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  • Writing a Business Plan

Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you on are track to meet your goals.

Essential Components of a Real Estate Business Plan

Why Write a Business Plan?

Making a business plan creates the foundation for your business. It provides an easy-to-understand framework and allows you to navigate the unexpected.

Quick Takeaways

  • A good business plan not only creates a road map for your business, but helps you work through your goals and get them on paper
  • Business plans come in many formats and contain many sections, but even the most basic should include a mission and vision statement, marketing plans, and a proposed management structure
  • Business plans can help you get investors and new business partners

Source: Write Your Business Plan: United States Small Business Association

Writing a business plan is imperative to getting your business of the ground. While every plan is different – and most likely depends on the type and size of your business – there are some basic elements you don’t want to ignore.

Latest on this topic

Budget sheet and planner

NAR Library & Archives has already done the research for you. References (formerly Field Guides) offer links to articles, eBooks, websites, statistics, and more to provide a comprehensive overview of perspectives. EBSCO articles ( E ) are available only to NAR members and require the member's nar.realtor login.

Defining Your Mis​sion & Vision

Writing a business plan begins by defining your business’s mission and vision statement. Though creating such a statement may seem like fluff, it is an important exercise. The mission and vision statement sets the foundation upon which to launch your business. It is difficult to move forward successfully without first defining your business and the ideals under which your business operates. A company description should be included as a part of the mission and vision statement. Some questions you should ask yourself include: 

  • What type of real estate do you sell?
  • Where is your business located?
  • Who founded your business?
  • What sets your business apart from your competitors?

What is a Vision Statement ( Business News Daily , Feb. 21, 2023)

How to Write a Mission Statement ( The Balance , Jan. 2, 2020)

How to Write a Mission Statement ( Janel M. Radtke , 1998)

Using a SWOT Analysis to Structure Your Business Plan

Once you’ve created a mission and vision statement, the next step is to develop a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” It is difficult to set goals for your business without first enumerating your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Evaluate by using the following questions:

  • Do you offer superior customer service as compared with your competitors?
  • Do you specialize in a niche market? What experiences do you have that set you apart from your competitors?
  • What are your competitors’ strengths?
  • Where do you see the market already saturated, and where are there opportunities for expansion and growth?

Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) ( Investopedia , Apr. 21, 2023)

How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Small Business ( SCORE , Apr. 28, 2022)

SWOT Analysis Toolbox ( University of Washington )

Setting ​Business Goals

Next, translate your mission and vision into tangible goals. For instance, if your mission statement is to make every client feel like your most important client, think about the following:

  • How specifically will you implement this?
  • Do you want to grow your business?
  • Is this growth measured by gross revenue, profit, personnel, or physical office space?
  • How much growth do you aim for annually?
  • What specific targets will you strive to hit annually in the next few years?

What are Business Goals? Definition, How To Set Business Goals and Examples ( Indeed , Mar. 10, 2023)

Planning and Goal Setting for Small Business ( U.S. Small Business Administration )

  • Regular work goals.
  • Problem-solving goals.
  • Innovative goals.
  • Development goals

Establishing a Format

Most businesses either follow a traditional business plan format or a lean startup plan.

Traditional Business Plan

A traditional business plan is detailed and comprehensive. Writing this business plan takes more time. A traditional business plan typically contains the following elements:

  • Executive Summary
  • Company description
  • Market analysis
  • Organization and management
  • Service or product line
  • Marketing and sales
  • Funding request
  • Financial projections

Lean Startup Plan

A lean startup plan requires high-level focus but is easier to write, with an emphasis on key elements. A lean startup plan typically contains the following elements:

  • Key partnerships
  • Key activities
  • Key resources
  • Value proposition
  • Customer relationships
  • Customer segments
  • Cost structure
  • Revenue stream

Creating a Marketing Plan

You may wish to create a marketing plan as either a section of your business plan or as an addendum. The Marketing Mix concerns product , price , place and promotion .

  • What is your product?
  • How does your price distinguish you from your competitors—is it industry average, upper quartile, or lower quartile?
  • How does your pricing strategy benefit your clients?
  • How and where will you promote your services?
  • What types of promotions will you advertise?
  • Will you ask clients for referrals or use coupons?
  • Which channels will you use to place your marketing message?

Your Guide to Creating a Small Business Marketing Plan ( Business.com , Mar. 22, 2023)

10 Questions You Need to Answer to Create a Powerful Marketing Plan ( The Balance , Jan. 16, 2020)

Developing a Marketing Plan ( Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation )

Forming a Team

Ensuring the cooperation of all colleagues, supervisors, and supervisees involved in your plan is another important element to consider. Some questions to consider are:

  • Is your business plan’s success contingent upon the cooperation of your colleagues?
  • If so, what specifically do you need them to do?
  • How will you evaluate their participation?
  • Are they on-board with the role you have assigned them?
  • How will you get “buy in” from these individuals?

How to Start a Rock-Solid Real Estate Team ( The Close , May 26, 2020)

Don’t Start a Real Estate Team Without Asking Yourself These 8 Questions ( Homelight , Jan. 21, 2020)

Implementing a Business Plan and Reviewing Regularly

Implementation and follow-up are frequently overlooked aspects to the business plan, yet vital to the success of the plan. Set dates (annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly) to review your business plans goals. Consider the following while reviewing:

  • Are you on track?
  • Are the goals reasonable to achieve, impossible, or too easy?
  • How do you measure success—is it by revenue, profit, or number of transactions?

And lastly, think about overall goals.

  • How do you plan to implement your business plan’s goals?
  • When will you review and refine your business plan goals?
  • What process will you use to review your goals?
  • What types of quantitative and qualitative data will you collect and use to measure your success?

These items are only a few sections of a business plan. Depending on your business, you may want to include additional sections in your plan such as a:

  • Cover letter stating the reasoning behind developing a business plan
  • Non-disclosure statement
  • Table of contents

How To Write a Business Proposal Letter (With Examples) ( Indeed , Mar. 10, 2023)

How To Implement Your Business Plan Objectives ( The Balance , Aug. 19, 2022)

The Bottom Line

Creating a business plan may seem daunting, but by understanding your business and market fully, you can create a plan that generates success (however you choose to define it).

Real Estate Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates

9 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan + Templates ( The Close , Apr. 17, 2023)

How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+Free Template) ( Fit Small Business , Jun. 21, 2022)

The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Real Estate Business Plan + Free Template ( Placester )

Write Your Business Plan ( U.S. Small Business Administration )

General Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates

Business Plan Template for a Startup Business ( SCORE , May 12, 2023)

Guide to Creating a Business Plan with Template (Business News Daily, Feb. 21, 2023)

Nine Lessons These Entrepreneurs Wish They Knew Before Writing Their First Business Plans ( Forbes , Jul. 25, 2021)

How to Write a Business Plan 101 ( Entrepreneur , Feb. 22, 2021)

Books, eBooks & Other Resources

Ebooks & other resources.

The following eBooks and digital audiobooks are available to NAR members:

20 Minute Manager: Creating Business Plans Gather Your Resources, Describe the Opportunity, Get Buy-in (eBook) E

The Straightforward Business Plan (eBook)

Business Plan Checklist (eBook)

The SWOT Analysis (eBook)

The Business Plan Workbook (eBook)

Start-Up! A Beginner's Guide to Planning a 21st Century Business (eBook)

Complete Book of Business Plans (eBook)

How to Write a Business Plan (eBook)

The Easy Step by Step Guide to Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (eBook)

Business Planning: 25 Keys to a Sound Business Plan (Audiobook)

Your First Business Plan, 5 th Edition (eBook)

Anatomy of a Business Plan (eBook)

Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (Audiobook)

The Social Network Business Plan (eBook)

Books, Videos, Research Reports & More

As a member benefit, the following resources and more are available for loan through the NAR Library. Items will be mailed directly to you or made available for pickup at the REALTOR® Building in Chicago.

Writing an Effective Business Plan (Deloitte and Touche, 1999) HD 1375 D37w

Have an idea for a real estate topic? Send us your suggestions .

The inclusion of links on this page does not imply endorsement by the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR makes no representations about whether the content of any external sites which may be linked in this page complies with state or federal laws or regulations or with applicable NAR policies. These links are provided for your convenience only and you rely on them at your own risk.

Real Estate | How To

How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Free Template)

Published June 30, 2023

Published Jun 30, 2023

Gina Baker

REVIEWED BY: Gina Baker

Jealie Dacanay

WRITTEN BY: Jealie Dacanay

This article is part of a larger series on How to Become a Real Estate Agent .

  • 1 Write Your Mission Statement
  • 2 Conduct a SWOT Analysis
  • 3 Set Specific & Measurable Goals
  • 4 Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics
  • 5 Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy
  • 6 Calculate Your Income Goal
  • 7 Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan
  • 8 Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan
  • 9 Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates
  • 10 Bottom Line
  • 11 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A real estate business plan lays the groundwork and provides direction on income targets, marketing tactics, goal setting, lead generation, and an overview of your industry’s competition. It describes your company’s mission statement in detail and assesses your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) as an organization. Business plans should include measurable goals and financial projections that you can review periodically throughout the year to ensure you meet your goals.

Continue reading to see real estate business plan examples and discover how to write a real estate business plan. Start by making your own by downloading and using the free real estate business plan template we’ve provided below.

FILE TO DOWNLOAD OR INTEGRATE

Real Estate Business Plan Template

Real estate business plan template.

Thank you for downloading!

💡Quick tip:

Market Leader provides a comprehensive paid inbound lead, automated marketing, and CRM solution to help agents acquire, engage, and nurture real estate leads.

Furthermore, Market Leader offers and guarantees you a number of exclusive seller and buyer leads in your target niche at a monthly rate.

1. Write Your Mission Statement

Every real estate agent’s business plan should begin with a mission statement, identifying your values and why your business exists. Your mission statement serves as the guide to achieving your ultimate business objective. When you create a solid clear mission statement, all other items identified in your realtor business plan should be aimed at fulfilling this statement.

A screenshot of Compass' website.

Compass’ mission statement: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” (Source: Compass )

Your mission statement should identify your target audience, what product or service you provide, and what makes your business distinct. As seen in the example above, a powerful mission statement should be short and concise but sums up a business objective.

Let’s take Compass’ mission statement above as an example: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” The statement identifies what the company offers, for what reasons, and who it benefits.

2. Conduct a SWOT Analysis

SWOT is an acronym that stands for a business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The primary objective of these four elements is to assess a business by evaluating internal and external factors that can drive decision-making and help you make more money . Conducting a SWOT analysis as you develop your business plan for real estate uncovers opportunities to differentiate yourself from the massive competition currently on the market.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses are internal parts of your organization. Strengths identify what product or services you provide better than others, your access to resources, and items that benefit your customers. Weaknesses are items that need improvement, lack of resources, or what your competition does better. These are items within your control to change because you can convert a weakness into a strength.

See the example below if “Agent X” was doing their SWOT analysis:

Opportunities & Threats

External factors drive opportunities and threats and are areas you can take advantage of to benefit your business. Examples of opportunities can be shifts in the current marketplace, emerging trends you can capitalize on, features that competitors lack, or even changes with your competitors. Threats, on the other hand, are anything that can negatively impact your business. You don’t have control over changing the opportunities or threats, but you can develop a practice to anticipate and protect your business against the threats.

The opportunities and threats for “Agent X” would be:

When you complete your SWOT analysis, use it as a guide when creating strategies to meet your business objectives. To gain the most benefit from creating a SWOT analysis, make sure you are being realistic about your business and evaluating it in its present state. You don’t want to be unrealistic by listing strengths or opportunities that don’t exist yet, and you want to allocate time and money to the most impactful solution to your business issues.

If “Agent X” completed the above SWOT analysis, a few strategies they could derive would be:

  • Incentivize agents to keep them at the brokerage for longer
  • Implement a technology-based key machine to reduce lost keys and keep the team accountable
  • Find a competitive advantage against competing brokerages and use that in marketing messages

Example of Zillow Premier Agent Agent Finder advertising for three featured agents.

Zillow agent finder (Source: Zillow )

To help agents locate other brokerages operating in your preferred market, agents can use Zillow’s agent finder page as a research tool to see which agents or brokerages are operating in a specific area. You can find an agent by location, name, specialty, and language. Once you click on a Zillow profile , you can read their reviews, see their team members, contact and website information, and property listings. Take a deep dive into your competitor profiles and can use the information to implement strategies within your own business.

Visit Zillow

Read how our experts feel about this real estate lead generation company in our Zillow Premier Agent review .

3. Set Specific & Measurable Goals

You’re ready to set some business goals after clearly defining your mission statement and SWOT analysis. Goals can help set the tone to increase your performance and drive your business in the right direction. Your goals should have a definitive way to show progress, which can be a prime motivator to keep you on track to achieving them.

Each goal should follow a pattern to identify set criteria. This will ensure that your daily efforts are performed to meet business objectives within a set period. A way to do this is by using SMART goals:

Examples of SMART goals for agents or brokerages:

  • Increase closed transactions by 20% to a total of 150 deals within the next year
  • I will ask all closed clients for a referral and review within 30 days of closing the deal

Goals can be split into short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goal lengths vary between days and weeks but do not exceed six months. Short-term goals can also be worked on simultaneously with long-term goals. Long-term goals can take up to six months or more to complete and require careful planning and perseverance. A mix of short-term and long-term goals will help you maintain motivation.

All goals are equally important; however, success will stem from how you prioritize each one. Slowly add on additional goals as you have the capacity and feel comfortable with the current progress of your current set of goals. Without identifying your business goals, you’ll leave your results up to luck to attain your business objectives.

4. Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics

Developing marketing strategies and tactics and implementing them help you identify and locate your current value proposition in the real estate industry, along with specific timelines for execution. In addition to determining your overall business objectives and goals, your marketing strategy and plan should include the following:

  • Pinpoint general marketing goals
  • Estimate projected marketing budget
  • Know your geographic farm area data and identify your target niche audience
  • Analyze market competition
  • Identify your unique selling proposition
  • Establish a timeline and set your plan in motion
  • Track your progress and readjust as needed

While a marketing strategy identifies the overall marketing goals of your business, developing marketing tactics will help you achieve those individual goals. They can include referral business tactics, retention efforts, and ways to acquire new customers. For example, you can offer incentives to anyone who refers your business, or you can implement new email drip campaigns to help increase lead conversion rates.

These tactics should have set key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you evaluate your performance. For instance, a KPI you can set for your business could be that referral business should exceed 20% of your lead generation sources.

If you’re unsure how to put together your marketing plan, check out our article Real Estate Marketing Plan Template & Strategy Guide and download the free template to get started.

Postcard campaign examples from ProspectsPLUS!.

Postcard campaign example (Source: ProspectsPLUS! )

If direct mail is part of your promotion strategy, services like ProspectsPLUS! can help easily create and distribute mailers to a targeted area. It also has options for postcards , brochures, newsletters , flyers, and folders. You can also send mailers to prospective clients by geographic or demographic farm areas through its campaigns. Check out its templates and mailing options today.

Visit ProspectsPLUS!

Read how our experts feel about this real estate direct mail service in our ProspectsPLUS! review .

5. Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy

Having a successful lead generation strategy will help you maintain business growth. Lead generation can be performed organically and through paid advertisements to attract and convert prospective clients. In addition to generating leads, agents should have systems to manage, nurture, and re-engage with contacts to maximize opportunities.

Generating leads through a multipronged approach is the best way to maintain lead flow. Use organic strategies like hosting an open house, reaching out to your sphere of influence, and attending networking events. Employ paid generation strategies, such as purchasing leads from a lead generation company or setting up a website to funnel potential clients. Your marketing strategies will directly correlate with your lead generation strategies.

Every lead is an opportunity, even if they don’t immediately convert into a deal. Effectively nurturing leads can make sure no opportunity falls through the cracks. Agents can nurture leads by continuously engaging and developing relationships with prospective leads . It’s important to provide prospective clients with a constant flow of essential and relevant information, depending on where they are in the real estate buying or selling process.

Here are the top lead generation companies for real estate agents and brokers:

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6. Calculate Your Income Goal

Your income goal is one of the most critical items to be included in your business plan. While this may be more difficult for new agents who are still learning the business, it’s still necessary to estimate the amount of money you will earn for the year. Work with an experienced agent or mentor to help you estimate your monetary goals. For professional agents, review your previous years to judge your income goals for the upcoming year.

To calculate your income goal and the amount of work you’ll need to complete to get to that goal, you’ll need to have some basic number estimates:

  • Net income: The amount of money you will put in your pocket after commission splits with your real estate brokerage.
  • Fee split with brokerage: This is the agreed-upon commission split you have with your brokerage for each completed transaction. For example, if you have a 70/30 split with your brokerage, you will collect 70% of the commission, and your brokerage will receive a 30% commission for each deal.
  • Estimate of completed deals per year: You also want to estimate the number of deals you intend to complete yearly. Remember that some months will be busier than others, so make sure to account for holidays, weather, and your schedule.

Real Estate Yearly Goal Calculator

By figuring out these numbers, you can give yourself a realistic number for your income goal. Compute the gross income commission (GCI) or amount of money you must make before the commission splits and the average profit per deal and month you’ll need to reach your goal.

For a more detailed breakdown of your yearly goal, download and use our yearly goal calculator. Input your information into the highlighted yellow boxes, and the spreadsheet will automatically calculate the GCI, total deal count, and gross income you’ll have to earn each month to reach your goal. Adjust the average gross commission per deal and brokerage split as necessary.

FitSmallBusiness Year Goal Calculator

FitSmallBusiness Year Goal Calculato template.

For additional information on real estate agent salaries, review our article Real Estate Agent Salary: How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make?

7. Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan

Business plans are only effective if you use them. A business plan is a roadmap for your business, and you’ll need to revisit it often to ensure you’re staying on track. It should be a constant resource to guide you through meeting your goals and business objectives, but it’s not necessarily set in stone if you need to make any changes.

Agents should revisit their business plans monthly to measure progress and make any changes to stay the course. If you find that you’re missing the times set for your goals, then you should continue to revisit your business plan regularly. Changing the business plan itself should occur annually once you can have a complete picture of your yearly performance. Evaluating the business plan can help you discover new strategies and ensure you have the appropriate resources for the upcoming year.

Pipedrive user dashboard

Overall status of sales activities in the dashboard (Source: Pipedrive )

Sales software like Pipedrive can help you track your overall business performance when revisiting your business plan. It presents company sales data in easy-to-visualize dashboards that track your business performance and contains forecasting tools to project future revenue. It can maintain company and team goals with progress tracking to keep goals top of mind.

Visit Pipedrive

Read how our experts feel about this real estate customer relationship manager (CRM) system in our Pipedrive review .

Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan

A real estate business plan keeps you up to date on market developments and one step ahead of your competitors. It also enables you to test lead-generating tactics and create new marketing campaigns while keeping track of results over time. A solid business plan for a real estate agent presents the following:

  • Where you are at the moment
  • Where you would like to be
  • How you’re going to get there
  • How to evaluate and measure your performance
  • When and when to correct the course

Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates

Real estate agents and brokerages don’t have to build their business plans from scratch, as many resources provide different examples. Business plan templates can also have different objectives. Some are used to secure financing or help you focus on lead generation, while others are single-page plans meant to get you started.

Here are five real estate business plan examples you can use to create yours:

Lead Generation & Income Plan

Screenshot of Market Leader real estate business plan.

Market Leader business plan example (Source: Market Leader )

This business plan is from Market Leader, a third-party lead generation platform. It specializes in lead generation, marketing, and converting leads into customers with an attractive IDX (Internet Data Exchange) website and robust automation tools. Agents can also participate in purchasing leads through their lead products to receive a guaranteed number of leads per month.

A Single-page Business Plan

Single Page Business Plan example from pngfind.

Business plan for real estate (Source: PngFind )

Agents who are new to writing a business plan can start small. Business plans do not have to be multipage to be effective. This single-page business plan helps identify a single goal followed by three areas to focus on and five objectives for each focus area. As real estate agents begin to feel comfortable with goal setting and completion, they can continue to add to this single-page business plan with duplicate pages, identifying additional goals.

Business Plan for Real Estate Brokers

Screenshot of Real estate broker business plan example from AgentEDU.

Real estate broker business plan (Source: AgentEDU )

This robust real estate broker business plan is designed to address organization and management goals. It contains pages identifying personnel information like title, job description, and salary. The business plan also encourages the broker to identify operational goals for future personnel changes. It’s best suited for a broker with a larger team to help drive operational change.

Business Plan With Detailed Financials

Business plan with detailed company financial information.

Example of real estate agent business plan template (Source: FinModelsLab )

This multipage business plan contains eye-catching graphics and detailed company financial information for real estate agents and brokers seeking funding from outside investors. One of the last sections of the business plan is a financial planning section geared toward showing how viable your business is through your provided income statements, cash flow, and balance sheet reports.

Real Estate Developers’ Business Plan

Easy to edit real estate business plan template from Upmetrics.

Realtor business plan template sample (Source: Upmetrics )

Upmetrics’ real estate business plan templates are easy to edit and share and contain professional cover pages to help agents convert their business ideas into actionable goals. The business plans from Upmetrics are geared toward agents looking to transition into real estate development. This plan includes vital sections important for a developer to analyze, such as building location, demand for housing, and pricing.

Market Leader's CRM dashboard as viewed on tablet and phone devices.

Real estate CRM (Source: Market Leader )

Market Leader’s business plan is centered around driving more business through lead generation. It helps agents understand their lead sources, average sales price, and how much commission was earned in a given year. It also allows agents to set income and transactional goals for the following year.

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Bottom Line

Whether you are a new real estate agent or looking to grow your brokerage, writing a real estate business plan template will help you define the steps needed to build a successful business . It serves as a guided roadmap to help you achieve your business goals, identify areas of improvement, and provide guidance in all aspects of your business, from marketing, operations, and finance to your products and services. Business plans can help determine if your business is viable and worth the financial investment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a real estate business plan.

A real estate business plan is a document that presents an outline of your organizational goals. A business plan lays out future company goals and structured procedures to achieve them. Business plans commonly contain plans for one to five years at a time, though they can differ from investor to investor.

A real estate business plan will put you in a position to succeed while also assisting you in avoiding potential pitfalls. It serves as a guide to follow when things go as expected and when they diverge from the initial plan of action. Also, a real estate business plan will ensure that investors know the steps they need to take to succeed.

How do I jump-start my real estate business?

It is important to note that starting a real estate business is not a simple task. Before launching a firm in any field, entrepreneurs should spend numerous hours researching and developing a solid business plan. As you start your real estate business, use the following tips as guidance:

  • Think about your professional goals
  • Conduct extensive research
  • Organize your finances
  • Create a business plan
  • Establish an LLC
  • Make a marketing plan
  • Create a website
  • Start campaigns
  • Keep track of leads
  • Develop a network of connections

How can I grow my real estate business?

You can use multiple strategies and ways to grow your real estate business. They include:

  • Assess your current situation
  • Invest in your professional growth
  • Establish strategic alliances
  • Take advantage of omnichannel marketing
  • Start blogging
  • Create consistent social media profiles and campaigns
  • Improve your website
  • Consider working with a marketing company
  • Optimize your signs and direct mail

About the Author

Jealie Dacanay

Find Jealie On LinkedIn

Jealie Dacanay

Jealie is a staff writer expert focusing on real estate education, lead generation, marketing, and investing. She has always seen writing as an opportunity to apply her knowledge and express her ideas. Over the years and through her internship at a real estate developer in the Philippines, Camella, she developed and discovered essential skills for producing high-quality online content.

