Real Estate 2.0 (Part 2)

We are now in the midst of the 21st century. Our phones are both wireless and have more computing power than that of a laptop not five years ago. Our cars now have backup cameras, some have WiFi, and it won’t be long before they can not only park themselves, but also drive themselves. People now have access to the internet through a variety of different methods than ever before. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

So, why should the real estate industry remain in the 20th century?

The first and most important thing you can have for your agency is a solid website. There are so many different web creation tools and sites out there nowadays that having a mediocre webpage is simply inexcusable. For example, Wix (https://www.wix.com) is an extremely useful website that helps you build a site from scratch. There’s a ton of different templates to build off of. You can add photos (for the properties that you have), maps (for the properties that you currently have available), blog entries, etc. If you can think of it, you can probably do it on Wix. Plus, it lets you preview it in multiple settings, such as mobile – so you can see what it would look like on a phone.  And the best part is is that it’s free.

Another go-to would be WordPress (https://wordpress.com) – if you’re looking for more of a blog format (as opposed to the standard webpage format). Again, it’s free and relatively easy to use. Just like Wix, you can create your own custom URL and see what it would look like in different formats. And, since it’s been around for years, if you get stuck on something, you can probably easily find the answer online.

A great guide to help you with all of this is https://www.inman.com/2016/02/03/the-insiders-guide-to-local-seo-for-real-estate-professionals/ Quite useful.

After you’ve spent some time building your website (providing, that is, that you haven’t already done that) is to move on to social media and building your presence there. Just as with the many options of creating a webpage, you have multiple options on getting your name out there and building your business. The first place in this day and age to do it is Facebook. Thankfully, it’s rather easy to do – as it walks you through it.  The effect of this is two fold. The first is that it makes it easier to find your business in a search engine search; and the second is that it allows for a whole new venue of potential clientele to find your business and, hopefully, buy some property from you. As the mantra goes: location, location, location. And in this day and age, you can’t get much better than Facebook. Especially since it allows you to promote your business (for a price, of course) and generate some advertising.

Twitter, believe it or not, should be your second stop on social networks to use. While, yes, you are significantly more limited in what you can put on there (due to the space and character limitations of the site), it allows for a faster form of promotion. A great example of this is just how many news anchors, athletes, etc. who use Twitter to promote themselves (think of them as a human business). In 140 characters or less, they can pump out a hook that will inform and attract the thousands of followers that they have. And, in the description portion, you can put in your website – drumming up traffic there.

Instagram, again, believe it or not, should also be a tool that you use to promote your business. Think about it, real estate is an extremely visual business; and Instagram allows you to share photos of your properties to your followers. Not just on there, but you can click a button and share the photos to both Twitter and Facebook. Thus building up a digital portfolio of your properties and attracting new home buyers. And, as with Twitter, in the description field, you can put in your website.

Once you have created your various social network profiles, it would be wise to put the links on to your website – essentially creating an infinity loop of business. Also, that way, you don’t have to constantly update both your page and your social networks every day. Let the tech do the hard work for you.

Which brings us back to search engine optimization (SEO). Just by doing these (not so) little things, you create a dramatic presence on the various search engines out there. Thus, attracting possible potential property owners to you.

A final thought: LinkedIn, while great for establishing professional connections, unless you’re planning on doing commercial real estate, it really wouldn’t do your business much good to have a presence there.

Real Estate 2.0 (Part 1)

We are now in the midst of the 21st century. Our phones are both wireless and have more computing power than that of a laptop not five years ago. Our cars now have backup cameras, some have WiFi, and it won’t be long before they can not only park themselves, but also drive themselves. People now have access to the internet through a variety of different methods than ever before. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

So, why should the real estate industry remain in the 20th century?

For example, Mike Cameron – the managing broker over at Winchester Real Estate Sales, estimates that 80% of their new customers comes from the internet (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/connor-ondriska/how-realtors-can-break-in_b_10215782.html). Eighty percent. With websites such as http://www.zillow.com and http://www.redfin.com/ finding a new home online has become second nature to today’s home buyers. Not to mention that it was common practice to find a place to rent (from websites such as http://www.apartments.com and http://www.forrent.com respectively) a home before it became common to buy one. In fact, it’s become common to even use Craigslist to find a future dwelling.

So, the question goes from “why should my real estate company be online” to “how can I attract the most amount of potential clients”. The answer, as with the rest of life, is not a quick or easy one.

