Real Estate Elevated: Do You Need a Website for Your REI Business?

A lot of new real estate investors and Real Estate Elevated students think that they won’t need a website to have a successful house flipping business. They think that house flipping is just as simple as finding leads, talking to motivated sellers, buying flip houses, rehabbing them, and selling them. In a way, they’re right—it really is that simple. But, on the other hand, each of those steps can be made a lot easier when you have an active online presence. A website can do a lot for your real estate investing business that you may not have thought of yet.

Save Money on Marketing Materials

Without a website, you won’t have any way to show potential buyers your properties without physically taking them to those properties. Yes, you could design and print a bunch of brochures and flyers that tell people about different houses, but you’ll have to do that for every single property that you sell, and those costs can add up really quickly.

Not only that, but consider that you never know if your brochures are going to be effective marketing or not. You could leave them in a plastic container with a “Take One” sign in front of one of your flip properties, or you could hand them out at open houses. But you never know when a rainstorm will drench the brochures you leave or when neighborhood kids will decide to run off with a handful of them. Instead, why not just include a link to your website on your “For Sale” sign. Then people can visit your site on their phones when they see your sign and easily see what you have to offer.

Help Buyers and Sellers 24 Hours a Day

A website can also help motivated sellers and home buyers get to know your business. With a professional website, you can answer a lot of their questions at any time of the day or night. As they research the possibility of a short sale, motivated sellers can get a better understanding through your site of what you can offer them. And buyers in the market for a new home in your area can easily check out your listings, as well.

Improve Your Lead Generation

Not all leads are found by driving around looking for distressed properties. In fact, with a search engine–optimized website and an active presence on social media, you might be surprised at just how many motivated sellers find you and approach you instead of the other way around.

When people are in financial distress, they want to find the best way to get out of it as soon as possible. Short sales help people avoid going into foreclosure, and selling for cash is a great way for them to get into a better living situation that will fit their current financial needs. These people often start their search online, and they use a lot of the same keywords. With a little bit of keyword research, you can populate the content of your site’s blog with those keywords and attract more motivated sellers (and buyers) to your site.

So yes, you definitely need a website for your real estate investing business. It won’t do all of the work for you, but it can improve your lead generation efforts and help you buy and sell more flip houses with less work. Plus, it’s never been easier to set up a professional-looking, functional website for your real estate business. Check out how easy it can be to create your website and improve your business today.

For more information about real estate investing, visit Real Estate Elevated's BiggerPockets blog.