Real estate agents seeking to kickstart their leads, listings, referrals, and closings would be smart to consider adding geo farming to their toolbox of marketing initiatives.
Geo farming, short for “geographic farming,” is a targeted marketing strategy used by real estate agents that focuses on single neighborhoods, subdivisions, or a few blocks of a community to establish an agent’s brand locally and create a positive buzz to boost leads and closings within the targeted area.
Saving time and money through specialization
Geo farming can help real estate agents save time and money by consolidating their scattered efforts and concentrating on a community that is hot with potential home sales.
The specialization of real estate marketing in recent years has prompted a resurgence in the popularity of geo farming, which has been around a long time but is sometimes not embraced as enthusiastically by people who sell homes as it should be.
Geo farming, when correctly executed in specific, targeted neighborhoods, often results in increased listings, sales, referrals, and profits, as well as brand awareness in the community.
Here are a few things to know and expect when considering a commitment to geo farming in real estate:
By targeting a market, agents reduce travel time and costs: Why drive all over town or to adjacent counties to meet buyers and sellers? Agents can save time and money by selecting a community or neighborhood that is familiar, nearby their home or office, and ripe with potential sales by doing their research and choosing the proper place to geo farm.
Agents should conduct research on turnover rate, absorption rate, and home sales rate within a specific neighborhood to determine whether a specific geographic area is a prime spot for geo farming. They should look for areas with turnover rates above 5% annually, while areas approaching 10% annual turnover are definitely better.
On the flip side, geo farmers can anticipate spending tons of time in their preferred community, a requirement to maintain relevance and constant buzz. That’s why it’s especially important to geo farm in a familiar, convenient, and accessible neighborhood. Geo farming works best as a component of an overall marketing strategy, so especially when first delving into geo farming, it is best to tread warily.
It’s also best to avoid communities where another agent dominates. That agent likely already has an operating geo farm and it could be difficult to break into.
Expectations and rewards of geo farming
Geo farming involves a serious commitment to have a presence in a specific community, learning about its highlights and history, and meeting the people who live there (who are potential home sellers and buyers).
By concentrating resources in a specific geographic area, real estate agents who engage in geo farming make a pledge to that area that they are invested in the preservation and improvement of the community, thereby forming a beneficial bond with the community for both themselves and its residents.