The first crucial key is to make your website equally attractive to an individual who is house-hunting and easy to use, as well. Not to mention that you want it to look as beautiful and professional as possible. It takes but a second to spot a shabby made page and with all the digital tools at our disposal nowadays, having a crappy looking page is simply inexcusable.

For instance, if you were look at your website, how quickly could a client be able to find contact information? Does it catch the eye and how browse-able is it? Do you have a listing of properties that are available; as well as ones that have already been sold? Can the average person see the value and features of a home at a glance? Even something as simple as how many listings do you have for potential clients? Would you use your website to find a home?

The second crucial key is how easy is it to find your webpage in the first place. Have a solid search engine presence can be life or death to your page – and, ultimately, your business. No one will look for your business if it’s on the third page of a Google search. People do not have and certainly do not have the patience to track down a business online. These days, even a small business that is starting out will invest in a high quality SEO (search engine optimizer) to ensure that they won’t lose business.

Think about it: the key to successful real estate is location, location, location. Why should online be any different? How quickly can you find your business when you use Google?

The third crucial key is how mobile friendly is your website. This day and age, people are on their phones now more than ever. Our cells are our digital leashes that we keep firmly attached. Which raises a whole new batch of questions: Do you have an app? Do you have addresses or maps of property that you have for sale? How many photos of your available estates do you have – and can they be viewed well on a smaller screen? If you do have images, if you click on them to enlarge, do they remain crisp or become pixelated due to lower quality of the photo? Can you find and pull up relevant data, such as value and size easily? How quickly and easily can someone share the page (to Facebook, for example)?

Which goes into the next concern and crucial key: How social is your company? Do you just have a Facebook page or do you go across multiple platforms – such as Twitter and Google+? Do you even have a Facebook page to begin with? If you do, how often do you update it and respond to possible clients on there? Remember, not only does have a business account on Facebook (and Twitter, and…) make it easier to find on search engines; it also opens up completely new avenues for new clientele that wouldn’t have found you beforehand.

The fifth and final key is an age old one: advertising. How are you currently getting your name out there? Are you sticking with print – which is all but dead? Or have you expanded to television and internet advertising? If you have a Facebook page, how much do you advertise there?

I’ll go into key tips and tricks next that will help you with all of this.

 

 

The Flip (Part 2)

Fixer Upper. Flip or Flop. Love It or List It. Property Brothers. Television today is inundated with shows where a property company comes in, buys houses in disrepair, restores them to better than new, and then provide them to new homeowners who (hopefully) fall in love with the re-creations. 

So, what exactly does it take to flip a house? What steps can you take to make sure that you don’t sink head first into an unforeseen money pit? How can you successfully tread the tightrope between prosperity and possible bankruptcy?

The first and most important step is to have a plan. I’m not talking about a vague idea that you might have gotten while watching HGTV. It needs to be both iron clad with enough wiggle room to factor in things that you would never expect to happen. Having a vision of the perfect house is one thing and the possible chaotic and even catastrophic events that may occur between outset and conclusion is something else entirely.

So, how do you go about developing a plan? Research, of course, is essential, but where would you even begin to look for information on flipping houses? Thankfully the Internet multiple pages dedicated to the subject – but, as with any other topic, be wary of the source. There are thousands of scam sites out there waiting for someone to fall into their trap and steal their savings. An example of a reliable source would be: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/mortgages-real-estate/08/house-flip.asp?lgl=myfinance-layout-no-ads The same goes to books that you would find at the library or magazine articles. It’s always a safe bet to try and verify information from three separate sources to ensure that it’s accurate and up to date. Remember, you’re going to be investing a large chunk of both your time and finances into this project. The more prep work you do in the beginning, the less headache you will have later on.

Once you have a plan, the second most important step is to budget. Yes, I’m referring to a financial budget, but also a time budget. How much work do you want done on the property you’re about to renovate? Are you starting from scratch or are you just doing some updating and cosmetic improvements? How much work needs to be done to make it not only up to code, but also livable? Have you budgeted for unforeseen problems that are most likely going to pop during the project? What about after the fact, when all the work has been done and the house is on the market – how much time are you planning on letting it sit there waiting to be sold?

