Marketing Investment Properties
Now that the summer rush of selling homes is over, how can you bolster sales during off-peak times? One great way is to advertise investment properties to real estate investors. Many buyers are looking for a new income stream as well as properties that will appreciate in value over time.
To start, you will want to make sure your clients understand the time required to manage the property and the associated costs. Investors are interested in the pros and cons of different types of retail property and you can help educate them.
Residential investments in homes and multi-family apartment buildings are popular because the recent trend is focused on city living. However, there are high-growth markets in the suburbs as well. For single family homes, most buyers should consider purchasing well-maintained homes.
Unless you really know what you’re doing or just love the idea of a fixer-upper, you can spend considerable time and money in bringing a home up to par. You may see your return on investment dwindle away pretty quickly. And as always, location is key. It’s extremely important to consider the neighborhood you’re buying in, whether that be an apartment complex or a home.
Buyers should make sure that their agent is not only skilled but that the person has specific experience selling and marketing investment real estate properties. Retail properties have a completely different buyer base. As an agent, you can facilitate this by providing potential buyers with your MLS production record.
What other strategies do real estate agents have for marketing investment properties? While residential sellers may not ask how you’ll market their home, investors will likely want to know details about your strategy.
Traditional Networking
Networking in all its forms remains a key aspect of investor property marketing. A good real estate agent will know other buyers and sellers in the investor property circle. The daily interactions are more important than attending one big event. It’s important for a real estate agent to have these connections because the investor property world is a niche. Good agents talk about a property you’re selling when the opportunity arises. They’re also good at talking to potential buyers about these properties. Many agents attend community meetings or landlord association meetings as a marketing tactic.
Take Part in Online Groups and Communities
Real estate top performers should have a digital presence in online communities for real estate professionals. They contribute to the conversations and quickly become known as niche leaders. It’s also a great place to learn and ask questions if you’re a more inexperienced agent trying to move into the investor property niche. There are many groups on both Facebook and LinkedIn for real estate investors that agents should look to take part in.
Investment Property Content Development
Making yourself to be an investment property expert is key, and another way to do this is to create a subsection of your site that focuses on this property type. Creating informational content about real estate investment is important to generate organic traffic. Creating blog posts highlighting the unique investment potential features of a property is key because the average property listing doesn’t provide this type of information.
Targeted Advertising
Online advertising channels have very granular targeting mechanisms that allow an agent to target by zip code, interest, demographics, etc. There are two main advertising channels that agents should consider:
- Google AdWords paid search advertising: You can create a highly targeted campaign that is focused on a specific zip code, where you have a specific property and/or a high concentration of properties, and can target specific keyword searches (e.g. investment property [city name]). You can now also overlay interest segments to make your campaigns even more targeted.
- Facebook advertising: Same as AdWords, you can target people based on a zip code and interests. The difference is that Facebook is a more passive audience.