CONNECT BEYOND REAL ESTATE to Attract Future Clients

What kind of content are you sharing on your blog, website, and social media? Does most of it have something to do with buying or selling a home? While sharing the latest market information or tips on how to qualify for a mortgage, or when someone should buy or sell is important and demonstrates your value as a REALTOR®, it shouldn’t be the only subject you cover. If you only focus on real estate, you’ll be missing the chance to connect with future clients that might not be ready to move just yet. By sharing a lot of industry-heavy content, you are only going to appeal to those who are currently in the market rather than a broad base of potential clients. To pull in those other future clients you want to provide fresh, interesting content that will appeal to those possible future clients that aren’t quite ready to move yet. However, you also want to still tie this content back into your business goals. So, how do you share content that will speak to a wider audience, but also still be relevant to your business?

n Talk About Your Philanthropic Activities

The philanthropic work you do to support your community says a great deal about who you are as a person. Many people will be attracted to working with you because of the charitable works you are involved with. While you may be hesitant to share these efforts because you feel it may come across as bragging, you also need to remember that sharing information about the charitable organizations you support will actually help those organizations. Many of them have small marketing budgets, so any free exposure you can give them helps to promote their cause. In fact, they want and need you to promote them.

And you can promote them without coming across as a braggart. Focus your content entirely on the organization. Talk about why you support them, how they help the community, and how others can also get involved. This turns what could have been bragging into something that benefits everyone.

n Your Local Community

We humans are connected to each other through our community – our local sports teams, parks, churches, schools, and much more. What better way is there to connect with people in your community than to talk about your community? Demonstrate that you are an expert on your community, and bring that community to your followers. Share information about a local event; perhaps even share the actual event through live-stream video. Interview city officials to get the low-down on the latest development project. Share information with your followers about things they didn’t know about their community. Consult with local historians or the historical society to share interesting information about your community that your followers will want to read. You could even turn it into a series of podcasts or videos.

n Use Your Creativity to Connect

Find creative ways to engage your followers on the topic of real estate. Try engaging your followers in an interactive project such as posting photos of interesting front doors. Doors are the entry point into our homes as well as our private lives. The way we adorn our front door can give someone a sense of our style and personality. Ask followers to submit photos and choose one to post each Friday. Make sure to watermark each photo with your logo at the bottom and include an inspirational quote that ties back to the importance of home. You could also ask your followers to provide a little story or caption to go along with the photo that tells something about them and their home. These kinds of projects are interesting and unique, and clearly connect back to your business.

n Share Your Hobbies

Are you an adrenalin junkie who has bungee jumped from some of the tallest bridges in the world? Are you a foodie that grows your own organic vegetables and fruit? Do you have a secret passion for photography? Everyone has hobbies that they enjoy outside of work. When you look past the surface people become quite interesting. People also happen to find interesting people interesting, and tend to remember people based on their distinctive traits. We humans love discovering a person’s behind the scenes story, the mind behind the face. While you don’t want to talk too much about yourself, sharing pieces of your personal life and things that interest you can be a great way to connect with followers. By sharing interesting facts about your life, you will find that many followers will feel a strong, personal connection to you based on your hobbies and personal interests.

n Divulge Interesting Experiences

This is somewhat similar to the idea of sharing your hobbies. Sharing some of your more interesting personal experiences such as a fateful conversation with a stranger or an exciting adventure you had while in another country can be a great way to connect with followers as long as it also relates to some kind of life or business lesson. Talk about experiences you’ve had with clients or purchasing your own home. Experiences that relate to your business are great ways to connect with future clients in a manner that goes beyond the world of business.

n What and Who Inspires You

No matter what you’ve chosen to spend your life doing, you didn’t get there alone. You may have had a mentor that made a special impact on your life or someone already in the business that you looked up to and who perhaps inspired you to get into real estate. You may have found inspiration through a love of architecture or design. People want to know why others do the things they do. Sharing who or what influences you in your personal and business life is a great way to connect with followers. Recognizing that you didn’t get to where you are now by yourself shows humility, and talking about those people that had an influence on you shows others that you stay connected to the world and people around you.

