Hyper-focused Neighborhood Farming

Not all real estate agents prospect on a regular basis. For those that do, many use a multi-tiered prospecting approach, that might include:

1. Calling expireds, followed by…
2. Calling FSBOs, followed by…
3. Calling sphere of influence.

Another widely-used prospecting strategy is circle prospecting, or real estate farming. In fact, some agents focus heavily on circle prospecting as their go-to business-building strategy.

Agents who want to focus on circle prospecting, call homeowners in a certain radius around a specific address. Most often, the center of this radius is either a Just Listed or Just Sold address (“Hi, I just sold a home in your neighborhood and wanted to know if you’re interested in selling or know anybody who might want to move to this neighborhood.”). Many agents, in fact, lean on this circle prospecting strategy to become a neighborhood expert as a way of defining their business model.

To be sure, real estate geographic farming is generally a long-term, database-building strategy. Yes, those who prospect neighborhoods might run across a homeowner who is ready to sell NOW, but this is probably the exception, more than the rule. Neighborhood farming is also preferred by many agents over calling expireds. That’s because there is less competition here compared to the intense competition and urgency of prospecting expireds. Of course, the flip side is, that many expireds are often super-anxious to sell NOW.

One thing is for certain, neighborhood prospecting is a numbers game. You have to make a lot of calls in order to build your database. And, yes, most of those contacts won’t be interested in selling today, or even anytime soon. Estimates may vary, but it is generally believed that one out of eight contacts you make while circle prospecting may be ready to list and sell today. But the good news for those who farm neighborhoods is that you are building relationships and a database that can pay nice dividends over time. It just takes patience.

This is where Espresso Agent can help. Earlier this year, they introduced Everybody Answers, a powerful neighborhood search software application available with the best-in-class Espresso Agent CRM platform and dialer. Now, Espresso has taken Everybody Answers to the next level through its new real estate farming.

Search filters help agents focus on the homeowners they are most interested in reaching. So, instead of cold-calling hundreds of homes at random, Everybody Answers search filters allow you to hone in on the types of homes that best fit your business model. Or, put another way, search filters allow agents to zero in on their best possible prospects, thus minimizing wasted cold-calling time.

Espresso Agent search filters allow you to identify your prime homeowners based on any, or a combination of variables:

• Either owner-occupied homes or those that are non-occupied. The latter can be particularly lucrative for those who have vacation/second homes within their business model.
• You can look at homes by maximum or minimum price, either estimated or assessed value
• Property type is important to many agents. To that end, the search filters allow you to identify properties by the following characteristics:
  • Single family
  • Condominium
  • Multi-family
  • Mobile home
  • Land
• Espresso Agent search filters also help you to sort by:
  • Bedrooms
  • Bathrooms
  • Square footage
  • Acreage
  • Year built
  • Length of ownership (important because of capital gains considerations)

Finally, Espresso Agent search filters provide an option to “include empty values” for those properties for which a value is not available.

Check out the screenshot below to see what the search filters look like in Espresso Agent.

These search filters benefit agents a variety of ways:

• More focused prospecting time
• Opportunity to specialize in areas with snow-birds and vacation homes
• Working with niche groups, such as those in certain price ranges

We all know the adage: time is money. Espresso Agent search filters help with both-saving TIME through more-focused cold-calling, while ultimately helping you earn more MONEY in the long-run.

Learn More about Espresso Agent’s neighborhood farming options.

Doug Spak

Doug Spak joined Espresso Agent as a Content Marketing Specialist in 2016. Doug brings nearly four decades of experience as a copywriter, blogger, and screenwriter to his role with Espresso. Since joining our team, Doug has actively updated website content, published more than 300 blogs, and created countless social media posts.