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Blog Business

5 Real Estate Business Plan Examples & How to Create One?

By Danesh Ramuthi , Nov 28, 2023

Real Estate Business Plan Examples

Crafting a business plan is essential for any business and the real estate sector is no exception. In real estate, a comprehensive business plan serves as a roadmap, delineating a clear path towards business growth. 

It guides owners, agents and brokers through various critical aspects such as identifying target markets, devising effective marketing strategies, planning finances and managing client relationships.

For real estate businesses, a well-written plan is crucial in attracting potential investors, showcasing the company’s mission statement, business model and long-term income goals.

So, how can you write one?

Leveraging tools like Venngage Business Plan Make r with their Business Plan Templates to create your own real estate business plan can be transformative.

They offer a lot of real estate business plan examples and templates, streamlining the process of crafting a comprehensive plan.

Click to jump ahead: 

  • 5 real estate business plan examples

How to write a real estate business plan?

  • Wrapping Up

5 Real estate business plan examples

As I have said before, a well-crafted business plan is a key to success. Whether you’re a seasoned agent or just starting out, examples of effective real estate business plans can offer invaluable insights.

These examples showcase a range of strategies and approaches tailored to various aspects of the real estate market. They serve as guides to structuring a plan that addresses key components like market analysis, marketing strategies, financial planning and client management, ensuring a solid foundation for any real estate venture.

Real estate business plan example

There are various elements in a real estate business plan that must be integrated. Incorporating these elements into a real estate business plan ensures a comprehensive approach to launching and growing a successful real estate business. 

Real Estate Business Plan Template

What are they?

  • Executive summary: The executive summary is a concise overview of the real estate business plan. It highlights the mission statement, outlines the business goals and provides a snapshot of the overall strategy. 
  • Company overview: An overview on the history and structure of the real estate business. It includes the company’s mission and vision statements, information about the founding team and the legal structure of the business. 
  • Service: Here, the business plan details the specific services offered by the real estate agency. This could range from residential property sales and leasing to commercial real estate services. The section should clearly articulate how these services meet the needs of the target client and how they stand out from competitors.
  • Strategies: A very crucial part of the plan outlines the strategies for achieving business goals. It covers marketing strategies to generate leads, pricing strategies for services, and tactics for effective client relationship management. Strategies for navigating market shifts, identifying key market trends and leveraging online resources for property listings and real estate listing presentations to help with lead generation are also included.
  • Financial plan: The financial plan is a comprehensive section detailing the financial projections of the business. It includes income statements, cash flow statements, break-even analysis and financial goals. Besides, a financial plan section also outlines how resources will be allocated to different areas of the business and the approach to managing the financial aspects of the real estate market, such as average sales price and housing market trends.

Real Estate Marketing Plan Template

Read Also: 7 Best Business Plan Software for 2023

Real estate investment business plan example

A real estate investment business plan is a comprehensive blueprint that outlines the goals and strategies of a real estate investment venture. It serves as a roadmap, ensuring that all facets of real estate investment are meticulously considered.

Real Estate Investment Business Plan Template

Creating a business plan for real estate investment is a critical step for any investor, regardless of their experience level Typically, these plans span one to five years, offering a detailed strategy for future company objectives and the steps required to achieve them.

Key components:

  • Executive summary: Snapshot of the business, outlining its mission statement, target market, and core strategies. It should be compelling enough to attract potential investors and partners.
  • Market analysis: A thorough analysis of the real estate market, including current trends, average sales prices and potential market shifts.
  • Financial projections: Detailed financial plans, including income statements, cash flow analysis, and break-even analysis.
  • Strategy & implementation: Outlines how the business plans to achieve its goals. This includes marketing efforts to generate leads, pricing strategies and client relationship management techniques.
  • Legal structure & resource allocation: Details the legal structure of the business and how resources will be allocated across various operations, including property acquisitions, renovations and management.

Real estate agent business plan example

A real estate agent business plan is a strategic document that outlines the operations and goals of a real estate agent or agency. It is a crucial tool for communicating with potential lenders, partners or shareholders about the nature of the business and its potential for profitability.

Real Estate Agent Business Plan Templa

A well-crafted real estate agent business plan will include

  • Where you are today: A clear understanding of your current position in the market, including strengths, weaknesses and market standing.
  • Where you aim to be: Sets specific, measurable goals for future growth, whether it’s expanding the client base, entering new markets or increasing sales.
  • How can you get there: Outlines the strategies and action plans to achieve these goals, including marketing campaigns, client acquisition strategies and business development initiatives.
  • Measuring your performance: Defines the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to assess progress towards the set goals, such as sales figures, client satisfaction rates and market share.
  • Course correction: Establishes a process for regular review and adjustment of the plan, ensuring flexibility to adapt to market changes, shifts in client needs and other external factors.

For real estate agents, a comprehensive business plan is not just a roadmap to success; it is a dynamic tool that keeps them accountable and adaptable to market changes.

Realtor business plan example

A realtor business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines the strategic direction and goals of a real estate business. It’s an essential tool for realtors looking to either launch or expand their business in the competitive real estate market. The plan typically includes details about the company’s mission, objectives, target market and strategies for achieving its goals.

Realtor Business Plan Template

Benefits of a realtor business plan and applications:

  • For launching or expanding businesses: The plan helps real estate agents to structure their approach to entering new markets or growing in existing ones, providing a clear path to follow.
  • Securing loans and investments: A well-drafted business plan is crucial for securing financing for real estate projects, such as purchasing new properties or renovating existing ones.
  • Guideline for goal achievement: The plan serves as a guideline to stay on track with sales and profitability goals, allowing realtors to make informed decisions and adjust strategies as needed.
  • Valuable for real estate investors: Investors can use the template to evaluate potential real estate businesses and properties for purchase, ensuring they align with their investment goals.
  • Improving business performance: By filling out a realtor business plan template , realtors can gain insights into the strengths and weaknesses of their business, using this information to enhance profitability and operational efficiency.

A realtor business plan is more than just a document; it’s a roadmap for success in the real estate industry. 

Writing a real estate business plan is a comprehensive process that involves several key steps. Here’s a detailed guide to help you craft an effective business plan :

  • Tell your story : Start with a self-evaluation. Define who you are as a real estate agent, why you are in this business and what you do. Develop your mission statement, vision statement and an executive summary​​.
  • Analyze your target real estate market : Focus on local market trends rather than national or state-wide levels. Examine general trends, market opportunities, saturations, and local competition. This step requires thorough research into the real estate market you plan to operate in​​.
  • Identify your target client : After understanding your market, identify the niche you aim to serve and the type of clients you want to target. Create a client persona that reflects their specific needs and concerns​​.
  • Conduct a SWOT analysis : Analyze your business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This should reflect a combination of personal attributes and external market conditions​​​​.
  • Establish your SMART goals : Set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely goals. These goals could be financial, expansion-related or based on other business metrics​​​​.
  • Create your financial plan : Account for all operating expenses, including marketing and lead generation costs. Calculate the number of transactions needed to meet your financial goals. Remember to separate personal and business finances​​.
  • Revisit your business plan to monitor & evaluate : Treat your business plan as a living document. Plan periodic reviews (quarterly, semi-annually or annually) to check if your strategies are advancing you toward your goals​​​​.
  • Defining your mission & vision : Include a clear mission and vision statement. Describe your business type, location, founding principles and what sets you apart from competitors​​.
  • Creating a marketing plan : Develop a marketing plan that addresses the product, price, place and promotion of your services. Determine your pricing strategy, promotional methods and marketing channels​​.
  • Forming a team : Ensure the cooperation of colleagues, supervisors and supervisees involved in your plan. Clarify their roles and how their participation will be evaluated​​.

Related: 15+ Business Plan Examples to Win Your Next Round of Funding

Wrapping up

The journey to a successful real estate venture is intricately linked to the quality and depth of your business plan. From understanding the nuances of the real estate market to setting strategic goals, a well-crafted business plan acts as the backbone of any thriving real estate business. Whether you’re developing a general real estate business plan, focusing on investment, working as an agent, or operating as a realtor, each plan type serves its unique purpose and addresses specific aspects of the real estate world.

The examples and insights provided in this article serve as a guide to help you navigate the complexities of the real estate industry. Remember, a real estate business plan is not a static document but a dynamic blueprint that evolves with your business and the ever-changing market trends.

Crafting a strategic real estate business plan is a crucial step towards achieving your business goals. So, start shaping your vision today with Venngage.

Explore venngage business plan maker & our business plan templates and begin your journey to a successful real estate business now!

Kyle Handy

10 Things Your Real Estate Business Plan Needs (FREE Template)

A real estate agent business plan is essential for success in today’s competitive market. It helps you set clear goals, define your vision, and outline the steps to achieve short-term and long-term objectives. As a real estate professional, having a well-crafted business plan can be the difference between being a top producer and struggling to make ends meet.

In your business plan, you’ll want to start by creating a vision statement that outlines the purpose of your real estate business and reflects your values. Setting firm goals will help you stay accountable and focused, allowing you to adapt to market changes or growth and remember that your business plan should be fluid and up-to-date to stay aligned with your ultimate objectives.

Your real estate agent business plan should be thorough, covering various aspects such as market analysis, organization structure, and marketing strategies. By having a comprehensive plan, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities that come your way, ensuring your real estate business flourishes.

Understanding Your Target Market

Identifying your ideal client.

Understanding your target market is crucial to establish a successful real estate business plan. Begin by identifying your ideal client. Consider factors that may define your target clients, such as age, income level, family status, and property preferences. Reflect on your strengths as an agent and which clients you connect best with. This will help you focus your marketing efforts and create tailored strategies for your target audience.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation divides your target market into smaller, more specific groups based on shared characteristics. In real estate, you can segment your market into categories such as:

  • First-time homebuyers
  • Empty nesters

By segmenting your market, you can tailor your services and communication strategies according to the unique needs of each group. This will lead to more effective marketing efforts and a better understanding of your potential clientele.

Analyzing Local Market Trends and Opportunities

Gather data on your local real estate market to identify trends and opportunities for your business. Analyze factors like:

  • Market growth
  • Market saturation
  • Local property values
  • Employment rates
  • Infrastructure development
  • Population demographics

ideas for real estate business plan

By analyzing local market trends, you can identify areas with potential growth or areas that are becoming overly saturated. Use this information to adapt your services and expertise to market conditions, helping you stand out among competitors and position yourself as an expert in your niche.

Remember, a comprehensive understanding of your target market is essential for shaping your real estate agent business plan. By identifying your ideal clients, segmenting the market, and analyzing local market trends and opportunities, you’ll be better equipped to create tailored marketing strategies and make informed business decisions. This will ultimately contribute to the success and growth of your real estate business.

Lead Generation Strategies

Building an online presence.

To create a robust lead generation plan, build a strong online presence. A real estate agent must have a well-designed and user-friendly website to capture leads. Keep these factors in mind:

  • Make sure your website reflects your branding and expertise
  • Optimize your site for search engines to enhance its visibility in search results
  • Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs), so potential clients can easily contact you
  • Utilize high-quality images and videos to showcase properties
  • Share helpful and informative content through a blog or resources section

You can also leverage social media channels to expand your reach and showcase your expertise in the industry. Focus on the platforms most relevant to your target audience and share valuable content related to real estate, local events, or home improvement tips.

ideas for real estate business plan

Networking and Referrals

Building a strong professional network is essential for generating quality leads. Here are some strategies to boost your referral pipeline:

  • Attend networking events, conferences, or workshops in your area. Engage with professionals in real estate or related industries
  • Establish relationships with local businesses and community organizations
  • Hold open houses or host educational seminars to engage potential clients in person
  • Develop relationships with past clients and ensure you stay top of mind so they recommend you to their connections

Additionally, create a referral program that rewards clients and other referrers for sharing your services with their network. This will incentivize them to talk about you and help expand your reach.

Traditional Marketing Methods

Despite the increasing importance of digital marketing, traditional methods still have their place in generating leads for real estate agents:

  • Send direct mail campaigns, like newsletters or postcards, to targeted neighborhoods, highlighting your strengths and successes
  • Advertise in local print media, such as newspapers or specialized real estate publications
  • List your services and properties in industry-specific directories, both online and offline
  • Design and distribute eye-catching flyers, brochures, and business cards
  • Participate in community events or sponsor local charities to enhance your company’s reputation and visibility

ideas for real estate business plan

Make sure to keep track of the effectiveness of each lead generation method and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. This will help refine and improve your overall marketing strategy and ensure you invest resources into the most productive channels.

Lead Conversion Techniques

Building rapport and trust.

To build rapport and trust, focus on the following:

  • Be genuine and authentic with your prospects, showcasing your expertise and knowledge.
  • Listen actively, taking the time to understand their concerns and needs.
  • Display empathy towards their situation, offering tailored solutions for their specific problems.
  • Stay engaged through the entire process, from the first interaction to closing.

Qualifying Leads

When it comes to qualifying leads:

  • Ask open-ended questions to gauge their needs, timeline, and motivation for buying or selling
  • Inquire about their financial situation and any potential barriers they may have
  • Learn more about their preferred neighborhoods, housing type, and other preferences
  • Prioritize leads based on their level of interest and readiness to move forward

Effective Communication and Follow-Up Strategies

For better communication and follow-up:

  • Establish a consistent schedule for checking in on leads, such as every few days or weekly
  • Personalize your communication, tailoring messages to each lead’s unique situation and preferences
  • Practice active listening and respond thoughtfully to their questions or concerns
  • Utilize several communication channels, including email, phone calls, text messages, and social media

ideas for real estate business plan

Utilizing CRM Systems for Lead Management

Leveraging CRM systems can help you organize and optimize your lead management process:

  • Track important lead information and interaction history in a centralized location
  • Set reminders for follow-up tasks, appointments, or important milestones
  • Analyze your leads’ behavior to understand their needs better and provide personalized service
  • Create targeted marketing campaigns to engage your leads and nurture them toward conversion

By implementing these techniques and focusing on leads, marketing strategies, and communication, you’ll be well on your way to creating a thriving real estate agent business.

Closing Deals and Earning Commissions

Negotiation tactics.

When closing deals, it’s crucial to employ effective negotiation tactics to help both you and your client reach a favorable outcome. Some negotiation tactics include:

  • Understanding the market: Know the local market trends and use this information when discussing price adjustments or concessions.
  • Compromise: Find common ground and offer reasonable solutions to meet both parties’ needs.
  • Leverage: Use your expertise in the real estate industry to highlight your client’s strengths and make convincing arguments.

Handling Objections and Overcoming Challenges

As a real estate agent, you’ll encounter objections and challenges in closing deals. To address them efficiently, consider the following points:

  • Listen to the client’s concerns and empathize with their situation.
  • Identify the objection: Determine the root cause of the objection and respond with a compelling solution.
  • Maintain professionalism: Stay calm and composed, avoiding confrontational behavior.

ideas for real estate business plan

Preparing and Presenting Offers

Presenting a well-prepared offer is vital to increasing the chances of closing a deal. Keep in mind:

  • Research: Analyze comparable properties in the area to establish a competitive price for the offer.
  • Documentation: Ensure that all necessary documents, such as pre-approval letters and proof of funds, are in order.
  • Presentation: Employ clear and concise communication when presenting the offer, highlighting its benefits to the seller.

Managing the Transaction Process and Paperwork

Effectively managing the transaction process and paperwork helps keep the deal on track, which includes:

  • Organization: Maintain an organized system for tracking important deadlines and required documents.
  • Communication: Regularly update all parties involved in the transaction, ensuring they know the progress and address any concerns.
  • Attention to detail: Ensure all forms, contracts, and other documents are accurate and complete.

By successfully closing deals, you’ll earn commissions based on your agreed split with your broker. For instance, if you close a deal worth $350,000 with a 6% commission rate, the gross commission income will be $21,000. If your commission split with your broker is 70/30, you’ll earn $14,700 while your broker receives $6,300. Utilizing the strategies discussed in this section will help you maximize your commission income and prove beneficial to your real estate business plan.

Client Retention and Building Repeat Business

Maintaining client relationships after closing.

Building lasting relationships with your clients is essential for repeat business and referrals. After closing a deal, continue to provide value by offering support with any post-closing issues, such as paperwork or maintenance concerns. Keep in touch with your clients and remember important milestones, such as anniversaries or birthdays. Show appreciation for their trust in you by sending thoughtful gifts or cards or simply checking in periodically.

ideas for real estate business plan

Asking for Referrals and Testimonials

Word-of-mouth marketing is an incredibly powerful tool in the real estate industry. Encourage your satisfied clients to share their positive experiences with friends and family. To achieve this, be proactive in asking for testimonials and reviews, which you can later showcase on your website, social media, and other marketing materials. Here are some strategies to obtain them:

  • Reach out via email or phone, and kindly request a testimonial or referral
  • Provide a simple template to make it easy for clients to write a review
  • Offer incentives, such as discounts on future services or gift cards, to show gratitude for their time and effort

Staying Top-of-Mind Through Regular Communication and Updates

Establish regular communication with your past clients to stay top-of-mind and generate repeat business. Keep them informed about the latest market trends, neighborhood developments, or listings that interest them. Here are some communication tactics you can employ:

  • Send personalized monthly or quarterly e-newsletters
  • Share relevant content, such as articles or videos, on your social media platforms
  • Organize events, like client appreciation parties or educational seminars, to maintain connections and foster new ones

Maintaining client relationships, requesting referrals, and staying top-of-mind through regular updates will strengthen your real estate business with repeat clients and new prospects. Remember, satisfied customers are the key to long-term success in the real estate industry.

Measuring Success and Adjusting Your Strategies

Setting goals and key performance indicators (kpis).

To measure the success of your real estate agent business plan, start by setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). These can serve as benchmarks for success and provide direction on areas to focus your efforts. Consider setting goals for various aspects of your business, such as sales volume, new client acquisition, and customer satisfaction.

ideas for real estate business plan

In addition to your goals, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your progress. KPIs are quantifiable metrics that help you evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies. Examples of KPIs for a real estate agent business plan include:

  • Number of new leads generated per month
  • The conversion rate of leads to clients
  • Average days on market for properties
  • Percentage of listings sold

Tracking and Analyzing Results

With your goals and KPIs established, continually collect and analyze data to track your progress. Regularly monitoring your results allows you to identify trends, spot potential problems, and evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Some methods to track your data include:

  • Using a CRM system to manage client relationships and interactions
  • Employing analytics tools to evaluate the success of digital marketing campaigns
  • Conducting a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to identify areas where you excel or need improvement

Pay close attention to competitor performance and market trends to better understand how your strategies compare and identify any gaps you may need to address.

Adapting and Optimizing Your Strategies Based on Data

Once you’ve gathered and analyzed your data, use insights to adapt and optimize your strategies. Make data-driven decisions to improve your marketing efforts, streamline processes, and better allocate resources. Some steps you can take include:

  • Adjusting your marketing budget and tactics based on your marketing ROI
  • Revisiting your goals and KPIs to ensure they still align with your overall business objectives
  • Fine-tuning your pricing strategies or the type of properties you focus on to meet market demand better

ideas for real estate business plan

Maintaining a proactive approach to adjusting your strategies will keep your business plan agile and responsive to the changing real estate market. This will go a long way in helping you achieve the success you envision for your real estate agent business.

Time Management and Organization

Prioritizing tasks and setting a daily schedule.

In your real estate agent business plan, it’s crucial to have a time management and organization strategy. Start by prioritizing tasks that align with your [business goals]. Break down tasks into daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Then, create a daily schedule following the block scheduling method:

  • List your key tasks for the day.
  • Assign specific time blocks for each task.
  • Stick to the schedule and avoid multitasking.

You’ll notice increased productivity and improved time management with this approach.

Using Productivity Tools and Apps

Take advantage of productivity tools and apps to help you stay organized and manage your time efficiently. Some popular tools for real estate agents include:

  • Calendars: Apps like Google Calendar or Outlook can help schedule appointments and manage deadlines.
  • Task Managers: Utilize tools like Trello, Asana, or Todoist to manage your projects and collaborate with your team.
  • Time Tracking: Apps such as Toggl or Harvest provide insights into your work habits, helping you identify areas for improvement.

ideas for real estate business plan

Remember to limit the number of tools you use to avoid digital clutter and duplicate information.

Delegating and Outsourcing Tasks When Necessary

As a real estate agent, delegating and outsourcing non-core tasks is essential to focus on your primary responsibilities. Here are some tasks you can consider delegating:

Identify areas where your expertise may not be as strong or where your time can be better spent, and consider outsourcing those tasks to professionals. This approach will help you manage your workload and improve the quality of your services.

Ongoing Education and Professional Development

Staying up-to-date with industry trends and changes.

To stay competitive in the real estate market, you must keep up with industry trends and changes. By monitoring resources like the National Association of Realtors (NAR), California Association of Realtors (CAR), and multiple listing services (MLS), you can stay informed about the latest developments in your field. Set aside time to read industry publications, attend webinars, listen to podcasts, and follow industry-leading professionals on social media.

ideas for real estate business plan

Pursuing Relevant Certifications and Designations

Continuing education is crucial for staying current in the fast-paced real estate industry. Pursue relevant certifications and designations to add credibility and value to your practice. Organizations like NAR and CAR offer various designations demonstrating your expertise and commitment to professionalism to clients and colleagues.

Examples of real estate certifications and designations include:

  • Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR)
  • Certified Residential Specialist (CRS)
  • Green Designation (Green)
  • Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES)

To obtain these certifications, you must complete specific coursework, pass exams, and maintain membership in the relevant organizations.

Participating in Networking and Learning Events

Engaging in networking and learning events within the real estate community can help you build relationships, share ideas, and learn from the experiences of others. Attend conferences, workshops, and local meetups relevant to your niche, region, or areas of interest. Not only will this enhance your industry knowledge and skills, but it can also be an opportunity to form valuable connections that will benefit your business growth.

In summary, staying up-to-date with industry trends, pursuing certifications and designations, and participating in networking events can help you maintain and develop your skills as a real estate professional. Committing to continuous learning and professional development is essential to ensure your long-term success in the real estate business.

ideas for real estate business plan

A well-structured business plan is essential for success as a new real estate agent. With a solid plan, you can set your goals, identify your target market, and analyze your competition. A comprehensive business plan lets you plan your marketing strategies, map your operating expenses, and create revenue projections.

To get started, consider using a business plan template tailored to real estate agents’ needs. This will give you a framework to follow as you develop your plan.

Developing a business plan is just the first step in the process. You need to take action and implement your strategies to realize your goals and achieve success. Revise your plan regularly, adapting and updating it as needed. This will ensure you stay on track with your goals and remain competitive in the ever-changing real estate market.

As a new real estate agent, taking bold steps toward your objectives may feel intimidating. However, trust your plan, apply your outlined strategies, and stay persistent. Your dedication will pay off in the long run.

Starting a career in real estate can be challenging, but you don’t have to face the journey alone. There are numerous resources and support networks available to help new real estate agents excel:

  • Professional networks : Join local real estate associations and online forums to connect with experienced agents, ask questions, and expand your knowledge.
  • Mentors : Seek accomplished real estate agents who can offer guidance, share valuable experiences, and provide personalized advice.
  • Training and education : Keep your skills fresh by attending workshops, participating in webinars, and pursuing continuing education courses relevant to your field.

By leveraging these resources and committing to your business plan, you are setting yourself up for a successful career in real estate. Don’t forget to celebrate your achievements along the way and take pride in your progress. Now is the time to take action; you will surely achieve your goals with determination and hard work.