Third is having a lay of the land. Meaning, how well do you know the area around the property that you will be working with. Was it once a prosperous neighborhood, but it’s been showing signs of becoming rougher? On the flip-side, is it a neighborhood that has the potential to surge in both popularity and value within the next five years?   Will the crime rate and surrounding school districts impact on the value of the home in a positive or negative way? Having an estimator is a solid tool to have in your arena. Sites such a http://www.zillow.com with the fantastic Zestimator (which, if you haven’t used it, goes into everything from how many beds/baths it has and when it was built, to how much activity it’s had on Zillow, to the value and tax history of the property), http://www.redfin.com which gives you a snapshot of the value of the house and the last time it was sold (and for how much), http://www.homesnap.com which is very mobile friendly with its app, and https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ which, at a glance, tells you property values, demographics, crime statistics, schools, and trends and forecasts. All of these are going to make you’re life significantly easier in the planning stages.

The fourth most important necessity would be a team of professionals to help you with everything from the demolition and reconstruction of the house; as well as the surrounding landscape and property. Again, research is vital in this process. It never hurts to check the BBB and other resources before agreeing to go into a project of this magnitude. Ask yourself if you would trust them to work on your house; and if there is any doubt, then continue the search for someone else. An amazing team will shave days, possibly weeks, off the projected timeline; and save you thousands of dollars. A bad team will decimate your project and deplete your funds.

The fifth and most vital tool is having ample patience. I cannot stress this enough. Trying to rush a project and/or cut corners is the fastest way to ensure disaster and self-sabotage. Without ample time, money, and patience, you will fail.

 

The Flip (Part 1)

Fixer Upper. Flip or Flop. Love It or List It. Property Brothers. Television today is inundated with shows where a property company comes in, buys houses in disrepair, restores them to better than new, and then provide them to new homeowners who (hopefully) fall in love with the re-creations.

This trend of buying houses, restoring and updating them, and then ultimately flipping them started heating up in the first decade of the 2000’s. When the dot-com bubble burst, Americans were looking for a different way to invest their funds and, in theory, reap the rewards. The two biggest unforeseen obstacles were the crashing of the housing market due to the massive collapse of the sub prime loan industry and all the effort it takes to truly flip a house. Vast amounts of people were caught completely off guard and suffered the consequences.

While television makes the transition from a dilapidated dwelling to an immaculate manor seem effortless, the fact of the matter couldn’t be further from the truth. As with any major project, the investment of both time and money is extensive. Not to mention the uncountable amount of setbacks you will experience on the road to completion. Television does not show the sheer amount of blood, sweat, and actual tears that goes into the restoration in a property. With each delay, with each obstacle, there is a continual drain of both time and finances.

To put it into perspective, let’s look at how much a project like this would truly cost. First you start with the acquisition of the property. Which means that you’re most likely going to need a realtor. The beginning range for the acquisition is easily in the tens of thousands. The next step is the demolition of the interior and parts of the exterior. Even the most well kept house is still going to need some form of renovation, updating, and personal touches. You could try and do it on your own; but honestly the less expensive option would be to hire a company (who has far more experience renovating homes than the average Joe). The good news is that you have multiple options (https://porch.com/ http://www.houzz.com http://www.homeadvisor.com for a few examples) where you can choose a professional home contractor – especially since sites like these have vetted their pros and there’s examples of their work for you to view. Once you’ve hired a crew, you’re going to have to factor in the length of the project. Bare minimum (depending on how much work needs to be done, of course), is going to be around two to four weeks. Possibly even eight weeks, if it’s an extensive renovation. If your lucky, you’ll find a crew that does landscaping as well a home renovation. This will save on your overall budget; but may lengthen the time of the overall project.

So, now that the project is over and you now have a house that is better than new, you now have to sell the property. The smart bet would be to keep the initial realtor that you bought the property through. Depending on what you had done, the value of the home could have skyrocketed and you’ll be able to sell it for a nice profit. However, there’s also the option of renting the property and keeping it as a continual profit. The issue with that is that you won’t have an immediate enough lump sum if you decide you want to move on and start the process over again. Not to mention all the new responsibilities you would now have as a landlord. The benefit, however, is that you may be able to fill the occupancy much sooner if you rent as opposed to full out sell. A good realtor will be able to unload it in a matter of weeks. A bad one and it sits on the market for months.

House flipping is hardly a get-rich-quick opportunity and honestly should be left to the professionals. While the market has improved significantly since the crash of ten years ago, there’s no absolute guarantee that a property that you’ve invested over a month’s worth of work and thousands upon thousands of dollars will be sold within a short time frame. So many circumstances must be considered before you even begin the process; and it’s often the things that you never thought of that will hinder you the most. It’s best to take the safe route with the professionals and reap the rewards of their hard labor.