The Most Common Market Influencers
The most common market influencers are:
- interest rates (the cost of financing a property)
- ease of borrowing (the availability of financing)
- confidence in real estate as an investment vehicle
- inflation
- legislative amendments (taxation and/or local authority)
- foreign investors in local real estate
- investment alternatives
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There are three types of people you want to seek out on Twitter:
- Home Buyers and Sellers
- Real Estate Investors
- Referral Partners
Strategy 1: A strategy for finding buyer and seller prospects are people following local mortgage brokers or mortgage people from banks. As you know some people go to mortgage brokers right at the beginning of their new home search, especially if they think they may have problems getting conventional bank financing for their next home for whatever reason(s). So use the same tactics for following local mortgage brokers’ followers and primary lenders as with real estate professionals.
Other real estate professionals involved in the mid-later stages of real estate transactions are also worth following. So look for local real estate lawyers, home inspectors, home stagers, and home appraisers, especially those with lots of followers.
Property Developers
Another prime spot for finding both buyers and sellers along with real estate investors are local property developers. Some prospective buyers and investors follow property developers on Twitter, awaiting word from the developer of VIP buyer events, public launches or price reductions on remainder units in a development. Developers are particularly good places for finding real estate investors as well.
These market influencers had a positive impact on the real estate market. Sales increased, listings dropped, values rose and speculative investors thought the slump had ended and the market was back in boom times. Meanwhile, strategic investors understood that it was market influencers, not key drivers, that were behind the boom-like conditions. They also knew that the market impact of the HST would be short-term, which meant there was a window of opportunity where they could increase rents or sell their properties at a temporary high. Many of these investors took action while fully recognizing these market influencing ‘clouds’ for what they were. Continue reading
Here’s an example of how market influencers brought about a widespread misunderstanding of a real estate market amongst speculator type real estate investors. From mid 2009 to mid 2011, a “false boom” occurred in the Vancouver and Toronto real estate markets. It was a false boom because it was fueled by market influencers rather than an actual shift in the real estate cycle brought on by key drivers and this false boom precipitated real-world behavior that was, in hindsight, impulsive, not strategic. Continue reading
Brokers recruiting online
Go where your clients are
The best place to get this information would be Active Rain. Many real estate agents share these concerns on this site and as a broker looking to recruit, it is important that you are taking note of these concerns and acting as a problem solver with the information you provide.
Be Consistent
Social Media is just like a relationship. It takes time to build trust and this trust is built on consistency of information. Be consistent in your social media efforts. Are you posting 3 times a week, be consistent with that. Have you set a goal to network with 5 people a week? Be consistent with that. The consistency of the information you provide, establishes you as an authoritative figure in your field and earns the trust of potential clients.
Ask for recommendations
The online community trusts the reviews of others online before they believe the information you put on your website. Make sure to ask your current agents to write recommendations on your social media profiles. You can also film video testimonials as we know video marketing is very powerful. This has the ability if well done to go viral and you would have agents joining your brokerage based on the recommendation of others. “Your videos should be both creative and informative. The information your video has will get people clicking and watching it but the creativity of your video will get people sharing it.”
Build a sense of Community on these social media profiles
Be sure to network online with the agents you already have. Offer the agents tips and advice to succeed in the industry. Be a source of information to them and make them feel like part of a family. People like to belong to a group so building a sense of community goes viral quickly online. This would encourage other agents to join your own community (brokerage). Social media takes time so be realistic with your expectations. Do not expect to see results after your first post online even if it happens sometimes. An ideal expectation of results would be after 90 days of consistent supply of information and community building. Work with the agents you have and others will join you eventually. If 50 agents are not happy with your company and your services, why do you deserve one more?
Offer Incentives and display this through social media.
Human beings are highly driven by incentives. Offering incentives creates engagement on social media profiles and always gets a lot of buzz depending on what is being offered. Offer something exciting and the people in your present network will spread your message.
