Tag: Real Estate Marketing

  • Ambushed By A Salesman In Real Time

    Ambushed By A Salesman In Real Time

    I keep coming back to this one: people put off stuff they already know they should deal with. Not because they’re lazy. Because they’re avoiding a hassle they’re pretty sure is coming.

    Take your land. You’re not looking to sell it today. But knowing what it’s worth, and what’s happening around it, can’t hurt you. You’d have the information sitting there if anything changes. If a neighboring tract comes up for sale, you’re not finding out last. And if it’s a good deal, you might be ready to move on it first.

    So why do most people pass when someone offers them free information?

    Mostly because they’ve been burned before.

    Mention you’re the slightest bit curious what your property’s worth and your mind jumps straight to a timeshare pitch. Numbers too good to be true. A guy who won’t take no for an answer.

    You ask one question. The phone starts ringing. And doesn’t stop.

    So you let it go. Not worth the hassle.

    That happened to me last week. My truck’s had a couple of recalls sitting open for a while (nothing major), and I’d been putting it off because I didn’t want to spend an afternoon at a dealership. A card came in the mail with a QR code, said I could schedule online. Figured I’d try it. The site barely worked, so I gave up after a few minutes.

    Except it worked fine, for what it was actually built to do.

    Within minutes my phone rang. Sales manager at the dealership. I let it go to voicemail. He wanted to know what car I was interested in and when I could come in for a test drive.

    A few minutes later, an email. Somehow he’d copied my wife on it too, asking what we were “working a deal” on.

    I asked for service. They tried to close me on a car I never mentioned.

    That’s the move. That’s why people stop raising their hand.

    When you raise yours with me, that’s not what happens. I’ll reach out, sure. Lightly. No pressure, no script.

    You can decide for yourself what that’s worth.



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  • Why Good Agents Ignore Most Portal Leads

    Why Good Agents Ignore Most Portal Leads

    “Can you send me more information?”

    If you sell real estate long enough, you’ll get that message over and over.

    Usually it comes through one of the big portal sites.

    The first time I got one, Looked legitimate enough, and it was on a fairly large listing so of course I was excited.

    They wrote in a reasonably normal way and seemed interested in the property. I sent the information they requested.

    A few minutes later they responded that they were out of town and would like to schedule a Zoom call with their spouse.

    Still sounded reasonable to me, then came the link. Luckily my antivirus software had a stronger opinion about that link than I did.

    The whole thing was a scam.

    Since then I’ve seen it repeatedly.

    For whatever reason, most of mine seemed to come through a certain brokerage company’s website. I don’t blame them for it too much. It’s probably not something they can really stop, short of not showing properties on their website and having links for info.

    Once you’ve seen it a few times, you recognize the pattern pretty quickly.

    Today I got another one.

    This time it came through one of the big portals. I’d name them, but I really don’t want to hear from a lawyer.

    The message asked for additional information. I sent it. A few minutes later came the request for a Zoom call.

    At that point I already knew where the conversation was headed.

    Goodbye.

    The interesting part isn’t the scam itself.

    The interesting part is what happens when agents get flooded with junk inquiries.

    Consumers assume every inquiry is treated equally. It isn’t.

    After you’ve spent enough time sorting through spam, scammers, tire kickers, people gathering information, and people who accidentally clicked a button, you stop getting excited every time a portal notification arrives.

    You become skeptical.

    That’s not because you don’t want buyers.

    It’s because most of the signals turn out not to be real.

    The portal I mentioned above has managed to create a different problem too.

    I’ve had people call me angry because I supposedly wouldn’t stop calling them. The only problem was that I had never called them in the first place. Somewhere along the line their system apparently glitched and attached my information to something it shouldn’t have. The person was frustrated. I was confused. Neither of us knew what was going on.

    That’s what happens when technology gets between people.

    Everybody assumes the system is working. But sometimes it isn’t.

    If you’re wondering why an agent isn’t responding to your inquiry through a portal site, this may be part of the reason.

    Pick up the phone and call them. Or send an email directly. You’ll have a lot more luck.

    Do something that looks like a real person trying to have a real conversation.

    And if you’re a seller wondering why your agent isn’t sitting by the computer refreshing portal inquiries all day, this is part of the answer too.

    Most experienced agents have learned that quantity and quality are not the same thing.

    A hundred notifications can still be worth absolutely nothing.



