Michigan Real Estate

One of the most notable locations in Southern California, the San Diego area is becoming a prime spot to buy a home. Pleasant climate and beautiful real estate are just a few of the reasons that individuals are flocking to this charming community; and with many more advantages available, the attraction of San Diego will continue to develop.

Finding Suitable San Diego Realtors

When searching for a home, it’s essential to enlist the help of reputable San Diego realtors, and it’s wise to select a realtor before you even begin the search. San Diego realtors who specialize in the purchasing and marketing aspects of real estate are ideal when choosing a realtor. These agents retain all of the necessary knowledge that you will need in your search and the complete home buying process. San Diego realtors will not only help in selecting the perfect house, they are also trained to review paperwork, and make informed decisions.

As you begin the home buying process, it is essential to locate dedicated San Diego realtors. One of the best ways to track down the San Diego realtors who fit your needs is by word of mouth, or referrals. Family members, friends, and co-workers are just a few of the individuals that can assist you in finding San Diego realtors to suit your home buying requirements. If you plan to move to the Southern California area, and are looking for San Diego realtors, consult an agent from your local town. This person can refer you to San Diego realtors who will meet your needs.

San Diego Realtors and the Home Buying Process

Educated and committed, San Diego realtors can be a great advantage when buying a home. San Diego realtors are trained to help with the initial search of the house, manage all crucial details and paperwork, and finally, negotiate the closing deal. Seeking the assistance of qualified San Diego realtors can be one of the smartest decisions when buying a home.

San Diego realtors can also help you understand all of the financial matters, and determine what you can and cannot afford. When making the final offer on a house, it’s the job of San Diego realtors to review all documentation and clarify important details before the deal is closed.

The Attraction of the San Diego Area

Considered “America’s Finest City,” the City of San Diego is home to roughly 1.3 million residents; while the county holds an overwhelming three million inhabitants. Situated in the southwestern corner of California, San Diego is noted for its wonderful, mild weather, and luxurious real estate. San Diego also has an ideal location, with access to several major interstates. Interstate 5 travels south of the border to Mexico, and also north to Los Angeles. Starting at the coastline, Interstate 8 runs east all the way to the state of Arizona. With these freeways, and close proximity to several major cities, the attraction of the San Diego area continues to increase.

One thing that many FSBO sellers don’t realize is the importance of realtors in their sale. Statistics show that most homes, FSBO or not are sold by a realtor. This does not mean that you have to list with one, but it would be a good idea to cultivate some relationships with them to help your home sell faster. Realtors have clients and that should be reason enough to contact them. It is hard to market a FSBO home on the same level that realtors can as they typically have a huge advertising budget and established web presence. However, by contacting a realtor you are immediately letting them and by association their fellow realtors and clients that your home is available and ready to sell!

When contacting a listing agent to discuss your home sale it is likely that will ask why you are selling yourself and will offer you their services. That is to be expected, so stick to your guns and you should be alright. What they will need is as much info about your home as possible so that they can relay that to clients who are searching in your price range. If you have ever seen a home flyer from a realtor, (you can find these on most “for sale” signs) try to create the same kind of thing. This will make the process of conveying information about the home much easier.

Another things that is important is to have a home evaluation or CMA performed by the proper people. This will give you a proper price for your home that is competitive with similar homes in your area. Be careful not to price yourself out of the market right at the beginning as overpriced homes can easily acquire negative press in the real estate community. This can cause your home to be overlooked without consideration and that is definitely a big concern.

When contacting realtors try to find the most popular listing agents in your area and don’t limit yourself to just one. Making as many contacts as possible exponentially increases the access your home has to buyers. One of the most difficult aspects of FSBO sales is finding buyers so why not let a professional do it? You will still be saving a good sum of money and the chances of selling your home quickly will increase drastically.

How do you hire a full-service realtor and only pay half a commission? It is always surprising when a homeowner is going to hire a realtor® to sell his property, especially when he next complains bitterly about paying 5% or 6% to someone who he believes does little or no work. Usually the seller marks up the property to cover the commission which over-prices the property and the result is it doesn’t sell.

Usually, the commission paid to a realtor® is split equally between himself and his “broker”, who is the licensed agent in charge of a particular firm. If the commission on a sale is $20,000, the realtor® and the broker each get $10,000. Newer methods of payouts to agents include paying “desk fees” to the broker in exchange for higher payouts. For example, if the agent pays $135/month as a “desk fee” he may be entitled to a 95% commission while an agent paying $60/month may only entitled to a 70% payout.

