The market for foreclosed homes represents a tremendous opportunity for agents right now. To capture market share durin the foreclosure crisis, most agents have pursued bank-owned listings. This has been one of the best opportunities for an agent to produce income over the past 12 or so months.
However, it sure seems as though there is a ton of competition among agents for these bank-owned listings.
To avoid this competition, real estate agents might consider working with home buyers and investors find and buy foreclosed homes. In other words, turn their focus to the buyer side of the foreclosure market, instead of working the listing side.
Today, most agents only see the foreclosure listing opportunity. They have completely missed the buyer or investor who wants to get a great deal on a foreclosed home.
The media attention has made a big impact on the way buyers think today. They are obviously nervous and don’t want to buy a home that will go down in value. They realize that they can avoid this problem by buying a foreclosed home below value.
Home buyers and investors alike are interested in foreclosures, but they aren’t sure where to get information. They also want help with their purrchases, but can’t always find someone to help them.
To show you what I mean, consider this excerpt from a June Fletcher column in the Wall Street Journal:
“… searching for a foreclosure can be maddeningly frustrating. Newspaper notices of foreclosure sales are disorganized; foreclosure listing Web sites charge hefty monthly fees; lenders post only minimal information on the properties they’ve taken back. And many real estate agents have little experience with these sorts of transactions, and don’t want to be bothered with them.
“That means foreclosure buyers must be willing to do more sleuthing on their own to find the best deals.”
This indicates there is a major gap in the marketplace. If you can help buyers overcome these problems, you’ll be able to dominate the foreclosure market as a buyer’s agent.
The key to having success with this opportunity is having lead-generation and conversion systems that attract foreclosure buyers and compels them to work with you. If you can capture these buyers at let everyone else keep pursuing elusive listings, you can prosper in this market.
