Real Estate Development Marketing

ADVERTISEMENT

Real estate development marketing is a bit different that the traditional marketing of resale residential homes. Unfortunately, many agents on new construction sites and real estate developers miss out some very viable ways to market a new real estate development.

Before you even begin writing a real estate development marketing plan or even agree to work with the developer, it is crucial to really assess the appeal and value of the property. There have been a few developments we’ve actually refused to market, knowing full well that the market was already over saturated with the type of home in the development and there was nothing appealing about the site that would make it seem better than what the other three dozen nearby developments had to offer.

Once you are confident that the location and value of the development is worthwhile, you can next move into the stages of developing the marketing plan. Here are some tips for writing your real estate development marketing plan:

Start Early: Real Estate Development Marketing can start as soon as the builder has hired you for the job. You don’t have to wait for groundbreaking to begin or a spec to be built. You can do a lot of marketing beforehand just by starting to build contacts with people who may within 6-12 months be interested in what the development has to offer.

Write a Formal Marketing Plan: Builders like to know what you’re doing at all times to sell their real estate development, which is why a formal marketing plan is important with them. Make it for an appropriate span of time – 30, 60, 90 days etc. and write down exactly what you plan to do and within what time frames.

Be Involved in the Community: Community involvement can greatly make marketing a new construction site much easier. A developer I know that specializes in retirement communities makes sure that his sales team is out there playing Bingo once a month! Others have done everything from advertise in the high school football program (and attend every home game) to u

Host Killer Agent Tours: You’ll want to get as many agents as you can to the site once it’s built. This can be done in a variety of ways, from serving cocktails on a Friday evening to having the weekly office meeting at the site. Good old fashioned bribery works also – I’ve seen everything from $500 gas card raffles to $10 gift certificates for a Thanksgiving turkey to each agent that visits. Killer agent tours can be an excellent way to build excitement for a new development.

Research Before You Mail: Mail can be a very effective way to market a real estate development if researched correctly. One site I was involved with had the best direct mail results when we started mailing to the neighbors of people who had already been to the site. It all depends on the price range of the development and your target market, but doing this research can help you have better results from a direct mail campaign.

Have any other real estate development marketing tips? Share them in the comments below.