If the agent doesn’t sell the property he listed, but another agent does, the buying and selling brokers each get half of the commission and the 3% commissions are again split with the agent so he gets 1 1/2 % net. So for a $20,000 commission the split looks like – $5,000 each to the two brokers and $5,000 each to the two agents. This is a simplified summary of the process but illustrates the payout procedure. If the agents are on a higher payout because of their monthly desk fees, their portion of the commission is increased and their broker’s portion is reduced proportionally. Industry statistics show that 95%+ of the time the listing agent does not sell the property! So the real money for a realtor is in getting the listing and having another realtor® sell it. The largest commission producers in the industry sell listings and not properties.

The way to save at least half of the realtor’s commission is to list with a flat-fee broker who will list the property on the MLS® (Multiple Listing Service) and Realtor.com® but who does not show the property. The buyer for your property will come from a “buyer’s agent” who brings a client to see your home and make an offer. He is interested in receiving his usual 50% of the full commission or 3% of the sales price. If you offer a 3% commission to the buyer’s agent, you have saved 3% by not having to pay the seller’s agent (listing agent)! In the above example of a $20,000 commission, the agent who brings the buyer still gets $10,000 but you are saving $10,000.

What if you are unfamiliar with the sales and contracting process and you need help? For the $10,000 commission savings you can hire an attorney to review any contract and give you advice usually for less than $500 so you are still ahead $9,500. But better yet, the attorney can give legal advice that your realtor® can not, and you have recourse against your lawyer if something goes wrong.

So to save at least 50% of your commission, should you decide to have a realtor® sell your house, use a buyer’s agent only and offer him a 2.5% or 3% commission. Another unique benefit of only paying a buyer’s agent is that if desperation sets in and you need to sell quickly, you can increase your payout to the buyer’s agent and attract many more buyers than using a seller’s agent. The highest commission seen in the past year is a 12% commission to buyer’s agents for condo units. In the depressed condo market these days, it is not uncommon to see 10% commissions to buyer’s agents. So if you have decided to sell your home on the MLS using a realtor®, you can save substantial money and sell your home faster by focusing on paying only a buyer’s agent to sell your home.

Canadian home buyers are now picking up American real estate as the loonie continues to appreciate. American real estate was once viewed as expensive by Canadians when the Canadian dollar was about 10 percent lower than its American counterpart. Now that the Canadian dollar has almost achieved parity with the US currency American housing has become much more attractive.

Mike Kent, a realtor who sells homes in Birch Bay, Washington says that “about 70 percent of our buyers, for the last three, four months have been from Canada – Vancouver in particular.” Kent says that Canadians are following an American trend of purchasing retirement homes and renting them out until they’re ready to use these homes.

Another force driving Canadians to shop across the border for second homes is that Canadian real estate prices have soared astronomically in many areas while US home prices have begun to soften. Many Canadian buyers find that they can find a comparable home in the US for one-third to one-half the price of a Canadian home.

Retiring baby boomers are interested in purchasing vacation and rental properties. These properties can be used to earn income to supplement their pensions during their retirement years. It seems prudent for such investors to look beyond their own border for real estate opportunities. Average home prices in cities such as Vancouver have now topped the $800,000 mark. This exceeds the average price of most American cities. The real estate and oil boom in Western Canada have resulted in many home buyers being able to afford a second home. The rising Canadian dollar coupled with sharp increases in Western Canada’s real estate market will continue to drive more Canadian investors into the American housing market.

