Targeting Lower-Range Buyers

*Prep for This Week’s Session* For the Match Game (slides 8-11), the decade the pictures represent are in small font in the lower right corner. Put blank paper, 1 per associate, in the center of the table. Customize slides 16 – 17 with the picture, town and listing price of one home you believe is a steal for first-time buyers. MLS sheets of 6 or more properties you believe present the best value for first-time buyers - 3 copies of each property per associate. Place upside- down in the center of each table. Copies of the Targeted Marketing Plan – one per associate. Hand them out when the slide prompts you to (don’t put them on the tables). Sample “Your Wait is Over” and “Rates Hit 50-Year Low” flyers *Delete this slide before presenting *

Today’s Session You’ll leave here today with an appreciation for: The unique opportunities in today’s market How you can change your business strategy to take advantage of these opportunities Let’s start by going back in time…

The Match Game Let’s play The Match Game: I’ll show you four slides, one at a time. Each slide will have pictures of one of the following decades – 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. I’ll show you several pictures on a slide, all from the same decade. Tell me which decade is depicted in the pictures on that slide. Ready?

70s

80s

90s

2000s

Things Change… Things change with the times: Foods Fashions Home styles Music styles Technology Toys

Things Change… And our sales techniques and strategies must change with the times, too.

The Market Has Changed How is today’s market different from the market of 2-3 years ago? How are buyers different today? How are sellers different? How is marketing a home different?

How Do You Change? Given these facts about the changing market, how do you change the way you target first-time and lower-range buyers?

Where Do You Start? It starts with you.

Opportunities We’ve seen that: Lower priced homes are a large part of our company-wide business Foreclosures/REOs are pushing sale prices down Think about your Pure Gold contacts and your sphere of influence. Tell me how you could capitalize on these market opportunities with your contacts.

Pure Gold/Sphere Opportunities Let me show you how you can put your influencing skills to work, using this simple equation: Best value-priced properties + Leveraging opportunities with your contacts Making Your Market !

What Would This Have Cost in 2005? This home in [name of town] is currently listed at $[price]. What would it have sold for in 2005? Replace with photo of actual high-value first-time-buyer home in your market area.

For That First-Time Buyer… Wouldn’t you agree that this home would be a GREAT deal for a first- time buyer? Knowing it’s such a steal, if your child were buying their first home, wouldn’t you help them buy it? Keep that in mind as we continue… Replace with photo of actual high-value first-time-buyer home in your market area.

The Match Game – Version 2 Now let’s do a different type of match game: Think about your Sphere of Influence and Pure Gold contacts with children who could be first- time home buyers – renters, living at home, etc. Write down their names and anything you know about their children – names, ages, where they’re currently living, what types of job they have, etc. Don’t “scrub” this list based on whether they have the $$ to buy – just list everyone who could be a first-time home buyer

The Match Game, Continued In the center of the table are properties that I think present the best value for a first-time buyer Now we’ll play the match game… Look at your list of contacts with adult children Identify which properties could be a good fit for their children What do you think you should do next to make your market?

Make Your Market You should call these customers and “catch up” – re-establish rapport, ask about their children and transition to: “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to lately that wished they were buying today, and that led me to thinking about your oldest son Bobby. Wouldn’t you love to see him in his first home? Let’s get together to look at the great values out there so you can see for yourself how affordable it is for first-time buyers. I would love to have gotten a deal like this when I was buying my first home. ”

Pure Gold/Sphere Opportunities Here’s the formula again. The key is that you are being proactive, not waiting for a buyer to come to you. Best value-priced properties + Leveraging opportunities with your contacts Making Your Market

Other Opportunities to Target Lower-Range Buyers Here are some other opportunities to make your market: Create a targeted marketing campaign aimed at renters For Weichert Lead Specialists…reignite inactive leads who had originally called in on lower-range listings Invite everyone you meet to attend your next Home Buyers Seminar – such as past Open House guests who visited lower-range properties

Use These Tools to Reach First-time Buyers Door Hangers Flyers & IMAIL cards

Your Targeted Marketing Plan Here is a targeted marketing plan that includes details of all of the opportunities we’ve discussed. Now it’s time for you to commit to your plan for targeting lower-range buyers. Take 5 minutes and circle the activities you’re going to commit to trying in the next week. We’ll talk about your success and challenges at next week’s Make Your Market session. Hand out Targeted Marketing Plan.

Other Buyers To Target Given the facts we discussed about the lower-range market being so strong, there is another pool of buyers we should target…those who currently live in a home that would be appropriate for first-time buyers. Many of these homeowners are frozen, and we need to influence them to trade up!