What to Do in the First Year

Find Your Niche

You can’t be all things to all people. After a year of working in real estate sales, you might find that you really like working with a particular segment of your market or that the bulk of your referrals are coming from a particular niche. You may realize that in order to expand your client base and grow your sales, you need to focus on the small, well-defined segment that’s responsible for most of your sales.

If you’re serious about pursuing a particular niche, there might be opportunities to pursue additional training and become designated or certified in that niche. See “ Should You Get Additional Training and Professional Certifications? ”

If you don’t already know what that niche should be, based on your personal experiences or interests, then the following niche markets may interest you:

• Seniors. People over age 50 represent 28 percent of the population, but control 75 percent of the country’s wealth.

• First-Time Homebuyers. New buyers represent 40 percent of all home sales, according to The 2003 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.

• Multicultural Buyers. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that minorities will comprise nearly half of the U.S. population by 2050.

• Luxury-Home Buyers. In the first quarter of 2004, 7 percent of all U.S. homes sold for more than $500,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Baby Boomers. This is the largest generation in the country’s history. Born between 1946 and 1964, it numbers roughly 81 million people, including some 40 million household heads.

• Generation X. The country’s 44 million Gen-Xers, now in their mid-20s to early 30s, are emerging as the next major homebuying group. They're affluent and educated, and they buy homes at an earlier age than the boomers did.

• Internet-Empowered Consumers. The 2004 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Technology Impact Survey Report shows that, increasingly, buyers and sellers are looking to the Internet as their primary source of information.

• FSBOs. According to The 2003 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 46 percent of FSBOs cite commission cost as their primary reason for not using a real estate salesperson. If you can convince this segment of buyers and sellers of your value proposition, you can tap this FSBO market and make it a lucrative niche.

These are only a few of the major niches possible in real estate. You can decide that your particular niche is a small town or neighborhood. You might want to target golfers because you love golf. Or you may want to target soccer moms. The more creative you are in establishing a niche, the more likely that you will not have as much competition as you would in the more established niches.

Your niche should be large enough to provide a strong pipeline of business but small enough for you to have a big presence. It should relate to you personally in some way, although you don't have to be a member of your own niche group. Experts recommend that new practitioners focus on one niche early in their careers.

Additional Reading:
· How I Found My Niche , April 2004