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Would you like to help your clients and sphere cut their homeownership and home maintenance costs substantially in 2023? If so, use this 12-month marketing campaign in print, Facebook, Instagram and/or YouTube to keep you front and center with your contact database all year long.
1. The best closing gift for your clients in 2023?
Many of today’s buyers and sellers have no idea about how to properly manage a home. Centriq is a home management app that gives your clients everything they need to troubleshoot, operate, and maintain their home right at their fingertips. The homeowner merely takes pictures of the serial numbers on all their appliances and Centriq shows them how to fix, use, and maintain it.
Centriq provides owners/buyers with user manuals, reminders about services, where to locate parts, warranty storage, plus how-to and troubleshooting videos. At $49.00 per report (plus all these other benefits) or $795.00 per year unlimited use, this is a terrific closing gift, prospecting piece, or a report you can use at listing appointments for lead conversion.
Manage Your Home More Efficiently in 2023
Do you have the warranties for each of your appliances?
Do you know the best place to buy parts?
Has there been a safety recall on anything in your home?
What is the expected life of your appliances and systems?
Text me at 800-555-1212 to learn more.
2. Do you qualify for a reduction in property taxes?
Here’s the marketing campaign:
Has your property’s value declined since last year?
If so, you may be eligible for a reduction in your property taxes.
Text me at 800-555-1212 to learn more.
3. Are you taking advantage of all your potential real estate deductions?
If you’re using this marketing piece for print marketing, send the following information as a letter rather than a postcard.
Many homeowners miss taking deductions that can help them on their taxes. If any of the following apply to you, check with your tax professional to see if you are eligible to claim any of the following deductions:
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- Have you claimed the homestead exemption for property taxes? If not, do so immediately.
- Do you work from home? If so, you may be able to deduct a proportion of your utility bills, property taxes, maintenance, cleaning, etc.
- Did you refinance or purchase your primary residence in the last year? If so, you are probably eligible to deduct the points you paid to obtain the loan.
- Did you remodel your property? Be sure to track ALL expenses related to the remodel since you can normally add these costs to your basis. Increasing your basis reduces how much you pay in taxes when you sell.
- If you remodeled your home including installing solar, replacing windows, appliances, or other systems with more energy-efficient ones, your home may qualify for a tax credit of up to 30 percent of the cost of the project, up to $1,500. See your tax professional to see which of these deductions may apply in your case.
There are two ways to approach this issue. First, you can provide homeowners with the process plus a detailed CMA to help them with their appeal. The second option is to refer them to a company that specializes in this area.
In addition, if you are contacting clients who have closed a property in the last year, obtain a copy of their closing statement and send that to them as well.
4. Conduct an energy audit
While homeowners can conduct their own energy audit, obtaining a professional energy assessment will provide more in-depth results. The energy audit includes an examination of the owner’s utility bills to determine usage patterns plus a room-by-room examination of the residence often using infrared cameras, furnace efficiency meters, surface thermometers, a blower door test, and/or a thermographic scan.
At a minimum, homeowners should regularly check for air leaks around windows and doors. If they’re not handy with a caulk gun, they can hire a handyperson to seal windows or doors where air is leaking in. Even a small opening can add a considerable amount to their overall heating bill.
How much were your heating and cooling costs last year?
Save between 5-30 percent on your heating and cooling bills
By doing an energy audit
Text me at 800-555-1212 to learn more.
5. Cut your water bills
Homeowners can save water and money by installing a rain gauge that turns off their sprinkler system when it rains. Second, for those who live in dry climates and who would like to install drought-resistant trees and shrubs, you can provide them with this list of 40 of best trees and shrubs for Xeriscape gardens.
Two Ways to Cut Your Watering Bills!
Install a range gauge that turns off your sprinkler system when it rains.
Second, Xeriscaping saves money and water
Text me at 800-555-1212 to receive a list of
The 40 Best Trees and Shrubs for Xeriscape Gardens.
