Top 10 Breaking News Articles for Houston Real Estate

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Pearland is located within the Houston area. If you are thinking about relocating to Pearland , Texas we can help you find the perfect home and make your move as stress-free as possible. We offer valuable insight into the area to help you through your home buying experience. Contact Us at (281) 962-4082.

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Top Ways to Convert Real Estate Leads

Building a huge list of warm or qualified leads is a fantastic and very worthwhile pursuit for any Realtor’s business. If you can do this effectively, then you can build a massive list of people who have shown an interest in your business and who are presumably likely to buy from you.

But this is only going to get you so far. Eventually you’re going to need to think about how you can convert those leads and turn them into buyers and sellers. So how do you take this step and what can you do to convert your leads? Here are some methods…

Sending Out Special Offers

If you are correctly handling your leads, then you should have some kind of lead management software / CRM set up and this should automatically be tracking the behavior of your leads. Those leads are people who have come to your website, shown some kind of interest in your business, and eventually signed up for your email blasts.

They should be showing engagement and the fact that they’re reading your content at all suggests that they trust your brand. That means they’re ready to buy and all that is left is for you to get them to take the plunge. You now need to do something that is going to help them take action and become your customer.

Using CRM software, you can automatically email only those leads that are showing lots of engagement, even ones that have been looking at your site. From there, you can then make them some kind of special offer. This special offer should be time limited and quantity limited. This then creates scarcity and urgency – the reader has to act quickly to take advantage of the deal.

They already liked your brand, they’re interested in your product – now you’re just giving them that final incentive to take action right now.

More Strategies

There are more things you can do to convert leads too. One example is to remove any risk that might be involved in the purchase. People are naturally risk averse, so try to remove any perceived danger by offering by explaining the risks (and how to mitigate them) versus the rewards of buying or selling real estate.

Another technique is to offer your leads a value that they can’t do on their own and that other realtors cannot / will not do for them.

Finally, remove any ‘buyers’ remorse’ by explaining how making a decision today is more beneficial to them than waiting for the future, as in act right now!  Anyone following the market knows that home values are increasing with inflation, home ownership can protect from inflation, and locking in low home prices and low interest rates right now is hedging them from inflation in the future.  Be able to talk through these ideas and show the client how their decisiveness can benefit them.

 

 

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Realtors Should Understand the Lifecycle of a Real Estate Lead

When Realtors think about getting new customers to their website, they will often focus on bringing in ‘leads’. A lead is of course any potential customer who meets the right criteria and therefore can be considered the kind of person that you are going to be marketing to.

But not all leads are equal and some leads are certainly better than others. The aim of your business then is not only to bring in leads but to bring in the right kinds of leads and also to convert leads from one kind to another. Let’s take a look at what the different types of lead are and what it means for your business.

Cold Lead

A cold lead is the most basic type of lead. This is someone who you have established contact with and who fits within your precise target demographic. In real estate, they are looking to buy or sell within your “farm area” and you have the means to reach out to them.

But they are still ‘cold’ leads because they’ve shown no interest in your brand or your services and they have had no willing contact with you prior to this first interaction.

Warm Lead

The next stage for your leads is to become ‘warm’ leads. A warm lead is a lead that you have now had an interaction with and that has shown some kind of interest in your brand. They aren’t paying customers yet but they have demonstrated interest in you and that makes them much more likely to become a customer in future.

To become a warm lead, someone might have liked your page on Facebook, they might have signed up to your mailing list, or perhaps have emailed you to ask about your business.

Qualified Lead

A qualified lead is the best type of lead. This is someone who has not only shown an interest in your business but has actually shown an interest in your services or a specific item. That means they are very likely to want to buy from you with the right offer and they are probably ‘ready’ as well. To become a qualified lead, your lead might have asked for information about a specific service or they might have spent time going through your available listings.

The key is to focus on qualified leads. Find cold leads and then bring them up to the point where they are committed to your brand and ready to take action!

 

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Using Retargeting to Nurture Qualified Real Estate Leads – The Good and the Bad

Retargeting is a term used in real estate marketing that essentially means marketing to people who have already had some kind of interaction with your brand and who have already shown an interest in a product or service you provide.

