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Effective Approaches for Contacting FSBO (For Sale by Owner) Homeowners

Published May 27, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

Despite what many realtors will say, there’s no reason that a home that is well-maintained, in a desirable neighbourhood, and priced accurately can be sold by the homeowners without the services of a realtor. Will it be sold as quickly and for the maximum amount possible (independent of the listing price?) That’s not so certain, and while the majority of homeowners will be aware of that fact there are going to be some ‘FSBOs’ who will continue to believe otherwise.

Contacting homeowners selling their home on their own is fairly standard practice for realtors in the business, and it’s true that a good many of these sellers will be persuaded to list with a realtor. But which one? You can count on these homeowners being contacted by more than one realtor, so what makes one successful while others don’t get the listing?

Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is an excellent way to give you an inside track on being first to be in touch with homeowners looking to sell their home and buyers looking to buy a home. As far as the first type of prospective client there is concerned, this fast-tracking of the meeting between you and them means you have the opportunity to sell them on the advisability of a realtor’s professional services BEFORE they make any such decision about becoming a FSBO.

That said, it’s helpful to have some tested-and-true approaches to contacting a FSBO and making a favourable impression on them. Here they are.

  1. Focus on Relationship Building

The long and short is that prospecting for FSBO listings is a numbers game, and even the best agents shouldn’t expect to list more than 20% of the FSBO sellers contacted. It’s essential to get past the initial contact formalities and get right to establishing the tone of your conversation. Don’t attempt to aggressively close an appointment within 5 or 10 minutes of speaking to the homeowner for the first time.

They may never intend to list with an agent, or they may be obligated to use an agent that is a family member of friend if they ever do decide to list their home through a realtor. If you take a no-pressure and more of a ‘I’m here to help if you think that’s something you’d like’ approach goes a long way and usually fosters a favourable opinion of you as a real estate professional.

  1. Systemize Your Follow Ups

FSBOs tend to be listed when the realtor’s approach is consistent, and systematic with their follow-up if that’s what is needed (and nine times out of 10 it is). Experienced realtors will know that many FSBO sellers won’t be ready to make a decision until at least the fifth or sixth contact. With repeated contact opportunities comes the chance for you to add value. This can be neighborhood data, a comparative market analysis, property profile information or even a pre-listing presentation.

It’s always best to call and let them know when other homes come up for sale, go under contract, and sell in their area. Have something of real value ready to be shared with them each time a follow-up contact is suitable.

  1. Ask Smart Qualifying Questions

These are opportunities that you most certainly don’t want to squander, so it pays to be able to ask the right questions, and ask them at the right time. It’s also important to pose them in the best manner, and never be clearly angling for the listing as part of your own interests. Here are 3 excellent questions to ask, and in the same or much the same language.

  • “If I brought you a qualified buyer, would you be willing to pay me a 3% commission?” – If the answer to that is yes, you’re set up perfectly to continue to the next question.
  • “How long are you prepared to try selling your home on your own before you look into other options, including listing with a real estate agent?” – As an industry tip, it’s common to cut their answer here in half. If they say 2 months, work with the understanding that they’ll be ready to list in a month. If their answer is 6 months or less, continue on to the next question.
  • “If you don’t sell your home by (indicated time), what other options will you be willing to consider to sell your home?” – One of the benefits of this question is that it ensures that they don’t have a personal or family friend as a realtor and you don’t waste too much time and effort. If this prospective client is open to the possibility of interviewing agents in the future, enter them in your lead follow-up campaigns and move on to contacting the next FSBO if there is one.

Turning a FSBO into a home seller clients is a very rewarding feeling for a realtor, and once you done it for the first time it’s quite common to be very enthusiastic about taking successive cracks at it. Again, the most important part of doing this is to take an entirely ‘no pressure / here to help if you want it’ approach when discussing the matter with the homeowners.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you exclusively and for a region of any city or town in Canada that is yours alone as long as you registered with us. It’s an excellent way to supercharge your client prospecting efforts and it’s nearly impossible to see it as anything else that money well spent as part of your marketing budget.

Greater Number of Mortgage Applications Expected for 3rd Quarter of 2019

Published April 8, 2019 by Real Estate Leads

It’s well understood by those in the Real Estate industry that the housing market in Canada has been ‘Flat’ for quite some time now. Putting that in perspective for people who like to understand things more simply is to say that the average value of homes is neither increasing or decreasing for the most part. This of course has the effect of making fewer homeowners decide to put their homes on the market, as the majority of them will be aiming to sell their home for as tidy a profit as possible.

This trends has been countered by the fact that new housing development starts are up across the country this year, and in hot markets like Vancouver and Toronto there is a focus on having these starts be in building more affordable housing. That’s a very relative term, to be sure, but to make a long story short there are more new homes coming onto the market to counter the lack of existing homes found on it.

As realtors, that’s a bit of good news and something that should mean greater numbers of first-time homebuyers looking for expert guidance. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is designed to fast-track you being put in touch with both home buyers and sellers, and as a realtor that ought to sound mighty good. But enough about that for now, let’s have a look at why the aforementioned information is pairing with a new forecast that should foster even an even more positive outlook for realtors in Canada.

Mortgage Applications Expected to Spike – Here’s Why

There are indications that there could be a spike in mortgage applications in the third quarter – provided a rate forecast comes to be sometime over the next few months. This is because the Canadian Real Estate Association’s economists are expecting interest rates to go down as the year progresses, and this in response to weaker economic conditions forcing the BoC (Bank of Canada) to hold steady with their rates.

It’s assumed that if 5-year bonds maintain their current level then there should be a shift seen in the 5-year qualifying mortgage rate. It hasn’t moved for almost a year now, and the premise that it might will mean some good news for would-be homebuyers. All of this of course needs to be tempered by the continuing realities of the new mortgage stress-test regulations introduced last year. There’s no getting around the fact that it’s harder than ever for first-time homebuyers to qualify for a mortgage in Canada.

Dip in Qualifying Mortgage Rates

The BoC forecasts that 5-year qualifying mortgage rates will fall from 5.34% in the 1st quarter of 2019, to 4.99% in the 2nd quarter, and reaching a year-low of 4.84% in quarter 3. They go further then to say that rates are then expected to climb to 5.15% in the 4th and final quarter of 2019 and early 2020 before reaching a plateau of 5.34% for the remainder of next year.

The next thing that needs to be considered is discount rates on qualifying mortgages. The BoC’s predictions there are as follows:

5-year average set for a drop to 3.44% in Q2 2019 (as compared to 3.60% in Q1

  • Drop to 3.30% in Q3 of 2019
  • Climb back to 3.44% in Q4 of 2019
  • Climb again to 3.64% in 1st and 2nd quarters of 2020
  • Climb again to 3.74% in 3rd and 4th quarters of 2020

 

Expectations for Rate Cuts

Some economists believe the Bank of Canada may in fact cut rates in 2019, as opposed to just maintaining their current level. Others believe oppositely that what we’ll see is a rate freeze. One area where there’s some consensus on this is that they will likely move towards a neutral interest rate, but only in the long term. The reason for this being that the corresponding hike in the level at which mortgage borrowers are stress-tested will result in that policy now being unsustainable so long as the current methodology is employed.

Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of buyer and / or seller real estate clients leads online that are sent to you and you only for your similarly exclusive area of any city or town in Canada. With them you’ll have opportunities to be in touch with people who are genuinely considering making a real estate move sometime in the near future, and with that opportunity you have a chance to establish yourself as their realtor of-choice. It’s highly recommended, as evidenced by testimonials from realtors just like you.