It doesn’t take a genius to tell that the last few years have been a bit of a golden age for real estate markets around the U.S.
2017 and 2018 saw a healthy decline in days-on-market and a healthy spike in cost of inventory — maybe a little too healthy. Now real estate investors (wholesalers, in particular) are crammed into each market with little space to move around. And in a 2019 market that’s softer than the proceeding years, that claustrophobic space spells death for real estate businesses which refuse to adapt.
In this market and likely in the years to come, only the savviest investors will rise to the top.
How do you make sure that you’re one of them?
Here are 5 ways.
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Trick #1: Find your real estate niche and saturate it
What opportunities are un-exploited in your area of operation?
More often than not, the investors who win in a highly competitive market are the same ones who look for a different angle — they play the game differently so that they have less competition.
Maybe they focus on a type of property that most investors in the area aren’t focusing on (vacant land or mobile homes, for example). Or maybe they just niche down farther than their competition and then establish themself as the go-to expert for that niche (river-front properties or inner-city properties, for example).
Every market is different and so every market will have different opportunities. If you want to win in a saturated market, find the niche that’s unexploited and, as a friend of mine once said, “Exploit the sh*t out of it.”
Trick #2: Create more content than your competition
In my opinion, content creation is one of the most under-leveraged marketing opportunities for real estate investors. Generally, real estate agents spend time on social media, engaging with prospects and establishing themself as the expert. But investors? Not so much.
(I even tried to find an example of content marketing by real estate investors and I couldn’t find anything to show you)
Content marketing represents an opportunity for you to establish yourself as the expert in your area of operation, build rapport, and even generate leads.
The truth is, not nearly enough investors are doing this. And if you do, you might just win because you took the time to create content consistently… and your competition didn’t.
But what kind of content should you create?
Here are some ideas.
- How-to video content (how to sell your home fast, how to sell your home for the most money possible, how to choose the right cash buyer, etc)
- How-to blog posts
- General real estate social media posts (these will further establish your expertise in your market)
- Social media posts about properties you have available for buyers
- Testimonials or case study videos from sellers you recently worked with
Trick #3: Leverage an under-utilized marketing medium
If you’re sending direct mail… and all of your competitors are sending direct mail, then you’re naturally going to see a low response rate. Which means a higher cost per acquisition (more expensive overhead) and less bang for your buck.
That doesn’t just go for direct mail, though, that goes for any marketing strategy that is over-used in your area of operation. Maybe it’s direct mail or maybe it’s Facebook ads. The only way to find out is to have your finger on the pulse of your market — ask your past customers about the marketing they’ve received from other wholesalers or pretend to be a motivated seller and see how your competition interacts with you.
Often times, there are two under-exploited marketing methods: cold calling…
And door knocking…
Why?
Because these take a lot of time and (let’s be honest) most people hate door knocking and cold calling. It can be awkward and uncomfortable. However, if no one else in your market is doing it, then it might be your key to building a bigger business.
Note: That doesn’t mean you have to do it — you could always hire a salesperson to do it for you and pay them commission.
And if you want to keep sending direct mail in a cluttered market but with better results, then Ballpoint Marketing has the solution. Check em’ out.
Here are some additional resources for marketing more uniquely:
- 8 REI Sales Phrases That Will Help You Close More Deals, Faster
- 3 Follow-Up Scripts For Closing More Deals (Without Feeling Like a Nag)
- 5 REI Sales Phrases for Obliterating Objections and Closing Consistently
Trick #4: Stop doing everything yourself
There’s a big difference between being a solopreneur and an entrepreneur.
A solopreneur does everything on their own. They’re the deal-finder, deal-vetter, and deal-closer. But an entrepreneur finds talented people to do tasks which he or she doesn’t need to be doing.
The truth is, if you want to build a successful and thriving real estate business in a competitive market, then you can’t go it alone. You’ll need other talented people beside you who can help you build a business which is better than the competitions.
We have an article over here that details how you might hire a team so that you can work on your business rather than inside of it.
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Conclusion
If you’re going to succeed (and thrive) in a competitive real estate market, then you’ll need to do something… different. Doing what everyone else is doing in an un-competitive market might be fine, but in a competitive market, that’s dangerous.
You can use the above 4 tricks to build a thriving real estate business in a saturated market. Because it is possible to do so — never let anyone tell you that it isn’t.
But it will also take a bit of work — work that, if you’re willing to put in the time, will pay you back ten times over.