The real estate market is challenging throughout the United States.  For the first time in nearly thirteen years, U.S. home prices experienced a quarterly decline, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO, November 29, 2007).  Additionally, single family home sales fell by 13 percent in 2007, which was the largest drop in 25 years (CNNMoney.com, January 24, 2008).  Credit markets are in turmoil and the stock market is down from last Summer.  As a result, it is harder to make a living representing buyers and sellers as a real estate agent.

Creating an online community is a great way to get in front of residents in your target market 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Below is a link to a long video (42 minutes) from InmanTV about building your niche online.  The speakers provide tons of great advice about building a niche, developing a business plan, engaging consumers and becoming a neighborhood expert.  Most of the content relates to blogging, but it also works for interactive neighborhood websites.  It's long, but if you have the time you will get a lot out of it.

If you’re interested in growing your business this way, I’m happy to provide suggestions on how to get started.

In today’s slower market, with fewer advertising dollars to spare, determining and marketing to your specific niche is vital to your success.  Focusing your efforts too broadly will result in thousands of dollars lost in marketing efforts that likely will produce little to no results.

By focusing on a niche, whether it is a neighborhood, first-time home buyers or vacation homes, you will be able to focus your marketing efforts and dollars on a specific group while greatly increasing your knowledge of the niche, ultimately making you the expert those buyers and sellers want to work with.

In the era of real estate information becoming more and more readily available, the role of the real estate professional is undoubtedly changing.

In his blog post, Are You Smarter Than Your Consumer?, Allen Wright asks a very good question that all real estate professionals should be asking themselves every day.

Check out this great post at: http://www.realblogging.com/are-you-smarter-your-consumer and let us know what you think!

A strategic, focused and well-executed marketing plan can carry you through any market.  In a down market, as we are experiencing now, it can be the difference between success and failure.  Here are the key steps to take to ensure success next year:

1. Evaluate Your 2007 Activities.  List all of your 2007 marketing and lead generation activities on a piece of paper.  This list should include every type of marketing you are doing, including  cold calling, contacting past clients, print ads, direct mailings, purchasing leads, targeting FSBOs, walking the neighborhoods, spending time in the office handling call ins and walk ins, and anything else you’ve done to generate business.

Wherever your expertise may lie, it’s crucial to continually sharpen your skills and remain knowledgeable about your niche if you want to continue offering value to consumers.  Michael Locke and Andy Jelmert have successfully focused their efforts on becoming architecture specialists in Silver Lake, an urban village in Los Angeles.

The Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage professionals have spent the past several years studying the unique architecture of homes in the area by introducing themselves to residents living in these homes, taking photos of the design and structure, and learning about the history of each home.

I was recently asked to review a buyer’s agency agreement for a friend looking to engage a real estate agent to buy a new house.  Everything looked standard, but I started to think about this agreement in light of my focus on real estate value, consumer satisfaction with their real estate agent and the changing marketplace. 

How do you provide value to residents in the communities you target?  Do those residents trust you, value your opinion and rely on you?

I read an article right on point published in RIS Media this morning.  Take a look at the article, Confused by the Mortgage Maze, at http://rismedia.com/wp/2007-08-29/confused-by-the-mortgage-maze.

As I mentioned before, I discussed unique ways to create value in the transaction with Samia Morgan of Keller Williams.  She made a subtle point about negotiation skills in the course of our conversation that I feel compelled to replay here.

I spoke to two agents this week who suggested that knowledge of their clients mortgage options was an increasingly important area of education.  More consumers are coming to their agents confused and concerned about their mortgage options.  The press has made a huge deal about the "subprime" lending crash.  As a result of this crash, some of your buyers will need additional guidance.  However, in most cases, the situation has been overblown and many of your consumers will be able to get mortgages as before.  You will need to address this concern, and can only do that if you are

I spoke with Samia Morgan of Keller Williams San Mateo today and we discussed how she is offering unique value to real estate consumers. She agreed with me that real estate agents must continue to educate themselves as the market changes and evolves. The real estate market, in almost every city in the US, is not what it was 12 or even 6 months ago. Clearly and comprehensively understanding a target market is at the core of the real estate agent's responsibility to the consumer. Absent this understanding, the agent risks disappointing the consumer and delivering less than optimal value in the transaction.

The long term viability of the real estate agent is going to turn on their ability to deliver value to the consumer in a real estate transaction.  While there is great momentum in our society in favor of using a real estate professional when buying or selling a home, that momentum will slowly erode if the real estate professional fails to deliver consumer value in the transaction.  Consumers, in the absence of any agent value, will initially refuse to pay as much as in the past for the agent’s services and eventually move away from the agent all together.