One of the very best ways to bring in qualified real estate leads – whether you’re a mortgage broker, real estate agent or investor – is a home buying seminar. There is on small challenge with putting on a home buying seminar, however! Most people that are in real estate are not in the business of promoting seminars, home buying seminars in particular.
The good news is that with a little planning and marketing, you can hold successful home buying seminars month after month. And the even better news is that most of the country is right in the midst of a “buyer’s” market, so what better time to hold a home buying seminar?
There are 5 tips that will help ensure a successful home buying seminar.
Tip 1 - Target your market! If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard a thousand times when it comes to real estate. You have to pick your target market! This takes some planning on your part to really decide who you want to attract to your home buying seminar. It’s easy to think to yourself that anyone looking for a home is a likely candidate for a home buying seminar. But… that’s not necessarily true! There are going to be certain “types” of buyers that are most likely to attend your event. A few examples of likely candidates for your home buying seminar are first time home buyers, people in a specific city or zip code, community personnel (doctors, firefighters, nurses, teachers, etc.), etc. You’ll want to make sure that the people you market to can afford the homes you want to sell!
Your target audience is not likely going to be second home buyers or vacationers unless you’re in the timeshare business!
Tip 2 – Select a location to hold your home buying seminar Where are you going to hold your home buying seminar? There are many options and it may depend on who you are attracting to your event. For instance, if you are targeting a certain zip code, consider holding your home buying seminar at the local library. If you’re targeting first time homebuyers throughout the county, consider a centrally located hotel or auditorium. Be conscious of the costs and be sure to know the rules of negotiating with hotels BEFORE you get into any contracts.
Tip 3 – Select the right day and time for your home buying seminar Different days will bring different numbers – and types – of attendees! If you can get the facility for several time slots, consider having an afternoon session and early evening session. This will allow people that work day jobs to attend the home buying seminar after work and it will also allow people that have night jobs or evening obligations to attend your seminar. You may even consider having a “lunch and learn” sponsored by vendors like title companies, home inspection companies, insurance companies, etc.
Tip 4 – Marketing your home buying seminar Marketing is key for any seminar, but even more so for a home buying seminar. You may consider buying a list from a list broker, posting “bandit” signs throughout the community, hanging flyers in local stores, sending out a postcard sequence, a classified ad in the homes section of the newspaper, online advertising, press releases to the media, little league fields, etc. This comes back to your target market! Where do they go and what do they do?
Tip 5 – Present valuable information and provide follow up support The hard part’s over! You’ve got your attendees in the door and now it’s time to present the meat and potatoes of your home buying seminar. If you’re not comfortable with the content, consider inviting professionals to teach the content and you simply serve as the emcee and hold the event together. Things that are important to people attending a home buying seminar are: financing programs, tax benefits of home ownership, what to look for in a home inspection, and how to protect themselves at closing. Here’s a sample schedule for a 90 minute home buying seminar: One of the very best ways to bring in qualified real estate leads – whether you’re a mortgage broker, real estate agent or investor – is a home buying seminar. There is on small challenge with putting on a home buying seminar, however! Most people that are in real estate are not in the business of promoting seminars, home buying seminars in particular.
The good news is that with a little planning and marketing, you can hold successful home buying seminars month after month. And the even better news is that most of the country is right in the midst of a “buyer’s” market, so what better time to hold a home buying seminar?
There are 5 tips that will help ensure a successful home buying seminar.
Tip 1 - Target your market! If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard a thousand times when it comes to real estate. You have to pick your target market! This takes some planning on your part to really decide who you want to attract to your home buying seminar. It’s easy to think to yourself that anyone looking for a home is a likely candidate for a home buying seminar. But… that’s not necessarily true! There are going to be certain “types” of buyers that are most likely to attend your event. A few examples of likely candidates for your home buying seminar are first time home buyers, people in a specific city or zip code, community personnel (doctors, firefighters, nurses, teachers, etc.), etc. You’ll want to make sure that the people you market to can afford the homes you want to sell!
Your target audience is not likely going to be second home buyers or vacationers unless you’re in the timeshare business!
Tip 2 – Select a location to hold your home buying seminar Where are you going to hold your home buying seminar? There are many options and it may depend on who you are attracting to your event. For instance, if you are targeting a certain zip code, consider holding your home buying seminar at the local library. If you’re targeting first time homebuyers throughout the county, consider a centrally located hotel or auditorium. Be conscious of the costs and be sure to know the rules of negotiating with hotels BEFORE you get into any contracts.
Tip 3 – Select the right day and time for your home buying seminar Different days will bring different numbers – and types – of attendees! If you can get the facility for several time slots, consider having an afternoon session and early evening session. This will allow people that work day jobs to attend the home buying seminar after work and it will also allow people that have night jobs or evening obligations to attend your seminar. You may even consider having a “lunch and learn” sponsored by vendors like title companies, home inspection companies, insurance companies, etc.
Tip 4 – Marketing your home buying seminar Marketing is key for any seminar, but even more so for a home buying seminar. You may consider buying a list from a list broker, posting “bandit” signs throughout the community, hanging flyers in local stores, sending out a postcard sequence, a classified ad in the homes section of the newspaper, online advertising, press releases to the media, little league fields, etc. This comes back to your target market! Where do they go and what do they do?
Tip 5 – Present valuable information and provide follow up support The hard part’s over! You’ve got your attendees in the door and now it’s time to present the meat and potatoes of your home buying seminar. If you’re not comfortable with the content, consider inviting professionals to teach the content and you simply serve as the emcee and hold the event together. Things that are important to people attending a home buying seminar are: financing programs, tax benefits of home ownership, what to look for in a home inspection, and how to protect themselves at closing. Here’s a sample schedule for a 90 minute home buying seminar:
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