What Is A Real Estate Business?
A real estate business buys, sells, manages, or invests in real estate properties. Real estate is land and the buildings on it, including the air rights and underground rights.
According to the US census bureau, only five percent of people who reach age 65 are “financially secure enough” to retire. If you’re looking to retire without stress, you may want to look into starting a real estate investing business. This could help you to achieve your personal financial goals.
Forming a real estate investment business is no small feat, but the payoff will be worth it if you put in the proper amount of forethought. There are several resources available that can make learning about small business systems easier and more efficient. Our guide below is designed to help you succeed, so be sure to read through it.
How To Start A Real Estate Business
If you’re wondering how to start a real estate business, be aware that it’s not a simple task. Entrepreneurs should spend a lot of time researching and creating a detailed business plan before starting a business, just like people in any other industry. Take guidance from the following tips as you open the door to starting a real estate business:
Set Your Business Goals
Take some time to consider your plans for the future and what is most important to you before getting too far into them. Think about your personal, professional, and financial goals. These will affect how you start and grow your real estate investing business. Think about where you want to be in five, ten, and fifteen years. Then, create a strategy with smaller steps to help you reach your goal. The importance of this process cannot be overstated. Investors who have goals are more likely to take action and stay focused.
One framework I find particularly helpful is SMART goals. This stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. This essentially means that it helps investors to take ambitious and concrete steps towards their future goals. SMART goals are ideal for any situation because they can be applied to both short-term and long-term planning. You can learn more about how to set realistic goals by reading our guide.
Conduct In-Depth Research
Before you can create a successful business plan, you need to do your homework and thoroughly research your industry, target market, and potential competitors. There are a few different ways you could exit your real estate business, though some are better for beginners. Wholesaling is a popular choice for first-time investors because it gives them a chance to learn the ropes before buying properties. However, depending on your goals, either rehabbing or buy-and-hold strategies may be great options.
What market area should you focus your research on that is best suited to your investing niche? Orefice says that having a good understanding of the market is important to close better deals. If I knew then what I know now, I would have been more cautious with my money and not invested so recklessly. I often lost money making random investments, and it took me a while to recover from those losses. If you research the market properly, you can make better decisions and get better deals.
Home values and rental prices can give you a good idea of what a neighborhood is like, but don’t forget to research the amenities the area has to offer and to consider moving outside your current location. Researching online, attending networking events, and having a mentor can all help you during this process. If you want to be prepared to develop a business plan, do as much research as you can now.
Organize Your Finances
Although there are various ways you can get involved in real estate without having to pay any money upfront, it’s still advisable to assess your financial situation before taking the plunge. A lender will likely want to know your financial history before they agree to give you a loan. You should always do your research before you are approached with questions. You should request a copy of your credit report and review any investment or credit accounts that you currently have. This will help you to identify any potential areas of financial concern. I tell investors that there are ways to get started in real estate investing, no matter what their financial situation is.
There are a few different financing options that might work well for you, depending on what kind of investment strategy you’re using. Real estate investors can start with more traditional forms of financing, like loans from financial institutions or government agencies. Some people choose to finance their businesses in ways that are not traditional, such as private money lenders, business partnerships, and crowdfunding. There is no need to commit to a single “method” at this point, but you should be aware of several options. So that when you are ready to start your business, you will know exactly what to do.
Craft Your Business Strategy
By conducting research, you will be able to get an understanding of what will help your business succeed in your market. This research will give you ideas on how to make your business more successful. Prepare a business plan that includes the resources and tools you will use.
Plan Your Business Marketing
If you want to be successful in the real estate business, you need to have a successful marketing strategy. What is your unique value proposition? Asking and answering this question will help you create a brand for your business, which will in turn inform any future marketing campaigns. Now is a good time to develop a logo, core values, and a mission statement for your company. These components are important for determining how you will reach out to potential customers and what your marketing materials will look like.
After you have set up your real estate business, you can start your first marketing campaign. Read through the following list of common marketing materials for some inspiration:
- Despite the ubiquity of digital media, direct mail is still a relevant and effective marketing tool. Real estate investors commonly use postcards, handwritten letters, and other mailers to contact potential sellers. It’s important to be consistent when using direct mail. You’ll usually get a better response after sending the same message a few times.
