Apr 24 2008

Wooing Realtors … Realtors wooed! … now what?

Published by Lu under Broker Outreach, Marketing, Realtor Participation

In today’s soft real estate market, developers are spending more time, money and resources to woo Realtors.  And rightfully so.  On a national average, according to NAR, Realtors account for 51% of new construction sales.  In some areas like South West Florida, realtors account for over 80% of the sales of new construction properties.  Developers want Realtors to expose their clientele to their new developments in search of a sale. 

Developers go through great lengths to woo Realtors with lavish parties, gifts and incentives.  I’ve seen multiple developers throwing excessive parties and events.  Others have given out  $150k+ private golf memberships.  The Realtors are wooed … now what?  How do Realtors promote these developments to their clientele?  Do they mail flyers about the developments to their prospects with their own contact information as the contact person?   Probably not.  Mailing are expensive and the Realtor may be cut out of the transaction.  Do Realtors send out a mass email to their database promoting the development?  Again,  probably not because they can be cut out of the transaction. 

Engaging the Realtor is the first step.  Providing them with an action item; something that they can tangibly do to promote the development while ensuring that they will be compensated for their efforts is needed to achieve a successful level of Realtor participation.  This action item needs to have two main components:

  1. It has to be easy, requiring minimal time and effort. 
  2. It has to ensure (provide a level of protection) that the Realtor will be compensated for their efforts.

Without a tangible action item to help the Realtor promote and sell,  the only thing that the developer is doing is throwing parties and giving away gifts. 

A developer once shared with me “We just spent $40k on this wine and cheese party.  At the end of the day, I don’t know which Realtors are interested in selling my development and which ones are here for the wine and cheese.”

A question for Realtors & developers. What action items, marketing tools and/or sales aids have developers provided to Realtors? Were they useful/successul?