Would you believe that studies indicate that home buyers and sellers seek information about housing before they ever consider how they might pay for it, be qualified to buy it, or understand the many options that make the purchasing phase the suitable financial solution to their specific needs?

Lucky for REALTORS®, agents are historically the first point of contact for buyers and sellers.  Loan originators with true financial expertise are the next point of contact, since few pay cash for properties.  These needs provide the perfect scenario for a loan originator to partner with the agent in an effort to expand their initial service opportunity, and provide a “team” approach to expand core services.

Regulations aside, buyers for the most part NEED financial assistance to buy houses, and REQUIRE financial guidance. Real estate agents core competencies do not include extensive training of financial services. Thus, the stage is set for a good working relationship between agents and loan originators to provide a differentiated service level for needy customers in ways that circumvent violating regulations.

Time to team up
There are some highly productive real estate agents and loan originators that have teamed up to maximize their marketing dollars. They’ve focused on kicking up the effectiveness of their ads, brochures and direct mail to provide a spectrum of services and information options for their customers.  

STRATEGIES OFFER GREATER ROI
Here are a couple of strategies that may have you revamping your present efforts for more return on the dollar:

Partnering for effective ads
Realtor® Lisa Herald in Houston, Texas caught on early how to make her advertisements more effective by coupling her ad with her lender partners on the same page.  The top two thirds of her display ads offer her information, including an 800 number offering 24/7 information on properties available in Houston.  When connected, the prospect enjoys options to speak directly to her, or opt for selections of other services that include a direct connect to a lender for a complimentary pre-purchase analysis.

Lisa pays for her portion and her lender partner pays for the bottom one third of the ad In this section, the lender partner features their own 800 number offering free reports and free prequalification services.  The page looks like one ad, but the teaming of the services provides that one stop service the consumer desires.  Lisa’s lender partner services these leads and returns them to Lisa pre-qualified and ready to buy, and vice versa.

The team approach to seminars
For years we’ve heard that First Time Buyer Seminars were a great way to get prospects, but when coupled with a team and a strong marketing program the success of this activity tripled. Realtor and author Buddy West began marketing to not only first time buyers but also servicing the over 55 market. In his book, “Targeting the Over 55 Market”, he outlines how he produced monthly seminars specifically for a niche market, selected a team of professionals featured in the program sharing their particular expertise.

It is understood that no one attempted to SELL themselves at the event, but instead offered a series of free reports, checklists and 30 minutes of free consulting to the attendees. 

This event provided an opportunity for the lender partners, attorneys, inspectors, title representatives and accountants to secure prospects on a monthly basis. The objective was target marketing, soft branding, and no pressure, just education.

Partnering offers unique options to customer
The idea of combining services to affect a unique offering to the consumer is not new, but in many cases, many real estate agents and loan originators are missing the opportunity to offer critical options to a prospect once they have secured them. 

The key is to find partners and begin exploring ways to serve clients, customers and prospects in a consistent way to sell more properties and close more loans. 

 For a free questionnaire to interview a support partner, go to: http://www.TerriMurphy.com.

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Randy  - LO manager   |2009-10-02 00:44:33 Excellent article---been trying to explain this to my agents for years now. This does it better than ever-Thanks

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