Town & Country Homes: An Ultimate Guide for Real Estate Agents

Last Updated on June 6, 2023 by Cooper Hayes

People always need to buy and sell properties, and they need professionals to assist them in managing the transactions. Over the last few decades, different software and the Internet have seriously affected the entire real estate process. However, regardless of the extent of technological advancements, they can’t ever replace a human real estate agent.

Here’s why. There’s so much that goes into buying and selling property – lots of paperwork, various city and industry best practices. Even more, selling town and country homes has peculiarities compared to trading city properties. First, towns and countries have fewer people who can see your “for sale” signs by the road.

A real estate agent often has to take care of such peculiarities to execute the real estate process successfully. That’s why we’ve put up this ultimate guide for real estate agents to improve their business.

What is Real Estate?

If you’re an agent reading this, you already know what real estate means. However, for clarity’s sake and some non-realtors possibly reading this, we’ll give a definition. Real estate includes properties and buildings on a specific piece of land. The underground and air above the ground also make up real estate. 

The Four Types of Real Estate

We’ve seen that real estate refers to natural or physical properties and buildings. Being a physical entity, real estate properties come under four different categories: commercial, industrial, residential, and land. Essentially, any of these classes are available even in towns and countries. Here’s an overview of the four different types of real estate properties.

• Commercial Properties

Commercial properties primarily include places for businesses, including shopping centers, hotels, offices, colleges, hospitals, malls, and restaurants – you name them. However, commercial properties often include apartment homes because they generate cash flow for their owners, even though individuals and families live there. For more info read my recent article: Pros and Cons Of Investing In Commercial Real Estate.

• Industrial Properties

Industrial real estate includes manufacturing buildings and factories used to produce products. It also consists of the warehouses of manufactured products, and apartments used to research, store, and distribute manufactured goods.

• Residential Properties

Residential properties include new construction or manufactured homes and pre owned houses. This category of properties includes different housing options such as single apartments, condos, duplexes, vacation properties, town and country homes.

• Land

This category refers to a vacant piece of land, including undeveloped grounds and the ground below a building under construction. It also includes agricultural properties such as ranches and farms. 

It’s vital to understand the different real estate classes because the buying and selling of properties differ based on type. Additionally, other processes such as zoning, construction, and property appraisal have unique handling along the real estate process. That’s why some realtors specialize in one type of property. 

Things to Note Before Hitting the Market

Each manufactured home or landed property has unique features that stand out from any other. Every property has its unique location, assets, benefits, and amenities. As a real estate agent, your goal is to understand and advertise the special features of the properties you place on the market.

Besides understanding all features in a particular house, it’ll help to comprehend the styles, features, and amenities potential homebuyers might want in their dream home. 

Depending on the location, you may need to unravel more parts of the rural country areas. The following are some important things to note about trading country properties:

1. Locate an Ideal Niche Market for You

The low foot traffic in rural communities makes the traditional “on-street” marketing possibilities challenging. You want to be ready to contribute the additional work hours necessary to sell homes in the rural areas. That implies that you’ll locate your ideal niche first before going out to market offers.

Search for places like country real estate magazines, places of worship, and online platforms suitable for advertising your home listings. Network with potential homeowners to discover if they hope to buy a country vacation property or invest in a home outside the city. Regardless of whatever means you employ in scouting prospects, ensure to cast a wide targeted net across different demography and advertising platforms.

2. Know the Areas Within Your Reach

Selling any property at all is an art, which includes selling country area homes. The art of selling a rural home isn’t only about the house itself. It also entails everything the surrounding municipality has to offer potential residents. Ensure you understand everything about the region around the properties. 

Schools, crime rates, proximal relaxation centers, and more are other crucial information to help customers make better decisions. It’d also help to know where to observe nature and explore outdoor activities that people won’t find in the city. 

Potential residents may also want to know about the lowest prices of any of the private amenities in the area. Providing these details could encourage more prospects to come forward and make an offer.

3. Understand the Technique of Presenting Homes

Presentation is a vital success ingredient when trading any property. There are some quiet indices to win over potential buyers of your pre owned homes. Even more, maintaining the home’s exterior and ensuring the yard is well-kept are vital. Work towards providing a positive first impression by cleaning up the garden, patio, porch, and deck to make the house more inviting and presentable.

If the garden or other parts of the home’s exterior are a mess, potential buyers might think it will be too much work to maintain or look new again. Of course, it’d be best to also play up the country charm and theme in the interior. 

Unlike an urban home’s sleek, modern lines and minimalist appeal, country homes need to look like they’ve been lived in and are comfortable. We mean, don’t go overboard with decluttering.

4. Prepare to Commute to and Fro

Here’s another crucial difference between selling a home in the city versus the country areas: the ease and time of commuting to and fro. Ensure that your vehicle can handle trips across dirty or rocky roads in rural areas. You may want to employ a larger vehicle with reasonable clearance to navigate bumps on the road.

Check to ensure your tires are in great shape and can scale a rugged terrain. Where there’s a need for upgrades, find tires that supply good traction in all forms of weather or seasons, don’t puncture readily, and offer a smooth ride.

Different Ways to Market Real Estate Properties

Real estate agents have different marketing ideas to market their home listings, and we can broadly categorize them into traditional, digital, and word-of-mouth advertisements.

Traditional Advertisements

Conventional advertisements never get outdated. They’re helpful in finding locals in the area within your reach. Also, traditional ads are more cost-effective and produce higher return-on-investment, particularly when marketing homes in towns and country areas. 

Few helpful strategies for sharing your contact info include manually giving business cards, sending emails, and executing local adverts in local radio and newspapers. Other helpful tricks include offering perks such as discounts, assistance with securing financing, or free relocation transport services. You could also offer to help with getting financing for the mortgage on their new homes.

Digital Marketing

The world of digital marketing is without limits. If you’re a new agent, consider a few strategies to begin with while you expand to more frontiers as your sale increases. Common digital marketing tools include:

1. Websites
2. Blogs
3. Social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram adverts
4. Paid advertisements: banner ads, social media ads, and native ads
5. Emails 

Word-of-Mouth Advertising

Word-of-mouth advertisements are the most important for a real estate agent, and the testimonials of past and current clients are important to prospects. Consider collecting testimonials from clients and publishing them on your various on-site and online platforms to convince potential clients further of your commitment to your business ideals. 

You can ask your clients to share reviews and recommendations about their positive home buying experience on a site like Zillow, Realtor.com, other home manufacturer sites, or even your real estate business page.

In Summary

If you’re a real estate agent specializing in town and country homes, you now have vital tips to navigate the less populated housing markets. Regardless of your niche, you can succeed as a real estate agent and give your customers a stress-free experience working with you.

San Antonio Texas has helped many clients secure rural properties across different geographical locations in the past. Our real estate professionals have the knowledge, competence, and professional network to help you fulfill your real estate goals at affordable rates.