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  • It Happens To Me Too

    It Happens To Me Too

    I write on here often that the reason many people don’t check into their land’s value isn’t because they don’t want to know or don’t think it’s smart business to know.

    It’s everything that tends to go with it.

    You just want to know what’s happening, and next thing you know you feel like you’re in a timeshare presentation. Where you feel like the thing isn’t going to end until you say yes, no matter how many times and ways you say no.

    It just happened to me.

    There are a couple commercial real estate platforms that sell subscriptions with various marketing and data tools. I’ve tried both over the years. For what I do, they usually aren’t worth carrying full-time.

    If I need exposure for a particular property, I can just pay to promote that listing specifically and be done with it.

    What they really want to sell is data.

    Buyer information.
    Seller information.
    Mailing lists.
    Contact databases.

    All of that could theoretically be useful to me.

    So they call me. And call. And call.

    I generally ignore the calls. But sometimes one slips through because I think it might actually be somebody calling about property. Like the other day.

    The guy complimented me on the number of listings I have, started talking about how much local buyer and seller information they had access to, and wanted to meet and show me the platform.

    I told him it was probably going to cost more than I was willing to spend.

    To his credit, he at least admitted pricing was somewhat dynamic instead of pretending there was one magic number for everyone. I eventually got a rough range out of him anyway.

    It was more than I wanted to spend. As expected. I told him I didn’t want to waste his time.

    Didn’t matter.

    He still wanted to meet. He suggested a day that was already blocked out on my calendar. When I told him that, he just pushed it back a week.

    Eventually I just said okay because I was tired of the conversation and figured at least I’d get a free cup of coffee out of it.

    Now I’m probably going to have to say no several more times later.

    And eventually I may have to be rude about it.

    I don’t really blame the guy. I understand why companies sell that way. It must work often enough to keep doing it.

    But it also reminds me why so many people avoid talking to agents, salespeople, and brokers in the first place.

    It’s not that people hate buying things. And it’s usually not even that they hate being sold.

    They hate the feeling that they are no longer fully in control of the conversation.

    There’s a difference between staying in touch and trying to corner somebody.

    If you ask me for a valuation, am I going to follow up lightly from time to time?

    Of course. It only makes sense to.

    But am I going to make you feel trapped in a process you can’t comfortably back out of?

    Never.

    You should always feel like you can say no.

    The minute somebody feels like they can’t comfortably say no anymore, the entire interaction changes.



    PPS – If you’re not ready for a Land Reality Check but enjoy reading about land, markets, negotiation, and how this business actually works, you can sign up below and get these posts in your inbox.

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  • “We Thought It Might Never Sell”

    “We Thought It Might Never Sell”

    A lot of landowners quietly assume the same thing. This property probably isn’t going to sell.

    So they don’t even try.

    Maybe it’s been sitting for years. Maybe there hasn’t been much activity nearby. Sometimes it just feels like one of those properties that never quite moves, so it sits there year after year.

    In most cases, it’s not because there’s no demand. It’s because the property isn’t positioned in a way that lets demand find it.

    I’ve watched this happen enough times that it’s hard to miss. The price is off just enough to keep serious buyers away. The right buyers never see it. Or it’s presented in a way that doesn’t give anyone a reason to act. Nothing dramatic, just enough friction to keep it stuck.

    There’s another pattern that shows up too. A property sits, looks dead, nothing happening. Then it gets repositioned and all of a sudden there’s movement. Sometimes fast.

    Not always. But often enough that it’s not random.

    I’ve seen this happen many times.

    In one case, a property owner had a lot they believed might never sell.

    Here’s how they described it:

    “Mike contacted us about a lot we owned, which we thought might never sell. We listed with Mike, and the property SOLD in just three weeks! We could not be happier!”

    There’s nothing unusual about that outcome. But it’s not guaranteed, and that’s not the point.

    The point is the property didn’t change. The positioning did.

    Most people focus on the dirt itself. Location, size, what’s around it. That matters, but it’s usually not the deciding factor.

    How it’s brought to market matters just as much, sometimes more. That part is controllable.

    If you’ve got something that’s been sitting, it’s worth asking whether it’s actually unsellable, or just stuck the way it’s currently being presented.

    Most of the time, it’s the second one.


    PS- Most landowners are not planning to sell today.

    But when the time comes, the people who already understand how their property fits into the market tend to have a much easier time.