Most often, when we think of marketing, we think of increasing our brand awareness and visibility. This means that we’re going to be predominantly trying to reach people who have never heard of our team in order to familiarize them with who we are and what we do.  Think of cold calling home buyers or potential listings.

Retargeting conversely means marketing to people who already have shown an interest and maybe even lingered and looked through your listings for a particular type of home.

Chances are you will have encountered this type of marketing yourself when browsing most real estate websites. If you’ve ever spent time looking at homes for sale, then you might notice ads for similar types of homes appearing on Facebook and Google!

The Benefits

The benefit of this type of advertising is that it is targeting qualified leads and potentially converting them to paying customers. If someone has seen your homes online and has spent time looking at them, it probably means they’re likely to want to buy one. Perhaps something then distracted them or took their attention away. By using Google AdWords, you can reach back out to those same people and try to remind them that your product is still there – perhaps at a time when they’re able to make the purchase without interruption.

You can do this through YouTube, Google ads, and Facebook custom audience, but it’s also possible to do the same thing with CRM software. In this case, you’ll be tracking which of your subscribers spends time on which of your pages. You can then look at those customers that are checking out your products and give a high lead score to the ones that have shown an interest in buying.

The Downsides

Keep in mind though that this isn’t a flawless system. While some of your qualified leads will be people who wanted to buy but didn’t get the chance, you’ll also be marketing to people who have already bought the same product from your competition – or who looked at your product and decided they didn’t want it.

This also means that you’re not creating new leads with that money, which some companies will find more beneficial. However, real estate is often the largest purchase a consumer ever makes and so it becomes that much more important for you to develop long term campaigns where you introduce yourself and your product to clients multiple times and in multiple ways.  As always, the best approach is a mixed one that combines multiple strategies into one.  Connect with your clients, develop familiarity with them, and they will buy when they are ready.

 

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Why Timing is Everything in Real Estate Sales

One of the key concepts behind real estate lead generation and the lead cycle is timing. Managing your leads correctly is all about understanding what point your clients are at and how they are likely to respond to your offers at any given time.

This is key to understand but too many people overlook it. Very often, we think about sales in terms of who is likely to buy from us and who isn’t. Someone is either a likely buyer, or they aren’t and there is no in-between!

In fact though, someone can be likely to buy one day and not likely at all to buy the very next day! Approaching your leads at the right time is key to making this difference.

Cold Sales Never Work

This is why trying to make cold sales is almost always going to be met with failure. Too often, companies try to convert every single person that lands on their website into customers by having a strong sales pitch front and center. This is essentially cold selling because most of those visitors will never have heard about them before.

If you’ve done your marketing correctly using SEO or PPC, then hopefully the people on your website should have demonstrated some kind of interest in your brand and they should at least like the niche that you’re writing about. If you have a fitness site for instance, then you should be able to assume that most people visiting it will have a passing interest in fitness.

But this alone is not enough to ensure that people will want to buy from you. If you’re selling a home and someone lands on your site when they are browsing for example, or when they have just bought a home, then they aren’t likely to buy from you.

If all your site is is a big sales pitch, then chances are that these visitors are simply going to leave and then not come back. This is why it’s so important that you offer something more – and specifically that you offer value and entertainment. This way, those visitors will stay on your site and will keep visiting back until they are ready to make the purchase and they see your value!

What’s more, the fact that you are consistently providing that entertainment and value means that they are much more likely to become more interested in your home buyer and listing services over time.

