subject: Home Sellers: Market To Your Own Neighborhood To Find A Buyer [print this page] If you think about it logically, and you aren't living out in the country where there are no neighbors nearby, your house is not the only house in your neighborhood. Am I right? And that means you are not the only homeowner in your neighborhood. Now that we have established those facts, the next logical conclusion is that there are other people who would like to become homeowners in your neighborhood, too. Whenever I want to find people to buy my home I try to remember that fact before I start marketing my home. I remember that there is already a willing market waiting to hear about my home for sale, and all I really have to do is find that market. I have to find the people who already want to buy my home.
So, how do I go about finding the people who already want to buy my home? Well, I start by actually talking to people in the neighborhood that I already know. Since I buy and sell a lot of homes, which means it's my business and I'm not living in all those homes so I'm not living in the neighborhood, that number of people is rather small for me. You may know a lot more people in your neighborhood than I know in the neighborhoods where I own homes.
So you start by talking to them in person or on the phone, and you ask them the simplest, most effective question of all, which is, "Do you know anyone who would like to live in our neighborhood?" I guarantee that you'll get some ideas by asking this question. Of course, there will be plenty of other information to sort through, but you are looking for the gems, the leads you can contact to sell your home.
Whenever I need to find prospects to buy my home I am eager to get started with these phone calls. If you find it intimidating, just remember that you are doing a job and you will get paid for doing this job. Meaning, the more effort you put into finding a buyer, the sooner you'll get to the closing table and get a proceeds check on the sale of your home.
If the whole idea of calling people and chatting about your home for sale is just not your cup of tea, delegate the project to your real estate agent and follow up on her results. As an alternative, or as another marketing activity in conjunction with the phone calls, give some thought to sending out postcards to your whole neighborhood instead. I find postcards to be a very effective method to get the attention of neighbors when I want to find people to buy my home.
