We talk a lot about the real estate housing market. But as much as it sounds like there’s a nationwide market (and there is), the reality is that it’s made up of several smaller markets in different areas. Each city can be considered its own macro market, and within cities are what we call micro markets.
What Is a Micro Market?
Micro real estate markets are subdivisions between broader areas like neighborhoods, or smaller localized sections of the city’s overall housing market with their own defining features. A micro real estate market can also be distinguished by school accessibility, businesses, and parks – all of which will affect the market’s viability. For example, if a neighborhood’s businesses are suffering, you can bet that real estate prices will go down. When they start to climb up, it’s safe to assume that home values will rise as well.
Even though each city can be called a market, micro markets should matter more to you as a real estate agent because they matter more to homebuyers. Successful real estate agents often focus on a specific micro market and just dominate it. Many even consider this one of the best ways to generate leads and build a sustainable real estate business.
Related: Generate Leads: Tips for Any Starting Real Estate Agent
By focusing on a specific area, you become better prepared to target qualified leads in real estate and market effectively to homebuyers to close more deals. On the other hand, spreading yourself thin by covering a larger area leaves you subject to competition and takes much of your time and energy. But what can real estate agents do to dominate a micro market?
1) Identify Your Target Buyer
The foundation of dominating a micro market comes from understanding who your target buyers are and shaping your messaging, communications, and services to fit their needs. Think about the demographics of your customer base including age, education, career, salary, etc. After narrowing down their focus and identifying their buyers, real estate agents can then formulate the best way to successfully cater to their needs.
Moreover, every buyer is different and every property is unique. As a real estate agent, one thing you need to do to succeed in a micro market is to understand how to match the right property to the right client. For homebuyers, there’s an emotional factor that affects their purchasing decisions. Investors, on the other hand, lack this emotional attachment as they’re not looking for a house to live in but rather one that they can profit from.
Thus, agents need to know how to portray the property to speak to the right buyer. Without this skill, it becomes impossible to form a match and, as a result, the agent is simply trying to force a deal. You can avoid this situation simply by identifying who your target buyer is and what he/she is looking for.
Related: 7 Characteristics of the Most Successful Real Estate Agents
If you’re working with investors, Mashvisor can help you match the right investment property to the right buyer. Once you upload your leads and contacts to the Agent Dashboard, our Property Finder can find the best properties for sale that match each investor’s criteria along with data (cap rate, cash on cash return, rental income, and more!) that you can present to them.
This unique feature is only available for real estate investment agents who are subscribed to Mashvisor. To get access to our agent dashboard, schedule a demo.
2) Set Yourself as a Local Expert
Homebuyers want real estate agents with knowledge of their local housing market. So, a local agent will always have an advantage over one who spends thousands per month on lead info in the zip code from a lead generation program (Learn how our lead-gen program is different). As a result, becoming the go-to local expert in your micro market sends a powerful message to prospects and potential clients and gives you instant credibility.
So, how can you as a real estate agent set yourself as a local expert to dominate the market and generate more leads? Don’t just look at overall market trends. Instead, go in-depth to understand your market. For example:
- Know about every home on the market, expired listings, and homes sold in the last year or so
- Personally tour every possible active listing and home for sale in the area
- Know the floor plans, the inventory, what has sold and for how much
- Learn about the HOA, the schools, and the locations of all the parks and local businesses
Over time, prospective buyers/sellers in your micro real estate market will see that you truly are an expert. They will start to recognize you and your name will be on top of their minds when they look for a local real estate agent.
3) Determine the Best Marketing Strategies
Any real estate agent should always have a clear marketing strategy to reach prospects and get qualified leads. So, once you identify your target buyers, the next step is to build your presence in the micro market through marketing. Here are the best marketing strategies to follow:
- Send direct mail campaigns: Though an old marketing strategy, successful real estate agents continue to praise the effectiveness of direct mail. Keep your prospects aware of the local market by sending “just sold,” “just listed,” or “coming soon” postcards. Provide relevant announcements about local events and topics that may interest them and encourage them to contact you.
- Create social media pages: Consider creating a Facebook page/group for your local real estate market. This provides a way to directly engage prospects. Facebook allows you to not only target buyers by zip code, but by other criteria like age, income, interests, recent job, and much more. Post and share information about the local market, but don’t spam!
- Write for the local newspaper: Writing for your blog is great practice, but so is writing for the local newspaper or appearing on local TV. This marketing strategy builds your brand, gets you more exposure, and solidifies you as a trusted voice in the community. Focus on writing articles for local real estate sections in your micro market.
- Start an email newsletter: When done right, email newsletters can be a powerful marketing strategy for any real estate agent. If people in the community are subscribing and receiving your email, it means they find value in what you have to say and choose to stay in touch. This can also be a great direct channel of communication with prospects and leads.
To increase your visibility to real estate investors and homebuyers, claim your free agent profile at Mashvisor.
Related: Real Estate Marketing Tips for Agents: Old-Fashioned to Online
4) Get Involved in Your Micro Market
To dominate the market, your goal is to make sure the first real estate name that comes to mind is yours. The best way to do that is through connecting with locals during events and in meet-up groups. After all, the best real estate agents are the best networkers. The size of your network measures your success as an agent in a micro market.
Being an active member and networking with your community is a strategy meant for success as you’ll stay in front of homeowners at all times. Here are some real estate networking ideas for agents to get leads:
- Fairs, charity events, bake sales, or anywhere else where the community gathers
- A neighborhood garage sale day, a food collection drive, or contributions at local school events
- Take photos you love (especially of locally known places) and post them to Instagram
- Host conferences, seminars, membership group meetings, and even exhibitions
The Bottom Line
These are the best practices that real estate agents must keep in mind for dominating a micro market. One final tip is to pick a micro real estate market carefully as events in the economy of the city or macro market affect micro markets. For example, if a big company moved to the city and created more jobs, you can expect home prices to rise in growing neighborhoods surrounding the city.
The work real estate agents must put into micro markets is not easy. Nonetheless, the rewards will only get bigger with every listing you take and every deal you close. So, remember to be consistent and, eventually, you’ll become the coveted go-to real estate agent for your micro market.