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for. It looks at nearby sales, current listings, and the details that affect whether something actually moves.

    Is it a bad idea to know where things stand?

    PPS- If you’re not ready for that but like reading about land, markets, and negotiation, you can sign up below and get these posts in your inbox.

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  • Exposure Is Overrated.

    Exposure Is Overrated.

    If you ever talk to a real estate agent about listing a property, one word you’re guaranteed to hear is exposure. You’ll hear it over and over. Exposure, exposure, exposure. It doesn’t matter if it’s a house, a lot, or a piece of land. That’s the pitch.

    They’ll tell you it’s going in the MLS and pushed out to all the portal sites—Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com. Maybe a couple of paid platforms. Maybe some email blasts. None of that is wrong. It should be done. Everybody does it. It’s the baseline.

    Where it starts to fall apart is when that’s the whole plan.

    A lot of agents take those listings and blast them out through the same systems. Big email lists, dozens of properties at a time. It looks like a lot of activity, but it’s mostly noise. I get those emails too. You can recognize them before you even open them, and 99% of the time it’s not something you’re looking for. Not a deal. Not relevant. So you skip it. I do the same thing.

    That’s the part nobody really wants to say out loud. Most of that “exposure” doesn’t actually get read. Not because it’s bad, just because it’s generic.

    You do need exposure, but more exposure isn’t always better. Better exposure is better.

    When I’ve got a lot or a tract to move, I’m not just thinking about where it gets posted. I’m thinking about who would actually care. Builders for finished lots. Developers for raw land. Groups that are already active in that specific area. The question is simple: who does this actually fit?

    Then I go straight to those people. Sometimes that’s an email. Sometimes it’s a call or a text. Sometimes it’s something in the mail. The method changes, but the goal doesn’t. Get it in front of someone who can actually do something with it.

    Over time, that turns into something most people don’t have. Not a generic “buyer list,” but a real group of people you can reach when it matters. People I’ve worked with, people I’ve talked to, or at least people I’ve made sure I can get in front of. Even the ones I haven’t done deals with yet usually know who I am, and that matters.

    That’s access.

    I’m not guessing who might be interested. I’m putting it in front of people who are already in the market, and just as important, they’ll actually open it. Not because it’s fancy, usually because it’s not. It doesn’t look automated and it doesn’t look like it went to 500 people. It looks like something I sent to them, because it is.

    If your message looks like everyone else’s, it gets treated like everyone else’s. Ignored.

    I’m not trying to impress anyone with marketing. I’m trying to get a response. Yes or no. Both are useful.

    Over time, familiarity builds. The people who matter recognize your name, so when something comes across from you, it doesn’t feel random. It feels relevant. That’s hard to fake, and it doesn’t happen overnight.

    Portals still have their place. I use them too. But if that’s all you’re relying on, you’re basically hoping someone stumbles across your property. I’d rather make sure the right people see it.

    If you’ve got a lot or a tract and want to know how it would actually be positioned, I’m happy to take a look. No pressure to list, just information.


    PS: If you’re a landowner, you might not even be thinking about selling currently.

    You may have it in your mind that you’ll never sell.

    All of that is great, but things change. And the best time to be gathering information is before you needed it by yesterday.

    Is it a bad idea to know what your property might realistically sell for today?

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for. It’s a straightforward look at potential value based on actual sales and other (often overlooked) factors that drive value.

    You don’t have to decide to sell. You should decide to know what you can.


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  • Everyone’s An Optimist, At Least For Today

    Everyone’s An Optimist, At Least For Today

    Opening day of baseball season. Technically the first game was last night, but for most teams, today is when it starts.

    A lot of people find baseball boring, but this is one of my favorite days of the year. A couple of years ago, the Rangers won the World Series. It hasn’t gone great since, but for today at least, everyone has some level of hope.

    Teams operate with a plan. They build a roster to fill the holes from last year. The goal is simple. Score more runs. Give up fewer. While it’s all playing out, you’ll hear the usual lines about doing the little things, having a strong culture, and taking it one game at a time.

    You’ll also hear a lot about how much teams value defense. Meanwhile, if a guy can hit, he’s going in the lineup ahead of the great fielder who can’t, every time.

    They all talk a good game, but what they say doesn’t always line up with their actual plan. You have to watch what they do, not what they say.

    Otherwise you might start thinking they don’t have a plan. But they do.