Kyle Handy

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BUSINESS STRATEGIES

How to create a real estate business plan

  • Nirit Braun
  • 10 min read

How to create a real estate business plan

A real estate business plan is a strategic document that outlines the objectives, strategies and tactics a person or a team will employ when starting a business in the real estate industry. This comprehensive and clear plan not only defines the business' mission, vision and goals but also delineates the steps necessary to achieve them.

When starting a business, especially in a dynamic and competitive sector like real estate, a well-crafted business plan becomes an indispensable tool for success. Beyond helping business in their first steps to understanding how to start a service business , a business plan provides a structured framework that helps entrepreneurs make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively and stay focused on their objectives. By articulating the business' value proposition, rental business ideas , target market, competitive landscape and revenue streams, the plan offers a holistic understanding of the venture's potential and challenges.

Looking to kick off your real estate business? Create a business website today with Wix. These real estate agent websites can help you get started.

In this section, we'll break down the key components involved in crafting a successful real estate business plan in six steps.

Executive summary

Company and domain name

Market analysis and research

Operations plan

Marketing and advertising plan

Financial plan

01. Executive summary

An executive summary is a concise overview of your entire real estate business plan. It serves as a snapshot that captures the essence of your venture, highlighting its key components and objectives. A well-crafted executive summary should provide a clear understanding of your real estate business' purpose, market opportunity, strategies and potential for success. It's typically the first section of the business plan and should be written after the rest of the plan has been completed.

To write a clear executive summary for a real estate business, follow these steps:

Start with a brief introduction: Describe your business’ mission, vision and the services you intend to offer. Highlight what sets your business apart in the competitive real estate landscape.

Summarize the market demand: Explain what kind of opportunity you aim to address with this type of business . Mention key trends in the real estate industry that support the viability of your venture.

Identify your target audience: Whether it's first-time homebuyers, property investors or commercial clients, briefly describe their demographics and needs.

State the unique value you offer to clients: This could be exceptional customer service, a specialized focus or innovative technology solutions.

Outline your key marketing strategies: Highlight how you plan to reach and engage your target market.

Provide a high-level overview of your projected financials: Include revenue projections, startup costs and funding requirements.

Introduce the key members of your team: Highlight how their skills contribute to the success of the real estate business.

Example of an executive summary for a real estate business: “ABC Realty is a dynamic real estate agency that specializes in helping first-time homebuyers navigate the complex property market. With a strong commitment to providing personalized guidance and support, we aim to simplify the buying process and empower our clients to make informed decisions. Our target market consists of young professionals and families looking for their dream homes in urban areas. Leveraging the latest technology and data analytics, we offer a seamless search experience that matches buyers with their ideal properties. Our marketing strategy involves a mix of social media engagement, local partnerships and educational workshops to establish our brand as a trusted resource in the real estate industry. Backed by a team of experienced agents and industry professionals, we are well-positioned to make homeownership dreams a reality while achieving sustainable growth and profitability. Our projected financials indicate a steady upward trajectory, with a goal of reaching profitability within the first two years.”

02. Company and domain name

Knowing how to name a business is crucial for a real estate venture and a key step before you register your business . It shapes your brand identity, influences client perceptions and establishes trust.

Additionally, selecting a suitable domain name for your real estate website is crucial for online visibility and accessibility. Your online presence should be in top form taking into account that 97% of homebuyers search for their homes online. Here's how to approach these decisions:

Company name

Should reflect your business' values and services

Keep it concise, memorable and easy to spell

Check for trademark conflicts to avoid legal issues

Consider using the free business name generator from Wix for inspiration

Be inspired by these real estate business name lists.

Domain name

Align it closely with your company name if possible

Choose a domain extension (.com, .net, .org) that's commonly recognized

Keep it short and free of complex words or hyphens

Ensure it's easy to pronounce and type

Learn more: How to make a website

03. Market analysis and research

Incorporating comprehensive market analysis and research into your business plan is essential for understanding the competitive landscape and formulating an effective business strategy. Conduct market research to identify trends, competitors and potential gaps in the market. Analyze your target audience's preferences, behaviors and pain points to tailor your services and marketing efforts accordingly.

Understanding the market dynamics allows you to position your real estate business strategically and offer unique value propositions that resonate with clients.

04. Operations plan

An operations plan outlines the logistical aspects of your real estate business, ensuring its smooth day-to-day functioning. This section should cover:

The physical location of your business office or headquarters

The size and layout of your office space

The equipment and technology required to run your real estate business

The roles, responsibilities and qualifications of your team members

05. Marketing and advertising plan

In the competitive real estate industry, a robust marketing and advertising plan is vital for attracting clients and establishing your brand presence. Your plan should encompass various marketing strategies , including:

Social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and online advertising

Creating valuable content like blog posts, videos and guides

Establishing partnerships with local businesses and industry associations

Hosting events and workshops that educate clients about real estate trends

You’ll also need to develop a suite of brand assets to use in your marketing efforts, starting with a company logo. You can use a free logo maker or real estate logo maker to get a professional design in minutes.

06. Financial plan

The average cost to start a real estate brokerage can range from $10,000 to $200,000 , so odds are you will need to secure financing. The financial plan outlines your real estate business' financial projections, funding requirements and path to profitability. It should include all your startup costs including starting an LLC , licensing, office setup, marketing materials and technology needs.

Next, estimate income based on property sales, commissions and other revenue sources. Alongside this outline ongoing operational costs, such as rent, salaries, marketing and utilities. Then take the time to specify how your business will be funded initially, whether through personal savings, loans or investor contributions. Finally, predict when your real estate business is expected to reach profitability based on your revenue and expense projections. You can include within this the exact ways to make money as a real estate agent .

steps to developing a business plan

Real estate business plan examples

Here are two templates for hypothetical real estate businesses, each including the main parts discussed in our how-to steps.

Real estate business plan template 1: ABC Realty

ABC Realty is a forward-thinking real estate brokerage focused on serving residential clients in urban areas. With a mission to simplify the home buying process for first-time buyers, we aim to provide personalized guidance and a seamless search experience. Our market research indicates a rising demand for affordable housing solutions and our team's expertise positions us well to address this need. Leveraging digital platforms and local partnerships, we're dedicated to establishing a brand known for trust, transparency and professionalism. Our financial projections show steady growth, with profitability projected within 18 months.

Company name: UrbanNest Realty

Domain name: www.urbannestrealty.com

Market analysis: Our research reveals a growing trend of Millennials seeking starter homes in urban areas.

Competitive landscape: Competitor analysis highlights the need for tailored customer service and simplified processes. We will tap into this by offering comprehensive support and leveraging technology to streamline transactions.

Location: A prime urban location with easy accessibility.

Premises: A modern office space designed for client consultations and agent collaboration.

Equipment: State-of-the-art computers, customer relationship management (CRM) software and virtual tour technology.

Staffing: Agents, property management experts and administrative staff.

Digital marketing: Social media campaigns, targeted online ads and search engine optimization.

Content marketing: Regular blog posts on home-buying tips, neighborhood insights and market trends.

Networking: Partnerships with local lenders, moving companies and interior designers to provide added value.

Events and workshops: Monthly homebuyer seminars and virtual property tours.

Startup costs: $60,000 (licenses, office setup, marketing materials)

Revenue projections (first year): $300,000

Revenue projections (section year): $500,000

Expenses: Monthly rent, salaries, marketing expenses and administrative costs

Funding: Personal savings and a small business loan

Profitability timeline: Projected within 18 months

Real estate business plan template 2: Empire Investments

Empire Investments is a dynamic real estate investment firm specializing in commercial properties. With an aim to provide high-value investment opportunities, we focus on acquiring and enhancing properties with substantial growth potential. Our strategy involves leveraging market trends, identifying undervalued assets and optimizing their value through strategic renovations and management. Our team of seasoned professionals ensures a comprehensive approach to portfolio management, driving investor returns. Our financial outlook is promising, with steady revenue growth projected over the next five years.

Company name: Empire Investments

Domain name: www.empireinvestmentsre.com

Market analysis: Our research highlights an increasing demand for mixed-use properties in urban areas.

Competitive landscape: Competitor analysis reveals a gap in the market for value-add properties. We'll focus on acquiring underperforming assets with the potential for repositioning and strong cash flow.

Location: Central business district for easy access to commercial properties.

Premises: A professional office space for meetings and deal analysis.

Equipment: Advanced financial analysis tools and property management software.

Staffing: Investment analysts, property managers, legal experts and administrative support.

Networking: Building relationships with commercial brokers, property managers and industry experts.

Content marketing: Thought leadership articles, market reports and investment guides.

Webinars and seminars: Monthly webinars on commercial real estate investment strategies.

Direct marketing: Targeted outreach to potential investors based on investment preferences.

Startup costs: $150,000 (licenses, office setup, due diligence expenses)

Revenue projections (first year): $1,000,000

Revenue projections (second year): $2,000,000

Expenses: Office overhead, salaries, marketing campaigns and property management costs

Funding: Combination of private equity, investor capital and personal investments

Profitability timeline: Positive cash flow projected within the first year, substantial returns expected over five years

Top benefits of writing a real estate business plan

Starting a business in real estate requires careful planning and a well-structured business plan offers a multitude of benefits that contribute to the venture's success. A business plan helps you in the following ways:

Attracting investors and funding: A well-developed business plan serves as a persuasive tool to attract potential investors and secure funding. It outlines the business's unique value proposition, market opportunities and growth strategies. By clearly articulating the revenue model and projected financials, entrepreneurs demonstrate their preparedness and potential returns, increasing the likelihood of obtaining an investment and raising money for a business .

Resource assessment: Writing a business plan helps entrepreneurs understand the resources, supplies and staff required to launch and operate the real estate business. This comprehensive assessment ensures that nothing is overlooked, from property acquisition and renovation costs to marketing expenses and administrative needs. By listing these requirements, entrepreneurs can plan for adequate funding and efficient resource allocation.

Strategic direction: A business plan outlines the business's short-term and long-term goals, providing a strategic direction for the real estate business. Entrepreneurs can define their target market, geographic focus and property types, enabling them to make informed decisions aligned with their objectives. This clarity prevents aimless pursuits and helps maintain focus on strategies that align with the business' vision.

Risk mitigation: A well-structured business plan anticipates potential challenges and outlines strategies to mitigate risks. Entrepreneurs can identify industry-specific challenges, such as market fluctuations or regulatory hurdles and devise contingency plans. By acknowledging these risks upfront, entrepreneurs can proactively address them and adapt their strategies as needed.

Operational efficiency: The business plan details the organizational structure, roles and responsibilities required to run the real estate business smoothly. Defining these elements helps entrepreneurs allocate tasks effectively and ensure that the right people are in place to execute the business strategies. This clarity enhances operational efficiency and minimizes the potential for confusion or overlaps.

Measurable progress: A business plan sets clear milestones and metrics to measure the real estate business' progress. Entrepreneurs can track key performance indicators (KPIs) against the projected goals, enabling them to assess their success and identify areas for improvement.

Real estate business plan FAQ

What is a business plan in real estate.

A real estate business plan is a document that outlines your goals and strategies for starting or growing a real estate business. It should include a market analysis, a business model, an operational plan and a financial plan.

Which real estate business is most profitable?

Can you become a millionaire from owning real estate, is it a good idea to start a real estate business, how do i organize my real estate business, want to create another type of business plan.

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Ultimate Guide: 11 Points to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan

Ultimate Guide: 11 Points to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Your business plan is the GPS for success. Instead of wandering, push towards your goals and objectives with clear direction. Developing a real estate business plan is critical to forming a healthy and sustainable business. 

A real estate business plan is an important step for any real estate agent looking to build a successful career in the industry. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, there are certain key elements that should be included in any plan. First and foremost, it is essential to set clear goals and objectives.

A study of 2,877 business owners found that companies are twice as likely to secure loans and funding if they have a business plan and 75% more likely to grow. Another study showed that 64% of companies who created a plan increased their businesses, compared to 43% of companies that hadn't yet finished a plan. 

Your own business plan is an essential tool for any business, small or large. Real estate agents use business plans to map their marketing strategies, target their advertising, and track their progress. A business plan helps agents set goals and stay on track throughout the year. It is also a valuable reference point when meeting with clients and potential investors. 

While there are many different ways to create a real estate business plan, certain elements should be included in every scenario. These elements include an overview of the business, the company's goals and objectives, a marketing strategy, and a financial analysis. By having these key components, companies can ensure that their real estate business plan is comprehensive and will help them achieve their desired results.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) stated that the chances of success rose by 12% for those that spent no longer than three months on their plan . With any longer proving futile. So, how do you write a business plan for your real estate business without getting bogged down in the details? In this post, we'll look at actionable steps agents and brokers can take to outline, execute and measure the performance of a business plan.

As a real estate agent, you know that the housing market can be unpredictable. You need to be prepared for the ups and downs of the market, and one way to do that is to have a business plan. Your business plan will help you set goals and track your progress. It will also force you to think about the costs of running your business and how you will generate leads. There are many online resources that can help you write a business plan, but the most important thing is to get started. By taking the time to write a plan, you will ensure that your business is ready for whatever the housing market throws your way.

What is a real estate business plan?

A business plan is a written document that captures the future of your business. It details what you plan and how you plan to do it.

Real estate business plans are essential for two reasons. First, they provide a road map for agents to follow as they work to build their businesses. Second, they force agents to think through all the crucial aspects of their business, such as their marketing efforts, target market, and financial goals. 

By taking the time to write a Real Estate Business Plan, agents can ensure that they are taking all the necessary steps to build a successful business.

A Real Estate Business Plan is an essential tool for any business, whether you are just starting or have been in business for years. There are many benefits to creating a Real Estate Business Plan, including: 

  • Having a Real Estate Business Plan forces you to take a step back and assess your business as a whole. It allows you to see where your business stands, and identify any areas that need improvement.
  • A Real Estate Business Plan provides a roadmap for your business. It can help you to set goals and track your progress over time.
  • A Real Estate Business Plan can help secure your business funding. If you seek investment from Venture Capitalists or Banks, they will often require a copy of your business plan before considering your request.
  • A Real Estate Business Plan can help you to attract and retain top talent. If you are looking to hire employees or contractors, having a well-crafted business plan can be a significant selling point.
  • A Real Estate Business Plan can be a valuable tool for managing day-to-day operations. A clear and concise plan can help you better decide where to allocate resources and how to utilize your team's time and talents best.
  • A Real Estate Business Plan can help you to measure and track your marketing efforts. By setting specific goals and objectives, you can more effectively gauge the success of your marketing campaigns and make necessary adjustments along the way.
  • A Real Estate Business Plan can serve as a valuable sales tool. A professional business plan can give you a significant competitive advantage if you are looking to sell properties or convert leads into clients.
  • A Real Estate Business Plan helps to keep you organized and on track. Trying to run a successful real estate business without a plan is like trying to drive from New York to Los Angeles without a map - chances are, you'll get lost along the way!

Having a Real Estate Business Plan gives you credibility in the eyes of others. If you are working with other professionals such as lenders, appraisers, or title companies, having a well-developed business plan shows that you are serious about your business and increases the likelihood that they will want to work with you in the future.

Last but not least, creating a Real Estate Business Plan is empowering! Taking the time to develop a comprehensive plan shows that you believe in yourself and your business and sets the foundation for long-term success.        

Precisely, it conveys your business goals, the strategies and tactics you'll use to achieve them, potential problems you may run into along the way and how to overcome them, roles and responsibilities, SWOT analysis, and measurement strategies.

ideas for real estate business plan

What should a real estate business plan include?

Real estate business plans are different from traditional business plans. 

Real estate agents need to focus on their target market, their uniqueness, and how they will succeed against the competition. Real estate business plans should also include an analysis of the current market conditions and the potential for growth in the future. In addition, real estate agents should outline their marketing strategy and have a budget for advertising and promotions. By taking the time to create a comprehensive business plan, real estate agents can increase their chances of success in this competitive industry.

Real estate business plans vary in length and complexity, but all should include the following elements: 

  • An overview of the real estate market 
  • A description of the agent's target market 
  • A marketing plan 
  • A financial plan 
  • A discussion of the agent's competitive advantages 

Real estate business plans provide a roadmap for agents to achieve their goals. They should include specific strategies for generating leads, marketing properties, and closing deals. The business plan should also outline the agent's budget and target income. Additionally, the real estate business plan should set forth a schedule for prospecting, listing appointments, and open houses. By following a real estate business plan, agents can increase their chances of success in real estate.

How do you assemble a real estate business plan?

A business plan is essential for any real estate business, whether you're just starting out or have been in the industry for years. It provides a roadmap for your business, laying out your goals and strategies for achieving them. But how do you go about assembling a business plan?

First, you'll need to identify your target market. Who are you trying to reach with your real estate business? Once you know your target market, you can start developing your marketing strategy. What methods will you use to get potential clients? How will you differentiate yourself from other real estate businesses in your area?

Next, you'll need to put together a financial plan. What are your revenue sources? How much money do you expect to bring in each month? What are your expenses? How much do you need to save for a rainy day? A clear financial picture will help you make sound decisions for your business.

Lastly, don't forget to include a personal development plan. What skills do you need to improve to succeed in the real estate business? What classes or training programs can you take to close more deals and earn more commissions? A well-rounded business plan will help ensure your real estate business is booming.

Writing a Real Estate Business Plan in 11 Easy Steps

1. write a detailed business description.

There's a story and context behind your business, and the business description is where that should shine. Write a brief overview of your Real Estate business. Include your business goals and how you plan on achieving them. Then create a description of your company, including its history, structure, and other relevant information.

The mission statement is part of the business description — which helps keep the rest on the track. Many mission statements follow a familiar format, like:

"To be the best, full-service Real Estate company in the Triangle and to enhance our quality of life through active community involvement.".

In a microstudy of 200 mission statements, it was found that mission statements most often talk about the company's dedication to customers (85%), shareholders (37%), employees (21%), and society (3%).

As well as a defined mission statement, make sure to include:

  • When you were founded
  • Where you are located
  • Who the leaders are
  • Special advantages/partnerships
  • Market opportunities
  • Legal structure

A very brief real estate business description example is:

"Norris & Company Real Estate is Vero Beach's premier upscale real estate firm. They specialize in luxury waterfront homes and condominiums, particularly in Vero Beach and Indian River County, FL."

2. Market Analysis

Research the Real Estate market in your area and identify any trends or opportunities. Include this information in your business plan.

Real estate agents must constantly be aware of the market conditions in their area to serve their clients best. Agents can provide expert guidance and advice by understanding the trends and opportunities.

When writing your Real Estate business plan, including a comprehensive analysis of the market conditions in your area. It will help you better understand your client's needs and identify potential opportunities.

Your market analysis should include:

  • An overview of the Real Estate market in your area
  • Identification of any trends or opportunities
  • An explanation of how you will address these trends or options in your business plan

By including this information in your Real Estate business plan, you will be able to show potential clients that you are knowledgeable and prepared to help them navigate the Real Estate market.

3. Perform a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a technique used to identify and define several key characteristics that will impact your business: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Think of it this way:

Strengths and Weaknesses are internal. Threats and Opportunities are external.

An analysis can be as simple as making lists of items under each category.

For example, a strength could be a solid and experienced sales team, while a weakness might be that your business is expensive to run because you haven't nurtured supplier relations.

It could be as simple as filling four sheets of paper with descriptions of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats — collaboratively or alone. To make the answers clearer and the exercise more manageable, you can use questions like:

  • What do our competitors do better than us? Threat .
  • What's our unique selling point? Strength .
  • Why have customers churned in the past? Weakness .
  • Which markets are underserved in your territory? Opportunities .

4. List Your #1 SMART Goal

It's great to be ambitious, but focusing on one goal makes it easier to stay motivated, track progress, and see the measurable effect of achieving it. Even better if that goal is a SMART Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timed – goal.

Examples of SMART goals you might set for your growing real estate business are:

  • Build a new real estate website in the next three months
  • Hire and onboard three new SDRs in the next six months
  • Increase monthly leads by 50% by next year
  • Sell ten houses in the Dallas metro area in the next 30 days.

Pick one at a time and focus on it! Sticking to an achievable goal with a time limit makes it more likely to come to fruition. And, even just writing it down makes you 42% more likely to attain it.

5. Identify Your Market Niche

Before setting out your facts and figures, it's essential to spotlight your target market and how you'll serve this niche. It helps you decide what's realistic and feasible to achieve in your business plan.

Determining your market niche is a fancier way of saying: Who are your services best suited to? While honing in on a narrow target seems a little exclusionary, niche marketing can save you time, effort, and money on marketing.

One tool to help you define your market is a buyer persona. A persona is a fictional typification of your ideal customer, with information that enables you to steer your sales and marketing in the right direction.

It's essential to assess your niche and ensure it is consistent with the market in your area.

For example, if you've decided to focus on first-time buyers, do some research to look at relevant stats and figures:

  • What percentage of sales in your market were to first-time buyers in the last 12–14 months?
  • What was the average sales price to first-time buyers?

Also, assess how competitive this market is:

  • Are you the only agent catering to the young first-timer?
  • Are you competing with well-known heavy hitters?

A competitive SEO audit can be a helpful starting point in finding your competitors in the online space, where almost all leads will turn at some point in the buying process.

6. Implementation Plan

Before you can begin implementing your real estate business plan, you must clearly understand your goals and objectives. What are you trying to achieve with your business? Are you looking to buy and hold properties for long-term appreciation, or are you more interested in flipping houses for a quick profit? 

Once you have a good idea of your goals, you can start to put together a plan for how to achieve them. For example, if you're interested in buying and holding properties, you'll need to generate enough income from rentals to cover the mortgage and other expenses. If you're more interested in flipping properties, you'll need to find motivated sellers and then negotiate deals that provide you with a healthy profit margin. 

Regardless of your goals, careful planning is essential for success in the real estate business.

Breaking your goals into action steps makes them more tangible and ensures you're making strides to fulfill them. Here are some keys to converting your real estate business plan into actual business practices.

7. Monitoring & Evaluation

Successful real estate businesses have a plan to monitor and evaluate their progress. This plan includes setting clear goals, measuring progress against those goals, and making adjustments as needed. Without this proactive approach, it can be challenging to identify areas of improvement or stagnation. 

Additionally, a well-executed monitoring and evaluation plan can help to keep employees focused and on track. By regularly assessing performance and goal progress, businesses can ensure that they are making the most of their resources and achieving their desired results. Ultimately, a sound monitoring and evaluation plan are crucial for any real estate business that wants to stay ahead of the competition.

8. Risk Management

Real estate investing comes with a certain amount of risk. But with a well-thought-out risk management strategy, you can minimize the potential for loss and maximize your chances for success.

One of the most critical aspects of risk management is diversification. Investing in various property types in different markets spreads your risk and increases your chances of finding a profitable investment.

Another critical element of risk management has a solid business plan. Thoughtfully consider each step of the real estate investing process, from finding deals to financing them to managing the properties. Have a clear exit strategy for each investment to know when to sell or refinance. And always remember to stay within your comfort level; don't let greed or fear make decisions for you.

With careful planning and discipline, you can create a real estate investment portfolio that withstands market fluctuations and generates long-term wealth.

9. Financial Plan

Having a sound financial plan for your business is essential. To assist you, we've created spreadsheets you can use to estimate goals, income, and expenses. You will find specific instructions in the spreadsheets, but here are some guidelines for creating a financial plan:

To create your plan, determine what your expenses will be.