Nowadays when people decide that they want to buy or sell a house, residence, condominium, vacant land or a building they say say that they need a Realtor. They say this because most people believe that anyone who is licensed or authorized to handle the sale or purchase of real property is a Realtor. That belief, however, is incorrect. Realtor, real estate broker and real estate agent all have different meanings. Note: This article does not include Real estate attorneys. They are grist for another article.Realtors: People “who are involved in residential and commercial real estate as any of the following, brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, counselors and others engaged in all aspects of the real estate industry” (a quote from the NAR website) and are members of the National Association Of Realtors. The National Association Of Realtors is a professional trade association and does not license people or businesses to represent buyers or sellers in real estate transactions. The NAR has trademarked the words Realtor and realtor and only members are allowed to call themselves Realtors.Real Estate Broker: A person who is licensed to negotiate or participate in the sale, purchase, exchange or in some cases the rental of real property for a fee or commission, to operate a real estate firm and to supervise real estate salespeople. Different states have different requirements for obtaining a real estate brokers license. A person holding such a license may also work for other real estate brokers. If the real estate broker joins the NAR then that person can also use the term Realtor.Real Estate Agent or Salesperson: A real estate agent or salesperson is also licensed to negotiate or participate in the sale, purchase, exchange or in some cases the rental of real property for a fee or commission but is not licensed to operate a real estate firm or to supervise other real estate salespeople. A Broker can work as an agent or salesperson but an agent or salesperson can not operate as a broker. A salesperson must work under the supervision of a licensed real estate broker. The licensing requirements for a salesperson’s license are much less rigid than the requirements for a brokers license. If the real estate salesperson joins the NAR then that person can also use the term Realtor.Note: This article is only a basic outline of the above terms and is not meant to be relied on literally as various states have different rules and regulations.

In this current down market, many professional agents are holding their heads above water…….but the treading of the water is becoming more and more difficult. As consumers idle in the “wait and see” mindset, many agents are wondering when this cycle will adjust and how long they will need to wait.While it is nearly impossible to predict with true certainty when the market will rebound, how it will rebound and how we all will be affected, agents need to explore other avenues to create their sales — and, provide value to their client. In the meantime, however, RE agents should be looking at alternative options, all within their respective field, for their clients and themselves.Honestly answer this question: Did you know that you can utilize retirement assets (e.g., IRA, 401(k)) for the purchase of non-traditional assets….such as real estate. Did you know that you do not have to invest solely in stocks, bonds and mutual funds…or at all? Did you know that there are over 20 asset classifications that one should consider investing into…including real estate.Okay, even if this is not new to you, do you see the power of introducing this to your clients (who, for the most part, it will be new to)? Did you just provide a service to your client? Did you just provide value to your client? Did you just educate your client on options for their own decision-making process? Now, IF they are interested in investing in real estate, who do you think they will call first for advice? I know I don’t have to tell you how you benefit from this relationship.So, how do you do this….I mean you cannot call Merrill Lynch and ask them to just “send you a check” for your real estate investment.Self-direction is merely that…..self-directing one’s retirement assets into permissible investment opportunities. It is a legal avenue for one to consider and it can be established with the assistance of a professional in this field. But, as a realtor, have you shown your clients how they can “tap” otherwise non-accessible funds for investment purposes? You now can potentially assist clients who wanted to invest in real estate but did not believe they had the wherewithal to do it.You believe in the value of real estate ownership or else many of you would not be in the business. But, some of you might say that you do not feel comfortable advising your clients about investing into real estate. I understand this, but I will also ask you why you should have a problem introducing the tool of self-direction to your clients. Whether they take this action or not will be their choice and so to will be their decision on whether they want to invest in real estate. One last thing — what has happened to the stock market of late? The point? Nothing, including the market, is guaranteed. You are just introducing an option to your client that they may choose to take advantage of.Let’s break this down some more:One of the questions I get is: How can you invest in real estate using IRA monies?Well, currently existing IRAs can be transferred from what are termed “traditional” IRA custodians (e.g., Schwab, Merrill Lynch) into self-directed account status. Once the decision has been made to self-direct, you can choose an option of 1) a custodian which assists in self-directed transactions and holds your assets, 2) an administator dealing with self-directed clients but not holding your assets, or 3) youself. Please note as manager of your retirement account, you are the one making the decision of where you wish to invest your monies on the behalf of your retirement plan. In conducting the transaction, you cannot personally benefit from the transaction and it cannot be entered into with a disqualified individual. As an example, you cannot purchase a vacation home with your self-directed retirement assets and then reside at the property for a couple weeks a year.Let’s ask that again….did you know that you can be the manager of an LLC retirement account acting on behalf of your retirement interests? Hmm, not a bad little option to consider. Regardless of which path is taken, the assets stay in the account for retirement investment purposes….only. As long as proper investments are made with qualified individuals and no prohibited transactions occur under IRS regulations, there are no tax consequences.Next….Is it legal? Why am I only hearing about this now for the first time…there must be a change in the tax code?Yes, it is absolutely legal. It has been legal since 1974 with the establishment of ERISA. Find out for yourself by going to the Internal Revenue Service and review Publication 590. On pages 40-41 of this Publication you will see what investments are not allowed (i.e., collectibles, life insurance). Real Estate is NOT mentioned as a disallowed investment just like stocks, bonds, mutual funds are not mentioned as a disallowed investment.Most people are not aware of this and it is a complete disservice that most haven’t been made aware of this possibility by their trusted financial advisors. In fairness to advisors, most do not know that this is permissible as well. Please note that the IRS only stipulates that you cannot invest in collectibles or insurance contracts. Other than that, anything is pretty much fair game provided investments do not occur with disqualified individuals and prohibited transactions do not occur.What should be asked by the RE agent is how does this knowledge benefit me?If you haven’t sensed yet how this benefits you, either I haven’t made it very clear or you need to re-read this blog. Simply stated….right now there are nearly $4 trillion in currently held IRAs that, as has been discussed, can be invested into pratically any investment class, including real estate. Would you like the opportunity to secure a potential commission by introducing this to your client and they purchase real estate with your assistance?Let’s also consider how many more people that you can prospect to and market your current listings? Further, have you considered how this benefits you as you can purchase real estate at wholesale? The options are astounding. The question is really two fold? Do you want to educate your client on this wonderful opportunity and do you want to possibly secure otherwise non-existent business? The choice is yours.How can I learn more about investing IRAs in real estate?First and foremost…..read…and real alot on the topic of self-direction. As mentioned, there are custodians, administrators and facilitators. One question that is critical….do you want true control of your own retirement monies where you don’t have to ask for permission to make an investment with your own monies?How fun can it be to improve your business AND educate and do something good for your clients. You should be looking at each client in a whole new way. And, for those of you who believe in karma….when you bring something new and of value to your client, the potential rewards for sharing such information may be countless. Look at your clients not just as a way to sell them their home, but in terms of educating them on the possibility of being real estate investors. Remember, if you think your clients/contacts do not have the financial wherewithall to invest in RE through you, think again.John R. Park is President of PGI SelfDirected and co-founding Partner of Fulcrum Investment Network.