- Email is a great way to reach potential leads by gathering enough contact information. It may take a while to put together a strong list because email addresses are not as readily available as property information. This is an effective and inexpensive way to reach potential buyers and sellers.
- Social media is a great way for beginners to spread the word about their business because it is free. Make sure you have a presence on all the major social media platforms by creating profiles and posting updates when you can. You may eventually find that paid social media advertising is useful.
- Networking is key in the real estate industry – often, it’s all about who you know. First, go to real estate events that are happening near you. After that, explore other options. Not sure where to find events? I recommend searching on Facebook or Meetup.com. After you establish connections, you can begin to organize networking events on your own.
- Bandit Signs: When newcomers think of real estate, this is often the first thing that comes to mind. Bandit signs are a type of advertising that uses posters that are placed at popular intersections with messages like, “We buy houses!” or “Call us for a cash offer!” The reason there are so many of these signs is because they are an effective way to reach a large number of people. It’s because they work. Posting signs in high-traffic areas can help increase awareness of your business. Just make sure they are legal in your area.
Build A Website
Having a website that looks good and is easy to use is important in today’s digital age. This is especially true in the real estate industry. Many homebuyers say they begin their search for a new home online before they contact a real estate agent. A strong website will help you bring in new customers. There are a few website options that are known to be beginner-friendly and relatively affordable. WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix are some examples. What potential clients see on your website will often be their first impression of you as a real estate professional. Make sure your website accurately reflects who you are, what values you hold, and the benefits clients can expect when working with you. Make sure to add your website URL to all marketing materials and social media pages, so that clients can easily find and visit your site. Make sure to publish relevant, timely, and valuable articles and content to help drive more traffic to your website.
Is a Website Necessary to Run Your Real Estate Business?
The Real Estate community is convinced that having a real estate website is essential to running a successful business. You need to be where the consumers are! The key to success is getting people to visit your website and generate leads. Once you have leads, you can convert them into clients who buy or sell homes.
Do you know any agents or brokers who don’t have websites?
One important part of a real estate business is a real estate website. However, a website is just one part of a larger machine that creates a successful business.
You also need:
- A Plan to get stuff on the website – A strong web presence requires lots of ‘Value Adds’ like Videos, ebooks, white papers and of course a blog.
- Systems to get folks to see that stuff on your website – Utilize your Social Media, Email marketing, drip campaigns, subscription/membership sign ups and offline marketing efforts like flyers, mailers and print advertising all help drive traffic to your site.
- Tools to keep them there and/or keep them coming back for more stuff – Home Search, email listing alerts, Property valuation, market reports and School information.
The Benefits of a Real Estate Website
As consumers become more reliant on online portals and websites for their real estate information, the real estate professionals who offer the right tools, systems, and implementation of that information are more likely to be successful.
Responsive Design
An increasing number of customers are using small, hand-held devices to access property stats, photos, and updates while they are on the go. It is clear that both the real estate agent and the client would benefit greatly from having an online platform that is convenient and offers all the information the customer wants at their fingertips.
SEO, CRM integration and Lead Capture
If you want to be efficient in your real estate business, it’s important to have these components working together with your website. Some of the benefits of having a real estate website are that they are often misunderstood.
Search Engine Optimization
People use the term SEO a lot, and you can find lots of ads promising to get your website on the first page of Google. If you believe that, I’ve got some beachfront property in Oklahoma to sell you! The entire process of improving your website’s ranking on search engines is confusing and always changing. The best way to use SEO on your real estate website is to implement it on all our websites.
Client/Customer Relationship Management
CRMs can help you keep track of your new and existing clients so you can stay on their minds. A CRM can help you create a lasting long-term business relationship with your database through drip campaigns or weekly email blasts with your latest blog post. The integration of this service with your real estate website will result in the addition of contacts (who sign up) being added directly to your database, so you will not have to do it manually. What is the best CRM? The one you’ll use!!!
Lead Capture
You ideally want a visitor to your site to sign up for something. You can get information from us in several ways, including subscribing to email alerts, saving searches, getting a home valuation, or filling out a form to download one of our ebooks or white papers. You can also create a subscription to your newsletter or email blast to get names and emails. Some people see the worth in optimizing their website for search engines, having a system to manage customer relationships, and being able to collect leads. It is important to have certain elements on a real estate website in order for it to be successful.
