07.17.2024 PropStream
In today’s turbulent real estate market, agents grapple with record-high interest rates, low inventory, and elevated home prices.
This combination can seem daunting, particularly for those in the early stages of their careers. After all, getting your career off the ground with several agents fighting over the same few listings is impossible, right?
Wrong!
Unbeknownst to many agents, there’s a way to uncover hidden leads no matter the market you’re working in.
How? By niching down and farming for your own leads with the assistance of real estate data!
If analyzing real estate data to find off-market leads is new to you, we’ve got you covered. This post will explore what “niching down” means, why you should do it as an agent, and ten profitable niches to target.
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The Importance of “Niching Down”
Niching down, or specializing in a specific market or “niche” as a real estate agent, is a strategic approach that offers several benefits, such as:
Specialized Expertise
Focusing on a particular niche allows you to develop in-depth expertise and knowledge in that specific real estate market and community.
This expertise can make you a trusted authority in your chosen niche, enhancing your credibility among clients who fit into the subject category. Also, the more experience you gain in one niche, the more likely past clients are to refer you.
A referral-based business model is the ultimate goal for most agents, and niching down can bring you one step closer to this.
An Opportunity to Hyper-Target Your Marketing Efforts
Niching down also enables you to tailor your marketing efforts to a specific audience.
You can create marketing materials, content, and advertising campaigns that resonate with and address the unique needs and preferences of clientele within that niche. A targeted marketing approach to specific audiences can lead to more effective lead generation and potential conversion.
Less Competition
By specializing in one niche, you may face less competition than agents in broader markets.
Keeping an eye on a specific niche can allow you to discover leads that aren’t on other agents’ radars yet.
Personal Fulfillment
It’s no secret that you’ve chosen your career based on a need for a steady income. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still find personal fulfillment in your real estate career by helping others.
If you want to make a difference in your line of work, you may pursue niches with an overwhelming need to sell. For example, these could be people in difficult financial situations who must sell urgently to avoid detrimental effects on their credit. Or, they could be people who need to relocate or find a new property to improve their quality of life.
10 Niches to Target as a Real Estate Agent (And Why!)
You know why niching down is beneficial, but which niches can offer the greatest benefits to agents? Here are ten ideas:
1. Failed Listings
When a listing fails, the listing agent could not sell the property for the owner.
For agents on the hunt for new listings, this is a prime niche to target, as the owner has already demonstrated an interest in selling the property. Listings can fail for various reasons. However, one popular type of failed listing is expired listings. Expired listings are taken off the market when a listing agent cannot sell the property in a designated amount of time, causing it to “expire.”
| Psst! Want to learn more about the benefits of pursuing expired listings and how to find them? Check out our blog post. |
2. Pre-Foreclosure
A pre-foreclosure property is a residential property whose owner has failed to make their mortgage payments and is at risk of foreclosure.
During this stage, the homeowner typically receives notices of delinquency and impending foreclosure from their lender, a critical phase for homeowners who want to avoid damaging their credit history further.
In pre-foreclosure, the property owner may still have the opportunity to resolve the default by paying the overdue amount, selling the property, or negotiating with the lender to find a suitable solution. As an agent, if they choose to sell as their method of resolving the default, you can help them get the most out of their sale.
3. Pre-Probate
When a property is considered “pre-probate,” one of the owners on the property title has been identified as deceased.
In this case, the remaining homeowner may have no choice but to sell if the property exceeds their budget or the maintenance is too much alone. Or, if the property only had one owner, surviving family members may inherit the property.
If these surviving family members can’t afford to maintain the property or live too far from it, they may need to sell.
4. Divorcees
When a married couple purchases a property together, they often plan on putting two incomes toward it or using the space for several people.
A divorce can disrupt these plans, creating a need for the couple to sell and relocate. When you target divorcees as a niche, you may be able to get three transactions out of one lead: selling the subject property and helping each homeowner find a new property.
Additionally, working with this niche allows you to relieve some of the stress of relocating for people going through a challenging life change.
