Why Real Estate Agents Should Be Using LinkedIn in 2019

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There are a variety of social platforms that are commonly used by real estate agents today. Some of the most notable being Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In a competitive industry, these networking channels are incredibly important because they can help drive traffic back to your website. One lead generation tool that is frequently overlooked by real estate agents is LinkedIn. Continue reading and discover a few reasons why LinkedIn needs to be part of every real estate agent’s marketing strategy in 2019.

Establishes your credibility

A strong LinkedIn presence will help build both your brand and credibility. It is an excellent platform for you to share your background, your skills, and details about your company. It is important to remember that buyers and sellers want reassurance before they hire you as an agent. If you are looking for a place to share your real estate narrative, LinkedIn is one of the best platforms available for establishing professional credibility.

Networking with potential clients

Many people are under the misconception that LinkedIn is only for job hunters or businesses looking to hire. This is certainly not the case. LinkedIn is excellent for networking in real estate, as it can be used as an effective tool to connect an agent with leads. The more people you can connect with, the more business you are likely to do as a result.

Sharing updates

Similar to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn allows users to post a variety of relevant content. Real estate agents can use LinkedIn to share blog posts, photos, videos, news articles, etc. Virtually anything you think your audiences would be interested in can be shared on your LinkedIn page. Many agents use their LinkedIn page to share their home listings to reach more people.

HUD Foreclosures

HUD foreclosures and VA Foreclosures are some of the best homes to buy when price is part of the equation. As with most Americans, price is always a concern. If not buying the same house for less, why not buy more house for the same dollar invested? When looking for a good deal it is hard to do better than the VA or HUD foreclosures market. The simple truth is that there are just more VA and HUD homes on the market, as they represent such a large number of mortgages that are generated each year. This translates into more foreclosures just by the magnitude of difference between all others comparing to the two largest.

The two largest also being government owned and operated means that they have less time to wait to make money back on the home. The FHA is especially known for selling HUD homes for less than the average sales price in a given area. FHA foreclosures represent a fraction of HUD but they are still a significant number of homes and both should be considered.

VA (Veterans Administration) and HUD (Housing and Urban Development) have different and unique opportunities for the buyer. Both are often forgiven for the local taxes normally associated with the purchase of a home (this is on a county by county basis). Be sure to ask the local title company or escrow company to look into it for you before closing as this is often missed due to their are not used to dealing with the 2 to 3 percent of the market that VA and HUD foreclosures represent.

Foreclosure Listings Increasing

As the market settled after the mortgage meltdown foreclosure listings also settled and fewer homes were on the market with a placard reading “Bank Foreclosure” in big red lettering. This was a good thing for the entire real estate market. Having an abundance of foreclosures brings the entire market down and it makes it harder for home owners, who would like to move, to get the appropriate price for their home as a similar home down the same street was sold for substantially less and the appraiser is using the foreclosure as a comparable sale.

This is just one of the problems when there are too many foreclosure listings in any area. Another issue is the television set that sits in everyone’s living room harping about the price of homes based on the number of foreclosures and this constant barrage of negative information makes most people sit on the sidelines waiting for the market to either implode completely or to correct itself. Meanwhile while they wait, others are buying foreclosure listings and making great investments.

Whatever the reason, a market can only handle so many foreclosure listings at any given time. The more foreclosures, the lower the market gets and this is a lesson the banks that were foreclosing and selling off realized too late. The market and their investments would have been better off if there had not been a rush to divest themselves of the toxic assets made more toxic by their own actions.