As a real estate agent, you should know how to obtain listings. There is an adage in the real estate business: listings are the blood of the brokerage. Of course, there can be many areas of focus in the real estate business. Some real estate companies specialize in construction. Some real estate companies focus on remodeling. Some specialize in real estate investment, such as REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). However, a typical real estate brokerage facilitates the buying and selling real estate. Therefore, their agents represent buyers and sellers. Most brokerages focus on obtaining listings to sell properties for their customers. New agents just starting in the business often have difficulty obtaining listings. Here are five strategies that can help you generate more listings.
1) First, work with relocation companies and human resource departments at companies. The human resource department of a company oversees the hiring of new employees. Some real estate agents work with human resource departments to help them find homes for their new or relocated employees. Some huge companies have multiple offices and open new branch offices all the time, which requires them to hire new employees and relocate their existing employees. These new and relocated employees need to sell their current home and buy or rent another home in their new location. Working with these companies’ human resource offices is a great way to help meet their employees’ needs and get listings.
2) Second, work with attorneys. Generally, when a couple goes through a divorce, they need to sell their home. Divorce attorneys often refer their clients to real estate agents to help their clients sell their homes. Most couples need to split their assets when they are going through a divorce, so they need to sell their home and any other jointly owned real estate properties. In addition, when people die or when they start to plan for the disposition of their estate, they may need a real estate agent to help them sell the properties they own. Their estate plan may even include downsizing, which will require them to sell and buy a home. Estate planning attorneys help them plan for the disposition of their properties. If someone dies owning property, the estate planning attorney will assist their personal representative in selling the property. Establishing working relationships with estate planning attorneys is a good way to help their clients and also obtain new listings.
3) Third, work with construction companies. Although some large construction companies have their own real estate sales offices, most construction companies don’t have in house real estate brokerages and end up working with outside real estate brokers to sell their properties. Working with construction companies has great advantages. Most of them are already advertising their properties and they also have company websites and lots of flyers and brochures regarding their properties to assist your marketing efforts. You can work with them and obtain listings for their newly constructed buildings or planned buildings, which is a great way to help these construction companies to sell their properties.
4) Fourth, work with investors. A lot of large real estate investment companies sell their properties and reinvest the proceeds to buy new properties. Commercial real estate brokers work with these companies to help them to sell their properties and acquire new properties. Some companies find sites and build stores for large retail companies, such as Walmart, Publix, Walgreens, CVS etc. These companies are always acquiring new sites to open new stores. It is great to work with them to co-invest in real estate properties and manage their assets. You can also help them acquire new sites or sell some current properties.
5) Finally, work with remodeling companies or individuals. Some investors buy old real estate properties and remodel them to sell for profit. The most well-known example is flipping houses. These individual investors often work with real estate brokers to help them acquire run down properties and sell their remodeled properties. Some large investment companies also acquire old buildings to reconstruct or remodel them. Generally, they acquire them in large quantities in multiple locations for a pool of investors, and they need real estate agents to help them in the acquisitions. They also need to sell these properties after reconstruction or remodeling. If you are fortunate enough to start working with one of these large investors, you may have enough listings to support your business from that one client alone.
The real estate business is totally different from any other businesses. Most people think if you just work hard, you will achieve success. In the real estate business, you have to work smart and work hard. Working smart means knowing where to find the right people to work with and knowing how to help them succeed. By helping them succeed and achieve their goals, you establish trust and then they come back to you again and again. If you are a new agent and want to make money in real estate, try to use these resources to obtain more listings. Work on your listing strategies and skills to put yourself on the path to success in your real estate career.
