A big part of being a real estate agent is helping people, and there's nothing more rewarding than helping people who are experiencing a tough time.
There are opportunities to help people in tough situations all the time. Divorced homes are no different. Though it can be a sad or even messy niche a lot of the time, rest assured these people need you.
That said, it can be profitable and consistent as a niche if you know how to approach it.
According to government statistics, 1,200,000 couples get divorced each year.
These couples need help and usually have to sell their home.
In fact, a whopping 61 percent of all divorcees end up listing their home for sale.
That's 732,000 homes that go on the market each year. In every city, 3.6 percent of the population in each city gets a divorce each year.
So if 61 percent of them sell, that's a big piece of the pie. For example, an area with a population of 50,000 people will have about 108 divorces list their home each year.
The best part is that there is very little competition for this niche, and you could list a lot of houses.
The worst part is, it's a bad time for these folks, and they don't always WANT to sell.
But they still have to to get everything over with, and it's up to us to make sure they don't succumb to investors or lose money making a fast sale.
These will be some of the most motivated sellers that you encounter.
Since the market has gone up, they're getting more equity in their home. In other words, people who didn’t have the equity to sell their home previously can sell it and even make a profit.
But this isn't any news that money is one of the main driving forces between couples getting a divorce.
They go out at and price their home at appraised value.
Then they try to get it sold, as fast as they can, to finally put an end to it all.
Some of them are even ordered by the courts to sell, and many times there's a time limit on how long they have to get it sold - good news for you.
If you get involved and offer to help in the beginning, you should get that listing almost every time.
And, if you do a great job and help them, it's the type of thing that's going to get you a ton of referrals down the road.
So, how do you get these listings?
- Find the addresses online and pursue the leads.
- Work with divorce attorneys and get their referrals.
The best way to find the addresses is to go to your county's Clerk of Court website and individually pull each of them up.
Just search "your county" Clerk of Court on Google and find the list from there.
Remember, 61 percent of the leads you get are going to end up listing their home.
So, if you pull 20 of them, 12 of the families will be listing their homes. That's why it's so important to get to them first and early in the process.
That's going to set yourself up to be the first person they call when they are ready to list their house.
Do something to demonstrate your value. You want to be an asset for them.
Ask them if they have any questions about anything on their home, the market or anything involving real estate.
You can also work with an attorney.
Working with an attorney is more efficient and builds a quicker and stronger rapport with the owners than reaching out cold. It starts by reaching out to divorce and family lawyers in your area.
One of our members, Sharon, has won listings and leads like this:
"Yeah, actually I have a pretty awesome, website that I connect with local businesses and vendors, so in exchange for him helping me promote my business, I’m doing the same for him too. So, he’s on my website for a referral for family practice," she said. "And right now I have, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven … seven listings on my board, and three are from the book and divorce lawyer."
Just leave something of value and with your information at these attorneys office.
This can be your book, a brochure, pamphlet or any marketing material that you use. It works even better if you brand yourself as someone “who specializes in helping divorced couples in bad situations.”
If they don’t reach out to you, get in touch with the attorney and see if anyone needs their home sold. He or she could give their information to you but will have to ask the owners if they are ok with it.
Offer to trade services or even pay the attorney outright for recommendations.
If an attorney recommends you to clients as the specialist who will sell the home, you have a high chance of winning that listing.
You can target lenders who work with divorcees the same way.
Go into these offices with an open mind and the right intentions. Talk to the lender or lawyer, and treat them like the business partner you hope they will be.