    But like Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

    You’ve got 26 guys on the roster. There will probably be an injury in the first week. Hopefully not, but it happens, and it usually happens to someone you were counting on.

    Some players don’t perform the way you expect. Others you barely thought about end up carrying more of the load than they were ever supposed to. You don’t really know until you play the games, and once you start, the plan starts changing whether you like it or not.

    That’s where patience comes in. You don’t want to overreact too early, but doing nothing isn’t the same as being patient.

    It’s the same in business.

    I know how to value a property. I know what should happen based on the market in front of it.

    The market doesn’t care.

    I’ve got a listing right now that’s priced where it needs to be. I’ve shared it with a number of agents who handle similar properties, and I haven’t gotten a single objection to the price, which if you’ve been around long enough, tells you something.

    Price is usually the first thing agents go after, even when it’s not the real problem.

    So I’m not chasing price.

    Part of it is just the nature of higher-end land. Fewer buyers. Every tract is a little different. It can take time to line up the right one.

    But if something isn’t happening, something is off. Maybe not the number. Could be exposure. Could be positioning. Could be that the right buyer hasn’t seen it yet.

    Most people default to cutting price because it feels like action. It usually isn’t.

    It’s also the one move that’s hardest to undo once you’ve made it.

    So we adjust, just not there yet. We’ll change the marketing, change the exposure, and see what that produces before touching the number.

    Plan A hasn’t worked so far.

    That tells you something.


    P.S. – Most landowners aren’t planning to sell today.

    But things change. Timing shifts, priorities change, or an opportunity shows up and you have to make a decision quicker than you expected.

    The ones who already understand their market tend to handle that better.

    That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for. It looks at nearby sales, current listings, and the details that actually move value, not just what people hope something is worth.

    Is it a bad idea to know where you stand?


    P.P.S. – If you’re not looking for numbers right now but you like seeing how this stuff actually plays out, you can sign up below and get these posts when I send them. Or just check back when you feel like it.

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  • Good Enough Beats Perfect in the Real World

    Good Enough Beats Perfect in the Real World

    A lot of people think the goal is to get things perfect.

    Perfect pricing. Perfect marketing. Perfect timing.

    So they wait.

    They revise copy. Adjust the marketing plan. Debate the price another week. It feels responsible. Like they’re doing the work required to get the outcome right.

    Meanwhile the market is moving.

    A buyer who studies listings for six months learns almost nothing. A buyer who makes five offers learns the market very quickly.

    A seller who debates pricing for months gets zero feedback. A seller who lists the property gets reactions immediately.

    Action produces information. Thinking usually doesn’t.

    The market is the only place where learning happens.

    Until something is live, it’s all theory.

    Theory feels safe because it hasn’t been tested yet. A draft can still be perfect. Once the market sees it, that illusion disappears pretty quickly.

    Most deals that actually happen don’t start perfect. They start good enough.

    Then the feedback starts.

    Buyers react. Sellers react. The numbers tighten up. Reality replaces the guesses.

    People who wait for perfect usually watch someone else close the deal.

    Good enough goes to market.

    Perfect stays in a draft folder.



    P.P.S. If you like thinking about land, negotiation, and how these deals really work, you can keep reading here or get the posts by email so they show up automatically.

  • Brokerage Isn’t About Brokerage

    Brokerage Isn’t About Brokerage

    Dan Kennedy makes a point that most people in business miss.

    Success in a given business usually has less to do with the core craft than people think.

    Restaurants don’t fail because the food isn’t Michelin-star quality.

    They fail because the numbers don’t work.

    The food has to be good enough. After that, location, systems, consistency, pricing, and marketing determine who survives.

    You can see the same thing in music.

    The most technically gifted musicians rarely sell the most records. Read the comment section under any article about KISS or Mötley Crüe. Plenty of people will explain why they weren’t the “best” players.

    Doesn’t matter.

    They built machines around the music. Branding. Touring. Merchandising. Positioning. Distribution. They understood the business side.

    The craft mattered.

    It just wasn’t the deciding factor.

    Brokerage is the same way.

    There are plenty of agents who can fill in a contract correctly. Plenty who understand the forms. Plenty who can unlock a door and stick a sign in the yard.

    That’s table stakes.

    The difference shows up elsewhere.

    Positioning.
    Timing.
    Leverage.
    Awareness.
    Calm under pressure.
    Pattern recognition.
    And most importantly, trust that the client actually feels — not trust that gets talked about.

