For builders trying to get their properties in front of real estate agents, hosting events in new communities is a good way to educate agents on a neighborhood’s amenities. Agents can take a walk and connect—with the neighborhood, and with you and their peers. They can get on your email list. They can get on your app, if you have one, or a website for more information, so they can help drive buyers to your sales offices.
Happy hours and neighborhood tours are serviceable events, but builders can provide additional value to their real estate partners and deepen those relationships by hosting continuing education events.
Colorado real estate agents are required by the Division of Real Estate to earn 24 hours of continuing education every three years to maintain their state licenses. Half of those hours must include the Annual Commission Update course, but the remaining hours may cover a wide range of topics, presented by approved education providers.
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Hosting a series of events is a good way to develop regular interactions with real estate agents. One or two events each quarter allows builders to nurture relationships, while helping agents grow and satisfy the education requirement of their designations.
As you think about your marketing and lead generation plans for next year, think about how you can help agents meet these requirements. Which of your partners can provide educational material for real estate agents: vendors, title companies, lenders?
Even if builders aren’t hosting an educational event approved by the Division of Real Estate, they can still provide value to real estate agents. The percentage of agents who sell new construction is significantly lower than those who sell resale. It’s not a product that the majority of real estate agents understand, so it’s imperative to connect those roads with the builders from an educational standpoint.
When builders are educating real estate agents about their communities, they’re doing more than showcasing their homes. At a recent event hosted by Carlo Ferreira, developer of The Aurora Highlands, real estate agents wanted to know about the parks that are going to be out there, the commercial real estate, the grocery stores, public transportation. Honestly, there were a lot of questions about noise from the airport. Those are the questions that buyers will have, and onsite events give builders an opportunity to educate agents and say, “This is how we addressed it. This is what’s happening. This is what we’re doing.”
New construction should always be a conversation that a real estate broker has with his or her buyer as part of the buyer consult. So builder, the more you are in front of buyers’ agents, the more opportunities you’re going to have to sell homes.