Connecting with potential clients is something that is essential to any REALTOR’S® business. If you’re doing the work to create interesting blog posts and make those connections, you want to make sure that you’re sharing the right kind of content to draw in those future clients. It takes a lot more than simply providing the latest market news. To get the most out of what you share, you need to provide a wide array of interesting content that will draw in a broad range of followers. Providing the right kind of content can make all the difference when it comes to connecting with future clients and building the right kind of relationship with them right from the start. Connecting through your website or social media and sharing more than just real estate advice will help you build confidence and trust with future clients before you even meet them.

ROWENA (RO) PREISINGER

Top Agent Rowena (Ro)

Preisinger has run a successful business for over 35 years. For the last 10 years, closing an average of 8.5 million in sales volume, Ro chooses to work with a variety of clients from investors and builders to first time homebuyers.

Top agent Rowena (Ro) Preisinger with Coldwell Banker knows how to turn a challenge into an opportunity. Time and again she’s proven that when times are tough, she has the ability to pivot her strategy, embrace change, and adapt to market conditions. Ro’s story began after she graduated from college with a degree in marketing. “I was bartending to pay the bills, and one of my customers told me that I should be in real estate because I was so good at talking to everyone,” she recalls. She took the advice and got her license. When she began selling homes in Athens, Georgia in the late 1980s, prices were low—and inflation was sky-high. At the time, Ro was a single mother who needed to support her daughter. She saw an opportunity in the new home-building market and took it.

“I went to a builder that I knew well and told him you should have a realtor who works directly for you. He hired me to be both his marketing director and his broker.” For the next two decades, she worked exclusively in new construction—until 2008, when the housing market collapsed. Stock prices plunged, mortgage foreclosures soared, and housing prices plummeted. “I needed to reinvent myself, so I started marketing my services to investors. I told my clients that if you buy these houses, fix them up, and rent them, you can make 10-12% instead of -2% that the market is paying right now.” The idea worked, and it became Ro’s focus of specialization for the next five years. As the market in Metro Atlanta recovered from the housing crash, the buy-and-hold homes became flips. The investors were making more money on their initial investment to remodel and sell. With the interest rates so low in the 2019-2021 time frame, the Seller’s market turned into a frenzy. Listing more move-up to Global Luxury homes.

Ro has chosen to work with a variety of clients and has run a successful business for over 35 years. For the last 10 years, closing an average of 8.5 million in sales volume, she has chosen to work with a variety of clients from investors and builders to first-time homebuyers.

Ro serves the entire Greater Atlanta area as well as her out-of-state clientele. In fact, she has more than a dozen clients who live in California. “One of them has eight properties now, and another client has nine—and I’ve never met them in person!” Even after decades in the business, she still loves houses of all sizes and styles, from 1900 historical landmarks to ultra-modern, all-glass contemporary modern homes. While Ro enjoys working in all price ranges, she still makes time to help first time home buyers find their dream home.

“A lot of REALTORS® will tell you they love to help people. Of course, I love helping people as well, but my focus is really on using my knowledge to make sure that the deal works for them. Is buying this particular house really the best way for them to spend their money so their investment will appreciate? It’s not just about helping someone buy a house. It’s about finding the right home for the right person.”

Over the years, Ro has held board positions at several real estate and building associations and has earned numerous accolades and awards for her service. Pictured here, Ro is helping with a

HomeAide Atlanta Care Day at a facility that houses homeless women and children. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, reading, and doing Pilates. Looking ahead, she’s thinking about grooming an apprentice to take over her business someday down the road. “Most of my clients are in the prime of their working years and will continue to buy houses for years, so I want to make sure they’re taken care of when I’m ready to retire.”

Beyond Cleaning and Decluttering:

What Improvement Expenses Make the Most Sense?

Decluttering open spaces, emptying cabinets and drawers and removing knick-knacks might seem like obvious – and free – ways to improve a home’s presentability. Unfortunately, however, not all sellers or agents are willing to do much more than decluttering and cleaning.