Real estate transactions are usually emotional. People are buying or selling homes, making investments for the future, or looking for a quick turn-around on their money. Whatever your situation, one key to your success is to keep your emotions in check, and make decisions from knowledge rather than excitement, fear, or want. Good realtors can make any of these processes smoother and more pleasant. The key question is how do you find the best realtors?

People decide to work realtors for several reasons: to tap into the experience of a professional, to save time, leg work, or money, or simply to have help getting through the multiple processes involved in real estate transactions. Choosing the appropriate realtor can really make or break your experience.

Realtors Who Meet Your Needs

Hiring only licensed realtors is the most basic safeguard. This ensures that the professional has taken courses and understands the workings of real estate transactions in that state and has passed some sort of test to receive this certification. There are also additional certifications realtors obtain that indicate experience and knowledge pertaining to specific buyers, sellers, and investors, such as seniors or first time homebuyers. For instance John Harris, GRI would indicate certification from Graduate Realtors Institute, the highest ranking for residential realtors.

There are bother buyer’s agents and seller’s agents. Realtors who run open houses are retained by the seller and have their best interest at heart. Those in the market to purchase a house need to obtain a buyer’s agent who will do the leg-work and preliminary scouting for them.

Traits of Great Realtors

In this buyer beware economy, it’s essential that to find a realtor who is professional and trustworthy. One of the best ways to find a reliable realtor is word of mouth. Someone who has been in the area for years and has a solid reputation has good reasons to provide clients with a great experience. And probably has if he or she is still in business.

But for those moving to a new city, state or even country, it’s hard to tap into that information if you don’t have a social or business network. One way around that is to use a real estate company that has been around for years, and has a good reputation. This information can be found on the web or in old newspaper articles. You could also contact a local real estate investment group for the names of a reliable realtor.

More than any other factor, your primary interviews with realtors will tell you a lot. Do they talk or ask questions? Do they answer your questions fully? Does the experience they claim to have fit your needs?

Finally, make sure you know exactly what services the different realtors offer. If you are a seller, how will they market your house? Will a print ad or web ad appear right away? What about an open house? If you are a buyer, how much leg-work will the realtors do? How many other clients do they person have, and how much time can they spend with you weekly?

You should walk away from a meeting with your chosen realtor feeling that you’ve added a valuable member to your team. If the certifications are in line, your gut feeling is positive, and community feedback looks good, chances are you have chose the right realtor for your needs.