 

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New Homes and Home Builders in Texas City

I had a great time in Texas City checking out these new homes in the Marlow Lake subdivision made by GreenEco Builders.  I live in a DR Horton in Pearland, which I’m very fond of and my family loves but one thing stood out to me about these Texas City homes besides their professional quality and beauty: the fact that GreenEco has a 3rd party inspector coming in to review the construction process as the house is being built.  It is traditional for the city / jurisdiction to have their own inspectors stop through during different phases of the construction process to make sure the builder is complying with the city’s local building ordinance / standards / regulations and the builders are required to pull permits to get construction done.  However, I tend to look at the city’s standards as being barebone and ensuring minimal safety guidelines.  I’m not knocking that inspection – it’s important.  However, GreenEco Builders is the first builder that I’ve heard of that puts it into their regular process to have a 3rd party inspection done on each of their homes.  I was kind of blown away by that because when we bought our DR Horton, no one suggested to us to get a 3rd party inspection.  My wife, the brilliant sage that she is, did some research on buying a new build and insisted on getting the 3rd party inspector and I ended up being glad we did.  Not that we found any major issues with our DR Horton at all, but there were minor things that the construction crew did that needed corrections that were pointed out by our inspector that wouldn’t get tagged by a city inspector.  The typical consumer would probably not think to get an inspection on a new build but after having looked at many new builds around town, I’d always advise clients to look at that inspection as an insurance policy to protect yourself from the builder.  The takeaway for me was that with GreenEco, you didn’t have to because they make it apart of their process to include it.  Anyway, check out these pictures and give us a call at 281-962-4082 if we can help you look at some new builds in Texas City.  With 4 decades of real estate experience on our team, I know that we can add value to your home-buying process and take the heavy lifting off of your shoulders!  Give us a call! 713-965-4561

GreenEco Pictures:

Brand New Homes From Different Builders in Texas City Just Coming Onto Market:

 

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Relocation Information

Texas City is located within the Houston area. If you are thinking about relocating to Texas City, Texas we can help you find the perfect home and make your move as stress-free as possible. We offer valuable insight into the area to help you through your home buying experience. Contact Us at (281) 962-4082.

Are you thinking about buying or selling in Texas City, Texas?

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Successful Saver Tips For Buying A Home In League City, TX

Did you know that 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in the bank? The list of things to spend money on is endless, from luxuries like eating out at restaurants and going on vacation, to necessities like household repairs and gas. There’s always something to spend that money on that feels more pressing than saving, which is why so many people struggle to put away the 20% of each paycheck that experts recommend as a baseline for healthy savings.

Here are a few things that successful savers do as part of an effective savings strategy:

They don’t leave savings for last. Too many people wait until they’ve budgeted out all their monthly spending, and then put the leftover into savings. But if you want to make saving a priority, it should be one of your first line items on your budget — up there with rent and utilities. This is often referred to as “paying yourself first.”

They automate their savings. Out of sight, out of mind! If you don’t even see the money before it’s in your savings account, you’ll have less temptation to spend it. Use recurring automated bank transfers or a saving software to set up rules for savings that happen whether you think about them or not.

They’re aggressive with their debt. When it comes to saving money, bad debt is your worst enemy! Truly effective savers prioritize paying off debts so that their income can start going into their pockets again. The Debt Snowball Method is one popular strategy for paying off debt quickly. (Also, if you are in the process of, or interested in, obtaining home financing we’re here to talk to you about debt repayment strategies.)

They spend less than they earn. This one sounds obvious, but many people don’t follow this shockingly simple rule. This can be achieved by spending less, earning more, or some combination of the two. Either way, there’s no way to save if you’re spending more than you earn each month.

More than anything else, the key to beefing up a savings account is simply creating a plan and sticking to it. If you take the time to work out a budget, set goals, and create systems, you’ll start seeing bigger numbers in no time.

Click here for a fresh list of League City homes! 713-965-4561

 

Relocation Information

League City is located within the Houston area. If you are thinking about relocating to League City, Texas we can help you find the perfect home and make your move as stress-free as possible. We offer valuable insight into the area to help you through your home buying experience. Contact Us at (713) 965-4561.

Looking for more information about League City, Texas?

Being from the area, you receive the benefits of learning about great neighborhoods, trends, and hot spots.

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Your House Didn’t Sell…Now What? Still Want to SELL?

expired home

By now you have heard several reasons why it didn’t sell from everybody in town.  They are saying it is everything from location to price, the condition or the market, or even the Agent you selected.

While they may be right, they may also be way off base.  What if the real reason why it didn’t sell was how it was marketed to buyers?

Don’t be discouraged, this can be a challenging market and selling a home in the Houston area is quite competitive. If your listing has expired and you still want results, before you put your home back on the market, take a step back and review your situation.

