On a good day, the market is a scary place for first-time home buyers. But take the market changes of the last few months and it’s enough to have anyone shaking in their boots. Across much of the country, the common sentiment is confusion. After all, the landscape looks a lot different than it did. As real estate agents, this type of market is one where our skills truly matter and we can make a difference by providing perspective to buyers about what’s happening in the market and how to best approach it. But where do we start?

That’s where our fantastic panel of first-time home buyer experts comes in. I recently chatted with Suzette Berkhalter, Charlotte Savoy, and Joel Holland of Florida, Maryland, and Illinois (respectively) about how they put this segment of the market at ease with their expertise and help them on their path to homeownership.  All three of these stellar agents have been using first-time home buyer seminars for years to educate potential clients and fill their pipeline with future business. And luckily, they shared some of their pointers with us.

If you’re looking to target first-time home buyers, consider putting on in-person and digital seminars. As Charlotte told us, when you meet someone at the beginning of their home-buying journey, you can stay in a relationship with them for a long time. While they may not always be immediate buyers, staying in communication with first-time home buyers can be a great source of future and referral business.   

If you’re ready to start servicing this segment, check out the benefits our panel shared about consistently using first-time home buyer seminars:

1.  Quell Nerves By Presenting Yourself As The Local Market Expert

Understandably, first-time home buyers have a lot of questions about the market. They are about to make what’s likely to be the biggest purchase of their lives, and their financial well-being depends on making the right decisions. This is where you come in. When you do a seminar, you’re able to spend time acknowledging the universal worries first-time home buyers have. Whether it’s mortgage rates, inflation, home prices, or the nitty-gritty of the home-buying process, the seminar gives you the tools to provide both a historical perspective on the market and a customized look at what’s going on in your local area. This type of organized approach can both educate potential first-time home buyers and put their minds at ease.  

2.  Create A Low-Pressure Environment For Everyone

The great thing about hosting a seminar for first-time home buyers is that the seminar isn’t meant to sell them a house. That’s what your listing presentation is for and that comes later in the process. Instead, a first-time home buyer seminar is designed to help people who are unfamiliar with the process learn more about how to buy a home and understand why buying a home is beneficial. In other words, it’s simply meant to help them feel more comfortable about entering the market.

As Joel explained, he encourages potential clients to be prepared but patient. He approaches each seminar as an educational tool to show them the long- or short-term path to home ownership, depending on their individual needs. Knowing this information can take the stress off of the seminar for both first-time home buyers and you. With the pressure removed, you can ask attendees to acknowledge the educational process you’ve provided them and ask them to sign a buyer’s agreement to work with you down the road.

3.  Seminars Are Low Budget And Have A High Return On Investment

First-time home buyer seminars don’t have to break the bank. In fact, you barely have to spend a dime. Suzette, Charlotte, and Joel shared that their budgets were minimal, with money mostly allocated toward social media ads. Reach outs to potential buyers in your database don’t cost anything and can also be especially helpful. For instance, Suzette sends emails to anyone that has previously expressed interest in this type of seminar but hasn’t yet attended. And to further mitigate any costs, our panel suggested asking lenders and title companies to provide the food for the event.

Although the average conversion rate is between 9-10 months, the lead cycle of a first-time home buyer seminar can span between 6 and 25 months, which can make the process longer than other lead sources. However, there’s no question that the return on investment makes hosting seminars worthwhile.  In the last 24 months, Charlotte shared that 215 people attended a digital or in-person seminar. And her team has since sold homes to 37 of these people. With a total cost of approximately $150 per quarterly event and an average commission of approximately $10,000 per transaction, the profitability of these events is clear, even before taking the referrals she receives from seminar attendees into consideration.

4.  Seminar Can Be In-Person Or Digital

When you decide to host a first-time home buyer seminar, you can hold it in-person, digitally, or even as a combination of both.  Some people may be reluctant to commit to attending in person, but still want to learn the information, so they will tune in via an online seminar. Others may want the face-to-face interaction. By hosting a seminar in a variety of ways, you are offering more people access to the information you provide, which allows you to reach more people who are just starting the home-buying process. In addition, you can host both simultaneously and satisfy the needs of both groups.

For First-Time Home Buyer Seminars, Follow-up Is Key

Once you decide to incorporate first-time home buyer seminars into your repertoire, the panel emphasized the importance of follow-up. Make sure attendees are in your drip campaigns and that you stay in touch. Invite them to participate in your business’s events. If you educate and handle these potential clients correctly, they will likely refer you to others who may be ready to buy right now, even if they aren’t ready yet themselves.

Having a systematized cadence is important when reaching out to these potential future clients. For example, if they are renters, the end date of their lease is great to use as a cue on when to reach out to them about their post-lease plans. Joel suggests reaching out three months into their lease, six months into their lease, and again at least four months before their lease is over. In addition, if you find them a house where the monthly mortgage payment would be less than what you know their current rent payment to be, it can be a great way to continue the conversation and open the door to home ownership.

Lastly, once you’ve found them their ideal first home, don’t let the transaction be the last interaction you have with them. First-time home buyers can be great sources of forever business and referrals if you take the time to maintain the relationship.

Looking for the newly revised Your First Home book or the accompanying first-time home buyer seminar we’ve talked about in this session? For the book, anyone can order it here. For the customizable presentation, Keller Williams’ agents can go to KWConnect and search for “Your First Home.” Then, let us know how seminars have worked for you!