We love these great tools & WordPress plugins:
- Leadin – A free CRM and Lead Generation plugin created by our friends at HubSpot
- SEO by Yoast – Excellent plugin designed to guide you with proper SEO protocols.
- Realtorfuel – Contact form builder ideal for getting folks to connect with you online
- Realtorfuel – Easy to use, drop and drag email marketing and CRM system. Also worth noting: FREE when you have under 2,000 emails in your database and send out under 12,000 blasts per month
- Realtorfuel – Easy to use and create as many unique lead capturing landing pages as your heart desires.
Having a website is only effective if you also have good content and a plan to get people to your site.
Sleek with High Priority on the User Experience (UX)
The most popular website design today is one that issimple and uncluttered. The consumer is looking for a quick and easy way to find what they need. It can be difficult to tell our clients that what they want on their website may not be the best way to convert visitors into customers. It’s important to remember that the goal of your website is to make money, not to look pretty. Looking attractive is just a means to an end.
The (Perceived) Non Benefits of a Real Estate Website
You will need to invest time, effort, and money to keep your real estate website successful.
Some folks have a genuine misunderstanding that it’s all too technical and complicated. Some people simply refuse to take part in the planning and execution of getting traffic and content onto their site, either because they don’t understand how it works or because they find it too complicated.
Website Outsourcing Tools:
- Upwork.com (formally Odesk)
- WPCurve.com
- Fiverr.com
- iWriter.com
- CityBlast.com
Having a successful real estate website doesn’tmean you have to be glued to it 24/7! If you use any of these resources, you will have an advantage over other agents and brokers. These people take the fear and work out of managing a site!
ROI vs. Cost
We all want a return on our investment. The cost of a real estate website is usually closely scrutinized!
We can see why a website might not be performing well – we’ve explained what you need to do to use your website effectively for your real estate business. There are still people who are not convinced, even after everything that has been said.
The difference between a website that helps you run your real estate business profitably and one that is merely a required element can be seen here.
Case in point…
The client canceled their service because they didn’t feel that the monthly cost for the home search and site maintenance was worth it.
FACT: This agent was averaging 800+ hits a month. In addition, their IDX was receiving 100 hits per month, with 70 of them coming directly from Google.com.
Although a real estate website that is getting good traffic and costing only $2 a day may seem like a good investment, it may not actually be earning you a profit. This agent didn’t think that advertising with this company would be worth their money and decided to try another form of marketing.
Tech Challenges
The industry is moving more and more towards this direction, and agents and brokers who don’t understand it are finding it increasingly difficult to do what they need to do to maintain their website. Although we understand that there are many helpful resources available to complete technical tasks, we are confident in our ability to do them ourselves. If you have questions, consult the helpful resources listed above.
Real Estate Comes in All Shapes and Sizes…AND, so do Real Estate Websites
It’s important to understand that different types of real estate require different types of online platforms.
Residential
Visual and Heavily Search Based. IDX is somewhat a must on your residential website
Commercial
Very Limited Visual or Property Search Requirements. Most commercial real estate brokers do not post their listings on the MLS, but instead use the CBA portal. -Most commercial real estate consumers don’t search for properties on websites in the same way that residential consumers do.
New Construction
Visual but Specific to Amenities & Inventory Search Only. Manual input of listings is preferred here.
Luxury
This text is saying that while consumers have high expectations for visual content, there is a limited need for search capabilities. A manual approach to inputting listing on the website is likely the best option here.
IDX
It is important to be able to customize and be flexible in order to give the consumer the information they want. An IDX is not always necessary, depending on your area of interest.
I wanted to let you know that not all real estate websites are the same, and some don’t need to be as complex as others. We find many of our clients come to us for a variety of reasons:
- They tried to build their site themselves and just ran out of steam
- They had a site designed by someone who was unfamiliar with IDX integration and need help
- They have seen a shift in their business model and need a new look or brand
Summary
Your first step should be to find a web development company that can handle everything from design to integration for your site.
Secondly, you need to set your budget. Don’t cut corners on your website, but make sure you’re not overcharged, either. You may not have to spend as much money as you think to create a website.
Lastly, give your site time to settle in. This is not an overnight fix. There will be times when your website does not have much traffic. It can take some time to build up an audience for your content.
Remember, ‘Success’ only comes before ‘Work’ in the Dictionary.
You must let the process take its course. If you work hard and use the right tools, your website can help you run your business successfully and efficiently.
