To specialize or not to specialize, that is the question.

While this version of Shakespeare’s famous line may not carry the life and death weight of Hamlet’s original question, it is a critical business decision faced by many REALTORS®.

 

What’s so special about you?

How to choose whether to be everything to everyone or target one specific market.

By Daniel Rome Levine

To specialize or not to specialize, that is the question.

While this version of Shakespeare’s famous line may not carry the life and death weight of Hamlet’s original question, it is a critical business decision faced by many REALTORS®.

Both approaches, targeting one specific market or being a generalist who sells everything, have their advantages and disadvantages, and there are CRSs across the country who are successful at each. But what goes into the decision to diversify or specialize? What are the most important factors to consider when making this decision?

For answers, The Residential Specialist reached out to a handful of CRSs who are pursuing different approaches.

Many agents specialize, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Its most recent annual member profile found that 17 percent of REALTORS® are specialists in residential property management while the same percentage specializes in relocation. Sixteen percent are specialists in commercial brokerage, while 10 percent specialize in counseling and the same percentage in land development. The areas of commercial property management, residential appraisal, international, auction and commercial appraisal rounded out the survey with the smallest percentages.

“While many REALTORS® find success selling a wide range of properties, there are a large number who specialize in niche markets where they can establish themselves as experts and use their knowledge to provide clients with the highest possible level of service,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s director of Member and Consumer Survey Research.

Oahu’s ‘Go-To Gal’

One such REALTOR® is Arlene J. Kelly, CRS, broker-in-charge of Ola Properties, Inc., on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. When Kelly moved to Hawaii from Pennsylvania in 2004, she helped clients buy and sell every type of real estate. But that changed when she and her husband moved into a home in a master-planned vacation and residential community called Ko Olina that was being developed about 20 miles outside Honolulu.

With her nearly 20 years of real estate experience and her inside knowledge of Ko Olina, it wasn’t long before she found herself being called upon to help people buy vacation homes in the resort. “Because I lived there and was involved in community activities, people got to know me and trust me and they referred business to me,” says Kelly. “I knew I was on the right track when I kept getting more and more referrals from people who said, ‘I heard you were the expert for Ko Olina.’”

Now, more than 10 years later, Kelly says she is the “go-to gal” for anything related to Ko Olina real estate. She and her husband have expanded their business to include property management and they oversee some 170 resort properties. Besides clients looking to buy and sell vacation homes, Kelly is frequently contacted by appraisers seeking her expert opinion and by other agents who have questions about the resort.  

“It is great to live and work in a community that I love,” says Kelly. “I really believe in Ko Olina and my clients respect and appreciate my specialized service.”

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Primarily Probates

In San Diego, clients also value the highly specialized service provided by Kim Ward, CRS, a broker/REALTOR® with Horizon Real Estate. Ward discovered her niche in 2003 when she was hired by a man whose father had recently died. The man was in charge of administering his father’s estate, including the sale of his home and other personal property. Ward could see he was clearly overwhelmed by the probate process, but through a combination of patience, empathy and expertise, she was able to help him get through it smoothly and eventually sell the house.

“It was so rewarding to be able to help this man who was not only grieving his father’s loss, but was also having to deal with this overwhelming burden of trying to dispose of the personal property as well as the house,” says Ward. “It felt great to be able to take the steps to help make it simpler for him and his family.”

Energized by the experience, Ward went online to research how many properties in the San Diego area were sold through the probate process and “discovered an area of opportunity,” she says. “I decided there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t be the person that would fill that niche. Nobody was doing this type of work.”

Ward immersed herself in researching the probate process, reading everything she could find on the subject. She landed her earliest clients by going to the county court house and poring through the probate files to find the names of people who were in charge of handling estates. She then cold called them to offer her services. At the same time, Ward created a website, put together a marketing brochure and created a business card.

It was tough going the first year and Ward was happy if she got one probate client a month. But gradually her business began growing. Today, Ward helps more than 40 such clients a year, she has hired three assistants to keep up with the demand and she also has created a training program to teach other agents about helping clients through the probate process.

Education is the key to being a successful specialist, says Ward. “Learn everything you can about the area you’d like to specialize in,” she says, “and figure out how to make yourself the leader in that segment of the market.”

Broad Market Believer

You don’t have to be a specialist to be a market leader, says Jana Turner, CRS, with Sand ‘N Sea Properties in Galveston, Texas. Turner has been one of the top 10 agents in her area for the last five years, and she has helped clients buy and sell almost every type of property. Last year, she handled 78 transactions, including vacation homes, million-dollar-plus luxury homes, $100,000 starter homes, commercial properties and land sales. “Handling all different kinds of properties makes for a more interesting career,” she says. “It really requires a lot of different applications of our full skill set as REALTORS®.”

Being protected from an unexpected collapse in one segment of the market is another key benefit to having a broad, diverse business model, says Turner. “I’m not as susceptible to a downturn in one part of the market,” she says.

Middle-of-the-Road Approach

Jackie Leavenworth, CRS, has been teaching CRS classes for the last 10 years and has advised countless REALTORS® to follow what she calls a middle-of-the-road approach. She agrees with Turner on the dangers of focusing exclusively on one niche market. “If that niche goes away, for whatever reason, you’re starting all over,” she says. But having a business model that is overly broad-based exposes you to being too much of a generalist. Leavenworth advises REALTORS® to focus on several niche markets, but not more than five or six. “You’ve got to have some focus,” she says.

Find the parts of the market that are right for you by focusing on your strengths, says Leavenworth. “Take your love in life, your passion, and pursue a segment of the market that is related,” she advises. For instance, if you are an outgoing, people person who loves helping others, you could focus on sellers of expired listings. If you have a bold, confident personality and love tough challenges, go after people who are trying to sell their own homes and offer relevant information and services they will appreciate.

“When you focus on areas you are comfortable in and passionate about, your confidence level will be so much higher, and that means everything,” says Leavenworth.

Once you have identified areas of specialization, learn everything you can about them, she says. Attend CRS classes and webinars and learn from people who are already successful in those areas, she says. “Watch what they do and do the same things,” she says. “Never stop learning.”

Great advice, no matter which approach you decide to take.

 

Daniel Rome Levine is a writer based in Wilmette, Illinois.

 

Learn more about focusing on a niche market by taking Putting Technology to Work for Your Clients, a CRS eLearning course.