Sites to use are; Facebook, Twitter, Active Rain, LinkedIn, Trulia, Zillow
Market Influencers
“Market influencers are factors that affect the perception of an impending change in the real estate cycle … If we think of the real estate cycle in terms of Earth’s 24-hour rotation, market influencers can act like storm clouds that block the sun during the cycle of a day. While the primary 24-hour cycle continues, individuals who had been enjoying the sunshine may act as though a particular day’s cycle has ended.” – from Secrets Of The Canadian Real Estate Cycle
One of the biggest sources of confusion in understanding how real estate markets work is Continue reading
Similar to how the real estate cycle works in terms of earth seasons, to help you visualize how the key drivers work you can think of them in terms of the earth’s daily 24-hour rotation in relation to the sun:
Increasing = Sunrise
Peak = Midday
Decreasing = Sunset
Trough = Midnight
The reason the real estate cycle is predictable is when you consider each of the 3 categories of key drivers in terms of the real estate cycle, the key driver patterns typically occur within specific phases of the real estate cycle. This helps to identify the market’s position in the real estate cycle at any given time. This the key information strategic real estate investors use for knowing when to buy and sell real estate. Obviously, speculator type real estate investors have no knowledge of this. They chiefly base their investment decisions based on market influencers. We’ll discuss what these are in the next article series. Continue reading
Stefan Hyross is an SEO guru based in Montreal. His company Webclimb has helped thousands of Real Estate Professionals get their sites great ranking. He was gracious enough to send us a little guest post for Real Estate Gab on the basics of SEO and why you need it.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the process of improving a website’s natural (un-paid) visibility in search engines. By improving internal and external aspects of a company’s website, the traffic this site receives from search engines will increase. The higher the ranking a site attains in a search result list, the more visitors it will receive.
Why Do I Need SEO?
Search engines are the main methods of navigation for most internet users. Whether your website provides products, services, content or information, if you cannot be found by the search engines, you are missing out on incredible opportunities. With the majority of the web traffic being driven by the major search engines- Google, Yahoo, Bing and AOL- if your site is not visible on these engines, you are limiting your organization’s potential success.
Search engines are constantly crawling the web to return relevant results to users, but there is a limit to what they can do. If you do not optimize your website, you could end up buried deep in the search results. Alternatively with the right SEO, you could boost your visibility and drive numerous visitors to your site. But unless you are listed in the first couple of pages of targeted search results, you are not making the most of the search engines.
What are the benefits of SEO?
“While the duration of a complete real estate cycle has not proved to be consistent, it has typically lasted anywhere from seven to eighteen years. The longevity of each real estate cycle obviously varies depending on the state of the key drivers for each country.” – from Secrets Of The Canadian Real Estate Cycle
A key take-away here is Continue reading
“The real estate cycle has a distinct and predictable progression that strategic real estate investors recognize and use to their advantage. The cycle may stall or speed up – but it never goes backward of stops … it (always) moves from a boom phase to a slump phase to a recovery phase, and back to a boom phase, ad infinitum.” – from Secrets Of The Canadian Real Estate Cycle
Key Drivers Of The Real Estate Cycle
“While the progression of the phases of the real estate cycle is predictable, it is not an exact science. Strategic investors improve their predictions by studying what we call the key drivers of the cycle … these key drivers tend to follow a regular pattern and reach peaks of activity at specific phases of the cycle.” – from Secrets Of The Canadian Real Estate Cycle
The Key drivers of the real estate cycle are the major factors that influence the real estate market. There are three categories of drivers and they collectively encompass the market realities that directly influence property supply and demand. The three factors are:
- Demographic Drivers
- Financial Drivers
- Emotional Drivers
Demographic Drivers
Demographic drivers determine the level of demand for real estate. They include such things as net migration, employment levels, how many first time homebuyers are in the market, vacancy rates of rental properties and the scale of housing construction.
Financial Drivers
Financial drivers relate to the financial viability of real estate, whether it be as an investment or for buying and occupying as a principal or secondary residence. They include rental levels, return on investment, income levels, rental affordability, real estate affordability, financing availability and real estate values.
