1. FALL CONTENT TO ATTRACT BUYERS
“What you Need to Know About Buying a Home in [Your Town] This Fall”
As we mentioned in our summer topic e-book, this one can (and should) be used at the beginning of each season.
So, what do your readers need to know about buying a home (in your town) during fall? There’s lots to talk about right now:
- Explain what’s happening in the real estate market nationwide and then narrow the focus to how your local market compares (less competition, moderating prices, better inventory etc.). We found a brilliant example of a post like this from Sammamish Mortgage in Bellevue, WA.
- Hand-in-hand with the aforementioned or a standalone piece, writing the ubiquitous “Is now a good time to buy a home?” post is a good idea. Because, well, now IS a good time to buy a home. Rates aren’t about to head south for a while and waiting until next spring is silly, considering rates may just keep climbing between now and then. In fact, check out this very cool infographic from Leonardi Real Estate in Folsom, CA.
- Prepare your buyers for the fall market by letting them know that it moves a bit quicker than the real estate market in other seasons. They’ll need to be pre-approved, of course.
But remind them not to allow the upcoming holidays to distract them from responding quickly to requests for documents from the lender and their real estate team.
Real estate investor Than Merrill has an excellent fall market walk-through on his website. - November is the month in which we celebrate our veterans, so posts about the wonders of the VA loan are always welcome.
There are several topics you can cover throughout the month, such as a description of the program, how to get a VA-backed loan, the VA appraisal process and how to deal with a low appraisal (the process is different with the VA). Notice how this agent took the time to get local veteran statistics.
Don’t underestimate how popular VA loan posts are. According to the government, fewer than 11 percent of the country’s 22 million veterans use the benefit. When asked why (you won’t believe this one) they said they were unaware that they had a home loan benefit.
Sadly, many surviving spouses aren’t aware that they, too, may qualify for the loan. So you have lots of topics to cover during Veteran’s Month. Notice how this agent took the time to get local veteran statistics. - Did you catch that September 2017 Trulia starter home study? It found that the inventory of starter homes increases 7 percent from October to December each year. Not a huge boost but compared to what buyers found in spring and summer, it’s cause for optimism.
2. FALL CONTENT TO ATTRACT SELLERS
“What you Need to Know about Selling your Home in [your town] this Fall”
What’s going on with home prices in your area? That’s the burning question that is top-of-mind with potential home sellers.
So, just as you did for buyers, construct an awesome blog post about how the market is affecting home sellers, especially their bottom line.
Take a look at the local economy as well. Is anything in the works that may impact the market? How is the local job scene? New jobs bring in new residents so if companies choose your city to settle, let your potential sellers know.
We like how Seattle-area managing broker Jim Badgley took the time to explain the stats he posts, making his real estate market update user-friendly and ultra-hyper-local.
Other items of interest to local sellers in fall include:
- Fall ends only four days before Christmas, so write a post about holiday décor and its role in staging the home.
- Urge potential sellers to fix anything that might rear its ugly head during fall showings. This includes clearing out clogged gutters, servicing the HVAC system, cutting back dead tree branches (especially any that overhang walkways).
- Curb appeal is a bit more challenging in fall. Yards become high-maintenance so they should plan on hiring someone (if they won’t do it themselves) to rake leaves and get rid of dying annuals on an ongoing basis. Check out Stephen FitzMaurice’s “Portland Fall Lawn Care and Staging Guide.” Notice the frequent use of local keywords – very well done!
- Fall home showing tips. With the weather cooling, homes are buckled up tighter than during summer, so they tend to get stuffy. Discuss ways to keep down odors (changing air filters, allowing air to circulate around wet footwear in the mud room so they dry out faster and are less stinky, etc.)
- Remind them to light up the home as much as possible and regulate the air temperature to make it so cozy that potential buyers won’t want to leave.
Although we see numerous opportunities to hyper-localize this post, Twin Cities agent Joe Houghton has the general idea.
PLEASE sprinkle local keywords throughout these posts – they’re pretty useless without them.
3. COMMUNITY CONTENT
How is fall celebrated in your community? Folks in Albuquerque, for instance, look forward all year to the International Balloon Fiesta®, while Sarasota, FL residents can look forward to a full slate of festivals, from the Chalk Festival and Art Festival to the Venice Blues Festival, RaceFest and more.
These are the posts that may be shared the most by your Facebook friends so ensure they’re chalk full of information and well-written.
Still stuck for ideas? Find inspiration from your colleagues in other markets, like Bainbridge Island’s Jen Pells and Minnesota Property Group’s Lindy Medeiros.
