Confronting “Limited Inventory” Problem with Technology

COSTA MESA, Calif. - April 25, 2013 - PRLog -- When Benutech, Inc. first launched ReboGateway, its lead farming package for realtors, in 2011, its goal was to help listing agents use a data-driven approach to effectively drive their marketing efforts.  Since then, the real estate industry itself has undergone significant changes, and savvy buyers’ agents, faced with a market where the competition for the few homes that are listed for sale is fierce, are embracing the ReboGateway system as an efficient way to connect their buyers with potential sellers.

The media is filled with headlines about how the real estate industry is facing the complications of “limited inventory” - there are fewer homes on the market than there are buyers interested in buying.

“We’ve heard it on the street, we’ve seen in on Facebook and Twitter, and we’ve seen it in our own neighborhoods: low inventory is a major story in the real estate market right now.” wrote Deidre Wollard, a blogger for Realtor.com.  (Jan 21, 2013, “Low Inventory: The Big Real Estate Story Of 2013?”)

Consequently, most listings are receiving many offers, and cash-carrying investors frequently beat out the average homebuyer looking for a place to live.

Kris Vogt, manager of 14 Coldwell Banker offices in the Sacramento area was quoted by CNN Money as saying “The only question is not whether a new listing will get multiple bids but how many it will get.” (April 5, 2013. “Home Bidding Wars Are Back”)

While this means that listing agents and sellers are doing well, those buyers’ agents who rely on old tactics and don’t change with the times are struggling, as are their clients.

“I’m actually having buyers’ agents call me and offer to give me their client to represent on both sides of the transaction,” said veteran listing agent and real estate coach Jeff Petsche in a video on ReboReports.com, a Benutech Inc. site, “It’s a crazy, crazy market.” (March 4, 2013, “Mentor Mondays – The leverage of listings”)

Unlike these buyers’ agents, who essentially put all the power (and proceeds) in the hands of the listing agents, some buyers’ agents are starting to take initiative, looking to create listings specifically for their buyer.  A simple approach that they are taking is to blanket their buyers’ desired neighborhood with letters explaining that they have a willing buyer and are looking for someone who wants to sell.  However, this can be a slow process, and blanket marketing can be costly, which is why they are turning, in increasing numbers, to ReboGateway.

Benutech’s goal in creating ReboGateway was to provide a simple and easy way for realtors to identify which homes were more likely to enter the market, enabling a more focused marketing approach.  To do this, they combine geographic data with information about significant life events that occur at properties.  For example, when a Notice of Default is filed against homeowners who is behind in their mortgage payments, that owner is highly likely to sell rather than wait for the foreclosure process to seize their home and ruin their credit.  Similarly, divorcing homeowners  are also likely to sell, either as part of the divorce settlement, because the home can’t be supported on a single income, or simply because they want to start over elsewhere.

Clearly this tool can be useful for listing agents, by giving them specific targets for their marketing efforts.  In one success story posted on the ReboGateway site, agents Jim and Joele Watson of Surterre Properties attribute at least $10 million of their 2012 gross sales to ReboGateway. “[ReboGateway’s farming reports are] the first thing that we look at in our email each and every day,” said Jim Watson, “It gives us a jump on the game in the communities where we work.”

Buyers’ agents are starting to use the tool in a slightly different way.  Rather than just watching all properties in an area for these life events, they are using various filters to narrow their scope to properties that meet their buyers’ needs.  Some are using the tool to knock on the doors of all non-listed homeowners in a preferred neighborhood whose houses have the desired number of bedrooms and bathrooms, while others take advantage of ReboGateway’s timely data updates to be the first to contact probate filers, expired listings, property tax defaults, homes for sale by owner (FSBOs), etc. on their buyers’ behalf.  Either way, presenting a prospective seller with an offer from an interested and qualified buyer can be a very persuasive way to convince people to sell, and since these properties are not listed on the MLS, there is less buyer competition.  Additionally, this gives the buyers’ agent more control over the sales cycle, and may even enable the agent to represent both sides of the transaction.

ReboGateway is currently available in most major metropolitan markets in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii, Utah, Florida, and Georgia, with more markets coming soon.  According to Brian Fox, the VP of Sales for Benutech, Inc., “We are receiving calls from agents in just about every state across the country...looking to be the next state we roll out. It’s a good situation to be in; demand is at an all-time high for ReboGateway.”

For more information on the ReboGateway product, or for a webinar demonstration of its capabilities, please go to www.rebogateway.com, call Brian Fox at (866)887-0206 x106, or tweet @benutech.