Many real estate agents choose to start their careers by working with renters—connecting those who aren’t ready to buy with the right rental property.
While it’s possible to earn a respectable amount of money by working the rental market, it’s much more lucrative—and more efficient—to help people buy or sell.
The good news is, if you know a lot of renters, you’ve got a wealth of potential buyer leads on your hands. All you need to do is convince them of the value of owning a home and connect them with the resources they need to make it a reality.
Keep reading for a few tangible ways you can find relevant buyer leads by targeting renters.
Educate your prospects
When you’re looking to work with a first-time home buyer, one of the most powerful things you can do is to educate them. Renters are, of course, no exception.
Provide your renter leads with an overview of the buying process (we’ve created a free e-book, which you can download here). Talk to them about special programs geared toward first-time buyers.
Try writing blog posts with home buying tips. You can even host a podcast devoted to issues facing renters and potential home buyers. Run ads on platforms like Facebook to reach a wider audience of potential customers.
Above all, you should be looking to demystify the buying process and make homeownership seem more accessible to the average renter.
Become the go-to “renter’s agent” in your real estate farm
When you help a few renters realize their dreams of owning a home, you’ll start to develop a reputation as a specialist—and, more important, as someone worthy of trust.
Before you get to that point, you’ll need to take steps to brand yourself as an agent who renters want to work with. One effective method for branding yourself as a go-to agent is geographic farming.
You can consistently target renters in your community with direct mail options like postcards. The key with this kind of marketing is to avoid making a sales pitch and to lead with value. Use your postcards to offer wisdom and tips that will appeal to the people you want to work with. (FYI: ReminderMedia offers multiple postcard designs geared toward renters.)
Another great strategy is to host an educational workshop on a topic relevant to renters or first-time buyers. This will show that you are not only an expert in your subject area, but that you’re so confident in your expertise that you’ll give out valuable information for free.
Of course, even experts occasionally get stumped. If your renter leads need information that you don’t have, find out who does have that information, then point your potential customers in the right direction.
Ultimately, you want to be seen as a valuable resource among your target demographic.
Curate relevant content and resources
Take a look at the Facebook pages of other agents in your community. If they’re getting a lot of likes, comments, and shares, we’re willing to bet those agents aren’t just posting their listings every single day.
Instead, they’re offering educational or entertaining content that keeps their followers engaged. And, if you look closely, they probably aren’t creating a lot of that content themselves. It’s much more likely that they’re sharing articles, videos, and infographics from around the web.
Your followers won’t care whether you write every blog that you share. They’re more concerned with whether it speaks to them. Curate content that would be useful or interesting for the people you want to work with, and you’ll naturally attract their business. For example, you might share:
- Market reports
- Real estate tips, hacks, and information
- Quick and easy recipes
- A calendar of community events
Simply put, people don’t want to be bombarded with constant sales pitches. When you lead with content that’s relevant to them, they’ll be much more likely to work with you when the time to buy finally comes.
Send them your personally branded magazine or digital edition
If you’re a ReminderMedia client, you can connect regularly and meaningfully by sending a copy of your personally branded magazine to your most promising leads. That way, they’ll receive a tangible reminder of the value you provide six times a year.
Clients can also send the American Lifestyle, Start Healthy, or Good to Be Home digital edition—a component of our Digital Marketing Platform that provides email and digital marketing tools that allow you to stay in touch with your sphere.
Whether you’re sending a print magazine, a digital edition, or anything else meant to show appreciation to your clients, these items will keep you connected with the people who matter most to your business. They’ll also provide you with organic opportunities to follow up.
For example, you can call one of your recipients and ask them what they thought of a recipe included in your magazine. When you follow up, you’re ensuring that you stay top of mind with your prospects.
At the end of the day, renters are like most any other demographic: they want to know they are working with someone who has their best interest at heart. When you show commitment to your clients, you’re far more likely to close more deals today, while earning plenty of repeat business and referrals down the line.
It will take some time before you’re seen as a go-to agent among local renters. But, when you remain committed to delivering amazing service, success won’t be far behind.