Do you want your buyers or sellers to be happy they chose you?
Or have great materials to help them choose you?
By Teresa King Kinney, CAE, RCE, CIPS
Chief Executive Officer
Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches
You’ve heard it before: A happy customer will keep coming back. The same is true in real estate. Good service will result in client loyalty and in more business opportunities for real estate professionals.
Among the many services and benefits the National Association of Realtors (NAR), offers its members to market themselves in a competitive market are the Handouts for Consumers.
How do the Handouts for Consumers help you?
These free online brochures address nearly every aspect of the real estate transaction and reflect your knowledge and credibility as a real estate professional. Prospective buyers and sellers will want to work with you because you represent reliability and success. Handouts for Consumers strengthen the Realtor brand and help solidify your Realtor image.
As Realtors, you can download the various handouts in PDF and word-processing formats, personalize them with you business contact information and customize them with information specific to your market. Some handouts even have blank spaces for you to insert local market data. The handouts can also be used to write articles for your newsletter, local newspaper or Web site.
To download these handouts, go to www.realtor.org and click on “Realtors & Business Specialties.” Then click on “Handouts for Consumers” under “Marketing Tools.” You will then be able to download and print any of the handouts for your clients or to include in listing packages.
Marketing to buyers
Prospective homebuyers have many issues to consider and many agents to choose from when looking for a new property. You can differentiate yourself from other agents by providing them with important and useful information to simplify their purchase.
Available for download are 35 different buyer handouts, including:
• 10 Things to Take the Trauma Out of Homebuying
• How High Tech Is Your Home?
• 10 Questions to Ask a Home Inspector
• What Your Home Inspection Should Cover
• 5 Property Tax Questions You need to Ask
• 10 Questions to Ask Your Condo Board
As an example, it is common for buyers not to realize the importance of finances and credit history when either buying a first home or upgrading. One of the buyer handouts, “8 Steps to Getting Your Finances in Order,” helps buyers prepare financially to qualify for a mortgage loan.
There are 15 downloadable seller handouts, including:
• Understanding Agency
• 5 Things to Do Before You Sell
• Tips for Holding a Yard Sale
• 10 Ways to Make Your House More Salable
• 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Sale
• 12 Tips for Hiring a Remodeling Contractor
Additionally, there are five handouts for converting FSBOs:
• Tips on Pricing Your Home
• Open House Tips for FSBOs
• 17 Service Providers You’ll Need When You Sell
• 6 Forms You’ll Need to Sell Your Home
• Is Your Buyer Qualified?
These easy-to-read handouts serve as useful reminders, and agents can find information to fit any client. For example, you can use these handouts to inform a seller to remove clutter in order to make a property more attractive to buyers. Or you can make sellers aware of the importance of being flexible for showings.
The “7 Terms to Watch for in a Purchase Contract” features issues that sellers may not otherwise be thinking about. If an agent were dealing with a first time client, these tips provide a concise perspective on important considerations when selling a house, including making sure buyer conditions regarding the closing date, date of possession, remaining fixtures and personal property, and necessary repairs, are acceptable to the seller.
Marketing tools to make them choose you
The strength of the South Florida real estate market has resulted in increased competition for real estate professionals. The Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches (RAMB), offers its members “Premium Services,” which are tools and resources to ensure their agents retain a competitive edge.
Among the marketing tools available to RAMB professionals is a personal marketing brochure, “Why Choose Me?” This tool helps RAMB members differentiate themselves amongst prospective clients. When they give out this brochure, clients realize the benefits of choosing them to sell or buy property.
Members can add information to the brochure but cannot change the content. They can also order the brochure with their contact information. To place an order, contact Digital Printers International (DPI), at 305.948.2311 or markw@dpi-miami.com.
RAMB also offers Hot Marketing sessions to help members make the most of the marketing services available to them. During the sessions, agents learn to set up their free 13-Language Immobel website (www.immobel.com), which can be linked to the free DPI Showcase website (www.dpishowcase.com).