It’s time to stop wondering why it didn’t sell and figure out how to get it sold.

What is the biggest challenge you have selling your home now?  Finding a buyer, right?

It should be obvious that finding an ideal buyer will be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It will take more than just the traditional, passive marketing. It’s not enough to stick a sign in the yard, blast the listing to a bunch of real estate websites, and hope for a buyer to show up.

Where should you begin?  If you want to sell your house, start by making a commitment to do what it takes to market your house to get it sold.

With the right marketing system, the home sale you want is still well within reach.

Yes, your home still needs to be priced correctly, be clean and be in good condition.  It must also be readily accessible to other agents…but that is not enough.

More than 93% of buyers are searching the internet to research and buy their homes. The significance of powerful internet technologies to market your home is very important. Outlined below is my extensive and exciting Real Estate Internet Marketing System which can be implemented to give your property the utmost exposure!

Here are some ideas you can use to market your home to sell it:

First, set up a Single Property Website that includes a Virtual Tour.

A Single Property Website is a separate website that is completely dedicated to the online marketing of your property. It is a full, multi-page website that includes a virtual tour and photo gallery of your property along with all the property information including map, schools, Walk Score, and weather. A printable flyer, documents, and a mortgage calculator must also available.

You will also need a Virtual Tour.  This is not just a slow, panoramic view of each room, but a tour with upbeat music, and slides interacting and giving information.  Ideally, this will be not just 1 video, but several different videos (10 or more) featuring different angles and different rooms. You need to make sure all videos are listed on Youtube with the correct SEO tags to ensure your videos get listed on page 1 of Google etc.  Other videos should be included to pique their interest in your area such as community attractions showing what is going on around town, neighborhood reviews spotlighting places of interest, and developing some backlinking.

Next, you will need a Listing Flyer with designs to promote your property and entice buyers to schedule showings.

In addition to the above, you should also blog about your home, vlog it, and occasionally do a podcast and get your home up on slideshare.

Another important tool you must use is Social Networking.

Social Networking is the latest real estate marketing trend with the ability to connect and communicate with others in a fast and efficient manner. Your property can be posted on virtually any social networking site including Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Instagram and hundreds more for free!  A summary of paid ads on these platforms (PPC with targeting) is covered in more detail below.

Facebook and Instagram are probably the most important here.  You will need a fan page for your home.  In addition, you will need to promote ads on your house and do several dark posts targeting different crowds and areas.  In order to get the most bang for your buck, you will need to be sure to utilize the custom audience and retargeting features.

Other options include Craigslist Ads and ActiveRain Blog.

A professional and attractive Craigslist Ad for your property will allow you to generate buyer leads. Property can also be posted on ActiveRain, the largest community of Real Estate Professionals, giving it exposure to a massive audience of buyer real estate agents.

Don’t neglect to set up a Lead Management and Showing Feedback System.

The lead management system will help you to track and maintain communication with prospective buyers. Text Messages and Emails need to be sent out immediately for the fastest response time to potential buyers.  You must send out information on a continual basis to the potential buyers so they will stay engaged and interested in your property or they will move on to another.

The showing feedback system will help you obtain and compile crucial feedback from property showings for instant analysis.  This will be key in continued targeted marketing.

Yet another beneficial marketing tool will be a pay-per-click online ad that will bring in more leads, as well as using Real Bird, Listing Book, Barter Town and e-properties.  Your property needs to be syndicated to every real estate listing service available – several hundred.

You need High Impact Marketing so your home will be seen by nearly every potential buyer in the market.

Those were several online marketing ideas.  Don’t forget about a more traditional avenue though: there is plenty of helpful information online about how to run an effective open house.  You need to make a plan for the proper creation and placement of marketing signs and test for the optimal times to be able to drive the most lead traffic to your property.  Then you also want to spend some time learning how to qualify your buyer, as you’ll have random strangers driving by and then coming in to look through your home.  As an agent, I’d always suggest keeping safety in mind and having someone with you if you decide to go that route.  The safety of our agents is always a top priority for us and we discuss best practices regularly in our office due to article like this: https://kdvr.com/2019/08/07/denver-real-estate-agent-survives-attack-by-man-during-open-house/

You can do it yourself by using my tips listed above or you can call me – Tim LaBorde – at 713-965-4561.  Send me an email at Tim@DirectedRealty.com…

… and I would be happy to discuss how I can get your home SOLD with a plan like this plus even more.  To find out why your home didn’t sell and to get moving toward the goal of selling your home, give me a call AND start packing!

