Let’s go for the seller who has his/her home listed with an agent first.
Here is what we know for sure, the seller isn’t going to order a pre-inspection without first talking with his/her agent… and… the agent isn’t going to order a pre-inspection without first talking to the seller. Looks like we’ll need a double barrel.
Two pages of fluff. How long is this going to drag out, before any VALUABLE information is posted?
**and now we’re back to the shot gun thing…just remember I tried to stear us away from that thread drift earlier…:roll: **
So the first rule on landing seller inspections from those sellers who have their homes listed with a real estate agent is to hit both seller and agent AT THE EXACT SAME TIME.
Put yourself in the seller’s shoes. The seller is contacted by an inspector directly who is proposing a technique that will help sell the home faster and easier at about the same time his/her agent calls (see post #21) about a technique proposed by a home inspector that will help sell the home faster and easier.
Now put yourself in the agent’s shoes. The agent is contacted by an inspector directly who is proposing a technique that will help sell the home faster and easier at about the same time his/her client calls (see post #21) about a technique proposed by a home inspector that will help sell the home faster and easier.
Both agent and seller each get 2 contacts regarding the idea. That’s 4 contacts (or impressions as they say at ad agencies) total for the price of 2. We’re going to let them “sell” each other on the idea.
But wait! The seller financially profits if the house sells. The agent financially profits if the house sells. But is there a third party that directly profits if the house sells?
There is. It’s the agent’s broker.
Hm. We might need a triple barrel.
Nick: met you in Las Vegas in October. Aloha again. Marketing: don’t know exactly what you’re thinking, but how about a grand-scheme sort of thing? Something like: a large percentage of sellers want to by-pass the real estate agent fees at least at first, would rather list on a “sell my house DOT com” sort of thing for a while; every agent I know checks those listings for FSBO’s and such too; why not do a site that requires fee-inspection before listing for a freebie listing? Or something like that?? I was an agent for a while, most of my clients as listing agent came from sites like that, where I did a lot of G2 on them, waited for the house to not seel, then go in and get the listing. Mostly, the properties were not moving even though they had a lot of activity was simply that the properties were not ready for market. Having Listing inspection and objective feedback would eliminate that; the official “Move-In-Ready” certification just might be a good thing for the seller and would most likely get brokers attention. Anyhow, just an idea. Aloha yet again; even though here it’s still the winter for the record books (I figure that if I say Aloha enough, I’ll feel warm). Best regards.
So at the same time, send the seller a letter and the listing agent a letter.
Do not send your inspection brochure… it will look like marketing literature (because that’s what it is).
You could also copy the listing offices’ broker but it is probably not necessary. You’ll have succeeded at getting the two parties discussing the idea of you doing an inspection.
Don’t use your Pitney Bowes postage machine, use a stamp.
Sign both letters and write a personal P.S. if you can. Example “Jane Goodagent, I inspected 123 Maple Street for you last month.”
Here are the talking points for the letter to the seller: http://www.moveincertified.com/sellers
Here are the talking points for the letter to the agent:
http://www.moveincertified.com/agents
Nick if we just sell the Broker, will he sell the Agents?
After all he is the Boss right?
The broker doesn’t have to be “sold” he/she just has to be “told” … he/she is financially incentivized to have the agent and seller spend money (hire you to inspect the home) to try to sell the home. His financial incentivization comes in the form of his/her cut of the commission check. If you told the broker that Widgetts might sell the home faster and easier, he would suggest to his agent and the home seller to “do it!.”
Remember… all 3 parties (the broker, the agent and the seller) stand to financially gain if and when the home sells. Makes your pitch easy (provided you’re not just copying off junky flyers on yellow paper at Kinkos and stuffing it into mail boxes). Simple, classy, signed letters with personal hand written notations, sent to the parties at the same time will do just fine.
Some sample letters can be found at the bottom of http://www.nachi.org/sellerinspections.htm
Don’t even include business cards with the letters.
More like a personal pitch that way I guess.
Good letter.
Last year these letters would have been used to make rim shots off the trash can. However this year, with all the inventory sitting still…
Yeah I always figured they get so many pitches a day.
Desperation opens minds though.
Bump
bump
So, after all this, let’s say you land only one seller inspection. Isn’t this a lot of work to land just one inspection?
Answer: Yes. It’s actually too much work to land just one inspection and not worth all the effort. But let’s look at the ripple effect:
First, you get the seller’s inspection. This allows you to capture this work upstream, long before your competitors get a shot at it.
Second, the listing agent gets to see your work and is exposed to the idea of doing pre-listing inspections… and so may give you more listings to inspect.
Third, the seller has to leave the home… it is sold. Most sellers move locally (within your market). So, you will very likely get the inspection on the home the seller is buying since they have worked with you already… especially if you are a thorough inspector.
Fourth, every potential buyer that tours the home can pick up a copy of the actual product you produce… the report. So leave at least 25 copies of the report on the kitchen counter with a “Free, Take Me” sign. Contact the sellers regularly to see if they need more copies. This works especially well if you generate a robust report. And there is no liability in having copies of your inspection report in the hands of potential clients who aren’t buying the home that was inspected. Can you imagine… sample copies of the actual product you produce, the inspection report, in the hands of dozens of buyers driving around looking at houses and about to be in need of a home inspector. In terms of target marketing, it doesn’t get much better than that!
Fifth, agents touring the home get both a sample copy of your report you produce, and are introduced to your seller’s inspections.
Wow.
Take the total amount of money you spent on marketing last year and divide it by the number of inspections you did last year to determine the marketing cost per inspection. In terms of cost-per-inspection-generated, no ad or brochure works as well as landing one seller inspection when the ripple effect is taken into account.
( . . .and now, a brief pause for station identification . . .)
Does anyone have any thoughts on ways of obtaining the names and addresses of the sellers? Many homes are tenant occupied and the address and sellers name are not on the RMLS. I have spoken to some agents and they are unwilling to give that info.
I’ve gone to www.realtor.com to look up addresses of homes for sale in my area. It helps because with the pictures of the inside of the homes you can tell if anyone is living in them. I then go to my local county auditors website where you can input the address and it gives you info about the property as well as who owns it.
Hope this is helpful
Bobby
Nick …Thank you for the extra Marketing Ideas