Think of the listing as a reflection on yourself. If you didn’t comb your hair, shine your shoes, dress neatly and drive a clean car, people would think you don’t care about yourself. They may wonder, “If he doesn’t care about how he presents himself, how is he going to present my house?” Likewise, not prepare a house for its most beautiful presentation might cast doubt on how the overall marketing will go. And, while not all changes will be immediately noticeable, chances are that what isn’t changed will be noticed.

Ashley Aguilera, REALTOR®, broker and owner of The Aguilera Team in California’s Murrieta Valley and Temecula, says that after every consultation, her team formulates a game-plan. “We want to set their property apart from everything else on the market, but also fall within the comfort zone of the seller’s lifestyle,” she says. Changes may run the gamut from minor repairs and moving furniture for better flow, to adding accent pieces to harmonize the home’s look or create a “wow” factor before professional photography.

Many agents recommend conducting a professional inspection prior to listing; some will even hire the inspector at their own expense. Of course, any necessary repairs found during inspection and not repaired before listing must be formally disclosed. But wouldn’t it be nice to have no surprises during the buyer’s formal inspection?

In general, some improvements are required, others are low-cost and others pay for themselves with lower time on the market, competing offers or higher sale price.

Landscaping & Exterior

First impressions begin outside. Be sure to mow and edge the lawn regularly; prune back overgrown trees and hedges; hire a professional to repair uneven pavement (especially if it’s a hazard); remove or replace dying annuals; and clean or repair porches or railings. Are there dry or dead patches of lawn? An inexpensive repair to the irrigation system might be the solution.

While painting an entire house can be extreme, a wise investment is to paint trim, porches, steps or railings that may look tired or have too many colors; choosing a single, neutral color for trim can create a bright, cohesive look. Finally, check the roof, gutters and windows, looking for spots to caulk, shingles to replace, or debris to remove.

Walls, carpets, ceilings and trim

Next, it’s time for agent and seller to open up to one another about the interior. Janelle Holte, who leads Seller’s Edge Home Team in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, loves walking into a home knowing that her team will be the driving force behind selling it. “I like seeing how owners took care of it and raised their family in it,” she says. “But I won’t sugar-coat anything, so I tell them not to shoot the messenger!” She gives it to them straight, explaining what needs to be done to stage it to present well from a buyer’s perspective.

Those changes often include repainting at least the primarily living areas and replacing carpet, especially worn carpet or carpet that has faded or stained beyond what professional carpet cleaning could remedy. Sometimes, all that’s needed is professional carpet stretching to remove any buckling prior to cleaning.

Paint is extremely important if the home has faded or dirty walls, holes or chips on paint or plaster. If an entire paint job is not feasible, at least consider cleaning repairing the obvious and adding a fresh coat of semi-gloss to baseboards, moldings, windowsills, doors, banisters balustrades and built-ins. Don’t overlook the ceilings! A long-ago leak from a second-floor bathroom may have been completely repaired and moisture abated, but a patched-up ceiling is a red-flag.

Kitchens and baths

Most agents agree that the easiest costs to recoup in home improvements prior to selling are those spent in bathroom and kitchen updates. Complete remodels are unwise; you can’t anticipate the style preferences of their buyer. But refinishing, touching-ug up or painting cabinets can create a great impact, while also forcing the seller to remove unwanted or overstocked items from cabinets and drawers. Don’t forget the cabinet pulls – shiny, new nobs look nice.

Lee Ritchie of Ritchie Realty Group in Columbus, Ohio, gives a reminder to discuss any and all issues up front. “People need to be able rely on the professional who’s presenting, pricing and marketing their home,” she says. An honest and diligent agent will be an open book about the current market conditions, the quality of comparable listings and the potential return-on-investment for improvements.

Some agents, like Debra Dobbs of @properties in Chicago, even roll up their sleeves to help with decluttering and repairs. While not at all required or expected, doing so sure lets sellers see the investment their agent is willing to make for them.