    Land especially does not move like houses do.

    It requires vision.
    Patience.
    The ability to recognize unusual activity.
    The discipline not to panic when something doesn’t sell immediately.

    The agent who understands how assemblages work, who watches adjacent sales daily, who knows when silence is leverage and when to press — that agent produces different outcomes.

    From the outside, brokerage can look simple.

    A sign.
    A listing.
    A closing.
    A check.

    From the inside, the real work is less visible.

    It’s in the judgment.
    The restraint.
    The positioning.
    The pattern recognition.

    The contract is the easy part.

    The hard part is knowing what to do before the contract ever gets written.


    P.S. You may not be ready to sell today, but does it hurt to know where you stand?

    No cost. No obligation. Just clarity before decisions.


    That’s fine.

    If you want to see how I think about land and positioning before ever making a move, you can enter the inner circle here:

  • But What Are You Going To Do For An Encore?

    But What Are You Going To Do For An Encore?

    A lot of people in business and in life declare victory too soon.

    I saw a commercial recently where a guy was in a job interview. They told him they couldn’t hire him right now, but they’d keep him in mind for later.

    He walked out saying, “Keep me in mind,” and immediately went out to celebrate.

    I don’t even remember what the commercial was for — which probably tells you everything about how ineffective most advertising is these days.

    But the point stuck.

    People get a job, or a listing, or a small win, and they act like that’s the finish line. They relax. They stop pushing. They assume the rest will just work itself out. That momentum will carry them.

    In real estate, that shows up when an agent gets a listing, drops it into the MLS as a “list and hope,” and mentally checks the box. The celebration happens up front. Then it’s mostly waiting.

    That’s not how I look at it — and not how I try to operate.

    For me, victory isn’t getting the listing. Victory is when someone is so satisfied with how I handled their situation that they wouldn’t consider working with anyone else. They come back when they need help again. They tell people they know to call me.

    You don’t get there by stopping early.

    I don’t stop at the listing. I’ve built marketing tools and processes specifically to keep things moving. Pricing is handled aggressively and honestly, which sometimes means it takes time. But the work doesn’t stop just because the sign is up.

    We’ve all heard the saying that success is a journey, not a destination. I’m not big on clichés, but sometimes they’re true.

    The goal isn’t something you reach once and then relax. You keep pushing. That’s the mindset I try to bring to everything.

    It’s the only way to get anywhere worth going.

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    PS – If this was useful, please pass it along to someone who might need it.

  • Starting Where Others Stop

    Starting Where Others Stop

    I’ve been working on some new marketing strategies.

    They’re not gimmicks. They’re not magic. And they don’t replace the basics. Pricing still matters. Exposure still matters. Negotiation still matters. None of that changes.

    This is everything on top of that.

    Most agents use the same tools. The ones bundled with their memberships and licenses. There’s nothing wrong with those. I use them too. Everyone does.

    Sometimes that’s enough. Especially with houses, since that’s what those tools are geared for.

    The problem is that most people stop there and then act like they’re different.

    They’re not.

    The reason you don’t see many agents doing anything beyond that is simple. It costs money. And most agents hate spending money on marketing, especially when the market slows down. Ironically, that’s when lazy marketing shows up the fastest.

    “List and hope” works pretty good when the market’s hot. But when it’s slower, that often turns into “list and wait.”

    And wait.

    This didn’t come from a seminar or a guru system. It came from testing. Applying ideas. Watching how people respond. Keeping what is working and discarding what doesn’t.

    In some cases, the result is better quality leads.

    In others, it’s clarity that the market isn’t there at the price, which may not be what you want to hear. But it’s something you need to know.

    One important point. I pay for this. Sellers don’t. This is additive marketing. If it helps, great. If it doesn’t, it costs you nothing.

    That’s intentional.

    Most people like the saying “measure twice, cut once.” That works when someone else already figured it out for you. Most land deals don’t come with a blueprint. They require judgment, testing, and adjustment based on reality.

    If you’re a landowner, you have a choice. You can hire someone who promises certainty while doing the same thing as everyone else. Or you can work with someone who executes the basics correctly and is willing to invest their own money to reduce guesswork.

    This isn’t for people who want reassurance. It’s for people who want information early enough to matter.

    If this sounds like you, can it hurt anything to learn more about it?

    PS – If you know someone who may be considering a land sale, feel free to pass this along.