CML

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Let’s face it, when things are good in the real estate market, you’re flying high. However, when things become slow and the once rich well of real estate leads dries up it becomes downright terrifying!

Unless you were paying very close attention to the roadmap to wealth that was laid out by those that became more successful during the last recession, you’re probably feeling panicked by the idea of the market crashing.

That is understandable considering the fact that most agents never bring home more than $30K a year! Once the market tanks, that number gets much lower. For those of you that have been actively working full-time for two years or less, the median gross income is just $8,330!

I’m not giving you those numbers (again) to scare you. Yes, maybe I want you to have a wakeup call. But my real goal is to get you to understand that if you don’t want to scrape by now or when the market hits its next crisis, you’re going to need to be very purposeful.

In today’s article, I’m going to reveal:

How to generate quality leads WITHOUT buying them

The money-management mindset you need to adopt now

Ways to diversify your income

If you are even a little nervous that your career and bank account won’t survive the next downturn in the market, you need to read this. Better yet, if you want to be one of the people that rises to the very top the next time that happens, you better study every last word in this post.

Take A Step Back

If you have been in the business for a little while and you have been feeling overwhelmed or behind on all that there is to do, having a break from the speed in which things have been going can be a huge asset.

Often, we get so caught up in the day-to-day tasks of running our businesses that things start falling through the cracks and we lose sight of the big picture stuff. Now is the time to take a step back and go over your operations and systems

Target The Right Real Estate Niche

If you have yet to select a very clearly defined real estate niche like single-mompreneurs or first-time buyers as I taught you how to do in the article How To Pick A Real Estate Niche To Get Rich, do that now. You can also book a coaching call with me for additional help choosing the right real estate niche for you if you’re feeling unsure.

For the purposes of this post, we are going to assume that you already have chosen a niche. Some niches are going to be somewhat immune to a market downturn because they are a population that will still be looking to buy or sell, although under different circumstances.

Recession-Proof Real Estate Niches To Consider:

Investors

Commercial and commercial investments

Relocations

Downsizing seniors or those moving to facilities

Luxury properties

Although they may be on different scales each of the above real estate niches will still have an active pool of both buyers and sellers. For some niches, like investors, you may actually experience a tremendous increase in business because of the downturned market conditions.

Now let’s assume that you have carved out a beautifully successful niche for yourself and built your brand around it but that niche is not featured on the list above. Does that mean that you’re doomed when the next crisis hits?

Not necessarily.

Some niches are going to experience a bit of hurt but please understand that one of the many extreme benefits of choosing a niche and really working it is that you are building a tribe of people that trust and revere you. These are people that will listen to you and turn to you for comfort and advice when the market becomes tumultuous. These are people that will insist that their friends and family members hire you because of the connection you’ve been forming with them. These are the people that will laugh in the face at all the other desperate agents that knock on their door or cold-call them because they failed to choose a niche as you did.

Plan Ahead With Savings & Investments

Just because the market is booming and you’re collecting a seemingly endless stream of commission checks does not mean now is the time to relax financially and spend as you feel like it. If you want to get wealthy off a down market, you need to be as stringent as possible while the cash is coming in.

One of the biggest reasons that so many real estate agents have to go back to begging for a job like they did in the last recession is that they don't have enough savings to sustain them personally, support the business, and strategically invest when times get tough. Just as a new real estate agent should have three years of living and business expenses saved before entering the market, you should constantly be trying to build the same level of reserves. You need to be able to pay your personal bills and keep running the business at a bare minimum.

If there is one major place where you would be brilliant to invest when you have the money it is original content. There are a lot of factors that go into determining who makes it to the top of Google (SEO) but high-quality custom content is the largest determining factor. When things go south, you’re going to want a real estate website that will both convert clients and earn you passive income through affiliates and sponsorships. Those that invest the most into building their library of content while things are good will reap the largest and easiest profits when the market crashes and beyond.

Focus On Long-term Marketing Strategies

I understand that you have been told by the old-timers that you should be doing things like direct-mail, cold-calling, and door-knocking. I also understand how exciting it is for you when one of those things leads to a sale. However, you need to understand that all of those terrible and outdated practices will not only have a much lower ROI than long term strategies but they will actually be cancerous to your brand, your earning potential, and your potential to last in a down market.