Real Estate Internet Marketing is gaining much importance nowadays, as it is highly important for those who are engaged in selling real estate online. According to a survey conducted by a top-rated magazine, more than 75% of people lean on the internet to buy their dream home.

Since many of the realtors have their own sites on the web, with features such as pictures of properties as well as floor plans, it has enabled the potential customers for hassle-free home buying. A website not only enables to promote a realtor’s properties but also to promote the services they render.

But, there are such a great number of real estate-related websites that it has now become an overwhelming process for a particular real estate website to get ranked high among the search engine results. Here comes the role of real estate internet marketing.

A lot number of proven real estate internet marketing techniques are now adopted to improve the ranking of a real estate-related website for better search engine visibility, such as search engine optimization, search engine submission, pay-per-click marketing, link analysis, affiliate marking, and e-mail marketing. Among which, perhaps the most prominent one is search engine optimization.

Real Estate search engine optimization contains a series of strategic and technical solutions including selection of most appropriate keyword, preparing search engine friendly content, linking and submitting website to major search engines like Google and Yahoo. All of these factors work together to enhance your website ranking in the search engines for real estate related keyword. Although real estate SEO works can be done by business owners themselves,it is better to seek assistance of an experienced SEO firm.

A reputable SEO firm conducts a detailed analysis on your real estate business as well as your target markets, apart from structuring your real estate website with appropriate search terms, synchronizing Meta title and description, and formulating link popularity programs.

It is sure that a realtor can undoubtedly go ahead with proven real estate marketing techniques like real estate SEO.

To Your Success!

First time homebuyers are in the exciting position of both choosing a home and making one the biggest investments in life. But are realtors necessary? I hear this question a lot from first time homebuyers. They wonder why they can’t just peruse open houses and visit new developments where realtors are just sitting there waiting. Well, that opens the first can of worms for first time homebuyers. Realtors usually work as either buyer’s agents or seller’s agents. That friendly realtor at the open house only represents the interests of her clients (the sellers.) That’s why I tell any first time homebuyer to team up with a professional realtor who knows the things that you don’t.

Tap Into Their Knowledge

Anybody can buy a house. But all the unknowns typically overwhelm a first time homebuyer. The great thing about working with a realtor is that you get an “instant guru” for all you questions from finding good schools, to how much less a seller might take, to “what is PMI again”? You will find that the mountains of paperwork go more smoothly if a realtor guides you through the purchase agreement. The legalities of buying a home are enormous, but competent realtors make sure you don’t skip the inspection, or spend all your time driving around an area that’s out of your price range.

But what about price range? One of the biggest concerns that new buyers have about hiring realtors is paying the commission. After all, is it really worth it to pay realtors when you could have that money available for your new home? Weigh this decision carefully. Don’t nickel and dime yourself out of competent advice. Especially if you have never navigated the paperwork and legalities of a real estate transaction, one of your smartest moves can be to include a realtor on your house hunting team.

Use the Services that Realtors Offers

Once you decide to work with a realtor, let them really work for you. Realtors can eliminate many homes based your requirements, so that you spend less time looking at inappropriate ones. List your desired amenities and priorities so that your realtor really knows what to look for. Good realtors listen. You shouldn’t have to tell him 4 times that a second bathroom is a must.

The best realtors will honor your time schedule and when you are available to look at sites. Realtors can also give valuable information about movers, local amenities and things to do, even local doctors if you’re new to town. Remember, in addition to having professional knowledge of the real estate game, your realtor is an area local. Ask lots of questions, and expect lots of information in return.

Where to Find Competent Realtors

Realtors are everywhere. Ask for referrals from people you trust. Interview potential realtors before making up your mind. Ask about their background, client load, experience and availability. Then grab you digital a camera and a notepad, call your chosen realtor, and have fun buying your fist home.

I know it goes against what the top mortgage marketing experts and even your manager is telling you, but I would like to make a case against marketing to real estate agents.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not implying that there is anything wrong with real estate agents. A competent agent can help many, many people in his or her career. I just don’t think that marketing to REALTORS should be our only option when trying to find purchase business.

What I typically see happen is this: you beg and plead to get an appointment with this particular real estate agent that you would like to start getting referrals from. After five letters and six phone calls, he finally agrees to have a lunch appointment with you.

You get all ready and when you meet him for lunch, you give him your best performance. You go on about how great you and your company are, and how you can give him the best service around. You beg and plead for his business, but he gives you a “we’ll see” and you are happy with how the meeting turned out.

