Mapping Your Market – And Some Sunshine for You!
Well, it seems that Mother Nature has decided that winter is coming, whether we want it to or not. In celebration, I’ve managed to get quite a cold and am trying to save you from having to see me in this state for a blog video.
So, I have decided to share with you again my Mapping Your Market video from July. We could all use the sunshine and reminder that, while winter is on the way, spring isn’t far behind!
As I have said before, the most frequently asked question I get during coaching and consulting calls with agents is how to get started in the luxury real estate market in their location. In my book, Selling Luxury Homes, I give specific advice based on the fact that wealthy home buyers and sellers only want to deal with experts. The best way to be perceived as an expert is to be seen as an expert in value. The best way to be seen as an expert in value is to create a two year study of your luxury market.
To become a perceived expert on markets and value in the areas you serve, first target the luxury market in which you want to work. This is easily done by familiarizing yourself with the town or county in which you want to specialize, and identifying the exact areas that have homes in your target value range.
Get your hands on a large-scale map or photograph from the appropriate department of your town hall (could be the tax assessor’s office or the engineering department). One benefit of using an assessor’s map is that it shows individual parcels in the selected area. Print this map as large as you can, place it on your office wall, and begin to construct a two-year history of your market area.
Pull up all sales history and current offering information in your chosen market. Once you have gathered all this information and placed it graphically on your wall map, then study it, digest it, and internalize it. Indeed, become “one” with it so you’re a walking, talking expert on everything that has occurred in your marketplace during the past two years.
On the map, locate all current listings and note their prices, square footage, land area, and how long each one has been on the market. Of course, you can do this on your computer using Google maps or the equivalent, but I think you’ll realize a huge benefit in seeing things blown up and taped to the wall in your office.
Plot all the sold properties that feature similar information: land area, dwelling space, and so on. Then for the whole market area of interest, note the days on market, average sales price, average list to sales price ratio, and tax assessment ratios. You’ll be able to see this data at a glance.
In the accompanying video, you can see the map we created for a hypothetical luxury market; we posted all the sales for the past two years with yellow stickers that have a letter, A through Z and the price. We have a spreadsheet with the letter code in the left column and brief information on each sale. There is a three to four page back up document for each sale.
This is how you create the history and create the ability to see your luxury market at a glance. Hope it helps and as always, send your comments and questions Jack@JackCotton.com leave them here on my blog in the comments below!
