Mainline Markets Have Suffered: How Do Specialty Agents Succeed in This Economy?

By Mike Parker Print Article

RISMEDIA, February 16, 2009-Bryson City, North Carolina is the complete opposite of “trendy.” It’s a charming and beautiful part of these United States, located at least two hours from any major city. It’s also where Rick Strohm and his son, Rick, Jr., own and manage their Realty Executives office-smack dab in the middle of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Vacation and retirement are the primary markets the Strohms serve

“We are a 2nd home tourist destination. 95% of our purchasing clients are from “out-of-state,” Rick, Sr., told me as we began talking. “Geographically, our clients are from all over the United States, which makes our website, www.rickstrohm.com, the key ingredient in our business.”

Now, we all know how the 2nd home market has been hit in many places due to the overall economic uncertainty we have all experienced in the last two years, but Rick told me of a truly unusual situation that affects his business: the local market of the shopper is experiencing decreases in valuation of 30% or more, so the shopper is reluctant to purchase that second home for fear of it devaluing, even though values might even be increasing in a particular market.

I asked him if his status as an Internet Realtor was a major factor in his success and ability to continue to prosper in these times. He responded: “It has everything to do with that. Our market values here in the mountains have not declined at ALL – in some instances they have increased. We do not have the foreclosure debacle as is experienced in many other parts of the country.

“Our market has ‘slowed’ considerably due to what is transpiring in our prospective local buyers neighborhoods,” he continued. “Prospects’ hesitation has been the fear of ‘decreasing market value’ subsequent to purchasing here in the mountains as they have seen in their neighborhoods all over the country.”

Walk-in traffic has evaporated

“Our web presence has been our only contact with prospective buyers, as the ‘walk-in traffic’ has almost diminished to zero. Our web contact has enabled us to educate those buyers on our local market conditions and put them at ease,” Rick continued.

Building relationships with instant communication
He then proceeded to relate a true story about one of his website leads and the economy’s shock last October turning out other than he thought it would: “One of our recent transactions was to a dentist and his wife from the Chapel Hill [N.C.] area. They had visited the home after selecting it online through our site and they were totally enthralled.

“A buying decision was imminent. Then the stock market crashed (this was around October 2008). The clients had left here and returned home to arrange their financing with their mortgage broker when we got the call that they had lost in excess of $500k in one day in the stock market and were now backing up on the sale. During the next 3 weeks, we stayed in contact with both the seller and buyer(s) in an attempt to put the deal back together, understanding that our client had experienced a significant loss. Our conversation was more in ‘consoling’ than ‘selling.’”

“We look at our clients as future neighbors and friends here in the mountains, so it is simply wise to have their best interests at heart, due to the fact that we are going to see them on a regular basis. (We don’t try to talk a ‘friend’ into purchasing a $300,000 second home when he has just lost $500,000 in cash in the stock market.)”

The client chose the better investment
“The clients appreciated our compassion and understanding, but there would be ‘no sale.’ To our surprise, we received a telephone call at 9 p.m. at home about two weeks later. The buyer stated that they greatly appreciated all of the assistance that we provided them during that period of time (which included substantiating market and economic data specific to our real estate environment). They were calling to let us know that they had made the observation that a real estate purchase in our marketplace was a ‘far better alternative’ to any investment in the stock market at this time.

“They purchased their dream log home in the mountains and we now see them every time they come back to the mountains. We believe that this website buyer was calmed by our accessibility and by our immediate communications as undertaken online and by telephone. You see, we receive all ‘hits/sign-ins’ to our website immediately through our Compass lead capture system on our Blackberry and by email. We contact them and respond by telephone within 10/20 minutes.”

Nice story, but what about the rest of the business?

“We firmly believe that if your real estate practice is not website-based, you won’t be in business long. Your website will be your ‘life blood’, as it is ours. We are in a particular environment, here in the mountains, where there is NO industry other than tourism. We rely 100% on our website to pull in out-of-state buyers, and-in truth-100% of our leads come from our website and in just the last few months, 8 of those leads have turned into closings. We share our website at every listing presentation.

“As a matter of fact, it is the primary marketing tool we share – the website is far more cost effective than print advertising. When we first started with Compass, it took three months until we sold our first property from our site. Now we sell almost all of them from our site. We’ve learned to follow the advice we receive from our Compass CSR monthly, and we value that when we call to ask a question, we speak to a real human being who is knowledgeable and eager to help us sell more homes instead of trying to sell us something! In all honesty, we were very fortunate to have contacted Compass and subsequently subscribe to their services. It is absolutely a blessing! There are many folks out there that promote the same services that Compass offers, but none that delivers! We never sold a home online until we hired CompassSearch. We now understand that not all SEO companies are alike, just as all Realtors aren’t. We truly understand other Brokers frustrations because there are very few of us out here that have the ability, through research, to determine the validity of the proposed services. They deliver for us and we are very grateful.”

The lesson here is clear: regardless of what you sell or where you sell it you will sell a lot more of it with the proper online marketing strategy. The Strohms are professionals, and by embracing fundamental technology, they continue to prosper when so many others are leaving the business. Their market may not be like yours, but their success can be yours.

About the Author: Mike Parker specializes in online marketing services for Realtors® and real estate professionals. Obtain a free copy of his booklet “SEO Secrets for Realtors” by writing to seosecrets@compassinternetsystems.com. It will be sent to you free and no one will call you. To request a free review of your website to determine if it can be found by internet buyers and if it is search engine friendly, click here and it will be evaluated free.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.