How to Find Your Niche in Real Estate
When you’re a real estate professional, it’s incredibly competitive. You have to find a way to differentiate yourself, but that’s often easier said than done. A good way to set yourself apart is to find a niche that you specialize in.
Some agents are afraid of identifying a niche because they feel like it will limit them. The reality is that with a niche, you’re going to save time and money on your marketing because it will be more targeted. You’re also going to get a better return on your investment when you focus on a specific niche rather than trying to cast a wide net and target everyone.
The following are some things to consider to find your niche in real estate.
General Ideas
There are some ideas you can use as you’re getting started to find your niche. A few of the options and broad categories that your niche could fall into include:
First-Time Buyers
First-time homebuyers often have a lot of enthusiasm but may also need more guidance than more experienced buyers. When you work with first-time buyers you become a true advisor to them, and you’ll give them help through every step of the process.
Renters
You don’t always have to work with buyers when you’re a real estate agent. You can also work with renters, but interestingly, when you go with this option, those renters may ultimately turn into buyers, and they might come back to you when it’s that time for them.
Specific Property Types
There are a lot of different types of property you can specialize in. For example, maybe you specialize in commercial property or perhaps rural homes and farms. You can specialize in land sales, or you can sell business buildings.
Geographical Area
When you’re a real estate professional and you deep dive into one geographical area or neighborhood, it’s known as farming it. Your farm might be one particular neighborhood or subdivision that you get to know inside and out so that you are the go-to expert for buyers and sellers who live there.
Budget
You could work with one type of client based on their budget. Maybe you want to work with entry buyers on the low end, or you want to specialize in luxury properties. There are pros and cons to both. With entry buyers, you might be able to do more volume, while luxury properties are obviously going to mean each sale is higher-value.
Internet Buyers
A particularly interesting niche for a lot of agents right now is the internet buyer. The past year has seen tremendous growth in buyers who want to go through most if not all of the buying process online, but they may still need someone to guide them. There are also people who are relocating and can’t do the buying process in person, so they would depend on you to be their eyes and ears on the ground.
Fixer-Uppers
If you specialize in buyers who want fixer-uppers, you can be the person who finds them great deals with a lot of potential. You might work with people who are going to move into the homes, but also investors.
How Do You Find the Niche That’s Right for You?
The best place to start as far as identifying your personal niche is to think about what you love. What’s your favorite part of real estate and how can you turn that into your niche?
Once you do that, start to delve into the ways you can differentiate yourself. For example, maybe you work toward professional designations that are a good fit for your niche.
You might also get out and about in the community you’re specializing in. Don’t just get to know residents, but the business owners as well.
When you identify your niche and start working on it, it’s something that you’re always building on and getting better at. It also gives you a focus for your brand so you can truly stand out from other agents. You’re going to get to know clients and potential clients on a deeper level, so you can anticipate all of their needs and offer them specialization that they can’t get from anyone else.