The best way to farm is either door to door or face to face.  Anything else is a waste of money

When you do door to door farming in person do you get many angry homeowners that feel like you are bugging them.

Hi,

Thanks for your comment.  In regard to your question about whether or not people are nice when you door knock, real estate super trainer Floyd Wickman did an extensive study of America and found that there are only 6 mean people in the United States... of course, they move around a lot!

In all seriousness, you will be bothering some people - that can't be avoided.  What you WILL find, however, is that there are lots of great people in the world who would love to chat with you, and are looking for a person like you who can help them with their real estate needs. 

When you hit someone at "just" the right time, they'll think it's fate!

There are lots of methods of prospecting.  There are many methods of contacting clients, from phone calling to mailing to making "special deliveries".  I have a book out on Amazon and B&N JUST about different prospecting methods and systems (both online and offline).

The truth, however, is that nothing is more effective than face-to-face contact.  You can't list a property over the phone (well... not very easily anyway!), you can't sell a home over the phone or through email, and you really can't build as stong a relationship with someone without physically meeting them.

If you read Tom Hopkins books or Gary Keller's first book, you'll see a recurring theme.  Many of the very top agents in the country built their businesses around targeting an audience and connecting with that audience on a continual basis.  There are some today that attempt to do it with email.  There are some who simply mail "stuff" to the same people over and over... but physical contact simply works best.  It takes far longer, but it absolutely works.

Good luck!

Loren Keim

Century 21 Keim Realtors

Allentown, PA

As tempting as it is to allude to the "them what can't do teach" saying I won't... partly because I teach!

Farming is a cute, non-connotative word, that means prospecting. It's perhaps unfortunate that we tend to think of it applying only to getting listings and equate it with "knocking on doors."

There are rules against telemarketing for a reason. Most people consider it "intrusive." We have rules regarding junk faxes and spam. Some communities actually have ordinances requiring a peddler's license for those who would go door knocking. (All those who'd like to be referred to as a peddler, please raise your hands!)

One certainly can't disagree that "face to face" contact is ideal, although more and more we are seeing a resistance on the part of consumers to getting too involved with an agent early. (Look at the desire for transparency on web sites... "we'll call you when we're ready.")

Greater creativity is going to be required from those who would "farm" for business.  I think, for example, one needs a program that allows and encourages satisfied clients to help with "farming." You want people knocking on your door, not the other way around.

Well, I can tell you from experience, farming does work and the best way to farm an area is door to door. My partner and I moved to a new market 5 years ago. Our move was about 150 miles north of where we had been practising real estate. In the city that we moved to we didn't know a single person. So it was like starting real estate over as a brand new agent.

Our advantage was that I had been in real estate at that time for about 15 years and my partner for 8 years. Experience does help.

We started out by choosing an area with a good turnover and a pretty large price spread. Then we started farming. We knocked on 3,000 doors the first year and the same 3,000 doors the second year. We did send out some mailers to the same area but it was the door knocking that made us the money and the repeat business.

We now work on a referral basis and repeat clients. But whenever we feel that we need to step it up we go out and knock on some doors in the area.

Not one thing about real estate 5 years ago is the same as real estate today. But door-knocking as a team would certainly be safer than going on your own.

I think door-knocking can be dangerous in the current environment, especially for women.

I've had success with postcards.  I custom create them and that way I can personalize them any way I choose.  Sure its work. But I've been able to secure a few listings from them and I've also driven buyer clients to my website with postcards!  It works for me and its safer than going door to door.