With less properties selling in the last 12 months compared to last year and buyer sentiment remaining strong, many listings are not lasting long on the market. 

With lower days on market and clearance rates on the rise. The demand for more listings is being felt by many real estate professionals. 

iRealty has always had a keen focus on lead and appraisal generation. Our call to action banners and lead generation software are used by the majority of our clients. 

However, recently we have seen some less obvious strategies being used by clients to generate appraisals. 

1. Property preference surveys

Preference surveys are a useful element in iRealty’s automation. By sending out a survey to your new contacts as well as those showing signs of market activity you can determine what they are looking for and the move they are going to make.  

One of our Brisbane based clients has automated nurture alerts set up to be sent to new and engaged contacts coming into their database. Within the last 30 days 8 existing contacts have submitted their preferences with 3 highlighting they are looking to sell and downsize. This then frames the conversation the client has with the contacts about what they are looking to buy but also an appraisal opportunity on their current home. 

The current market and time of year is the perfect time to add a preference survey to your email marketing strategy. Firstly, with a new year comes new property goals for home owners and investors and secondly, if an owner has been holding off due to market uncertainty during 2020, this is a great way to provide them with valuable content prior to selling.

2. Add revealing content to your marketing 

Revealing content is an umbrella term for articles, factsheets and reports that when interacted with by a subscriber can reveal an intention or interest. 

Take the iRealty Factsheets for example, each sheet is designed to provide more information to your contacts about buying, selling, buying at auction or renting an investment property. When subscribers click to read more this is tracked and added to the subscribers profile. 

A more specific example is to use ‘how to’ or question answering articles like, How to style your home to sell in Spring 2020. This title is very specific and relates to those actually looking to sell in Spring 2020. This example is one belonging to a Gold Coast based client who then used this article to send to a group of engaged subscribers. Their agents then called the 38 people who showed interest in the article and gained 6 listings from those conversations. 

3. Advertising buyer interest

In many markets at the moment, buyer interest is strong and properties aren’t always lasting long on the market. This also makes securing new listings for agents more cutthroat. How you position yourself to your potential vendors is paramount. Vendors want to know you have the means to sell their property, and a large part of this is knowing that you have qualified buyers readily available.

iRealty’s property prediction is a great way to get sellers over the line once you have secured an appraisal or listing presentation. However, recently we have seen clients use their buyer interest as an opportunity to secure appraisals. 

Take this Gold Coast based client for example, they knew they had qualified buyers ready to move into new homes prior to Christmas with interest between $500k-$2million they then incentivised the appraisal with the opportunity to sell off market (saving the vendors time and money). This office advertised their available buyer interest in a campaign to engaged contacts gaining 3 appraisal requests.

But don’t forget: These alternative tactics are a great way to reveal information about your database to frame conversations that lead to appraisals and listings. However, it is important to ensure you are using the iRealty appraisal banner and form in your email marketing strategy. In October alone iRealty clients gained more clicks on this banner than in any other month in the last 2 years. 

We had one client gain 6 appraisal requests from 1 newsletter in the last 2 weeks, the same client has already listed 1 of the appraised properties.