What others are saying:

“Tim has a strong character and work ethic.  He can make deals happen.  I know he takes great care of his clients.” – Emil R.

“You are the best sales person, I’ve interacted with others but I see you are definitely committed to your clients.” – Claire N.

“Tim’s thoughtfulness and integrity has been impeccable.” – Leah C.

Of all the individuals I have had the pleasure of serving with, I found Tim to be among the most competent and professional. Tim was also very good at creating solutions to problems. – Chris M.

Tim LaBorde

713-965-4561

Local News:

Pearland’s Cute Sister: ALVIN, TX

Alvin is well-known for its cute, older, and less expensive homes, so it’s a bit of a secret that lately Alvin has been blowing up with builders like Castlerock moving in and creating beautiful new construction.  A quick look at the market offers ample opportunities for gorgeous modern architecture.  Everyone loves Pearland as a hot spot but if you have dreams about that small town feeling, country living, and like to get away from the daily hustle and bustle, a tour of Alvin may be a better bet for you.  Alvin allows you to enjoy that  country lifestyle but sill have access to great dining and other amenities.  I’ve always been a fan of the Mom and Pop type restaurants anyway, and Alvin has several as well as some of the more familiar chains.  Click here for the Alvin “good-eats list”.  Don’t let this country living pass you by; find out how our team would love to help you check out and get into some of the newest Alvin homes just coming onto the market!

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Buyer Tips with our Realtor Heather:

 

Are you looking to buy your dream home in Alvin, Texas?

If you are a home buyer, our foremost goal is to provide you with exceptional customer service. Our goals are to help you purchase the right home, make sure you don’t miss out on any homes that meet your needs and make sure you don’t pay too much for your next home. Please utilize our Alvin real estate expertise to make your home search and buying experience as stress-free and rewarding as possible.

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Relocation Information

Alvin is located within the Houston area. If you are thinking about relocating to Alvin, Texas we can help you find the perfect home and make your move as stress-free as possible. We offer valuable insight into the area to help you through your home buying experience. Contact Us at (713) 965-4561.

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8 Good Reasons for Home Ownership

Pride in Owning: Most people buy homes to have control over where they live.  Although investment features are important, the psychological reasons for buying—the satisfaction of owning and the freedom from paying rent—are at least as important. In a recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey of 6,000 homeowners and 2,000 renters, 76% of owners and of renters considered pride of ownership an important reason for buying a home.

Dislike Paying Rent: Almost 7 in 10 home owners admit that their dislike of paying rent was an important factor in their decision to buy.  Although renting offers a lifestyle that’s nearly maintenance free, it offers you no equity, no tax benefits, and no protection against regular rent increases.  Writing a rent check is just like watching your hard-earned money slip away.

Good Investment: 76% of owners and 69% of renters said the investment aspect of ownership was important.

Tax Advantages: Property taxes and qualified home interest are deductible on Schedule A for itemized deduction.

Long-Term Appreciation: People consider home ownership a good investment because they view it as a long-term venture.  Historically, home prices have risen at relatively steady rates.  For example, existing home prices rose an average of 4% per year between 1980 and 1992.

Leverage Investment: People borrow a great deal to buy a home, yet they receive the full benefits of price appreciation.  In the long run, investments in homes greatly outpace inflation.

Source of Savings: Home ownership always has and continues to comprise the single largest source of savings for American households. Homeowners build equity and can borrow against it.

Sacrifices Are Worth It: Almost 7 in 10 renters in the NAR home-ownership survey said they planned to buy a home in the future.  More than three-quarters of these people said they were willing to sacrifice to do that.

 

Check out some of the beautiful new listings just hitting the market in Pearland!

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