Marketing and Sales for Houses and Neighborhoods

Recruiting strong buyers and renters to properties that have been recovered from foreclosure is an important and challenging phase of neighborhood stabilization that is often under-planned due to the intense work of acquiring and rehabbing property.  In this section, we collect resources to assist in marketing neighborhoods and selling houses, including how to work with the real estate sales community.

• Selling Houses and Rebuilding Strong Neighborhood Brands
• Mission-Directed Real Estate Brokerage as a Tool for Buyer and Neighborhood Stability

Selling Houses and Rebuilding Strong Neighborhood Brands

Having a strategy to sell a property quickly to a strong, qualified buyer is essential in a weak housing market.  Fortunately, a number of sales techniques have been successfully employed by nonprofits working in markets that were weak before the mortgage crisis, and we can look to those examples of marketing planning and strategy now.  We also need to look at the image and quality of the neighborhood in which the home is located, because when people buy a house, they buy a neighborhood, too.

Download resource materials related to this topic here:

• NSP Marketing Campaign Checklist
• Training: Marketing Strategies to Support Your Neighborhood Stabilization Work
• Developing a Basic Marketing Plan to Sell Houses and Neighborhoods is a guide to developing a marketing plan for a neighborhood or to sell a home.
• Sample NSP Single-Family Development and Sales Program Manual is a guide that provides sales and marketing program advice with particular emphasis on compliance with NSP program guidelines.
• Presentations: Sell That House! Teaming Up to Sell Houses and Neighborhoods in Weak Markets.  These presentations were given as part of a workshop at the annual conference of the National Vacant Properties Campaign.

Mission-Directed Real Estate Brokerage as a Tool for Buyer and Neighborhood Stability

The real estate brokerage function is critically important to neighborhood stability.  All neighborhoods need and deserve an enthusiastic and talented team of real estate professionals to market their homes for sale as well as the neighborhood itself. And all buyers deserve representation that understands and values them as a customer, and helps them find their best deal.

Nonprofits and local governments around the nation are pursuing these goals in a couple of ways:

1. Finding and working with brokers and agents who are committed to promoting in-town neighborhoods, and to working with both modestly priced homes and buyers with low-mod incomes.

2. Starting a mission-directed real estate brokerage division or subsidiary. This option can generate additional revenue and give you greater control over real estate transactions in your community - but it takes careful thought and market knowledge to do it successfully.

Download resource materials related to this topic here:

• Webinar Presentation - Mission-Directed Real Estate Brokerage as a Tool for Buyer and Neighborhood Stability, sponsored by NeighborWorks America and featuring brokers from San Diego, Santa Fe, Chattanooga, and Albany.
• Case Study:Mission-Driven Real Estate Brokerage to Mitigate the Impact of Foreclosures, a case study on two real estate brokerages created by nonprofits to help achieve their missions, from Living Cities.
•  Web Link: The Realtor Neighborhood Stabilization Project, a partnership between the National Association of Realtors and the National Community Stabilization Trust, seeks to engage Realtors in their local NSP initiatives.  This web page offers case studies and resources.
• Marketing Houses And Neighborhoods Through Real Estate Professionals is a paper that identifies numerous ways in which nonprofits and others can partner with the real estate sales community to effectively market neighborhoods and promote homes for sale.