Use the Latest Real Estate Marketing Tools to Monopolize on New Interest in “Surbans”

There is a new housing phenomenon making the rounds called “surbans” and here’s how you can use real estate marketing tools to promote this hot, upcoming trend.

The reasoning behind this movement seems natural. Millenials and others prefer the idea of living in cities where there are plenty of amenities – restaurants, clubs, museums, stores, etc.

But, home buyers are finding that living in cities is getting not only expensive, but ridiculously expensive and essentially out of reach. Perhaps some techies and financial executives can afford the high prices and rents, but what about teachers, firefighters and others with average salaries?

Many consumers are no longer interested in the McMansions or the sprawl of the suburbs where couples with one child live in homes built for ten out in remote areas only accessible by car.

Hence the rise of the surbans. These are basically communities outside cities that have the downtown feel of cities. They feature a nice mix of amenities nearby you can walk to or ride your bike to. And experts predict 80% of residential growth is going to take place in these communities.

The John Burns Real Estate Consulting firm, which  adopted the name, defines a surban this way: “A suburban area that has the feel of urban, with walkability to great retail from a house or apartment.”

“Seemingly everywhere we go we see the wave of future growth, a blend of suburban and urban. We call is surban livng. Urban areas abound with vibrant restaurants, public transportation and plenty to do,” the firms states on its website. “But urban rents and home prices cut deeply into resident incomes.”

People are tired of getting in their cars and driving long distances to work, buy a gallon of milk or to get a cup of coffee. They value time now more than they do an extra bedrooom or den.

Planners in suburban areas are becoming aware of this and creating better mixed use neighborhoods.

As a real estate agent or broker, you certainly want to show prospects and sellers you are in tune to the latest real estate trends.

Speaking of walkability, as a real estate pro, you want to walk the talk. Here’s how you do it.

Real estate big data companies such as Home Junction Inc. have accumulated massive databases of local businesses. These are powerful real estate marketing tools for today’s consumer.

With today’s advances in big data technology, a broker or agent can easily add a few snippets of code to their website so they can provide that hyper-local data to their prospects. They key phrase here is “on their website.”

You don’t want consumers to have to go look for this data elsewhere. Especially on one of the mega-real estate lead generation sites such as Zillow.

You also want to be able to show your breadth and depth as a real estate advisor – let prospects know you don’t just show homes on your website, you provide the complete information package – neighborhoods, schools, businesses, transportation hubs, etc.

With Home Junction, you can integrate a hyper-local database of businesses relevant to the location of a property. For example, you can show that this particular home is X number of miles from a school, and Italian restaurant, gym or golf course.

With their map-based real estate marketing tool called SpatialMatch, a broker or agent can actually display a map on their website showing the location of an MLS listing and then the relative distance to different amenities.

Maybe your marketplace doesn’t necessarily have the ideal “surban” setting. Perhaps the amenities are more scattered.

Doesn’t matter. You can create the perception that this home is located in an ideal setting. Point out that there’s a hot new sushi restaurant two miles away over here…and there’s a cool bookstore/cafe just a mile and half over there…with a Whole Foods just down the street.

Different generations have different preferences. Markets change. With today’s technology, you can quickly change with the market to cater to current demands.

This year make a resolution to change your website by adding the latest, most hyper-local, appealing real estate marketing tools.