Emotional Drivers
Emotional key drivers have an impact on confidence in real estate as a sound investment, and they have a powerful influence on the psychological reasons that people buy real estate. These drivers include the average number of days it takes to sell real estate (IE average days on market), the number of properties for sale, sales levels and revitalization (upgrading of amenities, facilities and/or real estate).
When customers want to purchase or sell a home what do they do? They go into Google and type in questions. The question is “What are they typing in? “
They are typing in questions about Real Estate Laws, Mortgage information, Foreclosure information etc. Do you have the answers to these questions on your website? Do you even know what type of questions they are asking? I have compiled a list of questions that they could possibly be asking and you can blog about on your website. You can write a post each answering these questions for the next couple of weeks. I would also advise that you include the question in the title of your post; so when they do a google search, your post comes up. Here are some questions to blog about in the next few weeks.
How can I save money on my mortgage?
What are the various types of mortgages?
How can you acquire a home with as little as 5% down?
How can you pay off your mortgage sooner?
How can you use your RRSP to help you buy your first home?
How much do I need for a down payment?
How much of a mortgage can I afford?
Should you go with a short or long-term mortgage?
What are the costs associated with buying a home?
What are the monthly costs of owning a home?
What happens if I cannot make a mortgage payment?
What is a down payment?
What is a fixed rate mortgage?
What is a Variable Interest Rate Mortgage (Open)
What is a variable rate mortgage?
What is the difference between Term and Amortization?
What should the length of my mortgage term be?
Interest rate outlook from the Bank
Can I buy a house with ZERO down payment?
Can I get a mortgage to purchase a home?
Can I use my RRSP for Down Payment?
Can you tell me about new mortgage insurance products that may increase my affordability?
Do you have any online Mortgage calculators on your website?
Do you know any mortgage brokers or financing specialists?
What if the value of my home drops so that I have an upside down mortgage? Am I still personally liable on the outstanding mortgage?
What is a mortgage and how does it affect my ownership of real property?
What happens in a mortgage foreclosure?
Can you provide a glossary of commonly used Mortgage and Financing terms?
I am getting muddled on all the types of mortgages available. Any tips on how to choose the right one?
What happens if I cannot make a mortgage payment?
What is the document entitled Agreement of Purchase and Sale (or Offer to Purchase)?
Do I need a real estate lawyer if the offer documents are pretty standard?
In what cases should I hire a real estate lawyer?
In what cases is a real estate lawyer unnecessary?
Do you have information about that new law that was recently implemented in X region regarding the Landlords and Tenants?
What is a conditional offer?
What conditions are commonly in offers?
What conditions should I be suspicious of or reject?
How do I contract real estate services (appraisers, realtors, negotiators) to the City?
What will it cost to hire a real estate lawyer?
What is a Quit Claim deed?
Do I get a better deal if I buy a house being sold by the bank?
Foreclosure and Power of Sale Scams to defraud you while you are down
Frequently asked questions for power of sales, bank sales and foreclosures
After the foreclosure sale, what happens if I still owe money to my lender?
How can I be sure that my foreclosure modification company is legitimate?
What can protect me for any potential deficiency balance after foreclosure?
How can I find Power of Sale and Bank Sale Properties inToronto?
How can I receive Estate Sales listing updates?
See the power of sale properties archive page
Where is your online daily POS newsletter?
Do you do short or long term rentals?
“Conversely, history also shows examples of investors who have learned how to grow and sustain wealth through the entire cycle of boom, slump and recovery. Known for the purposes of this book as strategic real estate investors, these individuals invest with a purpose and use the momentum of the real estate cycle to help grow their wealth. They make money while the market is on the rise, and they also profit during a falling or flat market. They have a distinct mindset compared to other investors, all because they base their goals, strategies and tactics on the realities of the real estate cycle.” – from Secrets Of The Canadian Real Estate Cycle
So let’s delve into what the real estate cycle is: what the different phases of the real estate market are, Continue reading
