Marketing to a geographic area: Neighborhood Farming

Keeping your name in front of the neighbors is a great way to position yourself as the local expert. You can become THE agent to go to when anyone in the neighborhood wants to buy or sell a home. Be sure to keep some important points in mind:

Is there enough activity in the neighborhood to justify marketing to it?

How many homes have sold in the last 12 months? In order to get a timely ROI on your direct mail marketing investment, at least 8% of the homes in a neighborhood need to be "turning." (Divide the number of homes sold in the last 12 months by the total number of homes in the neighborhood. As long as it's 8% or more, you have a good chance.)

Is there a dominant agent?

If so, and that agent handles more than 50% of the listings, you may want to find an area more ripe for your own dominance.

Is it in my budget to stay consistent with my marketing?

This is by far the most important consideration. If you plan to farm a neighborhood, calculate the cost to farm every month for 8-12 months, without getting a single transaction. It takes time to build momentum. High quality direct mail is a great way to start.

Consistency is the most important success factor.

You can't exactly "try out" neighborhood farming, only to give up after a few months. Success requires a sustained and consistent effort.

Ready to be consistent and gain geographic dominance?

Excellent. We're here to help you launch.

“I’ve had my best year yet — even in a down market! And to think… a few years ago, I was one month away from dropping your program after 10 months of no calls from your cards. Then all of a sudden, I got one listing (which of course paid for the entire year), then another, and another, and well, now I’m doing nearly $9M annually.”

- John Harris, REALTOR®, GRS, GRI RE/MAX North-San Antonio