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Can SMS Real Estate Marketing Attract more Home Buyers?

J. Lamar Ferren
3 min read
Can SMS Real Estate Marketing Attract more Home Buyers?

SMS Real Estate Marketing is a creative way of marketing a home through the use of text messaging. Statistics show that billions of text messages are sent per month.

In fact, the number of text messages sent from a cell phone can easily out number the amount of phone calls made in a single month.

With the advancement of technology and the increase in the use of text messaging, this can be an incredible way to attract more buyers. Let’s talk about how this process works and the concept behind why it does.

SMS stands for Short Message Service and while you don’t have much of a platform to give your potential buyers all the details of the home, you can achieve great success by giving them enough to wet their tongue and weeding out the people that just won’t be interested.

It all begins with “The Sign”

This method begins by placing a “For Sale” sign in the yard of the property you’re trying to sell and giving the buyer the opportunity to text you for more details. So the sign will say something like:

Gorgeous Home For Sale
Call JL at 555-555-5555
or
TEXT 12345 to 54321
For Details & Pics

You can say whatever you want, but the concept is to get them to text for more information. If you want to completely leave off your phone number, then you can do that as well. However, I’d want to go after the people who may not have text messaging (yes these people do still exist) and even those people who may not be driving around with a cell phone handy.

Note that 12345 would be the code assigned to your property. 54321 would be like the hub that has all the details on that home.

If you have multiple properties, then you can have multiple codes all going to 54321.

What happens when the buyer sends the text?

As soon as the buyer sends the text, they get an immediate response. They get the major details and pictures that might peak their interest:

  • Number of Bedrooms
  • Number of Bathrooms
  • Price of the Home
  • Gas or Electric Heating
  • Picture of the Kitchen
  • Picture of the Fenced Backyard
  • Picture of the Fireplace
  • Your contact info (most important)
  • etc…

As they scroll through their cell phone, they’ll be able to make a decision on whether or not they’re interested based on the details and pictures you placed in there for them.

What if they don’t call me?

If they don’t call you, then it could be for a couple of reasons:

  • Not Interested
  • Price Too High
  • They had to get going
  • They will call later because they’re still out house hunting
  • etc…

What can you do to find out the real reason?

Call them up! The great thing about this method is that you will have their phone number when they text, you. So you can easily call them up and say, “Hey I was checking my messages and noticed you checked out my property on 123 Whatever Lane. What did you think of the home?”

Then they will tell you how they felt about it. At that point you can schedule an open house if they’re interested, or possibly even negotiation.

Why I like the concept of SMS Real Estate Marketing

I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried SMS Real Estate Marketing, but I’ve heard many positive results from others. Not only that, but I see it as something to seriously consider given, the ease of use through something as easy as text messaging. Also, its something my “competition” is most likely not doing. Not only that, but when I look at this, I can see the potential to use your Text Code with other forms of advertising, such as newspapers, flyers, social networking sites like twitter (shhh…new breed secret), etc.

Also, let’s just look at the fact that if you’re a wholesale investor and you got buyers coming to you about a home…then come to find out they’re not interested…

Wouldn’t it make sense to add them to your buyer’s list and find them exactly what they want?

Think about all the potential buyers you miss out on that just drive buy your home and don’t stop because they’re just not interested…

The thing I like about this method is that your property details stick with the buyer until they delete the message. So if they need time to think about it, then they don’t have to worry about recalling the details from memory. They can just pull up the text and decide if its right for them or not.

What do you think about SMS Real Estate Marketing? Have you ever used it? What type of success have you had with it?

To Our Success,

J. Lamar Ferren
“New Breed” Investor

ps. There are companies that manage this service for you. Just google “sms real estate marketing” or mobile marketing and you can compare the prices and services.

Photo: nate steiner

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.