This post is the second in our FIND series: Farming Isn’t Dead.
Now that you’ve had a week to research and choose your target neighborhood as your farm, you’re ready to start making your plot. Proper plotting is essential in making sure your farming efforts utilize your time the most wisely and remain within budget. Don’t have a budget yet? That’s why you need a plot.
Making your plot is very simple if you remember the 3-in-1 month rule: You MUST make contact with the residents of your farm 3 times each month. One of these contacts should be in person. The other two may be done through mail and/or postcards.
When “walking” your farm and meeting the residents in person, it’s vital that you bring something of value with you to give to them. You can give them anything from a sports schedule to a magnet or a coffee mug. Holidays can be a fantastic excuse for handing out things like roses for Valentine’s Day, flags for the 4th of July, or other seasonal items.
The other two contacts through the mail can be your choice. One should be a newsletter or report on current market conditions for their neighborhood and area. The other piece should be something that shows you are active: a “Just Listed” or “Just Sold” postcard or open house invitation.
Once you’ve outlined everything you plot to on a monthly basis, it’s vital to calculate the cost of farming. Make sure you factor in the price of printing, postage, and promotional materials. You do not have to spend a fortune to farm effectively, but there will be some costs involved, especially if your broker does not cover the cost of postage. Before you start farming or commit yourself to farming that you can afford to continue farming for the rest of the year. If done right, your plot should pay for itself many times over.
When making a real estate farming plot, you will want to make sure it includes these things:
1. Budget: How much do you plot to spend each month. $50? $100? $200? Part of this will depend on how much you can afford, how many houses you have chosen to farm, and if you plot on farming through mail or by making personal contact. Walking your real estate farm is a lot less expensive than mailing – and much more effective. Many farming plans fail because agents never utilize walking through their farm and personally meeting the people who live there.
2. Promotional Items: I will be talking more about this in a future post, but it’s vital to have a few thoughts of what you will be giving to your farm. What will they most likely find useful? What will they keep and what will they throw in the trash?
3. How often you plot to contact: Contacting your farm is very vital. The 3-in-1 rule will help make sure you won’t annoy your farm but also show them that you ARE the real estate expert for the area.
4. Goal Setting:It’s vital to set goals. Will you convert x amount of FSBO’s from your farm? How many listings do you hope to obtain? How many buyers? How many referrals? If you don’t have goals then you might as well not farm at all if you cannot see any benefits of making a real estate farm plot.
Making a real estate farm plot will not only help you succeed in your farming, but it will ensure that you do not fail. Real estate agents who farm without a plot will likely fail because their farming lacks structure, predicability, and effective contact with the farm. Next week we’ll talk about introducing yourself to your farm after you’ve made your real estate farm plot.
[...] a plot, you might as well NOT farm. We’ll discuss what plans work – and which ones fail. View FIND Tip #2 Introducing Yourself to Your Farm: Sometimes the toughest part is just finding the nerve to knock on [...]