Here are three main areas your expenses may fall into:

  • Licensing: These expenses will include training, state exam fees, etc.
  • Personal: This can consist of your wardrobe, technology fees (like computer and phone), and car fees.
  • Business: Business expenses include broker fees, website and MLS fees, marketing, advertising, etc.

Our template divides these expenses into the startup and yearly costs to help you discern which payments will recur and which are one-time-only. Here's an example of what your startup expenses might look like.

Yearly expenses might include recurring costs like office rent, electricity bills, and annual license fees.

Estimating income is the biggest concern for most new agents. To do this, you must decide how much money you need to make in your first year and how much you would like that figure to grow. You will also need to research some basic statistics for your market, like the average sale price for homes.

Use our business plan template to help calculate these numbers.

Transactions and Leads 

To meet your income goals and cover expenses, you'll need to conduct a certain number of transactions. And, to complete a certain number of transactions, you'll need to work a set number of leads. There's no need to work this figure out by hand. ‍

Our template will automatically calculate the number of transactions and leads you will probably need to meet your goals. Still, you will have to assess these figures to decide whether they are reasonable. For example, if you plan to work part-time as an agent in your first year but need to close 20 transactions to meet your goals, you are unlikely to have enough time.

10. Create a Personal Development Plan

A personal development plan is an essential tool for any real estate business. By taking the time to assess your strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and create a roadmap for success, you can ensure that your business is on track to reach its full potential. While it may seem daunting, creating a personal development plan is simple. 

Start by taking stock of your current situation. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your goals for the future? Once you clearly understand where you are starting, you can begin to map out a plan of action. Set realistic goals and create a timeline for achieving them. Put together a resources list and ensure you have everything you need to reach your goals. Finally, implement your plan and monitor your progress along the way.

Remember, your development plan should be flexible and adapt as your needs change over time. With some planning and effort, you can create a roadmap for success that will help you achieve your long-term goals in the real estate business.

11. Write an Executive Summary that Captures the Vision

Your executive summary is an anchor point you can use to understand the overall goals, cement the parameters of your target market, and make decisions aligned with your plan. It's also a way to get inspired by your original vision.

For real estate, it would include points on:

  • Target neighborhoods and price ranges
  • Target clients and a brief description of the persona
  • Brief marketing plan overview
  • Market threats and opportunities

Think of the executive summary as the section of your business plan you would explain to a friend a football game when asked how you plan to make money as an agent or broker in your local town/ city or state.

Note: due to the specific details in the executive summary, this part of the business is typically one of the last completed items.

Real Estate Business Plan Template

If you're considering starting a real estate business, you'll need to create a business plan template. Here's a basic template that you can use to get started. Remember that your business plan should be tailored to your specific business and industry.

  • Executive Summary

The executive summary is a brief overview of your business plan. It should include your company's mission statement and an overview of your products or services, target market, and growth strategy.

  • Company Description

This section will provide an overview of your company, including its history, structure, and team. Be sure to include information on your company culture and values.

  • Mission statement

In this section, you will summarize the reason for being and the guiding principles of your organization. For example: "We are a nonprofit that provides free legal aid to those in need." You can also provide a brief overview of what we want them (the users) to come into contact with. 

Why should they care about our mission or message by telling them why it is vital to their lives now and later down the line?

  • Company goals

This section will provide a high-level overview of your company's top business goals for its first years in operation.

  • Market Analysis

In this section, you will need to analyze your target market thoroughly. It should include information on your customers, your competition, and the overall industry.

  • Product or Service

In this section, you will need to describe your product or service. Be sure to include information on your pricing strategy and any unique features or benefits your product or service offers.

  • Marketing and Sales Strategy

In this section, you will need to outline your marketing and sales strategy. It should include information on how you plan to generate leads and convert them into customers.

  • Operational Plan

This section will need to provide an overview of your business operations. It should include your production process and distribution and fulfillment strategy.

This section will briefly describe what your company offers to customers.

  • Target customer

To effectively reach the people we want as customers, you must provide a clear overview of who they are and how your product or service can benefit them. In this section, I'll go over some questions worth asking yourself when determining who your potential clients may be. 

  • Best Practices

Write out your ideal practices for how you'll deal with qualified leads versus unqualified leads, how quickly you'll follow up with interested parties, your methods for helping a leader throughout the final steps of the sales process, and how you'll stay in touch with customers after papers have been signed.

  • Financial Plan

In this section, you will need to provide detailed financial information for your business. It should include your income, balance, and cash flow statements. The following will include startup expenses, assets, liabilities, capital, break-even analysis, and loan repayment.

  • Exit Strategy

This section will need to provide an overview of your exit strategy. It should include information on how you plan to sell or exit your business in the future.

Individual Agent Real Estate Business Plan

Real estate agents need a business plan like any other entrepreneur. A real estate business plan outlines your goals, strategies, and how you plan on achieving them. It is essential to have a business plan because it will help you stay focused and on track. Real estate is a competitive industry, so you need to be able to stand out from the rest.

A business plan will also be helpful if you ever need to seek funding for your business. Investors and lenders will want to see that you have a well-thought-out plan before they give you money. 

Creating a Real Estate Business Plan is essential if you want to build a successful career in real estate. With our easy-to-use template, you can get started today and be on your way to achieving your long-term goals.

There are many benefits to creating a Real Estate Business Plan, including:

  • Clarifying your goals and strategies
  • Mapping out a clear road map for your business
  • Identifying potential obstacles and solutions
  • Helping you stay organized and on track
  • Increasing your chances of success

So, if you are considering starting a real estate business, sit down and write a business plan. It will be worth it in the long run!

Real Estate Team Business Plan

Before you start your real estate team, it's essential to have a business plan in place. It will help you define your goals, map your strategies, and track your progress over time. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a business plan, certain key elements should be included. Here are a few of the most important things to keep in mind:

  • Your team's mission statement: What sets your team apart from the competition? Why do you exist?
  • Your target market: Who are you trying to reach with your services? What needs do they have that you can address?
  • Your marketing strategy: How will you get your target market and communicate the benefits of working with your team?
  • Your financial goals: How much revenue do you hope to generate? What are your expenses? How will you fund your business?

By thoughtfully developing your real estate team business plan, you'll increase your chances of success in an increasingly competitive industry.

Real Estate Brokerage Business Plan

A real estate brokerage business plan is a document that outlines the goals, strategies, and financial projections of a real estate brokerage business . It should include an executive summary, market analysis, business model, operational plan, and financial plan. The executive summary should briefly describe the company, its target market, and its competitive advantages. The market analysis should assess the size and growth potential of the target market. 

The business model should describe how the real estate brokerage plans to generate revenue. The operational plan should outline the business's day-to-day operations, including staffing and marketing initiatives. Finally, the financial plan should provide detailed information on the anticipated costs and revenues of the company. A well-crafted real estate brokerage business plan can be valuable for attracting investors and achieving long-term success.

Remember that your business plan is a living document that should be updated as your company grows and evolves. Regularly reviewing and revising your business plan ensures that your real estate brokerage is always moving in the right direction.

Ready. Set. Plan

Whether you've got a ready-to-execute business plan or it's still being drafted, the most important thing is to start now — and fast.

At its core, a real estate business plan should outline the steps necessary to achieve specific goals, such as increasing sales or expanding into new markets. It should also identify potential obstacles preventing the business from achieving its objectives. By taking the time to create a comprehensive business plan, real estate businesses can increase their chances of weathering storms and coming out on top in the long run.

A business plan puts you on a clear track that makes your business 75% more likely to grow.

By following the above points, you'll be well on writing a comprehensive Real Estate Business Plan.

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How To Write A Real Estate Business Plan

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What is a real estate business plan?

8 must-haves in a business plan

How to write a business plan

Real estate business plan tips

Success in the real estate investing industry won’t happen overnight, and it definitely won’t happen without proper planning or implementation. For entrepreneurs, a  real estate development business plan can serve as a road map to all of your business operations. Simply put, a real estate business plan will serve an essential role in forming your investing career.

Investors will need to strategize several key elements to create a successful business plan. These include future goals, company values, financing strategies, and more. Once complete, a business plan can create the foundation for smooth operations and outline a future with unlimited potential for your investing career. Keep reading to learn how to create a real estate investment business plan today.

What Is A Real Estate Investing Business Plan?

A real estate business plan is a living document that provides the framework for business operations and goals. A business plan will include future goals for the company and organized steps to get there. While business plans can vary from investor to investor, they will typically include planning for one to five years at a time.

Drafting a business plan for real estate investing purposes is, without a doubt, one of the single most important steps a new investor can take. An REI business plan will help you avoid potential obstacles while simultaneously placing you in a position to succeed. It is a blueprint to follow when things are going according to plan and even when they veer off course. If for nothing else, a real estate company’s business plan will ensure that investors know which steps to follow to achieve their goals. In many ways, nothing is more valuable to today’s investors. It is the plan, after all, to follow the most direct path to success.

real estate investing business plan

8 Must-Haves In A Real Estate Business Plan

As a whole, a real estate business plan should address a company’s short and long-term goals. To accurately portray a company’s vision, the right business plan will require more information than a future vision. A strong real estate investing business plan will provide a detailed look at its ins and outs. This can include the organizational structure, financial information, marketing outline, and more.  When done right, it will serve as a comprehensive overview for anyone who interacts with your business, whether internally or externally.

That said, creating an REI business plan will require a persistent attention to detail. For new investors drafting a real estate company business plan may seem like a daunting task, and quite honestly it is. The secret is knowing which ingredients must be added (and when). Below are seven must-haves for a well executed business plan:

Outline the company values and mission statement.

Break down future goals into short and long term.

Strategize the strengths and weaknesses of the company.

Formulate the best investment strategy for each property and your respective goals.

Include potential marketing and branding efforts.

State how the company will be financed (and by whom).

Explain who is working for the business.

Answer any “what ifs” with backup plans and exit strategies.

These components matter the most, and a quality real estate business plan will delve into each category to ensure maximum optimization.

A company vision statement is essentially your mission statement and values. While these may not be the first step in planning your company, a vision will be crucial to the success of your business. Company values will guide you through investment decisions and inspire others to work with your business time and time again. They should align potential employees, lenders, and possible tenants with the motivations behind your company.

Before writing your company vision, think through examples you like both in and out of the real estate industry. Is there a company whose values you identify with? Or, are there mission statements you dislike? Use other companies as a starting point when creating your own set of values. Feel free to reach out to your mentor or other network connections for feedback as you plan. Most importantly, think about the qualities you value and how they can fit into your business plan.

Goals are one of the most important elements in a successful business plan. This is because not only do goals provide an end goal for your company, but they also outline the steps required to get there. It can be helpful to think about goals in two categories: short-term and long-term. Long-term goals will typically outline your plans for the company. These can include ideal investment types, profit numbers, and company size. Short-term goals are the smaller, actionable steps required to get there.

For example, one long-term business goal could be to land four wholesale deals by the end of the year. Short-term goals will make this more achievable by breaking it into smaller steps. A few short-term goals that might help you land those four wholesale deals could be to create a direct mail campaign for your market area, establish a buyers list with 50 contacts, and secure your first property under contract. Breaking down long-term goals is a great way to hold yourself accountable, create deadlines and accomplish what you set out to.

3. SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis involves thinking through each of these areas as you evaluate your company and potential competitors. This framework allows business owners to better understand what is working for the company and identify potential areas for improvement. SWOT analyses are used across industries as a way to create more actionable solutions to potential issues.

To think through a SWOT analysis for your real estate business plan, first, identify your company’s potential strengths and weaknesses. Do you have high-quality tenants? Are you struggling to raise capital? Be honest with yourself as you write out each category. Then, take a step back and look at your market area and competitors to identify threats and opportunities. A potential threat could be whether or not your rental prices are in line with comparable properties. On the other hand, a potential opportunity could boost your property’s amenities to be more competitive in the area.

4. Investment Strategy

Any good real estate investment business plan requires the ability to implement a sound investment strategy. If for nothing else, there are several exit strategies a business may execute to secure profits: rehabbing, wholesaling, and renting — to name a few. Investors will want to analyze their market and determine which strategy will best suit their goals. Those with long-term retirement goals may want to consider leaning heavily into rental properties. However, those without the funds to build a rental portfolio may want to consider getting started by wholesaling. Whatever the case may be, now is the time to figure out what you want to do with each property you come across. It is important to note, however, that this strategy will change from property to property. Therefore, investors need to determine their exit strategy based on the asset and their current goals. This section needs to be added to a real estate investment business plan because it will come in handy once a prospective deal is found.

5. Marketing Plan

While marketing may seem like the cherry on top of a sound business plan, marketing efforts will actually play an integral role in your business’s foundation. A marketing plan should include your business logo, website, social media outlets, and advertising efforts. Together these elements can build a solid brand for your business, which will help you build a strong business reputation and ultimately build trust with investors, clients, and more.

First, to plan your marketing, think about how your brand can illustrate the company values and mission statement you have created. Consider the ways you can incorporate your vision into your logo or website. Remember, in addition to attracting new clients, marketing efforts can also help maintain relationships with existing connections. For a step by step guide to drafting a real estate marketing plan , be sure to read this guide.

6. Financing Plan

Writing the financial portion of a business plan can be tricky, especially if you are starting your business. As a general rule, a financial plan will include the income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet for a business. A financial plan should also include short and long-term goals regarding the profits and losses of a company. Together, this information will help make business decisions, raise capital, and report on business performance.

Perhaps the most important factor when creating a financial plan is accuracy. While many investors want to report on high profits or low losses, manipulating data will not boost your business performance in any way. Come up with a system of organization that works for you and always ensure your financial statements are authentic. As a whole, a financial plan should help you identify what is and isn’t working for your business.

7. Teams & Small Business Systems

No successful business plan is complete without an outline of the operations and management. Think: how your business is being run and by whom. This information will include the organizational structure, office management (if any), and an outline of any ongoing projects or properties. Investors can even include future goals for team growth and operational changes when planning this information.

Even if you are just starting or have yet to launch your business, it is still necessary to plan your business structure. Start by planning what tasks you will be responsible for, and look for areas you will need help with. If you have a business partner, think through your strengths and weaknesses and look for areas you can best complement each other. For additional guidance, set up a meeting with your real estate mentor. They can provide valuable insights into their own business structure, which can serve as a jumping-off point for your planning.

8. Exit Strategies & Back Up Plans

Believe it or not, every successful company out there has a backup plan. Businesses fail every day, but investors can position themselves to survive even the worst-case scenario by creating a backup plan. That’s why it’s crucial to strategize alternative exit strategies and backup plans for your investment business. These will help you create a plan of action if something goes wrong and help you address any potential problems before they happen.

This section of a business plan should answer all of the “what if” questions a potential lender, employee, or client might have. What if a property remains on the market for longer than expected? What if a seller backs out before closing? What if a property has a higher than average vacancy rate? These questions (and many more) are worth thinking through as you create your business plan.

How To Write A Real Estate Investment Business Plan: Template

The impact of a truly great real estate investment business plan can last for the duration of your entire career, whereas a poor plan can get in the way of your future goals. The truth is: a real estate business plan is of the utmost importance, and as a new investor it deserves your undivided attention. Again, writing a business plan for real estate investing is no simple task, but it can be done correctly. Follow our real estate investment business plan template to ensure you get it right the first time around:

Write an executive summary that provides a birds eye view of the company.

Include a description of company goals and how you plan to achieve them.

Demonstrate your expertise with a thorough market analysis.

Specify who is working at your company and their qualifications.

Summarize what products and services your business has to offer.

Outline the intended marketing strategy for each aspect of your business.

1. Executive Summary

The first step is to define your mission and vision. In a nutshell, your executive summary is a snapshot of your business as a whole, and it will generally include a mission statement, company description, growth data, products and services, financial strategy, and future aspirations. This is the “why” of your business plan, and it should be clearly defined.

2. Company Description

The next step is to examine your business and provide a high-level review of the various elements, including goals and how you intend to achieve them. Investors should describe the nature of their business, as well as their targeted marketplace. Explain how services or products will meet said needs, address specific customers, organizations, or businesses the company will serve, and explain the competitive advantage the business offers.

3. Market Analysis

This section will identify and illustrate your knowledge of the industry. It will generally consist of information about your target market, including distinguishing characteristics, size, market shares, and pricing and gross margin targets. A thorough market outline will also include your SWOT analysis.

4. Organization & Management

This is where you explain who does what in your business. This section should include your company’s organizational structure, details of the ownership, profiles on the management team, and qualifications. While this may seem unnecessary as a real estate investor, the people reading your business plan may want to know who’s in charge. Make sure you leave no stone unturned.

5. Services Or Products

What are you selling? How will it benefit your customers? This is the part of your real estate business plan where you provide information on your product or service, including its benefits over competitors. In essence, it will offer a description of your product/service, details on its life cycle, information on intellectual property, as well as research and development activities, which could include future R&D activities and efforts. Since real estate investment is more of a service, beginner investors must identify why their service is better than others in the industry. It could include experience.

6. Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy will generally encompass how a business owner intends to market or sell their product and service. This includes a market penetration strategy, a plan for future growth, distribution channels, and a comprehensive communication strategy. When creating a marketing strategy for a real estate business plan, investors should think about how they plan to identify and contact new leads. They should then think about the various communication options: social media, direct mail, a company website, etc. Your business plan’s marketing portion should essentially cover the practical steps of operating and growing your business.

real estate investor business plan

Additional Real Estate Business Plan Tips

A successful business plan is no impossible to create; however, it will take time to get it right. Here are a few extra tips to keep in mind as you develop a plan for your real estate investing business:

Tailor Your Executive Summary To Different Audiences: An executive summary will open your business plan and introduce the company. Though the bulk of your business plan will remain consistent, the executive summary should be tailored to the specific audience at hand. A business plan is not only for you but potential investors, lenders, and clients. Keep your intended audience in mind when drafting the executive summary and answer any potential questions they may have.

Articulate What You Want: Too often, investors working on their business plan will hide what they are looking for, whether it be funding or a joint venture. Do not bury the lede when trying to get your point across. Be clear about your goals up front in a business plan, and get your point across early.

Prove You Know The Market: When you write the company description, it is crucial to include information about your market area. This could include average sale prices, median income, vacancy rates, and more. If you intend to acquire rental properties, you may even want to go a step further and answer questions about new developments and housing trends. Show that you have your finger on the pulse of a market, and your business plan will be much more compelling for those who read it.

Do Homework On The Competition: Many real estate business plans fail to fully analyze the competition. This may be partly because it can be difficult to see what your competitors are doing, unlike a business with tangible products. While you won’t get a tour of a competitor’s company, you can play prospect and see what they offer. Subscribe to their newsletter, check out their website, or visit their open house. Getting a first-hand look at what others are doing in your market can greatly help create a business plan.

Be Realistic With Your Operations & Management: It can be easy to overestimate your projections when creating a business plan, specifically when it comes to the organization and management section. Some investors will claim they do everything themselves, while others predict hiring a much larger team than they do. It is important to really think through how your business will operate regularly. When writing your business plan, be realistic about what needs to be done and who will be doing it.

Create Example Deals: At this point, investors will want to find a way to illustrate their plans moving forward. Literally or figuratively, illustrate the steps involved in future deals: purchases, cash flow, appreciation, sales, trades, 1031 exchanges, cash-on-cash return, and more. Doing so should give investors a good idea of what their deals will look like in the future. While it’s not guaranteed to happen, envisioning things has a way of making them easier in the future.

Schedule Business Update Sessions: Your real estate business plan is not an ironclad document that you complete and then never look at again. It’s an evolving outline that should continually be reviewed and tweaked. One good technique is to schedule regular review sessions to go over your business plan. Look for ways to improve and streamline your business plan so it’s as clear and persuasive as you want it to be.

Reevauating Your Real Estate Business Plan

A business plan will serve as a guide for every decision you make in your company, which is exactly why it should be reevaluated regularly. It is recommended to reassess your business plan each year to account for growth and changes. This will allow you to update your business goals, accounting books, and organizational structures. While you want to avoid changing things like your logo or branding too frequently, it can be helpful to update department budgets or business procedures each year.

The size of your business is crucial to keep in mind as you reevaluate annually. Not only in terms of employees and management structures but also in terms of marketing plans and business activities. Always incorporate new expenses and income into your business plan to help ensure you make the most of your resources. This will help your business stay on an upward trajectory over time and allow you to stay focused on your end goals.

Above all else, a  real estate development business plan will be inspiring and informative. It should reveal why your business is more than just a dream and include actionable steps to make your vision a reality. No matter where you are with your investing career, a detailed business plan can guide your future in more ways than one. After all, a thorough plan will anticipate the best path to success. Follow the template above as you plan your real estate business, and make sure it’s a good one.

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Creating a comprehensive business plan is essential for real estate agents who want to stay organized, maximize productivity and win market share. Here are 9 steps an agent should take to design a dynamic strategic plan.

1. Define Your Mission Statement

Take some time to reflect on why you are in this business. What are your primary reasons? What benefits will you provide to your potential clients? What do you hope to accomplish by taking on this responsibility?   

2. Define Your Target Audience or Niche Think about what types of clients you want to work with. It could be a category of people (such as new homeowners) or a specific niche (such as retirement communities). Will extra resources or measures be needed to reach them?

3. Evaluate Your Resources

Will you be working by yourself? Determine if it would make sense to hire an assistant or another agent to help manage lead generation. If you have a team, create a flow chart with each member’s responsibilities. That will help you to see who is doing what and identify any gaps to fill.

4. Set Clear Goals

A great model to follow is SMART goals : specific, measurable, achievable, relevant.

Include both short- and long-term objectives, such as annual income targets and the number of transactions you aim to complete.

5. Establish Budget and Financial Projections

Create a detailed budget that accounts for business expenses, such as licensing fees, marketing and advertising, office space and transportation.

Lead generation is your most important priority. A comprehensive, well-designed, multi-faceted marketing campaign is crucial for your business to succeed. As part of your budgeting step, be sure to include this important category and analyze if it makes sense to do in-house or to off source.  

6. Create Strategic Action Steps  

A great customer relationship management (CRM) system will help you run your business with maximum productivity.

  • It allows you to organize all your contacts and their detailed information in one place. It also lets you rank contacts by importance and informs you when and how those clients and leads should be contacted.
  • It has functionality that creates detailed reports so you can track your transactions and expenses. It should also be able to generate reports, so you know if you are on target to meet your financial goals and what to do to reach them.   
  • It helps you stay aligned with your goals, to-do lists and calendars. A CRM can also create action steps based on your goals and current progress and can generate your priority list.

7. Create a Plan for Evaluation and Review

Regularly review your progress and adjust your business plan as needed. Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to see if you are hitting your benchmarks and if you need to adjust your plan.

8. Consider Support and Accountability

Consider working with a real estate coach to help you strategize and implement measures so you can reach your goals. A coach will also help you deal with issues head on to keep you accountable and on task.

9.  Commit to Continuous Learning

Commit to ongoing professional development by attending training seminars and staying updated on industry trends.

Buffini & Company – We’ve Got You!

Buffini & Company’s coaches have already been working to establish systems and resources in place to help get their clients ready and positioned for a strong 2024 selling season. To learn more about how a coach can help you take full advantage of the extraordinary year to come, schedule a free Business Consultation .

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The Ultimate Real Estate Business Plan To Turn You Into A Top Producer And Achieve Your Goals In Real Estate

Are you struggling to find a real estate business plan template that helps you hit your goals? This template will have you hyper-focused for success from day #1.

Quick question:

What would happen to your lead generation if you left on a 30-day vacation tomorrow?

