Real Estate Lead Generation During Corona Virus Pandemic

It’s the summer of the pandemic and you’re wondering how you can improve your lead generation. As I explain in other posts on seller leads and Realtor marketing strategy, you must build a big pipeline.

There’s a good reason why real estate sales is a game of numbers — you need a sophisticated net to filter in good leads and eliminate the poorer ones. A rifle strategy in real estate is very difficult. Go big, and you’ll get your local market leads.

It’s not business as usual for Realtors this year, especially if you need seller leads. You have to ramp it up online and make yourself highly visible and relevant.

For home buyers and sellers, it’s not business as usual in this Corona Virus pandemic period either.

The Pandemic Continues

And this pandemic shows little chance of disappearing. It’s changing the real estate industry. As nervous people think ahead to the fall season and another big wave of infections, it’s important for Realtors to show they have their professional act together.

Sellers are not convinced that right now is a good time to sell. Many are holding off on selling until the situation stabilizes. Sure, sellers probably will get their price but they need a lot of reassurance from someone who has proven they deserve their respect.

Seller Leads: Sellers are on the Fence

Sellers especially are wary and they want a Realtor who is particularly good at eliminating the risks of showing and moving. This ranks higher than getting a good price, because many sellers expect to get a good price with so few listings available. Just a few reasons seller leads are tough to handle.

Extravagance and self-importance might be a turnoff for many buyers and sellers. Caution, professional respect and competence are attributes that can boost your seller leads.

Right now, Realtors are finding it a little tougher to attract or capture seller leads and to convert those to a closed transaction. The sales process isn’t as certain these days.

Sales Transactions are Growing

The sales data was strengthening in June, but of course we’re now into a slow down again as businesses in Texas, California, Arizona, and Florida regress to shutdowns. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves with this deadly Corona Virus.

As you saw from the demonstrations and refusal to wear masks, there are crazy people that your seller prospect wants no part of. They’ll want you to take all the risks of showing and negotiating, which perhaps will support your request for a 6% commission!

According to Zillow’s Spencer Rascoff says listing views are up 50% but transactions of course are down. It’s an excellent turnaround but of course the listings aren’t there. That’s made sellers leads the holy grail for summer 2020.

Home buyers have definitely gone online to search for homes and they’re wants are different in the last 3 months.
A report in the Houston Chronicle today proved that buyers go online, whether Google or Facebook, and are captured by relevant content — stories and info they relate to personally.

In this case, the buyers searched on Google for “best suburbs in Texas” and found a Realtors blog post and listings which they began to peruse.

That’s a normal home buying search process. For sellers, articles on moving to a desired location is very powerful. Sellers relate well to the dream of buying in that other town/state and will track back to your about and contact pages to see if you’re the most relevant Realtor for their journey.

If you have experience helping sellers manage a similar sell and move process to their favorite destination, that makes you more relevant than all the other strangers trying to find leads online.

Relevance is the beginning of trust.

What do Buyers and Sellers Want?

Buyers want bigger homes with an office, pool, yard, in the burbs or rural regions. That’s creating a demand for all new types of homes. The trend away from the city is unmistakable. Given mortgage rates are at their lowest levels, buyers are eager to purchase. That bodes well for sellers trying to get the best price.

However in some cities (California) home prices are falling so price isn’t the key factor for those homeowners. Instead they want more buyers so they can sell with more certainty.

The big trends is the work from home trend and the move to rural regions trend. Work from home is becoming a much more permanent arrangement since employers can save money. It’s not because they can’t go to the office. Work at home means cheaper labor for companies and more ideal work situations for workers.

Who wants to commute hours every day to work? No one. They do it because they’re forced to do it. As a Realtor, if you can tap into this sentiment of workers and buyers, you can present a lot more buyers to your seller client.

Home Sellers Need a New Destination

Home sellers are very reluctant to list, show their homes and commit to selling because there are few other homes to buy. How can you sell if there is nowhere to go?

This brings in the matter of persuasiveness for Realtors. Demonstrating to sellers that you’re creative and can help them find their perfect home in your city or in another city.

32% won’t allow an open house. This makes virtual tours and great photos and detailed descriptions very important. You know how most MLS listing descriptions are fluffy and not informational. That’s not good enough anymore. And here’s the thing. They can read the description right from the Google search listing in the page description section. That has to be rewritten with search engines in mind (there is a way to do it).

Health and safety are vital today. Many homeowners are close to paranoid about disease transmission, especially in Texas, Arizona, Florida and California.

A good portion of sellers are in the wait and see mode as the pandemic picks up and slows down. The volatility of infection rates is very confusing for sellers on an emotional level. Even on a rational level, it is risky to sell right now. Realtors need to be able to take care of this risk.

Top Ways to Get House Seller Leads

Reaching home sellers isn’t easy. Home seller leads are rare and it’s going to require more strategy to reach them. A good marketing budget helps, but only after you’re sure you’ve got your reach and conversion campaign down pat.

The reason home sellers come to your website and don’t contact you is because you haven’t shown relevance to them nor initiated a process of trust building.

Relevance and trust are important. One visit to your site isn’t enough. With conversion rates lower than 1% on average, you can see how difficult it is to attract a seller.

Include these tips and actions in your online presence:

houses for sale are rare and your seller prospect wants to know you can help solve this nerve wracking need to buy another place to live
disease transmission is a big fear so you need to demonstrate the utmost respect for personal hygiene and safe home showing
show how you have a big stream of pre-qualified buyers so the seller is sure this will be a trouble free sale
do virtual showings with video, 3d tours, and lots of great photos because some sellers don’t even want to think of home showings to hoards of window shoppers and nosy neighbors
do Facebook live “Facetime Tour” videos to show the home
use your FB page to create selling experience highlights not just self-congratulations
invite conversations with sellers about what’s happening in the real estate market
Vet home buyers to ensure they don’t have the disease
be sure about why sellers should sell now
use videos which introduce yourself to build trust and relevance
use the right photos, graphics, charts and videos as symbols to show you’re definitely in the same mental and emotional space as them
ensure your current listings are well advertised and expertly presented
explain in your blogs/social posts how you know the local market well
ensure your blog and social media pages have a positive, upbeat content pieces that help keep the seller in their comfort zone (ask sellers how they feel about your website)
ensure you explain how you’ve handled the top 5 challenges that normally occur during the selling process so they have no doubts you’ve got things well handled
explain your value proposition well in your about page, so you won’t compare negatively to another competing agent (demonstrate your unique value so comparisons are irrelevant and that you’re the only one for them).
demonstrate your experience/success in selling homes and helping sellers progress with their lives
talk about and show your connections with remote Realtors
talk about your skill in setting the list price and promote your pandemic sales strategy
introduce your professional home stager and how they support the asking price
focus on typical home sellers and where they’re moving to (relevance to sellers)
also show younger buyers you’re able to introduce them to once in a lifetime home ownership opportunities
don’t write your own blogs — outsource to an expert SEO/copywriter who specializes in real estate and will present the data and other less sexy stuff because you need to focus on your brand image as a sales person.
ensure your site ranks for all relevant keyword phrases as this makes you look popular, omnipresent and like an important agent
discover more creative ways to attract seller leads

Any information that helps sellers make a better decision will help them get off the fence and committing to selling.

Ready to build a market leader position in your housing market? Building a solid, lasting presence online while using social media and ads to build buyer and seller leads is what I will help you with. See the Realtor marketing packages and contact me at 416 998 6246 to discuss your needs and marketing plans.