Finding Your Target Market or Farm Area in Real Estate
Whether you have been in real estate for a while or are just getting started, identifying your target market or “Farm Area” is critical to your success.
Many real estate investors and Realtors alike will advertise that they can “Do it all, Anywere”.
I’m sure you’ve seen the ads. “We Buy Houses, Any Condition, Any Area”.
Well, guess what, I’m hear to tell you that they don’t really do that… at least not likely.
That’s merely a marketing campaign to get people to call you. The thinking is that if you have enough deals coming in, you will find the “Diamond in the rough” and be able to make a deal out of it. This is simply horrible advice…. here’s why.
- It’s a complete waste of your time to target a market you have absolutely no intention of purchasing a home in if your an investor or listing a home in if you are an Realtor. If you get 100 calls and only 10 of them are from people in the area you really want to focus on, you have just wasted 90% of your time. It takes time to triage those calls. Yes, even if they are just voicemails. You still need to listen to them and figure out if they are a potential prospect. If they don’t leave you any details on the voicemail, then you need to call back and get the details, further wasting your time.
- Waste of Money – This is also a waste of your marketing dollars. Wouldn’t it be better to be specific and target an area that you actually do want to buy in? Now… to be sure, if you have rehab buyers that you can count on, and they want properties in a particular area, by all means, market to that area. But, again, be focused.
- Again, waste of your time…. The only good I can see coming of this is learning how to screen callers. Unfortunately, you might get so frustrated talking to people that don’t own in the area you really want to target, you might stop your marketing all together.
If you don’t know what area you want to target yet, use the following site to look up date about your potential target market. Punch in a few zip codes and find housing price trends by quarter. It’s a pretty cool free site to check out.
http://www.city-data.com
Also, if you would like to be notified if I EVER have a potential deal in your area (I get many coming in from my websites that are NOT in my target market) join my real estate buyers list. I have a very cool tool that I use that allows other investors to see that I have a potential buyer for one of their deals. So, while I’m in Ohio and you might be all the way out in California or Arizona, I still might be able to help you find a deal that you had NO idea about. Many of these are likely off the radar type deals, not on the MLS. Properties that need to be moved quickly and not left to languish on the MLS. Since they need to move quickly, there are some extremely good deals available only if you get on my buyers list.
Gotta run now.
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