Personal Design | Real Estate Back Ops

5 Strategies For Promoting A Personal Real Estate Agent Brand

by adminrebo | Jan 31, 2019 | Business, Personal Design, Real Estate

Many realtors plummet into the pitfalls of traditional real estate advertising for their personal brands without ever asking – “Is this type of advertising the most effective use of my marketing dollars?”

While the same advertising tactics have reared their head in the industry for decades, most are not the best in terms of cost effectiveness.

We took a look at the best performing agents in the game today and outlined five of the most cost effective tactics to incorporate into your personal real estate marketing as well as which delivery platforms you should utilize in your real estate business to deploy them.

1. Personal Website

Personal websites are extremely powerful retargeting tools.

A website with a purposeful layout and valuable content is crucial to driving traffic that turns into leads. Building a website to automatically capture and nurture these leads is essential to growing a real estate brand and business in today’s digital landscape.

When a real estate website is setup properly, visitors are tagged with a pixel that allows agents to create targeted audience that can be advertised to again and again, keeping the real estate agents business and brand name at the top of the clients mind.

An incredibly strong online presence demonstrates the importance of a personal website to the top agents in the industry. Capturing leads and turning them into clients online will give even the newest (or most seasoned) real estate agents a competitive edge over other agents.

2. Social Media

Social Media allows real estate agents to connect with potential and current clients on a personal level. It is a great tool for driving traffic to a real estate agent’s personal website or even a real estate broker’s main website.

Just like the personal website mentioned above, social media gives real estate agents the ability to target hyper specific demographics and collect data on their best leads. Using this information to run ads not only generates leads for buyers but it is also a powerful way to build interest for current home listings.

Be sure to test a few different advertising techniques (test ad type and delivery method), for example, testimonial advertising on LinkedIn, valuable articles on Facebook and Twitter, and beautiful photographs of your current listings on Instagram.

Always keep track of your data and compare how each performs. Then refine your ads and target audiences accordingly.

3. Podcast

Create a podcast about your local community and home improvement projects. Potential clients listen and respond to this type of content because they are not necessarily looking for real estate-centric podcasts (whose listening base is more largely populated by other realtors).

Hyper-local informative podcasts will drive listeners from certain neighborhoods or cities to your site. Focus on the value of your content rather than the number of listeners. The more value you provide to these communities the more valuable the listenership will be when it comes time to buy or sell their homes.

4. Radio Interviews/Advertisement

This may seem like an old way to advertise with all these other digital options but running a personal brand advertisement on local radio can generate fantastic leads. We found the that the most effective advertising spots are when popular DJs personally recommend your business on the air as first person testimonials.

Other effective types of ad content for radio include talent testimonials, personal website promotions, and informing listeners to Google your name.

The “Google me” technique is particularly effective if you have an authoritative SEO score.

5. Community Events

Looking to sell in a hot neighborhood? Want to raise the value of the homes in the neighborhood of your listings? Hosting community fundraisers or events that help schools with supplies is a great way to rub elbows with the neighbors and get your name known.

Demonstrating a philanthropic inclination as a real estate agent will make clients feel a sense of attachment to an agent’s or brokerage’s charitable contributions by listing homes with those involved.

Agents can inform surrounding community members of the event by going door to door, which is a time-tested lead generating technique. However, by going door to door to promote a charitable event, real estate agents will come off as less intrusive.

Written by:
Tommy Wolf
California Licensed Realtor
tommyw@realestatebackops.com
DRE # 02044169

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States on the Rise: What data influences home prices?

by adminrebo | Oct 15, 2018 | Business, Money, Personal Design, Real Estate

Article Highlights:

If current household income and educational attainment rate trends continue in Washington, Ohio, and Colorado, the rate of change of median home prices in those states will greatly exceed the national average.

US News state rankings give insight into where each state stacks up in many lifestyle, political, and economic categories including health care, education, economy, opportunity, infrastructure, crime and corrections, fiscal stability, and quality of life. And while many syndicates claim to have discovered the holy grail of real estate investing in the form of an infallible algorithm, the truth is no one has a tool that can accurately predict the future of real estate prices. But in regard to the rankings assigned by US News, is there any correlation between any of these categories and real estate prices in corresponding states? We ranked each state by median home price, then performed linear regression analyses between each category and home price ranking to determine if there is in fact a correlating category that could be influencing real estate prices, and consequently, determine where real estate prices would be likely to go up based on local trends that could potentially raise a state’s ranking in relevant categories. Here’s what the numbers suggest:

