Thanks for joining me for today's episode, Getting Serious About Farming. What image comes to your mind when you think about farming? Now I’m not a farmer by any means, but I do like planting a small garden and I like the feeling you get when you eat something I grew. For me, when I think about farming I think of it on a smaller scale like my small vegetable garden. But whether its a small garden or 50 acres of crops, it all goes through the same process. First, prepare the soil.
I didn’t realize how important this step was until some years back when I was working with a group of people to start a community garden. One person said we needed to test the soil to see if we needed to add anything to it and to ensure there weren't any contaminants. Now patience hasn’t always been my strong suit but I’m glad I listened and waited on the soil sample.
When it came back we learned there was a high concentrations of lead because the garden wasn’t too far from a highway. We found a new location and went through the same process. This time it cam back okay.
After research and preparing the soil we can plant seeds water our small farm. Through the growing we keep watering, not too much or we could hurt the seeds and if we missed watering for a while, well you know, seeds need water. We also inspect the plants and lookout for insects that might harm and limit growth. Harvesting I don’t know how harvesting goes on a big farm but for me it’s a process that happens a little over time. This might go back to my lack of patients but, when I see a few tomatoes are ready, I’ll grab them. That’s how it goes for a while. I’ll keep tending to the others until everything has been harvested.
If you’re new to real estate you might be wondering why I’m talking about farming. In fact, if your still listening and not sure where I’m going with all this, hang tight, don’t leave yet, I’m getting there. I promise, this is some good stuff and something that’s going to have a huge impact on your real estate career.
We’re going to take this concept of farming and apply it to real estate. This has been around for years and it’s tried and true. Real estate farming is systematically targeting a neighborhood with a consistent message so when people are ready to sell they think of you.
There’s a really good real estate book called, "Success with Listings" and it was written by Knolly Williams. I don’t even know how I came across this book but, I’m glad I did. If your new in real estate you should really read this book. And just FYI, I don’t get kick backs from him. It’s just a good book.
In his book he talks about real estate farming and he describes it like this, "Imagine that you were running for mayor of your city. What would that look like? What kind of marketing campaign would you employ to get the votes? He says, farming looks the same way only your running for mayor of a smaller territory."
To me that’s a great example and a really good visualization. When I think back to local elections I’d see the signs popping up everywhere. Maybe some radio and TV commercials, I can even recall seeing people running for local government at events such as festivals and carnivals. The candidates flooded their district with their message of, VOTE FOR ME!
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