Here’s my guess – It would come to a screaming halt.

Yet, think about why you got into real estate for a second.

Was it to cold call daily? Or send thousands of postcards?

Probably not! Realtors often find themselves with a huge difference between what they are doing and why they wanted to sell real estate in the first place.

I’m going to outline a very clear plan of action for your to essentially free yourself from the day to day lead generation activities in your business.

The real estate business plan template outlined below will help you steadily work towards aligning your personal goals with the daily work you do as a Realtor.

Let’s get into it:

Ultimate Real Estate Business Plan

The hyper focused real estate business plan template:.

Here’s the real estate business plan I’ll be using to help you created a focused growth strategy for your real estate business. Take a look at it and then scroll down to see how we can best use it in your business.

real estate business plan

Setting Your One Main Goal Will Get You More Results – 

Did you know our average attention span has dropped over 4 seconds in the past 15 years?

We are fundamentally not focusing on one thing at a time anymore in society.

And while that may be fine when it comes to things like Facebook  and entertainment…

It’s terrible for your business.

What do you really want to achieve in real estate this year?

I find that the easiest way to discover the answer to this question is through asking yourself why you got into real estate .

Once you understand that, you should be able to define what your number 1 goal is.

Are you trying to:

  • Achieve 25 transactions
  • Hit $75,000 per year
  • Get 100 leads coming in per month

What number do you want to track and strive for in your business?

This is the number and sentence that takes up the top of your real estate agent business plan.  

Discover 3 Priorities That Can Help You Dominate Your 1 Goal:

The next section of your real estate business plan template asks you to discover 3 priorities that can help you hit that goal.

This is where you focus on things like social media marketing , postcard canvasing , farming techniques , and email marketing.

Here’s a great way to break this section down:

You can pick a short-term reward priority, middle-term, and long-term.

This will ensure you get leads now while also making you work on more longer term lead generation projects.

For example, a good selection would be:

If you’re in need of ideas for this section of the real estate business plan, here’s a list of them:

  • Social Media Marketing
  • Pinterest Marketing Tactics
  • Seller Listings
  • SEO Or Google Marketing Tactics
  • PostCard Marketing Tactics
  • Email Marketing Strategies
  • Farming and Canvasing Tactics
  • Online Lead Generation Tactics
  • Real Estate Script Perfection
  • Real Estate Flyers

The key with this section is to be actionable in your approach.

For example, don’t say “Be Active On Facebook”…

…instead say “Have 1,000 Likes On My Facebook Page”

Or better yet: “Have 500 people visit my lead capture website  from Facebook monthly”

These actionable goals within your priority will guide your daily tasks.

They will tell you what to do when and how to do it.

Clearly defined goals with a number to hit will also motivate your competitive side.

Once you have three of these written down, it’s time to decide how you’re going to hit those numbers.

Establishing Your Core Strengths And Strategies:

The final thing you have to do with your real estate business plan is put the nuts & bolts together.

This is the section where you take your three big priorities and layout how they will be achieved.

For example, a person who is focusing on capturing 50 web leads for month might have the following 5 strategies for their priority:

  • Get a lead capturing website
  • Post on Facebook and Pinterest once per day
  • Setup Google Ads 
  • Setup Facebook Ads
  • Include my URL on 500 direct mail pieces

Here’s a hint:  The articles we write at Easy Agent Pro are usually strategy based. That means if you picked a social media priority. Simply go look for 5 Easy Agent Pro articles, and you’ll instantly have 5 strategies to implement to achieve your social media goals.

If you really want to make progress with this real estate business plan, you’ll want to establish deadlines for everything on your plan.

For example:

Goal: $75,000 in revenue by end of 2015

Priorities:  Capture 100 leads per month with a website within 3 months, Prospect from 9am to 11am everyday starting now, and Send 5 piece of mail to every expired listing starting now

Do you see how all of those tasks have a deadline associated with them?

That will hold you accountable and help you see better results with your marketing.

Need Some Help Seeing One In Action? Here’s An Example Plan:

Can’t see how this real estate business plan template works? Here’s an example:

You can see how I picked 5 things to support each priority. And how the 3 priorities will help me achieve my big overall goal.

Do Startup Business Plans Differ Than 5 Year Old Real Estate Business Plans?

Here’s the thing:

There are only so many marketing ideas and concepts you can put into your business plan.

At the end of the day, it comes down to execution on these ideas. And the execution really does differ if you’re just starting out.

When your starting out, you need to focus on getting your first 10 clients to say yes. You need to find 10 people that want you to be their agent.  This is a lot different than when you’re 5 years into the business.

For example: 

Real estate SEO is a great tactic for a 5 year old business to put on their business plan. But a terrible one for a 5 month old business. Why? Because it’s a long term growth strategy. You need to get short, small wins before you tackle big wins.

I highly suggest picking marketing ideas  that match where you are in the business.

Is there a comprehensive guide for what I should include?

Here are some links to the best articles on real estate marketing and lead gen…They will help you find comprehensive guides to the business marketing plans and business plans around. Whether you’re a startup or established business working on your mission and vision statements, these articles should help you:

Quick links:

  • 200 Real Estate Marketing Tactics
  • 25 Cheap And Quick Real Estate Marketing Ideas : If you’re starting out, start here. This will help you plan marketing activities that don’t ‘break the bank.’
  • Real Estate SEO Tips : Here’s our complete guide to real estate SEO
  • Paid Ad Tips For Agents:  These formulas are excellent if you’re looking to generate more business.
  • Social Media Tips : Want to see more leads from social? Start here!
  • Lead Generation Through Non-Online Methods:  This is another article full of lead generation ideas for the non-techy agent.
  • Realtor.com Business Plan : While I disagree with the concept of writing a mission or value statement, this is a more traditional business plan resource. Use it at your own peril.
  • Tom Ferry’s Business Plan:  Here’s another guide for success when it comes to real estate business plans.
  • Mike Ferry’s Business Plan : This real estate business plan will help you figure out how you’re going to achieve your goals. It guides you through the basic activities you’ll need to act on to see success.

How do I manage all these activities?

Finally, you’re going to have to start doing different activities during your day if you want to achieve everything you’ve laid out in your real estate business plan. I highly recommend using a real estate crm , calendar, and project management system to stay on point.

There are simply too many things to do as a business owner. And you need tools that help you track your progress.

These three tools will help you consistently add new activities that help your business generate growth.

What do you think?

Did you print your business plan or download it to your computer?  

What are your goals, priorities, and strategies going to be?

Put them below in the comments and I’ll help you craft ways to achieve them!

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Connect your local MLS to Facebook to promote all properties in your MLS or create any specific niche catalog of listing you want to sell using dynamic Facebook ads. Here are just some of the ways you can use these new types of ads to stand apart from the competition:

  • Create a catalog of a broker, team, or agent’s listings and market them
  • Create a catalog or the entire MLS (agents need to make sure they follow their local MLS guidelines for advertising another agents listing)
  • Create a catalog of listings that you specialize in or want to specialize in

Upmetrics AI Assistant: Simplifying Business Planning through AI-Powered Insights. Learn How

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See how upmetrics works  →, strategic planning, entrepreneurs & small business, accelerators & incubators, business consultants & advisors, educators & business schools, students & scholars.

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Real Estate Business Plan

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People would always need to find places. Be it for offices, homes, and whatnot.

Finding the ideal place irrespective of your needs and requirements is never a cakewalk, to begin with.

You can go through a number of real estates business plan templates before you write your plan.

Industry Overview

The market size, measured by revenue, of the Real Estate Sales and brokerage industry, is $156.2bn in 2021, and the industry is expected to increase by 0.4% in 2021.

Also, the market is changing at a rapid rate and the way people use spaces is changing at a rapid rate too.

Hence, to get on or stay on the higher end of the spectrum you’ll need to upskill and change the way you do business constantly.

But that is a fair trade for the amount of growth and profitability this industry has to offer.

Say goodbye to boring templates

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Things to Consider Before Writing a Real Estate Business Plan

Be specific.

The real estate industry is broad when it comes to work and what you can do. It can either be a source of primary or passive income. At the same time, you might be involved in the industry as an investor, agent, or builder. Decide what you want to do and plan on that basis.

Do your research

The trends of the real estate business change constantly, hence doing your research and updating it constantly is a crucial part of your profession.

As your knowledge and expertise is your greatest asset in this industry, keep expanding it to stay at the top of things.

Build a team of skilled professionals

Having a team you can build your real estate business with is essential.

Select a group of individuals with a diverse set of talents ranging from good communication skills to brilliant analytical skills. Given the dynamics of the real estate business, you never know what skills might come in handy in your business journey.

Be ready for change

As we have constantly discussed, real estate is a dynamic industry. Change is the only constant you’ll have in this business.

Thus, it is important for everything from your plan and way of doing business to be change-friendly.

Sources of Funding for a Real Estate Business

Gaining funds is one of the major reasons for writing a business plan. And here are a few good funding options for your real estate business:

A traditional loan is one of the most basic options for getting funded. You can opt for this if you have a good credit score.

Non-bank mortgage lending

This is a good option if you don’t want to go through a lot of paperwork.

The asset-based mortgage

For this, the lenders look at the rental value of your property and provide a loan on that basis. It is a good option if you don’t want or can’t get a loan based on your personal assets or income.

Above all, it is essential to plan your business to figure out your funding requirements and the right way to fulfill the same.

Write Your Business Plan

If you have enough connections, and the ability to find places for people that have attributes they want and need then a real estate business can be a profitable one for you.

A business plan helps you get funded, explain your ideas to the stakeholders of your business, and make better decisions.

Hence, planning is an important aspect of starting or growing your business.

It has been created using Upmetrics online business plan software that helps you create dynamic and customizable plans anywhere and at any time.

Our sample real estate business plan can help you with writing a well-rounded business plan for your business. It can act as a guide and prevent you from getting stuck in a certain section for too long.

Real Estate Business Plan Outline

This is the standard real estate business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

  • Market Opportunity
  • Demand for Housing
  • Financing & Investment Forecast
  • Introducing Kegan
  • Business Model
  • Short Term Goals
  • Long Term Strategies
  • Keys to Success
  • Contemporary Living for the 21″ Century
  • The Complete Package
  • Pricing Strategy
  • Implementation Strategy – Action Plan
  • Target Market Overview
  • Housing Shortage Overview in Saudi Arabia
  • Housing Shortage Overview in Riyadh
  • Housing Prices
  • Kegan Home Prices
  • Market Positioning & Brand
  • Marketing Strategies
  • Sales Strategies
  • Sales Process
  • Competitive Landscape
  • Competitive Advantages
  • Rashid Bin Said
  • Director of Construction
  • Member name
  • Chief Accountant
  • Director of Marketing & Sales
  • Other Staff
  • Independent Directors
  • Solid Balance Sheet
  • Impressive Cashflow
  • Financial Summary
  • Financial Assumptions
  • Income Statement (Five-Year Projections)
  • Balance Sheet (Five-Year Projections)
  • Cash Flow Statement (Five-Year Projection)

After getting started with Upmetrics , you can copy this sample real estate business plan into your business plan and modify the required information and download your real estate business plan pdf or doc file.

It’s the fastest and easiest way to start writing your business plan.

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Download a sample real estate business plan

Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go;  download our free real estate business plan pdf  to start.

It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your real estate business. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.

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Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Real Estate & Rentals Business Plans

Did you know each of these plans was created in LivePlan? Learn More

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A good business plan is the first step in recession-proofing your business. Check out some sample business plans for real estate, mortgage broker, realtor, property management, and similar businesses to get ideas for your own business plan.

If you’re looking to develop a more modern business plan, we recommend you try LivePlan . It contains the same templates and information you see here, but with additional guidance to help you develop the perfect plan.

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10-step checklist for writing a 2023 real estate business plan

10-step checklist for writing a 2023 real estate business plan

If you're a real estate agent planning on opening a real estate company, you need a business planning lesson. Every successful business operates off a template defining its operations and goals. Your real estate business plan is the founding document of your organization, and every new business owner must take the time to plan their venture.

If it's your first time writing a business plan, you probably have mixed feelings of excitement and frustration. It's a thrilling experience to bring all the elements of your new company into realization, but it's upsetting when you realize you don't know what you're doing.

Writing a business plan helps to show you the flaws in your business skillset. You might be a marketing genius, but you have no idea how to manage operations cash flow. Similarly, you could have excellent administration skills but know nothing about marketing.

Writing out your business plan shows you where you need assistance. You identify areas where you're weak and build a strong team around you to support the places you need help. In this post, we'll unpack a 10-step checklist for writing your first real estate business plan.

Step 1 – Define your real estate business

The first step in writing your real estate business plan is understanding your limitations and strengths as a real estate broker and a business owner. Do you know what you want to achieve with your business? Your real estate brokerage needs defined goals and targets to chase, or your organization has no purpose.

Every small business relies on a team. The team you select needs to complement your strengths and weaknesses. Use this stage of your plan to define the organizational roles of each team member. Identify their skillsets and what they bring to your company.

Real estate brokerages need to understand the type of business you want to run and the personality types of the agents you wish to attract to your company. As the firm's founding partner, you get to decide who you want to add to your team.

After identifying the team, and each member's roles, it's time to work on your mission statement and executive summary.

An executive summary defines the aspects of your business plan and what you want to achieve with your business outcomes. It also describes the culture of the firm and your values.

The mission statement clarifies the purpose of your business and what you're trying to achieve. It also mentions how you intend to get to those goals. We recommend writing out both your mission statement and executive summary and revisiting them after completing your business plan.

In the initial planning stage, wiring out your mission statement and executive summary helps you clear the cobwebs and focus on the task at hand. However, when revisiting your mission statement and executive summary at the end, you might find you left something out or want to make a change to clarify your business directives.

After you have an understanding of your business, it's time to work on your goals.

Establishing your business goals is the most crucial part of the planning process. Your real estate business plan needs clear and defined goals for growth, sales, finances, marketing, and every aspect of your business.

Each section, like finance, for example, drills down into sub-goals for each category. For instance, your financial goals should feature an overall sales target for the year. However, there should be sub-goals in each section for monthly sales targets, and you can break that down into a different sub-category with targets for individual agents.

The idea of goal setting is to set achievable business goals with measurable results. You'll have both short term and long-term goals attributed to each of your business functions. Here are some examples of measurable goals you can use in your planning process.

  • How many transactions do you want your company to do each week, month, year?
  • How many leads do you need to capture in a day, week, month, or year?
  • How many new agents do you want to work on your team?
  • What's your earnings goal for the year?
  • What do you want to achieve with your brand?

All these questions are vital to setting targets for your business. Without goals, you're like a car rolling down the hill with no engine. You'll hurtle down the hill at first, but when you reach the bottom, and the momentum dies out, you have no engine to pull you along. It's the same with your business planning and goal setting. If you don't have goals, you have no targets, and you'll run out of enthusiasm in a few months when the momentum in your company starts to fade.

Step 2 – Identify your target market

The first stage of the planning process involves structuring your company and defining your business goals and purpose. The second step of building your real estate agent business plan consists of understanding your target market.

What market are you operating in with your business? Do you want to sell luxury homes? Or are you looking at specializing in selling single-family units or condos? Specialization is a popular strategy for real estate firms, giving you the chance to build a reputation in a specific market segment.

Take your time identifying your target market, and dig into the MLS listings to determine which areas offer you the best return. As a real estate agency, you'll have to specialize in a specific region and build your reputation in that area.

Look for the following metrics when examining potential markets.

  • What is the average price of properties in the area?
  • How many days do they stay on the market?
  • What is the average listing commission?
  • What is the average pricing trend for properties in a prospective market?
  • How many new listings come up in your target market each week, month, or year?
  • How does the data compare month-on-month and year-on-year?

Step 3 – Complete a competitive analysis

All business owners need to understand the competitive landscape. The real estate industry has thousands of operators, and there are probably dozens of firms in your local area. Understanding the performance and structure of your competitors allows you to uncover the most successful firms.

When you identify the leaders, you can model what they're doing right and bring it into your real estate business plan. Check out your competitor's websites and review their social media accounts to gain insight into their marketing strategy and operations.

Who are the realtors that have the most industry clout in your area? Who are the leading firms, and what makes them stand out? Ask yourself these questions and unpack the top real estate firms' characteristics and components in your local area.

Step 4 – What services are you offering?

Real estate is a massive industry, and there are dozens of sub-industries within the real estate market. You need to understand your business model, specializing in a specific segment of the market. For instance, do you want to sell single-family homes to first-time homebuyers? Are you looking at providing commercial leases? Maybe you want to build a rental portfolio?

Spreading yourself thin across too many markets results in a lack of focus and direction. Startups will do better if they identify a profitable market and specialize in servicing that specific niche. Identify the areas with the biggest opportunities, and set up your services to cater to those areas.

Step 5 – Identify customer personas

Without accurately defined customer personas, you diminish your marketing efforts and prospecting outcomes. Understanding your customer profile and persona in the real estate market is essential to formulating your marketing strategy.

Your customer persona needs to describe demographic elements like average age, income, occupation, and other defying criteria that help you nail down your ideal customer. If you're a brokerage or realtor offering multiple services like sales and rentals, make sure you identify customer personas in each category.

You can further drill-down on your personas by identifying demographics in clients that buy luxury homes, single-family units, apartments, and condos.

Understanding your client persona gives you a better direction for your marketing strategy. For example, if you specialize in selling apartments to young professionals under 30, you're going to need to advertise through social media. Mediums like outdoor and print bring you less ROI on your advertising dollars.

Step 6 – Complete a SWOT analysis

Completing a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is an essential component of real estate business plan templates. In this analysis, you unpack everything you know about the strengths and weaknesses in yourself, your company structure, and your team.

Think of the SWOT analysis as a basic summary of everything you've done with your real estate business planning so far. Combine the know your learning during the exercise with what you know about your working habits and personality characteristics.

For instance, you might be a champ in closing deals, but your prospecting skills are weak. That's an example of identifying your limitations and performance parameters.

Maybe there is no real estate brokerage in your area that catering specifically to millennial first-time homebuyers? That's an example of a market opportunity your business can fill.

Perhaps your target market involves new construction, and industry news states that there's a big strike happening at the end of next month. That's an example of a threat facing your business. Revisit your SWOT analysis every quarter to see if you can identify any new developments to add to your business plan.

Step 7 – Build a marketing plan

Now we get into the serious stuff with the development of your marketing strategy. Marketing is the single-most-important function of your business. The purpose of marketing is to drive new real estate leads to your business, allowing you to convert them into customers.

Your marketing strategy needs to focus on the things you learned when completing your customer persona. Where are you going to get the best bang for your marketing buck? Real estate marketing is a competitive space, and you need to make every dollar in your budget count.

Your marketing plan needs to include your online and offline strategy development. Your online strategy is the most important, and you'll need to build a website to promote your company and your listings. Social media marketing, referrals, brand building, sales funnels, and lead generation are essential online marketing strategies you need to succeed in your business.

Today, all your customers are online, and you need to market where your audience is hanging out. Most of them are on social media. Therefore, you'll need a social media marketing expert on your team to develop and direct your social strategy across all platforms.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is another critical component of your business that integrates with your company's function. The CRM helps you manage clients, your sales funnels, and your marketing efforts through one dedicated platform.

You'll need to hire a marketing team to help you develop and implement your marketing strategy and CRM. Experts create a dedicated online marketing plan that includes all team members.

Your marketing plan is the foundation of your business plan. Investors will want to know your strategy and the results you expect to implement in your target market.

Related: 20 easy real estate marketing ideas to grow your agency

Step 8 – Complete your financial plan

Your financial plan is crucial if you intend to seek investment for your company. Whether you're dealing with private angel investors or the bank, they want to see your financials and sales projections to complete due diligence on loans.

If they decide to loan your money, they need to know when they can expect you to return the money and the ROI you offer on the deal.

You'll need to include information like your commission pricing and average commissions, your sales forecasts for three years, and cash flow projections. When completing this section of your real estate business plan, you'll need to sit down with your accountant and get their advice on structuring your financials.

You'll need to account for your business expenses and the costs of setting up your company with a website, CRM, and digital marketing services. Remember to include memberships to marketing sites like Zillow Premier Agent and ProspectPLUS.

Your financial plan forms the backbone of your investor's interest in involvement with your real estate firm. The numbers need to make sense, so make sure you run them past your accountant.

Step 9 – Periodically revisit your real estate business plan

Your business plan is a living document, and it changes with your business. Having a rigid plan won't work. The reality is that nothing in business works out 100% the way we plan. You'll need to have a flexible document you can update as your business grows.

During the first year of your operations, we recommend revisiting your business plan every quarter. As the business matures, you can push this exercise back to once every six months or once a year.

Revisiting your business plan gives you a chance to follow up on your goals and targets, giving you ideas on where you need to improve. Real estate professionals understand the importance of remaining responsive to change in a dynamic business environment.

Periodically revisiting your business plan gives you a chance to reflect on your progress and plan the future with clarity and certainty.

Step 10 – Visit B12 for your digital business needs

Your real estate website forms the foundation of your marketing efforts. It acts as the touchstone for your company online, providing a virtual storefront to your prospective clients. Inefficient and ineffective website design can derail your business plans, costing your company vital leads during the startup phase, where you need to generate as much income as possible. For website design inspiration, check out the best real estate websites and this guide on how to design a website !

If you need help with your real estate business website, reach out to the professionals at B12.

B12 specializes in helping professional services companies create beautiful sites that enable them to operate effectively online. Built-in tools like SEO , email marketing, and online scheduling make it easier to reach your audience.

Plan with Professionals

As an individual starting out a new real estate business, you have many things to consider for your real estate business plan and might not have the time to create a website from scratch. Relying on the expertise of design professionals ensures you get a website that helps you achieve your business goals.

Sign up to see a free draft of your new real estate website or learn more about how B12 uses artificial intelligence and experts to help businesses like yours grow online.

Put your client outreach and online presence in one platform

See a free draft of your new real estate website, then unlock tools like email marketing and client intake

Related posts

How to cold call and cold email as a real estate agent

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Business Insights

18 profitable real estate business ideas in 2024, february 16, 2024.

Profitable real estate business ideas to keep an eye on.

The real estate industry stands as one of the most dynamic sectors, embracing changes as not just inevitable but as opportunities for growth and innovation. This fluidity is underscored by the substantial contribution of real estate to the global economy, representing approximately 6.5% of global GDP as of 2024 .

Given this context, the notion of waiting for “a great time” to enter the real estate business becomes less pertinent. The industry’s sheer size and its continuous evolution mean that unique and forward-thinking real estate business ideas have the potential to find their niche and thrive.

Top 18 real estate business ideas

Here are some creative real estate business ideas that you can start right away:

Real estate blogger

A straightforward concept for a real estate venture is launching a blog focusing on the property market. For those with experience buying, selling or investing in real estate, or who have an in-depth grasp of housing trends, writing and publishing articles online about this sector could be a feasible business pursuit. Sharing commentary and analysis on this topic may attract an audience.

How much you can make: $50k+ per year once established How much does it cost to start: Minimal cost to start a blog How long does it take to build: 1-2 years to build an audience and generate income

Become a landlord

Owning investment properties to lease can lay the foundation for business concepts in real estate. Generating income by purchasing a property and renting it to tenants can be profitable if done strategically. Creating a detailed plan for aspects like financing, tenants, maintenance, and more and thoughtfully executing it are keys to succeeding with this type of hands-on real estate endeavor.