That shit is for the doomed rookies, not you.

The reason you’re reading this right now is that you want a sustainable and lucrative career in real estate. You’re better than begging. You are the type of agent that deserves to have clients begging for you to take them as a client and to stop trading your time for money.

If you start following these three long term marketing strategies right now, you will wake up in the apex power position the next time the market starts to slump.

Content Marketing

If you haven’t already started a strategic blog, vlog, and/or podcast I don’t know what you’re waiting for but do it yesterday. If you don’t know how then hire a professional real estate writer like me to do it for you because custom content will:

Earn you passive income through sponsorships

Earn you passive income through affiliate marketing

Help you network more effectively

Position you as the expert of your niche

Get your website to the top of Google search results

Attract and convert your ideal clients

Grow your email list & pipeline

Help you recruit the right agents to your team

Educate your niche to avoid deal-killing mistakes

Increase client satisfaction & lead to more referrals

Custom content is literally the only marketing investment that you can make in real estate that will pay you back and generate profits in so many ways. In fact, if you do it correctly you will be able to sell your website for six or seven figures when you get out of real estate.

You can even offset the upfront cost of hiring a professional real estate writer like myself to build your content by teaming up with other real estate service providers like lenders, builders, inspectors, title companies, attorneys, etc. to share the leads. Just like people team up to buy leads from Zillow (ewww) you can share the costs and leads that are generated from your custom content.

Regularly Scheduled Events

When the market is down and you have a lot of extra time on your hands you should be leveraging that extra time into building out regular events that will attract your niche. For example, let's say that you are targeting female entrepreneurs and business owners. You should start hosting a regular event in which you educate these women on topics like:

The different financial options they have for buying

How to use real estate as their retirement plan

The benefits of real estate investing for business owners

How to use an LLC to buy a house

These events could be conducted in person if you’re looking for that one-on-one interaction but would also be great virtually through FB live events, Instagram, YouTube, Zoom or any other platform you prefer.

One of the biggest benefits of conducting these regular events is the questions that you receive. Since search engines have been restructured towards full-sentence questions rather than keywords, FAQ pages are more important than ever. Each time you have these events, you should convert each of those questions and answers into content for your F.A.Q. page. Each time you do this you will greatly increase your SEO and position in the search engines.

It may be a bit scary at first, but this is an excellent way of showcasing your expertise and collecting warm leads. You can also bring on partners like other real estate vendors to help you present and cover the costs of hosting the event. Lenders, inspectors, and title agencies are all very willing to do this to earn your business, as well as, that of the attendees.

Strategic Networking

In The Realtor’s Pocket Guide To Profitable Networking, I reminded you that networking is just as important as ever but has really evolved. Take some time to think carefully about your niche and what connections you can make that will help you to attract your ideal clients or convert with them in a deeper way.

Let’s return to our example in which you are targeting entrepreneurs and small business owners. Obviously, it is in your best interest to be building connections and relationships via LinkedIn with those people. However, beyond that you need to consider where these people can be found like small business associations, co-working offices, and locally-based Facebook Groups for business owners.

Hint: if that Facebook Group doesn’t yet exist you need to start it!

Please understand though that I am NOT telling you to start spamming people or immediately trying to sell to them. Remember, I am talking about networking not selling. If you focus on building genuine relationships and delivering each of those people value, they will in turn become powerful referral partners, clients, and advisors in your business. This isn’t about instant gratification as much as it is investing more time and energy for far larger returns.

Need Help Generating More Real Estate Leads?

I understand that many of you need a commission check yesterday. However, the more you invest in the short term leads the longer you will feel this unrest and the longer you will be stuck on a financial rollercoaster that is vulnerable to the market.

However, I also know some of you feel like you’re doing all of the right things but just don’t know why nothing is happening. Sometimes we are so deep in our own business that we can’t see where the holes are. With that in mind, I would like to invite you to book a free strategy call with me in which I can identify those holes for you. Of course, if you are interested in having me attract your ideal clients for you with strategic real estate content, you can use that same link too.