Real Estate Lead Generations Strategies for Out-Of-State Buyers

For fifteen years, the median distance people moved from their previous home was between 10-15 miles. Last year, that quadrupled to nearly 50 miles according to the National Association of Realtors.

People are moving more and moving further away. As a brokerage or as a single agent, this impacts real estate marketing and lead generation strategies in various ways.

CINC touched base with two real estate experts, Terry Peterson, Charleston-based owner of Teamwork Realty, and Maryland-based Nick Waldner, owner of Waldner Winters Team, to see how they navigate an increasingly mobile market.

Charleston, South Carolina Indie Broker's Real Estate Lead Generation Strategies for Out-of-State Buyers

CINC client Terry Peterson and his wife Aimee launched their own brokerage, Teamwork Realty in March of 2021 in Charleston, South Carolina. 

When Teamwork Realty was launched, it was just seven agents from their team.  In less than 2 years, they have grown to 70+ agents.

Here is what Terry recently had to say with us about about how he approaches winning over out-of-town buyers:

"When we first started, I had to dive deep to find every neighborhood name in Charleston. I spent a lot of time figuring out marketing and advertising for individual neighborhoods because most of our customer base was in Charleston, moving from one house to another. We had to do very targeted marketing.

I remember my first conversations with CINC about how many small touchpoints I could provide to advertise to real estate buyers and sellers. That was helpful because more specific marketing tends to be cheaper; we didn't pay much to advertise against the competition, just neighborhood names.

An influx of out-of-state buyers have simplified our efforts. About half of our client base is out of state, looking to move to Charleston.  We've simplified our marketing by simply pushing the beaches, downtown, or other major areas. Our marketing has become more macro-level.

If I were in a market that people are moving away from, where there is still steady real estate, I would return to my original marketing strategy. I would make sure to have a list of all the different neighborhoods and advertise them for a low cost. 

Most of our agents have grown accustomed to working with remote clients. The first question out of the gate is: Where are you coming from? What state? What town are you in?

When one of our agents finds out someone is moving from out of state, he/she builds a mini-campaign about the client's area of interest. The agent finds events that are happening and starts to send them in a drip to a lead. The agent may even go as far as visiting local welcome centers and gathering pamphlets to mail to clients, so they feel like it's a destination, no matter how small the neighborhood.

They're showing that there are events; there are parties; there are food trucks; there’s stuff happening. The agent does all the advertising and marketing for a city the client may not have even visited yet, just so they know there's something to come to.

This is stuff that we can work towards automating more, but to me, it's a great example of making your market matter to somebody moving into town."

Maryland/DC Keller William Broker's Real Estate Lead Generation Strategies for Out-of-State Buyers

When we first met CINC client Nick Waldner a few years ago, he was hosting the reality TV show "Waterfront Housing Hunting" on A&E's FYI and was doing around 40 transactions a year.

Since then, Nick has built and grown what is now the #1 Keller Williams team in the Maryland/DC area.

Here is what Nick recently had to say with us about about how he approaches winning over out-of-town buyers:

"When I'm looking at out-of-state vs. in-state lead flow, one of the best resources is howmoneywalks.com. You can see how many people are leaving your state and where they're going, and how many people are coming to your state and where they came from.

In Maryland, we don't have this massive influx of people. Our market centers around people moving here because of one of the military bases, so we do a lot of marketing around the military. We get to know what they're coming for and how long they will stay.

We also have some big Maryland-based companies consistently bringing people in. As a real estate professional, your job is to understand your market and why people are moving there. If you know why people are coming, you can better anticipate the questions they might be asking. They likely want to know what neighborhoods to live in and the best school systems.

Whatever it may be, you should have those answers when the leads come in.

For example, if I were to pick up today and move to Cincinnati, what questions would my family want answered to find the right place there? I'd have questions like - Where's my office located? What's the commute and traffic like? How are the school districts? What can I do for outdoor activities? Where am I going to be buying my second home?

An agent needs to know all those things. If I call an agent and they can answer those questions for me, I would already think of them as my agent because they recognize what I'm going through and answer my questions before I even ask them."

3 Real Estate Lead Generation and Conversion Tips for Working with an Out-of-State Buyer

1. Know your market well. You are the expert. 
2. Nail the first phone conversation - Get the full picture of your client's wants.
3. Don't skimp on follow-up. Take advantage of automated communication tools.

As markets continue to mobilize, staying current on market trends, why people are moving in and out of your area, what forces are impacting these changes, and how to build relationships with remote leads is important. Bringing expertise and confidence from the start leaves potential clients excited about the potential of a new home and at ease arriving in a new city, knowing someone is already looking out for them.

CINC’s marketing and follow-up tools are excellent resources to accompany personalized service to out-of-market clients. Learn more here.

More High Growth Real Estate Lead Generation Success Stories for further reading:

-"How #1 KW Team in FL Built Business on an All-In-One Real Estate Lead Generation Platform"

-"From 0 to 30 Sold Homes in Year 1"

-"How I Grew from 6 Agents to 170 in 4 Years"

-"Ditching Corporate Rat Race to Start a Successful Real Estate Business"

Additional Real Estate Lead Generation Resources:

-"Guide to Real Estate Google Advertising That Works"

-"Guide to Buyer Real Estate Lead Generation That Works"

-""2022 Google Buyer Real Estate Lead Cost Report"