Six weeks later he sends you a referral. It is a very complicated lead. The referral just started a new job, he filed bankruptcy a couple of years ago, and has no reserves.

You bust your butt trying to close this loan because you want to look good to the REALTOR that sent you the referral.

You do your best, but the loan falls through. You don’t get any more referrals from that agent and all the time and energy you put in to get him as a referral source is now wasted.

There has to be a better way to get purchase business, and here are seven ways to do it.

1. Market to For Sale By Owners. The FSBO pool is always there and when marketed correctly, can generate many loans. You see, working with sellers directly creates a win-win situation for both of you. They need to sell their home, but don’t want to lose a bunch of hard-earned equity paying a real estate agents commission. You can help them with handling the buyers that are interested in the home. When you get an appointment with a seller, you explain to him that a majority of FSBO deals fall through because the buyers can’t get qualified. Convince him to let you prequalify all buyers, and you have a referral source for the next 30-60 days.

2. Market to financial planners. I knew this loan officer that got ALL of his purchase leads from a very busy financial planner. And the great thing about those leads were that they tended to be with people that had their finances in good shape (they have a financial planner). They also had larger assets and income, and were therefore looking to purchase investment properties, vacation homes, or bigger primary homes. Establishing a financial planner as a referral sources will give much higher quality leads than you can get from a real estate agent.

3. Market to credit counselors. This is going in the opposite direction of the financial planners leads. You will many more leads, but you lose much of the quality. These will be complex and challenging loans that you would probably charge extra on. An option for many people who are going through financial difficulties is to sell their current home, and buy something smaller. I saw this a lot with women who were housewives and the got divorced. Now they have a home (and a mortgage) that they just can’t pay on their income. You can help them with the financing of a smaller residence. Keep in touch with them because when they become established again, they are going to want to buy a larger home, and will need your assistance again.

4. Market to human resource managers. I read somewhere that employees that own their own homes have fewer instances of being late to work, work harder, and are much less likely to quit their jobs than their renting co-workers. And this is the selling point you are going to present to the HR Manager. You want to express that you can help their company and their employees but helping them ALL own their own home. Emphasize that you will be handling all the work, and that it won’t interfere with employees on the clock. Here is a GREAT TIP if you can convince the HR Manager to allow you to put inserts along with their paychecks. The insert would be for a free consultation and $250 closing costs. All you would need is for 2-3 HR Managers to agree, and you would have a strong purchase referral source.

5. Market to renters. Many renters that I have known were unaware that they could be living in their own home right now. For whatever reason, they were given a lot of mis-information about what it takes to qualify to purchase a home, and have never really looked into it. Here is another idea that worked well for me. You are going to do a postcard mailing to a targeted apartment complex near you. It will simply state, “For what you are paying in rent right now, you could be living in a $120,000 home. Call me today for a free consultation, and I will tell you the steps you need to take to own your own home.” Trust me, you will get a ton of calls. Many people won’t people to qualify at this point, but you can give them a plan on how to improve their finances and possibly qualify them later when they are ready. But you will get another group who can qualify, but never thought they could.

6. Market to your past customers. In this instance, I would use a direct mail campaign with a checklist letter. Many of your customers may have thought about purchasing more real estate, but it wasn’t a strong enough concern to warrant calling you for advice. In this letter, you are going to ask them to call. You are going to say something like, “Right now is the perfect time for buying a home. If you have questions about any of the following topics, please give me a call this week.” You will then have a checklist including several reasons why someone who need financing assistance like: buying investment property, buying a vacation home, buying a second home, purchasing a smaller home because the kids have moved out, purchasing a bigger home because the family size is increasing, etc. And please make it easy as possible for them to contact you to get the largest response.

7. Market to builders. This is similar to marketing to FSBOs except that this would be on an ongoing basis. Most builders that I know don’t really like dealing with the selling and financing of their homes. They want to focus on what they do best, which is building more homes. Being able to partner up with a successful builder would provide you with many, many leads. Not only will you be helping those who want to purchase the new construction home that the builder is selling, but you will be helping many MORE of the people who aren’t interested in that particular home, but are still want to purchase.

So do I think that you should never market to real estate agents? No, I just believe that it shouldn’t be the first or only option that mortgage professionals turn to. As you have seen above, there are so many other possibilities to find referral sources for purchase loans. And once you establish these referral sources and can develop working relationships with buyers before the REALTOR does, than you will now have control of the situation and you will start to get real estate agents calling YOU for business.