How much you can make: Returns vary greatly, target 8-12% annually How much does it cost to start: 20% down payment on property, closing costs How long does it take to build: Immediate cash flow but takes years to see returns

Start a landscaping business

A promising hands-on real estate business is offering landscaping services. This involves planting greenery, modifying terrain, and maintaining outdoor spaces to boost aesthetics and property values. Tasks may include installing hardscapes like patios, walkways or ponds too. With low barriers to entry and America’s growing landscaping industry, offering these services that beautify and manage outdoor residential and commercial properties can be lucrative.

How much you can make: $40k-60k profit potential How much does it cost to start: $10k for equipment How long does it take to build: 1 season to establish and grow

Garden services business

Offering gardening services represents a promising business idea requiring little prior expertise. America’s hectic lifestyle leaves countless busy homeowners seeking help tending their outdoor spaces. By positioning yourself as a reliable, ethical provider of essential services like lawn mowing, planting, weeding and more, you can build a client base. Lean into the high demand in this market by launching a flexible gig meeting customers’ landscaping needs.

How much you can make: $30k-50k profit potential How much does it cost to start: $2k-5k for tools and supplies How long does it take to build: 1 season to get started

Property management

Consider providing property oversight and tenant coordination, featuring duties like screening applicants, collecting payments, arranging repairs, and inspecting sites. For those with strong interpersonal skills who like engaging with real estate and clients, this could be an ideal service business. Capitalize on increasing rental demand by launching your own full-service property administration and management gig.

How much you can make: $50k+ in management fees How much does it cost to start: $2k-5k to start How long does it take to build: 3-6 months to acquire properties

Real estate wholesaling

Serve as an intermediary facilitator in real estate deals by connecting sellers and buyers, then flipping the contracted property to an end investor for positive arbitrage. This strategic concept leans on strong relationship-building abilities and familiarity with area property valuations and demand. Network extensively to source discounted homes, then bridge the gap by assigning contracts to those financing fixes and flips for final purchase.

How much you can make: $50k-100k+ per deal How much does it cost to start: Minimal startup costs How long does it take to build: 6-12 months to close first deals

Vacation rental management

Consider overseeing short-term rental properties for absentee owners by handling essential administration like listings, reservations, guest relations, housekeeping and repairs. This service-based business aligns well with getaway destinations or second-home markets, allowing clients to invest in visitor accommodations worry-free. Lean into the growth in sites like Airbnb by launching your own full-service vacation rental management solution.

How much you can make: $50k+ in management fees How much does it cost to start: $2k-5k to start How long does it take to build: 6-12 months to acquire properties

Home staging

Help homeowners showcase properties for sale by artfully furnishing, decorating and lighting them to highlight aesthetics and functionality for buyers. This creative concept relies on an eye for design and grasp of what appeals to today’s purchasers. Launch your own staging service to leverage booming housing demand, using savvy furnishings rentals and visual merchandising to quickly and affordably upgrade listings.

How much you can make: $50k+ revenue potential How much does it cost to start: $5k for furniture and accessories How long does it take to build: 3-6 months to acquire clients

Property flipping

Try your hand at purchasing discounted or rundown homes, overhauling them, and reselling at market value. This strategic concept relies on accurately spotting fixers with purchase potential, remodeling know-how to cost-effectively enhance aesthetics and function, and awareness of area sales prices and demand. Lean into the hot housing market by launching your own house flipping operation to build equity through sweat and savvy.

How much you can make: $50k+ profit per flip How much does it cost to start: House down payment and rehab budget How long does it take to build: 6-12 months per flip

Senior living

Concentrate on constructing or operating housing tailored to older adults, like retirement towns, helped living centers, or care homes. This concept takes advantage of the expanding population of aging people requiring specially designed residences with amenities, care services, and accessibility features.

How much you can make: $150k+ net profit How much does it cost to start: $500k+ startup costs How long does it take to build: 2+ years to fill occupancy

Green real estate

Consider an environmentally conscious real estate niche by focusing on energy-efficient and sustainable buildings. Offer specialized services to buyers and sellers of green homes, whether new construction or renovated. Provide consultations on solar panels, recycled materials, low-emission finishes and more. Lean into demand for reduced footprint living by positioning yourself as an expert guide for practical steps towards property carbon neutrality.

How much you can make: $100k+ profit on green certified builds How much does it cost to start: 5-10% premium on build costs for sustainability features How long does it take to build: Same build timeline as traditional real estate

Real estate tech start-up

Consider launching a smart technology venture geared toward digitally transforming the real estate process. From leveraging AI to upgrading listing platforms to automating lease entries, proptech innovations meet surging demand for mobility and efficiency. Whether building a portal from scratch or refining an existing tool like virtual showings to reduce hassles, estate entrepreneurs can disrupt old models with scalable, market-tested concepts.

How much you can make: $10M+ valuation potential How much does it cost to start: $50k+ initial funding How long does it take to build: 2-3 years to gain traction

Real estate investor

Strategically acquiring income-generating properties promises healthy long-term profits and consistent cash flow for patient financiers. As an investor, target assets leased or resold at future valuation for portfolio growth. Whether small fixer-uppers or commercial buildings, pragmatic purchases cultivated over time through savvy and sweat build equity and stability. Approach the market as an asset builder, not a quick flipper, to assemble a mini empire brick by brick.

How much you can make: 10-20% annual returns How much does it cost to start: 20% down payment How long does it take to build: 3-5 years to see returns

Airbnb host

Capitalizing on the sharing economy, everyday homeowners can generate income by listing unused living spaces on sites like Airbnb. As a short-term rental operator, you control availability on your own schedule. Whether hosting travellers in a spare bedroom or vacating a full property, you custom set booking parameters, rates, house rules and more while platform algorithms handle screening and payments.

How much you can make: $20k-50k+ annual income How much does it cost to start: Less than $5k startup costs How long does it take to build: 1-2 months to acquire bookings

Cleaning services

Help owners and renters by launching a cleaning service specializing in tidying all types of buildings through essential maintenance services. Offerings may include routine house and office cleaning, scrubbing carpets, washing windows, turnover service between occupants, construction finish work, and more. Capitalize on clients’ busy schedules by positioning your business as the handy helper for spotless spaces.

How much you can make: $50k-100k profit How much does it cost to start: Less than $2k initial costs How long does it take to build: 6-12 months to establish

Real estate crowdfunding platform

Build a web application that democratizes real estate investing by allowing everyday people to contribute small sums of money to pooled investment funds for various real estate projects. This makes professional-grade real estate previously accessible only to elite investors open to regular people. Participants earn passive income from the rental profits or a share of the returns when properties are sold, minus platform fees. 

How much you can make: $10M+ valuation potential How much does it cost to start: $250k+ startup costs How long does it take to build: 2-3 years to gain traction

Tiny home and alternative living solutions

Specialize in small-footprint, sustainable housing options like tiny homes and converted shipping containers. Appeal to environmentally-conscious and minimalist buyers seeking more affordable and efficient spaces with a lower carbon impact. Offer custom design, construction, and consultation around alternative living arrangements tailored to unique lifestyles and values.

How much you can make: $75k-150k+ profit potential How much does it cost to start: $50k+ to build first homes How long does it take to build: 6-12 months per project

Real estate photography and staging

Start a real estate visual marketing company specializing in top-notch photography and staging for home listings. Use your skills to dramatize properties, allowing realtors and sellers to exhibit dwellings in an appealing manner that spotlights the best features. Help clients make a great first impression on potential buyers through impactful images and strategic showcasing of homes.

How much you can make: $75k+ revenue potential How much does it cost to start: $10k equipment costs How long does it take to build: 6-12 months to establish clientele

With the real estate market always on the move—property values going up and down and buyer and seller needs constantly unique but applicable real estate business ideas can always be a great way to get into the industry. Stay aware of the changes in the industry, offer great experience to your customers and we are sure that you can turn your real estate business idea into a successful business.

More must-read stories from Enterprise League:

  • Get inspired from this list of creative small business ideas .
  • Profitable online education business ideas that you should be aware of.
  • Innovative and profitable business ideas with no employees .
  • Some of the worst business ideas you should steer clear from.
  • Profitable and funny business idea that you can start today.

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ideas for real estate business plan

7 Key Elements of a Real Estate Business Plan

ideas for real estate business plan

  • June 25, 2023

7 Key Elements of a Real Estate Business Plan

Table of Contents

As a seasoned real estate professional, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial it is to have a solid business plan in place. Whether you’re a new agent just starting out or a seasoned investor looking to expand your portfolio, a well-crafted real estate business plan can make all the difference in your success. In this article, I’ll share my insights on the seven key elements that should be included in any real estate business plan, based on my own experiences and industry knowledge.

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary is the first section of your real estate business plan, and it should provide a high-level overview of your entire plan. This is your chance to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to learn more about your business. In my experience, a strong executive summary should include:

  • A brief description of your business and its Mission
  • A summary of your target market and competition
  • An overview of your marketing and sales strategies
  • A snapshot of your financial projections and goals

Remember, the executive summary is just that – a summary. You’ll dive deeper into each of these topics in the sections that follow.

2. Company Description

Next up is the company description, which provides more detail about your real estate business. This section should cover:

  • The legal structure of your business (e.g., sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation)
  • Your business’s history, if applicable
  • Your unique value proposition – what sets you apart from the competition?
  • Any partnerships or affiliations you have in the industry

As a real estate expert, I’ve found that having a clear and concise company description helps establish credibility with potential clients and partners.

3. Market Analysis

A thorough market analysis is essential for any real estate business plan. This section should include:

  • An overview of your target market, including demographics and psychographics
  • A detailed analysis of your competition, including their strengths and weaknesses
  • Current market trends and how they may impact your business
  • Any potential opportunities or threats in the market

In my experience, conducting a comprehensive market analysis has helped me identify new opportunities and stay ahead of the competition.

4. Marketing and Sales Strategies

Having a solid marketing and sales strategy is crucial for any real estate business. In this section, you should outline:

  • Your overall marketing approach and goals
  • Specific marketing tactics you’ll use, such as social media , email marketing, or direct mail
  • Your sales process, including lead generation, nurturing, and closing
  • Any tools or technology you’ll use to support your marketing and sales efforts

As a real estate professional, I’ve found that having a well-defined marketing and sales strategy has been instrumental in growing my business and reaching my goals.

5. Operations and Management

The operations and management section of your real estate business plan should cover:

  • Your day-to-day operations, including any systems or processes you have in place
  • Your management team, if applicable, and their roles and responsibilities
  • Any hiring plans or staffing needs
  • Any necessary equipment or resources for your business

From my experience, having a clear operations and management plan helps ensure that your business runs smoothly and efficiently.

6. Financial Projections and Goals

One of the most important aspects of a real estate business plan is the financial projections and goals section. This should include:

  • A detailed budget, including income and expense projections
  • Projected cash flow statements
  • A break-even analysis
  • Long-term financial goals and milestones

As a real estate expert, I can’t stress enough the importance of having a solid financial plan in place to guide your business decisions and measure your success.

7. Appendix

Finally, the appendix is where you can include any additional supporting documents or resources, such as:

  • Market research data
  • Resumes of key team members
  • Sample marketing materials
  • Any relevant licenses or certifications

While not always necessary, I’ve found that including an appendix can help provide additional context and credibility to your real estate business plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How often should I update my real estate business plan? I recommend reviewing and updating your business plan at least once a year, or more frequently if there are significant changes in your market or business.
  • What if I’m just starting out in real estate and don’t have a lot of experience? That’s okay! Your business plan is a living document that will evolve as you gain experience and grow your business. Focus on your goals, research your market, and be realistic about your projections.
  • Do I need a separate business plan for each type of real estate I’m involved in (e.g., residential, commercial, investing)? It depends on the scope and complexity of your business. If each area has distinct goals, strategies, and financial projections, it may be helpful to create separate plans for each. However, if there’s significant overlap, a single comprehensive plan may suffice.

In conclusion, a well-crafted real estate business plan is essential for any professional in the industry. By including the seven key elements discussed in this article – executive summary, company description, market analysis, marketing and sales strategies, operations and management, financial projections and goals, and an appendix – you’ll be well on your way to creating a solid foundation for your business. Remember, your business plan is a living document that should evolve as your business grows and changes, so be sure to review and update it regularly to ensure continued success.

Related posts:

ideas for real estate business plan

The Kurby Content Team is a diverse group of seasoned real estate experts dedicated to providing insightful, reliable information for homebuyers, real estate investors, and real estate agents. With backgrounds ranging from real estate brokerage, property investment, and residential home buying, our team combines decades of experience with a passion for demystifying the real estate world. We at Kurby are committed to helping you make informed, successful real estate decisions. Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, a seasoned investor, or a real estate professional, count on the Kurby Content Team to deliver the most relevant, actionable real estate content you need.

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Kurby facilitates the home buying process by analyzing and calculating the true value of a home and its location.

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Real Estate Business Plan (Why You Need One & How to Write It)

Real Estate Business Plan (Why You Need One & How to Write It)

Starting a real estate business may sound like an easy thing to do. However, it's not the case since starting such a business involves a lot of things to settle. In general, there's so much more to starting a real estate business that you need to have a business plan to be successful. Otherwise, you will end up being overwhelmed with so many things.

Now, if you're wondering about a business plan and how it's essential as you start your real estate business, you've come to the right place!

A business plan for a real estate business generally illustrates your goals, financial strategies, research, and everything else involved with your business. It contains the strategy for guiding and helping you start and run your business.

In this article, we'll talk more about the business plan for a real estate business and every concern you may ask about, mainly how to write one.

Without further ado, let's get into it!

What is a real estate business plan?

A real estate business plan is a document that defines (in detail) a real estate business' objectives and how it plans to achieve its goals.

For instance, a real estate business typically needs an initial investment. As such, you need to include the said amount in your plan and how you can acquire such, either from your pocket or through a business loan or any other financing option (learn more about a real estate business financing .

Profit and goal are other examples. It is also included in your business plan as a goal to achieve within a set period, usually within months.

Overall, the business plan is the document that lays out a written road map for the real estate business from a marketing, financial, and operational standpoint. You should also have a basic idea about a real estate business profitability .

Business plans are essential for startups and established businesses, and the real estate business is no exception. Every business, regardless of the type, should have one.

Further, business plans are critical documents for internal and external audiences. For instance, you may use these plans to attract investors before establishing a track record. It can also help you secure loans from financial institutions.

Business plans can also help keep your real estate business' leadership team on track for meeting established goals and on track with strategic action items.

Overall, business plans are particularly helpful for new businesses, including the real estate business. Ideally, goals should be reviewed and updated periodically to reflect achievements or changes. When an established business changes direction, a new business plan is created.

Why do you need a real estate business plan?

You need a real estate business plan for several reasons. However, the main reasons are to help you establish your company, set the goals you want to achieve, and evaluate your real estate business’ status after a specific timeframe.

As a general rule, your business plan serves as a guide. Revising and adjusting this plan may also be necessary as circumstances change throughout your actions.

You should know that if you plan to apply for a business loan (which any knowledgeable entrepreneur should do), lenders want to see a business plan.

For your real estate business to succeed and meet your goals, you need a precise and robust business plan.

Learn more about starting a real estate business :

Where to start?

-> How to start a real estate business? -> How to finance a real estate business? -> How much does it cost to start a real estate business? -> Pros and cons of a real estate business -> How to get clients for a real estate business?

Need inspiration?

-> Other real estate business success stories -> Examples of established real estate business -> Marketing ideas for a real estate business -> Real estate business slogans -> Real estate business names -> Real estate business Instagram bios -> Real estate business Instagram captions

Other resources

-> Profitability of a real estate business -> Real estate business tips -> Email templates for a real estate business -> Blog post ideas for a real estate business -> Real estate business quotes

How to write a real estate business plan?

When creating a business plan, you need to include more than just the steps on how you start. It also includes how you will sustain it and how you can develop it even further as you move forward. Simply put, it should include everything related to your real estate business.

If you’re wondering how to write a business plan for your real estate business, here are the things you need to include:

1. Executive summary

The executive summary in a business plan includes a gist of your entire real estate business. Further, it includes the general reason why it will turn out successful.

2. Company description

The company description details every information about your real estate business. As such, it includes your advantages over your potential competitors and the things that make your business stand out above other similar companies.

3. Organization and management

The organization and management are the part of your business plan that states the structure of your real estate business.

It includes the entire staff, especially the ones who will run your real estate business, whether you’re solo, with a partner, or with a group of people. Simply put, it shows what type of business you run and who is responsible for it.

4. Market analysis

The market analysis is the part of your business plan that shows your perspective on the industry where your real estate business belongs.

Since it’s about marketing, it includes your target market or customers. Further, it includes your potential competitors since they can take away your potential customers.

5. Financial plan

The financial plan is the part that concerns everything related to your real estate business finances. This document consists of a detailed financial statement and an analysis of your finances and the required funds .

6. Marketing strategy

The marketing strategy outlines the concerns about reaching out to potential customers . Moreover, it demonstrates how to expose the products and services your real estate business offers.

Besides attracting customers, it also includes strategies for gaining new customers and keeping the regular ones from leaving. Finally, it outlines strategies for increasing sales for your real estate business to grow.

What makes a good real estate business plan?

A good real estate business plan serves as a roadmap that outlines the strategies and actions required to achieve the goals and objectives of a business. It typically includes information about the business's products or services, target market, competition, marketing and sales strategies, operations, financial projections, and management team.

Here are some key elements that make up a good business plan:

  • Executive summary : This is a brief overview of the entire business plan, summarizing the key points and objectives of the company.
  • Company description : This section provides detailed information about real estate business, including its history, mission statement, and legal structure.
  • Market analysis : This section should describe the industry and market that real estate business operates in, including target customers, competitors, and market trends.
  • Products or services : This section should describe the products or services real estate business offers, highlighting their unique features and benefits.
  • Marketing and sales strategies : This section should detail the strategies that real estate business will use to promote and sell its products or services, including pricing, distribution, and advertising.
  • Operations : This section should outline the day-to-day operations of real estate business, including manufacturing, production, and distribution.
  • Financial projections : This section should provide detailed financial projections, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
  • Management team : This section should introduce the key members of real estate business's management team, highlighting their qualifications and experience.

Overall, a good real estate business plan should be well-researched, realistic, and focused on achieving specific goals and objectives. It should also be adaptable and able to evolve as the business grows and changes over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i write a real estate business plan myself.

Yes, you can write a real estate business plan yourself. It requires a clear understanding of your goals, target audience, competition, financial projections, and marketing strategy. Research successful plans and use templates. Ensure it's comprehensive, realistic and seek help if needed. Ultimately, a good business plan sets you up for success.

How long should a real estate business plan be?

There is no standard length for a real estate business plan. It can range from a one-page summary to a comprehensive document of 50+ pages. The length depends on the complexity of the business, audience, and purpose. A concise plan that covers key elements is often more effective than a lengthy one.

In a nutshell, creating a business plan for a real estate business is a bit complicated, but you still need to do it.

Overall, a business plan will help you make the right calls, obtain the funding you need, and strongly start your new real estate business. As such, you must make a robust and precise one.

The six parts we included above should be handy throughout this process. With this information, you can begin writing your business plan and see what it takes to become a professional entrepreneur.

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25 Real Estate Marketing Ideas to Bring in Qualified Buyers

Meredith Hart

Published: July 12, 2023

Real estate is a field that's equal parts challenging and potentially lucrative. A 2022 study by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that 86% of buyers recently purchased their homes through a real estate agent or broker.

Real estate marketing ideas demonstrated in an abstract photo with a black and white hand coming out of a laptop with money behind it

That same study also found that 73% of buyers interviewed only one real estate agent during their home search — highlighting the importance of building awareness and getting in front of buyers as quickly as possible. That's why having a solid grasp of real estate marketing is an absolute must for anyone in the field.

Free Resource: Real Estate Strategy Template

Below, I’ve compiled some real estate marketing ideas top agents use to promote their businesses. Whether you’re just getting started or are an experienced realtor looking to attract new clients, these marketing tips will help you create a successful marketing plan.

ideas for real estate business plan

Free Real Estate Planning Template

Use this free template to plan the marketing, sales, and growth for your real estate business.

  • Company Overview
  • Territory Overview
  • Market Penetration Strategy

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas

  • Create a website.
  • Build a blog.
  • Develop email marketing campaigns.
  • Employ virtual staging.
  • Try experiential marketing.
  • Partner with local businesses.
  • Run paid Instagram promotion.
  • Use drone photography.
  • Create a Zillow profile.
  • Ask for referrals.
  • Make your own videos.
  • Co-host a webinar.
  • Collect and display testimonials.
  • Leverage traditional advertising media.
  • Optimize your website for mobile.
  • Actively leverage social media profiles.
  • Maintain an email newsletter.
  • Create a standout business card.
  • Film video walkthroughs.
  • Invest in branded swag.
  • Conduct asynchronous home tours.
  • Create a city guide.
  • Offer an online home decor guide.
  • Start a real estate podcast.
  • Host home-buying workshops.

1. Create a website.

Creating a website for your real estate business will show prospective clients what you have to offer. Include listings on your site and update them regularly. This keeps prospects coming to your site as they search for properties.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Create a Website

Image Source

Why this works:

Creating a website provides a digital hub for interested buyers to learn more about available properties. They’ll also be able to learn about your real estate agency or agent who is representing them.

Pro tip: Whether you work at a brokerage or have your own firm, creating a website is a great way to grow your personal brand, show positive reviews from clients you’ve helped, and continue bringing in more qualified leads.

2. Build a blog.

You can also start a blog and create content optimized for SEO. This ensures your posts show up in prospect search results every time. Tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs can help you find the search terms and keywords your target clients are looking for and will inspire you with fresh topic ideas.

Make it easy for them to navigate to your main website and link to your profile pages on other real estate sites so they can learn more about you and your business.

And don't forget to create interesting images for your posts. This infographic would make a great addition to any blog post or email marketing campaign.

A blog allows you to demonstrate industry expertise, establishing credibility with potential clients. Blogs also create an outlet for sharing industry news, events, and advice for potential clients. You can stay top of mind for your audience, so they think of you when it's time to buy.

Best for: New real estate agents looking to build credibility and trust within their community while they grow their client base.

3. Develop email marketing campaigns.

Send a monthly newsletter roundup of your blog content, and reach out to contacts when new property listings are available. Include images of the properties that link to the full listing, a video walkthrough of the property, or a virtual staging of the home.

Creating email marketing campaigns lets you connect with past and potential clients in real estate marketing. By keeping in touch, agents can stay top of mind with their audience, increasing the chances of receiving referrals or securing repeat business.

Pro tip: Add urgency and curiosity to your email subject lines to improve clients' chances of opening your messages. Here are 20 tips to help you write catchy subject lines.

4. Employ virtual staging.

A virtual staging website gives buyers a sneak preview of what the home looks like. Online staging saves you the time and money of physically staging the property.

A 2023 study found 85% of staged homes sold for 5-23% more than unstaged homes. Virtual staging makes the decoration process easy.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Virtual staging

Virtual buyers can envision themselves in a potential new home before visiting the property. By presenting a virtual representation of a furnished property, they can better understand how to use the space and what it would look like if they lived there.

What we like: In the post-pandemic world, virtual staging can be beneficial, whether you’re working on behalf of buyers or sellers, by bringing open houses online.

5. Try experiential marketing.

Experiential marketing engages your prospects and “invites an audience to interact with a business in a real-world situation.” Host a tour of the area you’re selling in, hold an event to teach about buying a home, or arrange an open house.

Experiential marketing brings a real estate agent's brand to life through immersive experiences, making it an effective strategy in real estate marketing. Buyers can then fully engage with the property listings, resulting in deeper connections and higher conversion rates.

