Homes Sales Continue to Climb.
Real Estate Agents and Brokers, are you Ready to Compete for the Surge?
There’s no easy way to put it. The last five years have been tough on real estate professionals. When the bubble broke and home values plummeted, brokers and agents found themselves in quite a pickle. Then came the skyrocketing foreclosures thanks to financial instruments such as ARM mortgages due for increase around 2009 for homeowners who had overextended themselves on dropped-value homes. The situation was bleak.
Since 2009, we have seen a slow-but-steady increase in U.S. home sales, unlike the fast growing mobile industry. But still some real estate agents and brokers struggle to maintain a viable business. Why? Because despite reports of home sale increases and value jumps, the affects are regional at best, so depending on the location of any specific real estate office, business may be returning to close-to-normal-levels, or not.
Yet again, we see a report from Housingwire.com that notes “US home sales are up 12% from last year and 10.6% from 2009 levels. Home prices also went up with the median price hitting $193,000 on July 5, up 6% from a year ago and 4.3% from three years ago.”
Will this be the time that your real estate office sees that boost to “normal”? we hope so!
The fact is, no matter if the housing marketing is or isn’t rebounding, homes are still being bought and sold, and real estate professional can still make money doing it. However, competition to be the real estate agent or broker that makes the sale will continue to be fierce.
Lead generation and nurturing within the house hunting populace is vital to the success and financial security of any real estate office. In these increasingly mobile times, agents and brokers alike need to be sure they’re the FIRST contact for anyone looking to buy a new home, or sell their existing one. Otherwise, it’s the OTHER agents and brokers that will get the sale in the end.
How can you ensure that it is your real estate office that gets the lead? By putting your brand, IDX listings from all the MLS’ we support and your agents’ contact info into the hands of any and all prospective home buyers in your area. Be the first name they see when they click to research a property listing, even if you’re not the listing agent.
With a branded real estate app from Smarter Agent, you can get benefits to drive leads to your office for any and all prospects using your app including:
- Your name and logo on all apps. Brand recognition with all leads going to you.
- Native iPhone, Android & BlackBerry apps. Native apps are built to take advantage of the unique functionality of each phone.
- IDX Listings. The app includes all listings in your MLS not just yours.
- All leads go to you. All calls and email leads (not just your listings) go directly to you, regardless of who listed it
- Call Routing. Ability to route calls to multiple offices or listing agents. Standard is one office or just listing agents
- Native iPad & Android tablet apps. Built to take advantage of the graphics, larger screens and other features available in tablets versus cell phones
- Up to 500 apps for your agents to distribute and gather leads directly. Massive distribution and recruiting benefit distribution.
- Personalized text codes and QR codes. Easy distribution to clients and potential clients
- Downloader page for your website. Users on your website can enter their phone number or email to send your application link from their computer to your mobile device
- Mobile Detect. Know if someone visits your website via mobile device and allow them to download your app.
- Placement of your apps in the iTunes store, Android Marketplace & BlackBerry app world. Increase your downloads and brand awareness. Users can easily find you when searching in the app stores.
- Analytics & Reporting. Dashboard Detailed analytics and information to help you manage your clients.
Do you want to compete with a significant edge over your competition? Get started now!