OVERALL	R^2 Value	Correlation
Health Care	0.411	Moderate
Education	0.1685	Weak
Crime & Corrections	0.1355	Weak
Economy	0.108	Weak
Fiscal Stability	0.017	None
Opportunity	0.0115	None
Infrastructure	0.0001	None
Quality of Life	0	None
HEALTH CARE
Public Health	0.497	Moderate
Health Care Quality	0.2526	Weak
Health Care Access	0.0473	None
PUBLIC HEALTH
Low Obesity Rate	0.6135	Strong
Low Mortality Rate	0.5217	Strong
Low Smoking Rate	0.5197	Strong
Low Infant Mortality Rate	0.321	Moderate
Mental Health	0.2021	Moderate
Low Suicide Rate	0.0202	Weak
HEALTH CARE QUALITY
Preventable Admissions	0.3959	Moderate
Nursing Home Quality	0.1664	Weak
Medicare Quality	0.075	None
Fewest Hospital Readmissions	0.0489	None
HEALTH CARE ACCESS
Adult Dental Visits	0.2266	Weak
Health Care Affordability	0.0966	Weak
Child Dental Visits	0.0391	None
Health Insurance Enrollment	0.0179	None
Adult Wellness Visits	0.0163	None
Child Wellness Visits	0.0031	None
EDUCATION
Higher Education	0.1216	Weak
Pre-K – 12	0.0348	None
HIGHER EDUCATION
Educational Attainment	0.4328	Moderate
4 Yr College Grad Rate	0.0502	None
Low Debt At Graduation	0.0107	None
Tuition and Fees	0.0093	None
2 Yr College Grad Rate	0.0007	None
PRE-K – 12
NAEP Math Scores	0.1334	Weak
College Readiness	0.101	Weak
HS Grad Rate	0.0549	None
NAEP Reading Scores	0.0483	None
Preschool Enrollment	0.0422	None
Pre-K Quality	0.0017	None
CRIME & CORRECTIONS
Corrections	0.2097	Weak
Public Safety	0.0405	None
CORRECTIONS
Low Incarceration Rate	0.266	Weak
Sexual Violence in Prisons	0.0758	None
Least Juvenile Incarceration	0.0625	None
Low Recidivism Rate	0.0311	None
Equality in Jailing	0.0281	None
PUBLIC SAFETY
Low Violent Crime Rate	0.0711	None
Low Property Crime Rate	0.0143	None
ECONOMY
Business Environment	0.2464	Weak
Employment	0.1095	Weak
Growth	0.0226	None
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Venture Capital	0.2572	Weak
Entrepreneurship	0.2347	Weak
Patent Creation	0.1824	Weak
Low Tax Burden	0.0349	None
Top Company Headquarters	0	None
EMPLOYMENT
Labor Force Participation	0.2111	Weak
Job Growth	0.0801	None
Low Unemployment Rate	0.0032	None
GROWTH
Net Migration	0.0458	None
GDP Growth	0.0387	None
Growth of Young Population	0.0019	None
FISCAL STABILITY
Long Term Fiscal Stability	0.0123	None
Short Term Fiscal Stability	0.0046	None
LONG TERM FISCAL STABILITY
Pension Fund Liability	0.0125	None
Government Credit Rating Score	0	None
SHORT TERM FISCAL STABILITY
Liquidity	0.0227	None
Budget Balancing	0.0015	None
OPPORTUNITY
Economic Opportunity	0.3323	Moderate
Equality	0.0217	None
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
Household Income	0.5576	Strong
Low Poverty Rate	0.3605	Moderate
Low Food Insecurity	0.2462	Weak
Gini Index	0.02	None
EQUALITY
Income Gap by Gender	0.2365	Weak
Employment Gap by Race	0.1294	Weak
Education Gap by Race	0.0834	None
Income Gap by Race	0.0504	None
Disability Employment Gap	0.0269	None
Employment Gap by Gender	0.0039	None
INFRASTRUCTURE
Internet Access	0.0491	None
Transportation	0.011	None
Energy	0.0085	None
INTERNET ACCESS
Broadband Access	0.09999	Weak
Ultra-Fast Internet Access	0.0226	None
TRANSPORTATION
Public Transit Usage	0.2968	Moderate
Commute Time	0.1279	Weak
Road Quality	0.1276	Weak
Bridge Quality	0.0994	Weak
ENERGY
Electricity Price	0.122	Weak
Power Grid Reliability	0.0596	None
Renewable Energy Usage	0.0011	None
QUALITY OF LIFE
Natural Environment	0.029	None
Social Environment	0.0087	None
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Low Pollution Health Risk	0.2218	Weak
Low Industrial Toxins	0.1014	Weak
Urban Air Quality	0.0457	Weak
Drinking Water Quality	0.0002	None
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Community Engagement	0.0747	None
Voter Participation	0.01	None
Social Support	0.0077	None

As you can see, very few categories demonstrate a correlation between their rankings and median home prices with the exception of several public health categories, household income, and educational attainment. While this likely doesn’t suggest a direct cause and effect relationship, the fact that there is a correlation between some categories and median home prices alludes to a possibility for predicting where some state’s markets are likely to outperform the national average based on which states are trending in the positive direction for relevant categories. While there is little data on general health trends by state over the years, it’s safe to assume that public health is a direct product of educational attainment and household income, so we’ll only be examining those two categories instead.