5. Senior Owners
Three criteria typically categorize a senior owner:
- Homeownership exceeding 25 years
- The presence of a senior tax credit in a property’s data
- The presence of an open reverse mortgage
A senior homeowner may be ready to move on to something else. For example, if the property has several staircases, a senior owner may have difficulty traveling up and down them. Or, fewer people may live in the home than previously, motivating the owner to downsize. Sometimes, a senior homeowner may even want to move to a different community with more to do for their age group.
There is no shortage of reasons a senior homeowner may be ready to move. Who better to help them sell their beloved home than a savvy real estate agent?
6. Tired Landlords
Landlords often aim to upgrade the types of properties they invest in over time to continue making more on their properties.
| 💡Tip: A “tired landlord” is often categorized as a homeowner who does not live at the subject property but who has held it for more than 15 years. |
Because of this, they may want to sell some of their starter properties to move on to better opportunities that will provide a higher return for the time spent managing them. Hence the name “tired landlord.”
As an agent, targeting any type of real estate investor who repeatedly buys and sells properties can provide a steady source of income, which is why tired landlords can be a great niche to specialize in.
| 💡 Pro Tip: In addition to applying our “Tired Landlord” Quick List, you can use the “Linked Properties” feature to find other properties held by the same owner. |
7. Flippers
Often called “fix and flippers” (you may recognize this niche from hit HGTV shows like Flip or Flop and Fixer Upper), flippers invest in real estate by purchasing distressed properties, fixing them up, and selling them for a profit.
Like tired landlords, flippers can be a great niche to target because they frequently buy and sell real estate. If you can become the preferred agent for several flippers, they may be able to provide a steady income for dozens of property sales and purchases per year!
8. Vacant Properties
A vacant property is a property that an owner does not live in or use for rental income.
This person may have purchased the property to rent it out and changed their plans. Or, maybe they bought a separate property and have been unsuccessful in selling the previous one. Regardless of the circumstance, owners with vacant properties may be motivated to sell if the property adds an extra expense with no benefit.
9. Vacant Land
Vacant land is the same concept as vacant properties. However, vacant land is what the name suggests: just land. Vacant land does not have a livable structure on it.
Someone may purchase vacant land with the intent of building on it. Or, they may buy the lot next to their current property so they have a larger yard.
If building plans fall through or the owner relocates, they may be left with a piece of vacant land they have no use for. Vacant land can be tricky to sell depending on where the land is located, cost, size, etc.
In this case, the owner may need the expertise of an agent to help sell the land and spread the word to their network of potential buyers!
10. Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process that allows individuals, businesses, or organizations that cannot meet their financial obligations to obtain relief from their debts. It is a formal declaration a debtor makes when they can no longer repay their creditors.
If a homeowner must declare bankruptcy, they may be unable to keep their property, motivating them to sell. When a homeowner has to sell due to filing bankruptcy, they will want to get the most out of their transaction, making the services of a real estate agent important.
Find Leads in Your Target Niche Using PropStream!
In today's dynamic and challenging real estate landscape, where interest rates remain high, inventory levels are low, and home prices continue to stay inflated, finding your niche as a real estate agent becomes not only a strategic choice but a crucial one.
Adapting and thriving in this market requires innovative approaches to uncover hidden leads that yield profitable transactions. Luckily, there’s a one-stop shop to start discovering these leads:
PropStream!
With PropStream, you can apply one of 19 Quick Lists and 120+ add-on filters to find an exact demographic in seconds.
Psst! All the niches mentioned above are available as Quick Lists within PropStream!
| Try PropStream for 7 days free and save 50 leads in your desired niche at no cost. |
About PropStream: PropStream leads the real estate data industry with the most robust, detailed datasets available. In business since 2006, PropStream has data for over 155+ million properties nationwide and hundreds of filtering combinations to help real estate professionals find the best off-market leads in the least amount of time. With built-in marketing tools, PropStream has everything motivated real estate professionals need to build marketing lists and make a pitch in one convenient location. PropStream was acquired by Stewart Title Co. in November 2021 and has been named a HousingWire Tech 100 Honoree in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