Pro tip: With more than 3 million active real estate licensees in the U.S. today, using unique marketing tactics can help you stand out from the rest and build personal connections within your community.

6. Partner with local businesses.

Use your local connections and partner with clothing boutiques, home decor showrooms, and coffee shops to promote listings — and invite them to participate in an open house event . For a unique way to encourage prospects to visit your open house, set up pop-up shops in different rooms.

Local partnership popups encourage potential buyers to explore each room, and you can work with local businesses to determine discounts on goods that can be offered to home buyers. Plus, you can showcase businesses in the area, making the neighborhood more appealing.

What we like: Building brand recognition with popular local businesses can help spread word-of-mouth and drive more referrals from consumers in the area.

7. Run paid Instagram promotion.

Instagram is another tool to get in touch with home buyers, promote your listings, and grow your brand . Your most beautiful images can reach even more people with a paid promotion.

Instagram ads allow you to pick a target audience, budget, post type (e.g., image, video, carousel), and promotion length. And you can use targeted hashtags to ensure posts are presented to the people you’d like to reach.

Paid Instagram promotions allow agents to target their ideal audience with precision. Instagram ads can target specific demographics, ensuring the most relevant audience sees the ad.

Pro tip: Video ads on Instagram or TikTok aren’t just great for promoting listings — they also give you a chance to show your personality and build credibility with potential clients.

8. Use drone photography.

Using drone photography, take sweeping shots of the home’s exterior and surrounding landscape. Purchase a drone or use a drone service, like HouseLens or Sold by Air , to capture the perfect shot.

Use the photos to add an excitement factor to your listings. Video can be used to supplement your virtual tours or walkthroughs and show exterior features like patios and pools.

Don‘t have the drone photography chops to show your clients’ homes in their best light? Services like Drone Base have thousands of experienced photographers around the globe and specialize in both residential and commercial real estate.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Use drone photography

Drone shots can add a layer of professionalism and appeal to your listings. They are a great way to give prospective buyers more insight into the property and surrounding areas.

Best for: Properties in beautiful areas.

9. Create a Zillow profile.

With over 188 million monthly viewers , Zillow lets you get your business in front of thousands of new prospects. This resource from Zillow lists the steps to set up your profile .

Your profile allows you to share your listings with a large audience and connect with potential clients, increasing the likelihood of gaining a new buyer.

What we like: Zillow profiles are free and can connect you with a broader audience.

10. Ask for referrals.

Did you know 41% of sellers using a real estate agent found their agent through a referral from friends or family? If you're not asking for referrals, you should be.

Follow up with buyers a few months after they‘ve settled into their new home to ask how they’re doing, and include a referral request in your email.

[Subject line] Does it feel like home yet?

Hello [Buyer's name],

I hope you‘re settling into your beautiful home! You picked a great neighborhood to buy it in, and I’m so happy to have been able to help you through the process.

I enjoyed working with you. If you have any friends or family looking to buy or sell in the area, I‘d love the opportunity to work with them. I’m hosting a happy hour next week to talk with people about the current market.

Feel free to share this event link with anyone you think might be interested: [Insert link to event page]

[Your name]

Some realtors will offer to plan a housewarming party for their new homeowners and use the party/guest list to meet with potential buyers.

By simply asking clients if they know anyone in need of real estate services, agents are opening the door to new leads. Further, referrals are often the highest quality leads. They’re already familiar with your work and come with a higher level of trust.

Pro tip: Avoid sounding pushy or overbearing when asking for referrals. A friendly reminder at closing or in follow-up emails can remind clients to send their friends and family your way. And don’t be afraid to send a thank you gift for any referrals you receive.

11. Make your own videos.

It‘s no secret that video can be a powerful tool for realtors. And it doesn’t have to cost thousands.

Whether you go for a highly produced video like the one below with client testimonials or use video software to record a message from your laptop pitching your services to a potential client, video can be a way to set yourself apart from the crowd.

Promotional videos humanize your agency and create an emotional connection with potential clients. By showcasing your unique selling points, you can also differentiate yourself from competitors.

Pro tip: Get the most out of your videos by adding some flair. Interview past clients, show aerial drone footage of your listings, or star in the video yourself. This can be a great way to show off your personality and build trust with potential clients.

12. Co-host a webinar.

Want to make it easy for potential buyers or sellers in your area to understand the current market? Partner with a local lender, title company, or even your favorite staging service and host a webinar on a topic that interests those considering making a real estate move.

For example, you might team up with a home improvement service to conduct a webinar on the most valuable improvements sellers can make to their homes to boost sales prices. These preferences can differ per state, so this can be valuable information sellers can't find online.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Co-Host a Webinar

Your webinar hosts can offer unique insights and information on a specific topic, attracting a wider range of potential clients. Additionally, co-hosting a webinar provides a platform for agents to showcase their expertise and put a human face to their brand.

Pro tip: Don’t forget to request opt-ins from anyone wanting to attend your webinar. Having attendees provide their names, email addresses, and other contact information will allow you to follow up with them directly afterward.

13. Collect and display testimonials.

Your satisfied previous clients are an excellent resource for bolstering your credibility and building trust through your real estate marketing. If a sale goes well, touch base with the customers you helped and get a paragraph-long blurb about how helpful you were.

Once you have that content — along with those clients‘ permission to project it — put it on your website, so prospects can understand how well you’ve previously served people in their position.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Collect and Display Testimonials

Testimonials build social proof and establish credibility with potential clients. These quotes also highlight the personal experiences and relationships that agents have built with their clients, giving prospects a glimpse into what a partnership looks like.

Best for: Testimonials are one of the best ways to build trust among potential clients, so share them wherever you can: on your website, in your email newsletters, on social media, etc. You can also create video testimonials to amp things up!

14. Leverage traditional advertising media.

While the real estate market hasn‘t been exempt from the rising tide of digital transformation, some old-school marketing tactics can still play into an effective real estate marketing strategy. More traditional media, like print advertisements and billboards, often boost real estate agents’ marketing efforts.

Traditional advertising allows agents to target specific geographic locations, making it an ideal strategy for promoting local property listings. Use this strategy in conjunction with digital marketing to increase brand awareness.

What we like: In today’s digital world, snail mail and other traditional advertising media can help you stand out among your competitors. And research has shown that consumers are more likely to act on print advertising than on digital ads.

15. Optimize your website for mobile.

This point is pertinent for all businesspeople who maintain websites — and real estate agents are no exception. You want your web experience to be as seamless as possible. Prospects shouldn't have to deal with a clunky “desktop condensed onto a phone screen” mobile site when they want to learn more about your business.

Mobile optimization ensures that potential clients can easily view and navigate their listings on any device. Google also prioritizes websites optimized for mobile, as they offer faster loading speeds to potential users.

Pro tip: If building a new website, opt for a template that already has mobile optimization built in.

16. Actively leverage social media profiles.

Maintaining an active, engaging social media presence is one of the better ways to frame yourself as a trusted advisor. Join local Facebook groups, and answer relevant questions that arise on them. You can then take similar strides on other platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can also share helpful content with your followers. One way or another, establish yourself as an authority in your space by demonstrating that you know what you're talking about.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Actively Leverage Social Media Profiles

Prospective clients want to connect with real estate agents that understand the practice, their niche, and their areas. A helpful social media presence shows that you have a grasp on all these topics.

Pro tip: If you don’t have the time for social media but have the budget, consider hiring a professional social media marketing manager to help you. They will be versed in creating and analyzing content across multiple platforms and can help you partner with influences to spread your brand even further.

17. Maintain an email newsletter.

One way to keep yourself at the top of potential clients' minds is by staying in active touch via a newsletter. Send them relevant content, report on local real estate news, and update them on listings in their area.

Your newsletter doesn‘t have to be particularly complex or extensive — just enough to keep them thinking of you by letting them know you’re staying up on trends in your local market.

Email newsletters provide a cost-effective way to keep clients informed, engaged, and up-to-date on industry news and trends. By regularly sending out newsletters, agents can nurture leads and build trust with clients.

Best for: Routine newsletters are a great way to keep your name and business top of mind with your clientele, whether they are looking to buy themselves or are referring you to a friend.

18. Create a standout business card.

Printing solid, visually appealing business cards is one of the better ways real estate professionals can get their brands out and demonstrate professionalism.

Business cards are easily distributable and can help you capitalize on in-person interactions with potential clients. They're essentially micro-marketing resources — and serve as instant calls to action for any prospect conversations.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Create a Business Card

Pro tip: Avoid overcrowding your business cards with too much information or printing them in odd shapes and sizes. Keep them wallet sized with simple, clear, and concise messaging. A little goes a long way.

19. Film video walkthroughs.

Modern consumers are receptive to immersive experiences — especially when getting to know homes they might buy. If you're selling or leasing properties, conducting thorough video tours and posting those clips with your listings can add credibility and intrigue to your real estate marketing.

ideas for real estate business plan

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

  • Pre-Sectioned Template
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By featuring high-quality video tours of properties, agents can give potential buyers a better understanding of the layout, size, and overall feel of a property.

These tours can also save time for both agents and clients. Prospective buyers can quickly determine if a property is a good fit before requesting an in-person viewing.

Pro tip: Don’t confuse personal videos with virtual walkthroughs. When showing a property, make sure the focus is on the living space and surrounding area. There’s a time to show off your personality and a time to give potential buyers the information they need to feel comfortable making a decision. This is a time for the latter.

20. Invest in branded swag.

People love free stuff — from keychains to mugs to pens to can koozies and beyond — so if you can provide swag like that, you should take it. It's an excellent way to get your brand out and keep your services in mind when attracting and retaining potential clients.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Invest in Branded Swag

​​Branded swag provides a tangible reminder of you long after a client has used your services. Plus, your swag can help create a sense of pride and loyalty among employees, who appreciate receiving items that showcase their affiliation with the company.

Pro tip: Don’t waste your money on cheap swag items that will get thrown in the trash, like cheap pens or key chains. If you invest in branded swag, go for something practical or eye-catching, like fun koozies, a nice mug, a stylish tote bag, or quality pens that write well. High-end real estate branding services such as those provided by  Proven Partners  can help you stand out from the competition.

21. Conduct async home tours.

The housing market has been on fire since 2020, both buyers and sellers expect quick, convenient access to information and solutions. By offering asynchronous home tours via live video, you can give buyers a more immersive experience without requiring them to take the time to physically visit the property.

Virtual home tours save time and effort for both real estate agents and potential buyers. They help buyers to eliminate homes that don't meet their needs without having to visit them in person, and they allow agents to show more homes to more people in less time.

22. Create a city guide.

Moving to a new city can be daunting, especially if you‘re unfamiliar with the area. By creating guides to various cities in the state in which you’re licensed, highlighting the best neighborhoods, local attractions, and top-rated schools, real estate agents can help prospective buyers make more informed decisions about where to live.

Providing detailed information about a city not only helps buyers to make a more informed decision, but it also positions the real estate agent as an expert in the area, which can lead to more referrals and new business.

Pro Tip: Be sure to include your contact information throughout the guide so when buyers see a city they like, they know exactly who to call.

locals guide real estate marketing

23. Offer an online home decor guide.

A beautifully staged home can significantly increase its appeal to potential buyers. By offering guides for home decorating tips and ideas or using your listings as examples of how to showcase different decor styles, you can help sellers present their home in the best possible light.

Home decor guides provide added value to potential buyers and sellers, while also building the agent's reputation as a trusted adviser and expert in their field.

24. Start a real estate podcast.

Podcasts are a popular medium for consumers to learn, stay informed, and be entertained. By starting a podcast that covers a range of real estate topics, from market trends to advice for first-time buyers, real estate agents can reach a wider audience and establish themselves as thought leaders in the industry.

Podcasts are a great way to establish a personal connection with potential clients. By sharing their expertise and insights in a casual and conversational manner, agents can build credibility and trust with their audience, which can lead to new business.

Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas: Start a Real Estate Podcast

25. Host home-buying workshops.

Understanding the home buying process can be overwhelming for first-time buyers. By hosting workshops that teach them the basics of buying a home, including how to secure a mortgage, what to look for in a home, and more, real estate agents can educate potential buyers and help them feel more confident in their decision-making.

Workshops provide an opportunity for agents to connect with potential buyers on a deeper level, building trust and rapport while providing valuable information that can lead to future business.

How to Create a Real Estate Marketing Plan [Template]

Real Estate Marketing Plan

Now that you have some marketing ideas, the next question is, “What’s the plan?” Without clear goals for your real estate business and marketing strategy, measuring success is difficult. Consider the following points when developing your marketing plan.

1. Create a vision statement.

What do you want to accomplish in the short and long term? Develop a vision statement to identify the goals you’d like to reach. This makes it easier to lay out steps for reaching your business’ vision.

2. Identify your target customer.

Who are you marketing to? Will you be marketing to sellers, renters, first-time home buyers, etc.? Identifying the personas you’re selling to paints a clearer picture of who to target with your marketing efforts.

3. Develop goals.

Set goals for your overall marketing initiatives and summarize which strategies you’ll use to accomplish these goals. What are the business goals you’d like to reach? And what criteria will you use to decide if these goals have been met?

4. Determine your unique selling proposition.

Think about what differentiates you from your competition. Here are some questions you can ask yourself when developing your proposition :

  • What can you offer that others can’t?
  • How does your unique approach or personality create value for prospects?
  • What are your market's latest pricing, selling, and buying trends?
  • How can you discuss these trends (including the numbers) with prospects?

5. Determine tools and budget for each strategy.

Pick the top marketing ideas for your business, selling proposition, and ideal target market. From there, calculate how much of your budget to allocate to each strategy.

6. Measure performance.

Once you’ve identified the tools you’ll use to market your business, write down key metrics to measure their success. Determine the timeframe for the strategy or campaign and set a goal. Let’s use a paid Instagram ad as an example:

Campaign: Instagram post promotion

Length of promotion: 3 weeks

Goal: The post should gain 1,000 impressions and have a click-through rate of 1%.

Should I hire a real estate marketer?

That‘s a tricky question. For one, there’s no clear definition of what a “real estate marketer” actually is. Several potential marketing ideas for real estate professionals don‘t need to be allocated to a consultant or third party. For instance, you probably don’t need a marketer to film a quick walkthrough of an apartment.

But often, real estate professionals lack the time, resources, and know-how to assume certain marketing responsibilities — and those can often be outsourced to contractors.

If you're struggling with website design, content creation, graphic design, SEO, or any other technical or creative process beyond your skill set, you might want to bring in some people who can address those issues.

Create your real estate marketing plan.

With these marketing ideas, you’re sure to wow your potential customers and attract them to your services. Creating a marketing plan will help you set goals for your marketing campaigns and develop the steps to reach these goals.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

This article was written by a human, but our team uses AI in our editorial process. Check out our full disclosure to learn more about how we use AI.

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Real estate farming: Become the go-to agent in your area using these tips, tools & strategies

Learn how to connect with your community, cultivate long-term relationships and establish a trusted brand.

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Real estate farming, otherwise known as geo-farming, is a dependable lead generation method that can help to create a steady pipeline of real estate leads and clients in your area. Real estate farming is a slow-burn strategy where consistency and intentionality matter, but when it’s done right, your efforts can yield long-ranging results when guided by a community-first approach. If you want to add effective real estate farming tips, tools and tactics to your marketing arsenal, our guide will show you how it’s done.

What is real estate farming?

Why should i try real estate farming.

  • Real estate farming tools

Step 1 — Choose your farm area carefully

Step 2 — understand your farm’s demographics, step 3 — study the sales data, step 4 — plan your outreach, step 5 — calculate your budget and expected roi, step 6 — start farming, step 7 — track and nurture leads, real estate farming: tips and best practices.

Real estate farming, or geo-farming, is a lead generation strategy in which the agent focuses on a specific geographic area. Common real estate farming ideas include direct outreach via mail, email or direct mailers, but you can also host neighborhood social events, sponsor seasonal events and provide helpful real estate information resources to your community. The main idea is to put you, your team or brokerage in front of community members regularly, thereby establishing your brand and positioning yourself as a local expert and trusted resource. Real estate farming also includes traditional marketing methods like sending direct mailers, knocking on doors and nailing your locally relevant social media presence.

Real estate agents rarely use farming as their only marketing approach, but the ones who use it successfully credit real estate farming for the longevity of their business. Remember — most of the time, buyers and sellers may not be actively looking for your services, but when they are, real estate farming ensures you are always top of mind. Like all marketing, real estate farming is psychological. The well-established  rule of seven explains that consumers typically work with a brand or service only after repeated exposure to it. Clients are more likely to pick up the phone and call you after seeing your name on multiple mailers, business cards and signs. And after winning business in a small geographic area, your referral business begins to build upon your success.

Real estate farming tools 

Whether hosting open houses, first-time homebuyer workshops or seasonal neighborhood events, these tools will help you become a go-to local expert.

Logo-Luma

Starting price: Free (with a 5% platform fee on tickets along with Stripe processing fee)

Luma is an iOS app and event page manager that features SMS invites, QR code check-ins and even weather forecasts, helping you make event organization seamless. Create shareable calendar pages, track attendance analytics and finally,  post themed updates to get your guests excited.

Best features:

  • Shareable calendars
  • SMS invites
  • QR code check-in
  • Analytics for tracking event page views, referrals and sales
  • Accepts all credit cards, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay, for paid events
  • Premium features include Zoom integration and up to 5,000 invitations weekly

Logo-Eventbrite

Starting price: Free

You might recognize this global ticketing platform, but it can also be a helpful marketing tool for real estate agents organizing live and online events. 

  • Mobile ticket app
  • Marketing tools and data insights
  • Secure payments

Logo-Parkbench

Starting price: $300 per month

Parkbench is a platform that helps real estate agents host live, neighborhood-specific virtual events, thereby creating video content to post on social media and YouTube. The company aims to help agents become “Local Leaders” in their communities, giving them exclusive rights to their neighborhood website (there’s a one-agent-per-community rule)  and setting them up to become the go-to expert on all hyperlocal topics. Use Parkbench to interview local business leaders, discuss community news, spotlight your neighbors and more.

  • Sponsoring your community’s website could help you rank on the first page of Google for local keywords
  • Scheduling assistance for interviews with local guests
  • Parkbench editors create shareable video clips from your interviews
  • Ongoing group coaching with other real estate agents

Logo-Lofty

Starting price: Inquire

Lofty is an all-inclusive AI-powered platform tailored specifically for real estate professionals. If you have a marketing need, it’s got the AI-assisted real estate marketing tool for you.  Its tools for real estate agents include everything from team collaboration and productivity to lead generation and sales. 

  • AI-assisted smart CRM
  • Automated social media marketing and posting
  • “Smart Plans” for lead nurturing and conversion
  • User-friendly agent website with AI-assisted IDX home search

Catalyze AI

Logo-Catalyze-AI

Starting price: $360 per month

Catalyze AI is a unique real estate marketing solution for the data-driven agent. The AI-driven tool uses predictive analytics and a dataset of over 400 million data points to identify promising leads who have recently inherited property. It also pulls from event data, historical trends, behavioral analytics and other information, then provides lead suggestions for you within a 50-mile radius. 

  • Uses historical data, behavior analytics, event-driven data and real-time insights to provide predictive analysis
  • Predicts high-probability buyers and sellers for efficient lead targeting
  • Access to 400 million data points

Constant Contact

Logo-Constant Contact

Starting price: $12 per month

With a well-earned reputation, Constant Contact offers a robust CRM solution and its bread and butter of email marketing. The platform’s email editor is highly intuitive, with hundreds of templates to choose from. Its analytics-driven features help you track opens and clicks, plus it provides additional tools like sign-up forms, surveys, polls, and SMS integration to help build engagement.  

  • AI-assisted content writing
  • Dynamic and functional templates
  • Mobile app for on-the-go management

Real estate farming: a step-by-step strategy

Real Estate Farming_Residential

Every real estate agent has their own approach to real estate farming, but a few common parallels exist:

Selecting your farm area comes down to combining your personal preferences and industry “green flags” that signal an area is worth investing resources into.

Convenience + –

Turnover rate + –, why does the turnover rate matter + –, size and accessibility + –, community features and characteristics + –.

Now it’s time to learn about your customer. Research who lives in the area; are they families, retirees or young professionals? Identify who might be looking to move into the area and who might be planning to leave, including families needing larger homes or empty nesters looking to downsize.

You’ve already studied data to select your farm area, but now is the time to zero in on more specifics. You should look at:

  • Average price and days on the market (DOM): Know the area’s average listing and selling prices, plus how long properties typically sit on the market.
  • Current inventory: Monitor the current homes available for sale, including the types of homes, price ranges and unique property features.
  • Price trends : To understand market dynamics, consider how prices have changed over time for different property types like single-family homes or condos.
  • Listing vs. sales price: Help your clients understand how much negotiation room they might have in upcoming transactions. A large gap between listing and selling prices (in either direction) can inform your understanding of supply and demand.

Now that you know who is in your area, their needs, and what the financial data shows, you can start planning and budgeting for your marketing strategy.

Plan for a mix of in-person, digital and physical outreach methods. Start with simple email and SMS (text) campaigns, utilizing lead nurturing software like Constant Contac t and Real Geeks to organize and track every digital outreach attempt or “touch.” Establishing early digital communication with your prospects establishes their expectation that they will hear from you throughout the year (with their consent and opt-in, of course). Maintaining an open line of digital communication through email and text will also be your method of reaching them when announcing Open Houses and other events.

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Then comes the in-real-life (IRL) fun. Give new clients the chance to meet you in person at a community movie night, a seasonal holiday parade or a local sports game. If you want to be truly memorable, come up with a signature event you and your team host every year, quarter or month.

For example, Carr describes her company’s monthly ice cream social in the same YouTube interview. On the last Friday of every summer month, her brokerage rents an ice cream truck to host a pop-up event at a community park within her farming area. The experience is memorable, she says, reminiscent of the days an ice cream truck used to drive through her neighborhood as a kid.

If a nostalgic ice cream night isn’t your thing, send an annual gift like a holiday cookie tin, a yearly calendar, a summer beach towel or a back-to-school coffee mug tastefully featuring your brokerage’s branding. Postcards, door hangers, and other marketing collateral will require a smaller investment, allowing you to reach more community members. An informative community newsletter, Facebook group or community website can provide consistent value and become a go-to resource for nearby residents.

Most importantly, build predictability. Pick activities you know you can follow through on consistently. Try thinking of your outreach plan in terms of annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and ad-hoc initiatives that whet your prospects’ appetite for more interactions with you. It could look something like this:

Each of the above ideas comes with an investment of time, money, or both. For instance, Carr budgets between $5,000 to $8,000 for each of her brokerage’s quarterly events, totaling $32,000 annually.

Of course, you can deploy several free real estate marketing tools, including Facebook groups and cost-effective, lead-generating websites with community-focused content.

Bottom line: Know how much you’re willing to spend across all areas — digital marketing ads, marketing collateral, in-person events, novelty items, event rentals, etc. — and determine how many homes you’d need to sell to recoup a return on that investment.

Magnet attracting leads

6 best real estate lead generation websites for 2024

With your plan, budget and knowledge in hand, it’s time to start farming. Begin by introducing yourself to the community, attending local events and gradually rolling out your planned activities. Consistency is key. Be patient and persistent; your efforts will help cultivate a strong presence within your chosen real estate farming area.

