Real Estate Marketing Means Master Your Niche

When starting your real estate website you may start with the mindset that you will cover everything about real estate in your city. This is a big goal and if there are no true competitors in your area it may be one that you can easily achieve. When there is competition online you can quickly rise to the top of the search engines when you choose to dominate a niche. In fact choosing to dominate a smaller segment online will often get you more business.

Choosing a Niche

The wonderful part about real estate is it allows you the opportunity to specialize. Many real estate agents are fearful of specialization, but in reality it will actually bring your more business. After all, you wouldn’t go to a Dr. who was a brain surgeon, foot doctor, and a dermatologist would you? No! You go to a Dr. who is a specialist because they can help you solve a specific problem because that is all they deal with on a daily basis.

Before you choose a niche, take the time to think about which aspect of real estate you are most passionate about. This may go against what others tell you in your office, but think deeply about what you really enjoy and you will be able to really dominate when you feel most strongly about a particular area of real estate.

Let your Real Estate Marketing Shine in a Niche

Dominating a niche means taking the time to absolutely master it. This may be the most difficult part because you may already be close to absolute mastery. The aspects that seem second nature to you are what people are looking for so you will have to dig deep and think back to a time before you knew anything about the niche.

For example, when you are in an area that has land, you probably know every aspect about how the land can be used, but in reality most people have no idea what they are doing when it comes to purchase raw land. For example:

Land Use – Write about the many uses of raw land in your area. There may be some parts that are good for farming and some that would be better for development. Write about the different uses of land in the many parts of your city.
Utilities – Some people are unaware that utilities and services may not have been provided to some parcels. Share the aspect that you can add value to a parcel by bringing utilities to it. Give them an idea of what that process is like and how you can make it easier.
Evaluation – Land has many different inspections that traditional homes and condos. Share with your visitors how soil or wells can be tested. Let them know that they may even want their land surveyed to verify the lot lines.
Remember you are the expert, so share that expertise online. What is obvious to you is not obvious to many. When you share your expertise and your passion it will come to life in your writing.

Concentrating your writing efforts on a particular niche will not only help your visitors see that you are an expert; it will also help the search engines see that you are an expert. When you take the time to write 20+ pages, just about land then the search engines will identify you as a local expert and start sending traffic your way. It will take a bit of time, but it will be well worth your marketing efforts.

Jamey Bridges is one of the coaches and founders of the Online Real Estate Success program. The Online Real Estate Success systems allow real estate professionals to discover the techniques they need to succeed with their online marketing efforts.

All aspects of real estate marketing online [http://www.OnlineRealEstateSuccess.com] and conversion are covered from Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click to Social Networking. Training programs are designed to help agents undestand what is needed, apply the methods, and see results each and every month. He and his twin brother even developed a free ebook so real estate professionals can get started in the world of online marketing quickly.

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Real Estate Submarkets and Their Characteristics

The Jamaica real estate submarket

The general market for goods and service is made up of many submarkets. When left free to operate without private or governmental interference, each submarket and the general market as a whole should theoretically regulate itself by the laws of supply and demand.

One of the submarkets of the general market for goods and service is the Jamaica real estate market. While the real estate market differs in a number of distinctive ways from other markets, it acts much like all markets with respect to changes in supply and demand, but with a slower response time. It has the appearance of being a single, simple entity when in fact the real estate market is itself composed of many complex sub markets. This would include Jamaica homes for rent as well. This would be known as a parent category.

Real estate is a commodity just as wheat, gold and sugar. By combining the other factors of production with land we can produce wheat, gold and sugar or buildings.

Major sub markets of Jamaica Real Estate
Most authorities agree that the five major submarkets of Jamaican real estate are:
1. Residential homes for rent in Jamaica;
2. Commercial;
3. Industrial;
4. Agricultural;
5. Governmental and special – purpose properties

Each of these five categories is further divided into minor submarkets. For example, “residential” as a major submarket can itself be divided into minor submarkets as follows:
1. Urban;
2. Suburban; and
3. Rural

Each of the minor submarkets can be divided further into single-family and multifamily, which could then each be classified as owner-occupied and rental. The point is what appears to be one big, but simple real estate market is in reality, a complex structure of many individual submarkets, each of which contributes to the overall market.

The characteristics of the real estate market
If the real estate market were allowed to operate without any interference or restraint whatsoever, each person could use his or her property in any way that would produce the greatest return. This could result in one person’s use of Jamaican property causing a loss in value to another person’s property. Obviously, we cannot permit land to be used for whatever purpose the owner thinks best for his or her private gain.

For example, if you lived in a very fashionable up-market residential subdivision and your neighbor bought two undeveloped lots adjoining your property for use as a pig farm or for a paper mill with its offensive odors, the social costs to you and the rest of the subdivision would far outweigh the private gain to your neighbor. Therefore, the real estate market cannot be permitted to operate free of all controls and restraints.

Listed below are five primary characteristics affecting ownership and sale that set real estate apart from other markets.
1. The market is local in nature; the product is immoveable.
2. It is slow to respond to change in supply and demand.
3. There is relative permanence of improvements; land is durable and fixed in location.
4. The market is not organized and is without central control; there is no standard product and no central information.
5. Governmental controls influence the market through zoning, building codes, taxes, etc

Local in Nature – The market for real estate is uncommonly local in nature compared with other markets. The reason, of course, is that land and the improvements thereon are immoveable. For example, we cannot transport sugar cane lands from Westmoreland to Kingston. If we were in the market for tomatoes we could haul our produce to the place where demand might be greatest. However, despite the demand for housing in Area A, we cannot produce an apartment complex or single-family subdivisions on land located in Area B and take it to where there is greater demand.

Slow Response – The property market is unusually slow to respond to changes in supply and demand. Very often the number of houses (supply) in an area begins to fall behind the demand, however, since the design, land acquisition, site preparation and construction phases of real estate are so time consuming by the time demand responds the market becomes flooded. The equilibrium between supply and demand is thus destroyed because the supply of the town houses exceeds the demand at the time.

Permanence of improvements – The characteristic referred to as permanence of improvements is also closely related to the above characteristics. The typical bungalow-housing unit has a long economic life compared to other commodities. Once we have built a block of offices we are stuck with it when perhaps we could have invested our time and money in a hotel. Therefore, the permanence of the improvements created eliminates many alternatives available to markets.

Decentralized nature – Another characteristic of the real estate market is the lack of a single, central exchange for dealing with the real estate island wide. If one wishes to buy 100 shares in General Motors, California, the product will be the same as General Motors, Florida. However, if one wishes to buy 100 hectares of beachfront property in Westmoreland, Jamaica the product will be different in many respects from beachfront property in Portland. This focuses the attention on the two main reasons why there is not a central exchange for real estate.

First, the product cannot be standardized. No two tracts of land are the same. Even two lots side by side on a street have different geographical locations on this earth. This concept is referred to as heterogeneity or non-homogeneity.

Second, no central data bank or information source tells about all real property in Jamaica. Also, one needs to be careful when using information about properties in one area to assess properties in another. If one wants to know about real property in any location, it is best to go to that particular place and seek local information.

Governmental Controls – The fifth and last of the primary characteristics of the real estate market, governmental controls, plays an inordinately important role when compared to other markets. Most people are familiar with direct controls such as zoning and building codes which govern construction and use of property.

Governments also exercise indirect controls, such as the monetary policies of Central Government. For example, if Government reduces the overall money supply to slow the inflation rate, higher rates for mortgage bans turn, drives many potential buyers out of the real estate market in Jamaica. This does impact heavily on the drafting of a rent agreement in Jamaica.

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