US news defines educational attainment, “The achievement of college degrees in any state is a measure of how well the educational system has prepared its citizenry for advanced study beyond high school and enabled students to succeed.” Interestingly, this refers to the quality of high schools in each state, not necessarily universities. The top-ranking states in positive change in high school education over the last three years are as follows:

PUBLIC SCHOOL RANKINGS 2016 – 2018

State	Total Rank Change
Washington	28
Colorado	22
Ohio	14
Florida	13
Idaho	13
Minnesota	12
Oklahoma	12
Wisconsin	11
Utah	10
Wyoming	9

As for household income, here are the top ten ranking states in greatest rate of change since 2014:

HOUSEHOLD INCOME RATE OF CHANGE SINCE 2014

Rank	State	Total Change
1	Washington	26%
2	Tennessee	24%
3	Arizona	22%
4	South Carolina	22%
5	D.C.	21%
6	Mississippi	21%
7	Indiana	21%
8	Colorado	20%
9	Alabama	20%
10	Ohio	19%

So, assuming these trends continue, Washington, Colorado, and Ohio, being the only three states in the top ten in both likely influential categories, expect the median home price to exceed the national average in these three states in the near future. To reference descriptions and explanations for any categories, visit https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states, or if you have any questions or would like to see our full data lists for this study, please contact our Director of Marketing at tommyw@realestatebackops.com.

How Real Estate Agents Should Spend Their Time: The Cost of Transaction Coordination

by adminrebo | Jun 15, 2018 | Business, Money, Personal Design, Real Estate, Uncategorized

Article Highlights:

Real estate agents waste a lot of time managing their own real estate transaction paperwork.
Outsourcing their real estate transaction paperwork to a transaction coordination service will ultimately save them time and earn them more money.

In a typical work day, the responsibilities of a realtor may include marketing themselves on social media, cold calling potential clients, responding to emails, following up with current clients, meeting with inspectors, doing listing presentations, creating CMA’s, negotiating contract terms, etc. The list goes on and the role of the realtor is confined by blurred lines and expectations. So, what are the most important aspects of being a realtor, and how should your time be allocated to each with regard to your bottom line? While we don’t have an answer concerning how much you should be marketing where, how many hours a week should be dedicated to talking on the phone, or where your money is most effectively spent to generate leads, we have a solution to how many hours you should spend managing the transaction coordination side of your business. The short answer: 0. At first glance it may seem that you would be saving money by doing your own transaction coordination since this technically costs you nothing, but when making business decisions, you have to take opportunity cost into account. What this means is if you spent the time you currently spend on transaction coordination on your business instead, would the net gain from spending more time on your business be greater than the cost of hiring an outsourced transaction coordinator like REBO?

Take Dave for example. Dave is a high producing Realtor who handles all his own transaction coordination. He sold 12 houses last year at an average price of $250,000, working a typical 40-hour work week. With the 3% commission he earned, minus a 20% split for his brokerage, He earned $72,000. Not bad, right? And since Dave spent 15 hours each transaction doing all his own paperwork, he had no transaction coordination expenses. But would he have had the time to produce more if an outsourced transaction coordinator handled his paper work instead? He worked approximately 1920 hours (based on 40-hour work week) and sold 12 homes, meaning each home was the equivalent of 160 hours of work. He spent 15 hours on each transaction, adding up to 180 hours total. So, if he had hired an outsourced transaction coordinator instead, it stands to reason he would have sold 13 homes instead of 12 and had 20 hours more free time to spare. Based on these numbers, if he had chosen to hire REBO, he would have had an income of $78,000 minus REBO’s $250/transaction charge, coming to $74,750. So, he would have worked 20 hours less and earned an additional $2,750 by switching to REBO. Use our formula to determine how much you would save by switching to REBO:

C = current income/year

D = total work hours/year (1920 based on 40-hour work week)

X = number of transactions/year

Y = average hours spent on transaction coordination/transaction

Income with REBO

C/(1-((X*Y)/D)) – 250*X