Then, there’s Halloween and most communities have something spooky to do, whether it’s haunted houses or costume parties at local watering holes. Or, how about a Netflix spooky-movie binge session suggestion list? Check out Realty Billings’ list with a real estate twist.
Or, choose a month, look up the various smaller holidays designated to the month and post away. For instance, navigate to HolidayInsights.com and you’ll see that October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cookie Month, National Vegetarian Month and more.
Use the ones you like best and create an entire local post around them (like this one from Anchorage, Alaska’s Unity Home Group).
Or, write one post for each. For instance, use Adopt a Shelter Dog Month post to mention various shelters and rescues in your community.
Celebrate National Vegetarian Month by reviewing the vegetarian eateries in the area (Yelpers are a huge help with these posts).
By the way, posts about planning and preparing for holiday travel are popular in fall. To grandmother’s house we go isn’t just a line from a song!
Then, there is the old standby “Best places” in your town to (or nearby):
- Leaf peep
- Get a pumpkin
- Take out-of-town guests
- Pick your own fall fruits and vegetables
- Hike
- Navigate a corn maze
- Take a hayride
- Play touch football
- Take kids trick-or-treating
- Find a creepy haunted attraction
- Dine out on Thanksgiving
- Make Christmas brunch/dinner reservations
- Shop for your holiday take-out dinner
- Best fall farmers markets
4. HOMEOWNER TOPICS
Naturally, the elephant in the room in fall is Thanksgiving and, with it, comes a wealth of topics (some mentioned previously).
- Tips on Thanksgiving food safety (here’s one we wrote)
- List of Thanksgiving apps (Bon Apetit has one, as well as Food Network, Butterball and Epicurious). There are also timer and to-do list apps that will come in handy for the chef.
- What to do after the Thanksgiving feast in (your town).
Landscaping and gardening topics remain popular, especially in early and late fall. Growing late-season vegetables, putting the garden to sleep for the winter, lawn care and other topics are always easy to localize and share-worthy social media content.
To keep the posts local, check your county’s cooperative extension website. You’ll find a directory for each state online at gardenologist.org.
Additional fall blog topic ideas for homeowners include:
- Anything having to do with home energy efficiency – how to save money on heating a home, HVAC maintenance tips, how to find home air leaks.
- Basic fall home maintenance chores.
- Hurricane season lasts until the end of November so if your area is in hurricane territory offer helpful posts on disaster preparedness, how to ensure that they’re adequately covered insurance-wise, how to deal with damage to their homes, what to do with pets before a disaster and how to apply for disaster assistance (try to keep all of them as local as possible).
5. [YOUR TOWN] FALL BUCKET LIST
What is special about where you live when fall rolls around?
Chance are good that what you find spectacular other residents do as well. “Why we Love [name of city] in Fall” hooks your brand to your location in a way that no other agent can.
Get some ideas from the pros who have written on this topic for their town or city. This one from Boston Magazine gets the “location, location, location” stuff covered in each of the events mentioned.
We pointed out this one in the spring e-book and recommend it again for those seeking inspiration. Then, take a look at the gorgeous photos in “Reasons to Love Fall in Whistler”, from Whistler Real Estate.
Finally, while we love 5 Reasons To Visit Asheville This Fall from Asheville, NC agent Jon Corbin, we feel he could’ve gone further in localizing it. For instance, he lists taking a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway among his favorite fall activities.
“It’s not a raceway, so be prepared for slow drivers and scenic picturesque stops,” he cautions.
But, as this particular section is quite short, he has lots of space to give us more here. For instance, we’d like to learn more about those “stops” he mentions. Which does he recommend and why?
Remember, not everyone who reads your blog is a local and even locals love to learn new things about the area. Establish yourself firmly in the readers’ minds as the local expert by taking the extra step in your descriptions.
Here, Jon, we FIFY:
Do pack a picnic before you leave home in Asheville and plan on consuming it at Milepost 451.2, better known as Waterrock Knob. At 5,719-feet elevation, you’ll find prime picnic spots with views that will knock your socks off.
Then, stretch your legs after lunch with a 1.2-mile (round-trip) trek to the summit.
As you can see, there is no shortage of hyperlocal, fall real estate blog topics. Share, my friend.
Share those lead-generating posts far and wide.
At Easy Agent PRO our goal is to create the best tools, training, and resources to help real estate agents be successful and experience the life and opportunity that brought them into the business. If you’re looking for a website, be sure to check out our LeadSites – the all-in-one website that helps agent market online and generate leads through Facebook, organic traffic, and targeted activities.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this ebook and we wish you every success on your blogging this fall!
Easy Agent PRO