Real Estate Marketing Blog

When you’re trying to establish a foothold in a neighborhood, it’s time to get creative. Two of the best real estate marketing tools are door hangers and jumbo cards. Not convinced? It’s all in the message. One of the most effective ways to get people to trust you — and give you their business — is to show them what you know. Include your best success stories, a little bit about your background and offer them a free home evaluation.

Using a Free Home Evaluation in Your Real Estate Marketing

On your real estate marketing pieces, be sure to explain to prospective clients that a home evaluation by a qualified real estate professional gives them a free estimate of their home value. Gathering this information may help them decide whether it’s a good time to sell. Even if clients aren’t ready to sell their home, conducting a home evaluation literally gets your foot in the door and gives you contact information so that you can follow up. A percentage of those who take you up on the offer have probably been thinking about selling and just need a little nudge to get the ball rolling.

Tips for Conducting the Home Evaluation

1. Sellers want to get the most money they can when they let go of their largest asset: their home. To help them figure out what a competitive price is, do a quick walkthrough of the home, asking questions as you go along. You may want to prepare a survey of things to look for and questions to ask so the walkthrough goes smoothly. Do your homework beforehand so that you can demonstrate your expertise in the neighborhood and market by discussing trends.

2. Don’t provide an estimate right away, but do follow up quickly. Take this opportunity to send them a Comparative Market Analysis from the MLS or comparable report. The more information and contact points you create, the better the homeowners will develop a trusted partnership with you and ultimately, hire you. Be sure to leave additional marketing materials, so they have some to pass out to friends and neighbors who are ready to sell or get a free home evaluation.

3. There’s a great deal of inaccurate and incomplete data on the internet when it comes to home values. Sell the homeowners on the authenticity of information coming straight from the MLS and recent sales for comparable properties. Home values on the internet sites often rely on incomplete information from tax records, listing data, and best guesses. Show them the resources a local real estate agent brings to the table in terms of timely information and connections to buyers.

4. By conducting a house evaluation, you’re helping the prospective seller take a step forward, hopefully toward a decision to sell. By giving them valuable information, you’re creating goodwill and establishing trust. If the valuation is lower than the seller expected, it might take a little longer for them to make a decision. Add value as their trusted partner by providing tips on how to increase the value of their home with repairs, landscaping, upgrades, or home staging. Our Home Tips postcards are a great way to do this at scale if you have a list of prospects that needs to be nurtured.

What to Include in the Home Valuation Packet

Remind homeowners that they need a real estate agent to get an accurate home evaluation based on real sales from the MLS. Highlight these important services that only a licensed agent can provide:

• Develop a market report that includes recently sold houses resembling the seller’s home
• Send details and photos of the homes with the listed price and final sales price
• Interpret the current market for homes in the same price range and neighborhood

Include one or two brief examples or quotes from satisfied customers to maximize your marketing and target potential sellers.

What is your favorite way to provide value in a home valuation? Let us know in the comments.

Real estate success is all about building a reputation and getting referrals. You know that great customer service and results keep your clients happy and help you build relationships for life. But even after you’ve done the legwork to build your portfolio, there are times when you need to expand and rebuild your base.

The best way to find new clients is through marketing and advertising, but ads and shipping can really add up and make you wonder if it’s worthwhile. An alternative to direct mail campaigns is to use real estate door hangers to represent your business and let prospective buyers and sellers know that you can help.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits of door hangers and what you can print on them to get the most bang for your buck.

Benefits of Door Hangers

Real estate door hangers relay information about your company and help you establish name recognition in a neighborhood. They are also very effective in connecting with homeowners who’ve been thinking about selling their home but need a little nudge. Here are some of the other benefits of door hangers:

• No postage necessary for shipping savings
• Reliable delivery method
• No competition with inserts stuffed into mailboxes
• Customizable message to tie-in to your corporate identity 
• Engaging message and graphics draw customer attention to recent successes
• Inexpensive real estate marketing

What to Include on Door Hangers

Your message should be very targeted for the greatest success and include a call-to-action. High-quality photography is also a way to boost your response rate and present a professional appearance. With eye-catching door hangers for real estate, you’re likely to get calls from clients you’ve never meet. Here are a few  tips for getting the best response with great content:

• Highlight properties that have recently sold in the neighborhood. Include the sale price and pertinent details, such as how many days ago it sold or if it sold before it hit the market. If you’ve recently sold a home in the area, definitely include that, but you can frame any sale attractively to entice homeowners into selling.
• Offer a free home valuation clients can sign up for on your website. Then, include a trackable link which lets you capture their email address for easy follow-up.
• Offer tips on home repair, getting a home ready to sell and related topics. You can direct readers to your website to sign up for a free “Complete Home Selling Guide” or add them to a Home Maintenance Postcard campaign through direct mail.  The goal is to create as many contact points as possible so that recipients remember you well enough to call you first when they’re ready to buy or sell.
• If you live in a rainy area, door hanger bags ensure that your advertisement stays clean and dry.

ReaMark has added over 10 new door hangers to increase your leads listing and sales! Our marketing and design professional can help you create a beautiful piece to be proud of. We also offer Quick Ship Door hanger designs as low as 18 cents each that ship out the next day for FAST results. 

What was the best door hanger marketing you’ve ever seen? Or the worst?? Share your stories in the comments below!