As you develop momentum and add leads to your database, set up a system for regularly tracking and nurturing your relationships. Remember — contacts within your farming area are distinct from others in your CRM; they live in a geographically distinct area (likely your neighborhood!), so your messaging should be more personalized and community-focused.

When nurturing leads, tailor your communication to meet your prospects’ needs. Just think, what would your neighbor want to hear? Find natural opportunities to mention market trends in the area, community announcements, events and helpful real estate advice. Keep a detailed record of your interaction with potential clients in your farm area. Include phone calls, emails, door-knocking visits and events, and their responses to your direct mail and email campaigns.

Over time, review your interaction records periodically to evaluate which methods are most successful in engaging potential clients. Notice how often people reply to your emails, what information resonates with them, and how many attend your events. Refine your approach based on what the data shows.

FeatureImage-best-real-estate-crm

The 11 best real estate CRMs for 2024

Real Estate Farming using geotargeting in a downtown area

Tip #1: Think long-term

Real estate farming isn’t the kind of marketing strategy that yields overnight results. Give yourself a year of consistent effort before throwing in the towel or trying a new farming area. Budget-wise, give yourself a year of runway. Evaluate your results monthly and quarterly, looking at the big picture after a year. Only then can you truly decide whether geo-farming gave you the desired results.

Tip #2: Start simple

When you start real estate farming, sending a “Just Sold” postcard when you sell a new house can be a powerful way to debut your services to a new community. A simple postcard announcing new sales serves the community in two ways: 1) It updates them on their neighborhood’s latest average home value, and 2) It introduces them to a new agent (you) should they decide to sell their home soon.

Tip #3: Focus on quality and consistency—not just quantity

There’s a difference between consistency and quantity. Don’t just “spray” your farming area with impersonal, generic postcards to try and reach a massive number of prospects. Similarly, don’t sacrifice quality simply to try and mail something once a week. Be intentional. Choose methods you can execute well and commit to a cadence you can sustainably maintain.

Maybe your sweet spot is a monthly or quarterly summary of every home you’ve sold in your targeted area rather than a postcard for every sale. Or perhaps you prefer mailing seasonal cards for holidays, school breaks and special community events instead of linking your mailers to sales. Whatever your strategy, pick something you know you can commit to — and become known for it. According to recent National Association of Realtors data, only 26% of home buyers are first-timers. So, if you’re already offering first-time homebuyer workshops in your local community, broadening such events to include activities that all community members can participate in will help you reach a broader demographic of buyers and sellers.

Tip #4: Get resourceful

Don’t limit yourself to the most expensive mailers or big-budget events. You can start real estate farming by simply introducing yourself to parents at your child’s school. One pair of realtors, Alissa and Katy of the Hustle Humbly Podcast , mention that simply serving as secretary of your local Parent Teacher Association (PTA) or another community group “counts” as farming since it provides natural, conversational opportunities to bring up your work and answer prospective clients’ questions.

Real Estate Prosecting Cover Image

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Real estate farming faqs.

Farming in real estate refers to focusing your marketing and networking efforts on a specific geographic area or community (often the one you live in) to establish a brand presence and generate new leads.

Begin by selecting a suitable real estate farming area, first understanding its demographics and studying its sales data to inform your outreach. Next, plan annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and ad-hoc outreach methods that you can do consistently every year. Make one or two ideas your “signature” events and become known for them. Plan your budget accordingly, knowing what kind of return on investment (ROI) you need to make your efforts worthwhile. Then, consistently engage with the community and roll out your plan.

Demographic farming is like geo-farming but focuses more on factors like age, family size and income level. Geo-farming considers demographic factors, but demographic farming focuses primarily on such lifestyle conditions to target an ideal customer base. For instance, a luxury real estate agent focusing on unique, upscale homes might concentrate more on demographics because their target client — an independently wealthy entrepreneur — is motivated more by finding rare properties and less so by considerations like school districts and proximity to community centers.

Generally speaking, real estate agents advise aiming for neighborhoods with at least a 6% turnover rate for the highest probability of success.

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ideas for real estate business plan

10 High Impact Real Estate Ad Ideas (+ A Comprehensive Guide to Elevate Your Brand)

Chris Heller Headshot

To achieve this, however, you will need a plan to effectively place your ads to not only bolster your business, but also to establish your brand identity.  

In this comprehensive “how-to” guide, we’ll delve into the significance of ads in brand establishment, offer tips for creating impactful ads, explore creative approaches, discuss optimal ad placement strategies, analyze the cost-benefit aspect, and introduce platforms for ad creation. 

PLUS, we’ve provided 10 different ideas for ads to help you get started! Ready to dive into the world of advertising? First…

Let’s Discuss Why Targeted and Strategic Ads Are Crucial for Your Business

First and foremost, with your ads you are creating familiarity. Familiarity with your brand leads to trust, and ultimately a higher return on investment… with less effort, which saves you time. 

There have been multiple studies over the years to back these theories, an article by stridecreative.com speaks to these:

“We can also draw upon research on cognitive fluency… As we make decisions about which tasks we’ll do throughout the day, those decisions are subconsciously guided by how easy or difficult we think those tasks will be… When we encounter familiar brands, they require less mental work and present less risk, so they feel easy to us — and we gravitate toward them.”

As such, your ads serve as a conduit for introducing your brand to potential clients, reinforcing your presence, and shaping perceptions.

Additionally, in the digital age, where attention spans are fleeting, well-crafted ads are indispensable for grabbing attention amidst the noise and leaving a lasting impression. 

And now you know, consistent ad placement cultivates brand recognition and trust, crucial elements to help you establish long lasting relationships with your clients from the start!

Tips and Best Practices for Creating Ads

Woman,Drawing,On,Tablet,Computer,,Concept,Of,Branding,,Brand,Strategy

If you don’t, you’ll be wasting your time and money… so take a few minutes to read the key factors to consider when creating your plan and spend some time making decisions that will establish your brand and get your messaging across. 

Here’s how to get started:

  • Ask yourself: What am I selling, what is my niche? A house in the suburbs? Penthouse suite? Cabin in the woods? Then, what features will my audience most likely be attracted to? What is the lifestyle they are looking for if they are interested in this area? The more specific, the better.
  • By knowing your audience, you can create ads that speak directly to their desires, which increases the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
  • Visually appealing ads not only grab attention but also convey professionalism and attention to detail, instilling confidence in your ability to find the right property for your clients.
  • If you deliver high quality images time and time again you ensure your audience that you care about what you are selling and ensure that you have an elevated sense of how to handle business. 
  • First, determine your voice and the tone you want to set in your ads. Then, communicate key information such as property features, benefits, pricing, and contact details in a succinct and persuasive manner.
  • Clarity in messaging helps eliminate confusion and ensures that your audience understands the offer and its relevance to them with you as the trusted source for specific, factual information.
  • But what is a good call to action ? You want to focus on the value and benefits you’re offering with language that incorporates action (sign up, subscribe, book a consultation, schedule a viewing, etc.), and an added touch of urgency… without being pushy!
  • You can invite viewers to schedule a viewing, contact you for more information or questions, visit a property website for more listings, and the list goes on!

By carefully considering these elements and crafting your style before you begin creating your ads you are more likely to achieve higher conversion rates. Not only will you be establishing familiarity, but have personalized, compelling ads that resonate with your audience.

How to Stand Out: Break the mold by infusing creativity into your ads

Businessman,Computer,Planning,Marketing,Brand,Concept

Here’s a few ways you can start to spark your creative juices in your ads: 

  • You can craft stories that showcase the unique features, history, and lifestyle associated with a property to help your audience imagine themselves living at that property. 
  • You can highlight stories from previous owners , sharing anecdotes about memorable moments in the home that you hope to help cultivate for your clients by finding them their dream home. 
  • You can paint a vivid picture of the surrounding neighborhood full of activity, community that evokes a sense of belonging.
  • Or… perhaps you have a personal draw to a property, share your connection and why this particular property and neighborhood captured your attention .

Effective storytelling creates a personal connection with potential buyers and helps them envision themselves living in the property, making your ads more memorable and compelling.

  • Creative quizzes to help your potential clients learn more about what they are looking for is a win-win. You can incorporate images to help determine property style or neighborhood preferences with questions that illicit preference for example. 
  • Polls help audiences feel like their opinion will make an impact and you get important feedback on specific properties that can help inform future ads by getting to know your audience better. 
  • Interactive virtual tours , allow viewers to explore the property from different angles and customize their viewing experience based on their interests… technology is making this easier and easier, but we’ll expand more on this in a minute.

Businesswoman,Hand,Working,With,Laptop,Computer,,Tablet,And,Smart,Phone

  • You can use testimonials, reviews, or success stories to demonstrate the positive impact working with you had for your clients’ lives. 
  • Create a sense of reassurance with potential buyers, by sharing photos, videos, casual interviews, and 1st-hand experiences to validate what clients can expect when working with you. 
  • You can incorporate testimonials from local shops, restaurants, events, to help build a sense of community to support your messaging in your ads. 

Ultimately, you are sharing proof that working with you is an enjoyable experience, and your professionalism is respected by those around you. All leading to your ability to build a client base that will trust you through their purchasing process. 

  • You can overlay digital information, such as property details, floor plans, or furniture arrangements, onto real-world environments, allowing potential buyers to visualize the space in a customizable way. 
  • Or you can allow your clients to explore properties in 3D, providing a realistic and immersive viewing experience from the comfort of their own home. 

With technology and digital marketing ruling the business world right now incorporating these tools into your ads is a sure way to help you stay competitive, and impress your buyers by creating a truly memorable, immersive experience. 

Optimal Ad Placement Strategies

Successful,Entrepreneur,Checking,E-mail,On,Laptop,Computer,,Sitting,In,Coffee

Strategically placing ads across various channels helps to maximize your visibility and engagement, and over time you’ll have enough data to understand where your more promising leads are discovering your services.

Here’s a few places to consider for your ads:

  • If you are in a larger market, this strategy will likely help you stand out a bit more, and is a bit of non-negotiable if you want to be taken seriously.
  • Paying Google, Yahoo, etc. to advertise your properties differs than relying on SEO to help your business. SEO can take some time to build up your click and conversion rates through organic growth, but you can increase the likelihood of visibility with paid ads faster. 
  • Advertising through these well-known sites is key in expanding your reach to a broader audience searching from anywhere in the world.
  • Advertise in local newspapers, magazines, or community newsletters highlighting elements of your expertise in the area that will establish you as a go-to agent for this neighborhood.
  • You can showcase homes you have listed now, testimonials, and share your story of how you can help others find their next dream home with complete control of your brand and content. 

Cost and Return on Investment

black-tablet-computer-on-brown-wooden-table

Determining your budget before you get started can help you allocate your funds across multiple avenues. As a general guide, setting aside 10% of your annual commission for advertising is an advisable practice. 

But for a little more insight from Merged Media :

“A Real Estate Webmasters study showed that, while 53% of agents spend less than $5,000 on marketing, top real estate agents spend much more. In fact, 52% of agents with real estate commissions higher than $300,000 have budgets of $20,000/year; 20% of these top performers budget over $80,000/year. Also, Deloitte reports that small businesses that actively market online see an increase of $350,000 or 20% increase in annual revenue.”

Now you have an idea of what to expect as your business grows, but again, if you’re just getting started don’t feel discouraged… There are several platforms that fit budgets of all sizes to help you reach broad audiences. 

Platforms to Help You Create and Deliver Your Ads

Executives,Discussing,Over,Computer,In,Office

  • These are great for agents just starting out who are budget conscious, with options for commission based advertising.  
  • This site is for either an agent getting started who needs help with branding and implementing a plan, or for more established agents looking to aggressively broaden their reach. 
  • Homespotter: This is a quick fix to advertising that will help your potential clients be up to date with what is available. 
  • They offer an affordable monthly subscription/membership for your marketing plans, but will require more of your time in implementing the content. 

10 Ideas to Help You Create Impactful Ads

Two,Businesswomen,Working,On,Computer,In,Office

  • Exclusive Listings : The goal is to impress, but maintain ease of contact. Highlight exclusive properties with stunning visuals and limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency that caters to your audience. 
  • Neighborhood Expert : Showcase videos and images of you participating in neighborhood events and engaging with the community to help position yourself as a local expert by sharing your insights through the shared experience of community events.
  • Virtual Tours : Take potential clients on a virtual tour of homes that you have listed. You can get creative with this type of video and warp them into several different spaces at a time with a poll of which house resonated with them. 
  • Testimonials : You can feature several of your previous clients through testimonials in myriad ways. In printed ads, with voice overs in videos, or simple quotes are effective accompanied with high-quality images. 
  • Open House Invitations : Create buzz around open houses with engaging invitations where you showcase the experience of what it’s like to attend one of your open houses that separates it from the rest. 
  • Market Updates : You want to be known as the expert in real estate to help establish credibility… lead this ad with surprising and valuable market insights with your opinion and advice included. 

Asian,Women,Viewing,Real,Estate,Websites,On,A,Computer

  • Luxury Living : Create a sense of luxury that targets your audience with images of elegant, lifestyle amenities… and walk them through a “typical day in the life”. 
  • Investment Opportunities : Target investors with lucrative investment opportunities and ROI projections by showcasing your knowledge in market trends and statistics to validate your projections. 

Now with this comprehensive guide to help you get started in the infinite world of digital advertising I hope you feel empowered to start developing your strategy. 

If too much information is overwhelming, just start piece by piece. First with your brand and messaging, then start with social media, then contact an agency, then just keep the ball rolling. 

The most important thing is that you don’t waste another second worrying about perfection, the time to start carving out your niche in the competitive real estate market is now! 

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About the Author

Chris Heller brings 27 years of experience in real estate. Chris serves on the AgentAdvice Editorial Board and is the Chief Real Estate Officer at OJO Labs. Chris brings deep expertise having held influential industry positions including CEO of mellohome and former CEO of Keller Williams Realty International.

Last Updated: 2/14/2024

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Real estate investing isn't just for people who can buy million-dollar properties — an expert has 5 tips for anyone

Our experts answer readers' investing questions and write unbiased product reviews ( here's how we assess investing products ). Paid non-client promotion: In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners . Our opinions are always our own.

  • Your investment portfolio should be spread across many types of assets — and real estate can be one.
  • If you don't want to be a landlord, REITs offer an easy way to invest without a huge time investment.
  • No matter how you choose to invest, remember that you can't predict what the market will do.

Insider Today

There are many ways to invest, and one that has grown in popularity recently is real estate investing . This may conjure up images of "Selling Sunset" and million-dollar properties.

But Charles Clinton , cofounder of online investment platform EquityMultiple , says there are many ways to get involved in real estate investing as a way to diversify your investment portfolio and potentially be an additional source of income.

Clinton has five tips that anyone considering real estate investing should remember.

1. Use real estate as one component of a diversified portfolio

Clinton says that people include real estate investing as part of a portfolio across asset types, also known as a diversified portfolio. Part of the diversification process is deciding what kind of real estate investment is right for you since each time comes with its own risks. 

“Assess what’s right for you based on your personal goals and risk tolerance,” Clinton says. “What role do you want to play in the process, and how much of your portfolio do you want to dedicate to real estate?”

2. Consider REITs for a hands-off approach

You might be interested in investing in being a partial or full owner of a property that’s an apartment, single-family home, industrial warehouse, or commercial building.

The cost to invest in and maintain a property can vary depending on the location and market conditions. This can include a high investment in money and time, though you can also invest in real estate using real estate investment trusts, which won’t require you to be a landlord.

3. Think carefully about the location of your property

You also have the option of buying a physical property and renting out part or all of it; however, choosing property for real estate investing is very different from choosing where you want your current or forever home.

“You choose your home where you want to live and work, but there’s no guarantee that it will appreciate in value,” Clinton says. “If you’re investing in property, you’re not limited to where you want to physically live or work.”

4. Look for high-value opportunities

Another consideration is how to invest in real estate that’s being built in an intentional way.

“The goal of investing in real estate is to make money and usually that involves increasing rents,” Clinton says. You can also invest in buildings that are increasing the quality of the tenant experience with additional amenities so that increase is justified.”

5. Remember, you can't predict the market

In a market where interest rates are rising and property values are down, Clinton says that this can be a good time to invest. But at the end of the day, you can’t predict the market.

“Unexpected things can happen at any point, and you can’t isolate your portfolio from all of the possible changes,” Clinton says. 

Watch: From affordable housing to money transfers for immigrants — a $1 billion impact investor explains how she makes money while making the world a better place

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  1. Writing a Business Plan

    How to Write a Mission Statement ( Janel M. Radtke, 1998) Using a SWOT Analysis to Structure Your Business Plan Once you've created a mission and vision statement, the next step is to develop a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats."

  2. How to Plan, Start, & Grow a Real Estate Business: 27 Essential Tips

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  3. 7 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Worksheet)

    April 17, 2023 The Basics 7 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Worksheet) A real estate business plan is an essential strategy document that ensures that your business is equipped to survive and grow. It ensures that your time, energy, and cash are being spent efficiently in pursuit of your goals.

  4. How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Free Template)

    1. Write Your Mission Statement Every real estate agent's business plan should begin with a mission statement, identifying your values and why your business exists. Your mission statement serves as the guide to achieving your ultimate business objective.

  5. 5 Real Estate Business Plan Examples & How to Create One?

    By Danesh Ramuthi, Nov 28, 2023 Crafting a business plan is essential for any business and the real estate sector is no exception. In real estate, a comprehensive business plan serves as a roadmap, delineating a clear path towards business growth.

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    A real estate agent business plan is essential for success in today's competitive market. It helps you set clear goals, define your vision, and outline the steps to achieve short-term and long-term objectives. As a real estate professional, having a well-crafted business plan can be the difference between being a top producer and struggling to...

  7. Your 2024 Real Estate Business Plan Checklist

    Train on systems, processes and expectations included in your real estate business plan. Have new agents shadow veteran agents. Provide them with a pond or specific lead sources to work. This will get them on the phones early to gauge if they're going to do the work and fit the profile. Set benchmarks for performance and clear expectations ...

  8. How to create a real estate business plan

    06. Financial plan. The average cost to start a real estate brokerage can range from $10,000 to $200,000, so odds are you will need to secure financing. The financial plan outlines your real estate business' financial projections, funding requirements and path to profitability.

  9. Ultimate Guide: 11 Points to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan

    Real estate agents use business plans to map their marketing strategies, target their advertising, and track their progress. A business plan helps agents set goals and stay on track throughout the year. It is also a valuable reference point when meeting with clients and potential investors.

  10. 12 Steps to Creating the Best Real Estate Business Plan

    12 Steps to Create The Best Real Estate Business Plan. 1. Determine Your Business Model. There are a few ways to go when embarking on your real estate journey. You may decide you want to start or join a real estate team. Or you may decide you want to start or join a brokerage.

  11. The Perfect Real Estate Investing Business Plan

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  12. 19 Real Estate Business Ideas to Make Really GOOD Money

    Bird-dogging. A real estate investor will constantly look for lucrative real estate business ideas and offers. An interesting breed of independent real estate investors and experts is emerging as "bird-dogs.". Bird-dogs "sniff out" good deals for investors and earn a tiny share of the deal or a flat fee.

  13. Real Estate Agent Business Plan

    A real estate business plan allows you to stay current with market trends and ahead of the competition. It also helps you track results over time, test lead generation strategies and develop new marketing approaches. Zillow's Bret Calltharp, a former training leader for a large brokerage group, saw his agents' business increase by an ...

  14. 9 Steps to Creating a Strategic Real Estate Business Plan for 2024

    Creating a comprehensive business plan is essential for real estate agents who want to stay organized, maximize productivity and win market share. Here are 9 steps an agent should take to design a dynamic strategic plan. 1. Define Your Mission Statement Take some time to reflect on why you are in this business. What are your primary reasons?

  15. How to Start a Real Estate Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

    Your business plan is your blueprint—it will help you reduce risk, identify threats and weaknesses early on, exploit opportunities, and fortify strengths. Our business plan leads you through these seven steps: Telling your story. Targeting your specific real estate market. Identifying your target client.

  16. The Ultimate Real Estate Business Plan To Hit Your Goals

    Hit $75,000 per year Get 100 leads coming in per month What number do you want to track and strive for in your business? This is the number and sentence that takes up the top of your real estate agent business plan. Ultimate Real Estate Business Plan Download our complete guide to becoming a top producer! Show Me! Next:

  17. Real Estate Business Plan: Guide & Template (2024)

    Download Template Create a Business Plan People would always need to find places. Be it for offices, homes, and whatnot. Finding the ideal place irrespective of your needs and requirements is never a cakewalk, to begin with. You can go through a number of real estates business plan templates before you write your plan.

  18. Real Estate & Rentals Business Plan Examples

    A good business plan is the first step in recession-proofing your business. Check out some sample business plans for real estate, mortgage broker, realtor, property management, and similar businesses to get ideas for your own business plan. If you're looking to develop a more modern business plan, we recommend you try LivePlan.

  19. 10-step checklist for writing a 2023 real estate business plan

    Step 1 - Define your real estate business The first step in writing your real estate business plan is understanding your limitations and strengths as a real estate broker and a business owner. Do you know what you want to achieve with your business?

  20. 18 profitable real estate business ideas in 2024

    If you are looking to start a new business venture we've listed 18 real estate business ideas with huge potential, from property management to flipping houses. ... Creating a detailed plan for aspects like financing, tenants, maintenance, and more and thoughtfully executing it are keys to succeeding with this type of hands-on real estate ...

  21. 7 Key Elements of a Real Estate Business Plan

    In this article, I'll share my insights on the seven key elements that should be included in any real estate business plan, based on my own experiences and industry knowledge. 1. Executive Summary. The executive summary is the first section of your real estate business plan, and it should provide a high-level overview of your entire plan.

  22. Real Estate Business Plan (Why You Need One & How to Write It)

    6. Marketing strategy Can I write a real estate business plan myself? How long should a real estate business plan be? Conclusion Real Estate Business Plan (Why You Need One & How to Write It) Pat Walls • Updated: November 1st, 2022 Start A Real Estate Business Summary Startup Costs Success Stories Businesses Pros & Cons Marketing Ideas Tips

  23. 25 Real Estate Marketing Ideas to Bring in Qualified Buyers

    Market Penetration Strategy And more! Get Your Free Template Learn more Unique Real Estate Marketing Ideas Create a website. Build a blog. Develop email marketing campaigns. Employ virtual staging. Try experiential marketing. Partner with local businesses. Run paid Instagram promotion. Use drone photography. Create a Zillow profile.

  24. Real estate farming: How to Become the Go-to Agent in Your Area

    Real estate farming is a proven strategy, and we provide real estate farming ideas, tips, tools & strategies to build your business in 2024.

  25. Why You Need A Marketing Plan to Fuel Your Real Estate Business

    Your marketing plan will truly fuel your real estate business because it was designed to. So, I encourage you, to get into marketing planning! Now, I know you might be thinking, I'd love to but I have no idea where to start! Well, you're in luck because I have created and executed real estate marketing plans for years in my career.

  26. 10 High Impact Real Estate Ad Ideas (+ A Comprehensive Guide to Elevate

    "A Real Estate Webmasters study showed that, while 53% of agents spend less than $5,000 on marketing, top real estate agents spend much more. In fact, 52% of agents with real estate commissions higher than $300,000 have budgets of $20,000/year; 20% of these top performers budget over $80,000/year.

  27. 5 Tips From a Real Estate Investing Expert on How to Get Started

    1. Use real estate as one component of a diversified portfolio. Clinton says that people include real estate investing as part of a portfolio across asset types, also known as a diversified portfolio.