How to Break into and Dominate a Local Market (Even If You Don't Have Any Listings There!)

Interested in expanding your business by breaking into a new market?

Many of you have shared with us that you're interested in increasing your average sales price, having better marketing strategies to expand your number of listings, and more. But before you begin investing your time and resources to grow into a new market, here are three key criteria you should use to be successful and avoid the common mistakes of many agents.

To break into a local market, it's important to identify the right market for you, then market your real estate, and build your local brand.

Here's how to analyze and choose a new market.

Calculate the turnover rate

First, you want to pick a market that has the potential to increase your listings and sales. To start, calculate the turnover rate (the percentage of home that will sell from the total number of homes in a specific area).

Here's an example: If there are 500 homes in a local market and 50 sold in the last 12 months, the turnover rate is 10 percent. Or, 500 ÷ 50 = 10 percent.

But looking at turnover rate alone isn't enough. You need to also consider the opportunity for you and how much market share you can capture.

Let's assume 50 homes are going to sell in a market and we want to acquire 10 percent of market share, so our target would be to sell five homes in this market. Keep your end goal in mind and ask yourself, "Is this goal within reach?"

One way to make these calculations easier for you is to create a spreadsheet like our Local Market Opportunity Calculator shown below.