If you’re posting this on social media or your blog, be sure to include a hyperlink where they can quickly access the data in one click from your post.
6. Install insulation and/or a radiant roof barrier.
This type of improvement usually qualifies for an energy rebate. Without a radiant barrier in the attic, the temperature can be 30 to 40 degrees warmer than the inside of the house. Installing a radiant barrier can result in lower heating and cooling bills. Use this marketing piece in June or July.
Is Your Attic an Oven?
If your attic or crawl space is smoking hot,
A radiant barrier can reduce both your heating and cooling bills
Text me at 800-555-1212 to learn more.
7. Run your ceiling fans whenever you run your heating and/or air conditioning
Here’s your postcard and/or social media marketing campaign:
Want some simple ways to save on your heating and cooling bills?
Ceiling fans can force warm air down from your vents during the winter
and the cool air down during the summer.
Be sure to close off vents in rooms you don’t use.
Text me at 800-555-1212 for a list of the top seven ceiling fans.
8. Eliminate ‘vampire loads’
Many consumer electronics continue to draw power even when they are switched off. This is known as “vampire load.” Vampire loads add about $200 in yearly costs for the average homeowner. All this wasted energy could power up to 11,000,000 homes.
The way to eliminate “vampire loads” is to install an “advanced power strip.” Energy Sage recommends the 7-Outlet Tier 1 APS by TrickleStar and it’s available on Amazon.
Is Your “Vampire Load” Costing You an Extra
$200 Annually for Electricity?
Text me at 800-555-1212 to learn how
You can easily eliminate “vampire loads” and save money.
9. Is it time to dump your old, energy-guzzling appliances?
Many homeowners have old appliances that still work well and see no need to replace them. If they do go out, however, encourage them to purchase “Energy Star” appliances, not only for the efficiency, but also for the rebates that can reduce the price significantly.
Visit the Energy Star Web site to locate the most efficient appliances and discover which ones currently qualify for rebates in your area. For example, an Energy Star front-loading washer uses 17 gallons per load vs. 60 gallons for old top-loading washers. Energy Star dishwashers use 10 percent less energy and 20 percent less water.
Save Energy and Money!
Do you have an old refrigerator, washer, or dishwasher?
If you’re ready to replace any of your old appliances
Text me at 800-555-1212 to learn how to
Save energy and possibly get a rebate!
If you would like to send a letter rather than a postcard, here’s an excellent article from energy.gov you can use.
10. Minimize repair costs with a home warranty
When the appliances and the major systems in a home are more than five years old, a home warranty policy can be a smart investment, especially if one of those systems goes out. A typical policy is less than $500 per year. On the other hand, the cost of replacing a water heater can run close to $1,000. Replacing a heating or cooling system can run into the thousands.
Minimize Repair Costs
Regardless of the age of your home or appliances,
Major home repairs can result in $1,000 or more in costs.
Contact me at 800-555-1212
To learn how to minimize repair and replacement costs
Before you face a major home repair.
11. Are you ignoring minor repairs that lead to major costs?
The leaky faucet or the toilet that runs can end up costing a homeowner hundreds of extra dollars, especially if they’re in an area where water rationing may be an issue. That little bit of dry rot on a door or window can result in a major repair if it’s not handled when the issue is first spotted. Urge your clients to be proactive about treating small issues before they become expensive problems. Great resources for repair people include Angi.com, HomeAdvisor.com, and Thumbtack
The Cost of Procrastination
Do you have faucets, windows, or doors that leak?
Is there a small amount of dry rot on your eaves or doors?
Contact me at 800-555-1212 to learn
Where to find competent home maintenance professionals
12. Going out of town? Use ‘vacation mode’
Many new refrigerators have a “vacation mode” setting. This setting allows the refrigerator to use less energy when the door is not being opened and closed throughout the day. Other ways to save money when your clients are out of town are to turn down the settings on the water heater, unplug the TVs, computers, and other major appliances (or connect them to an Advanced Power Strip), turn off the water softener and/or hot water circulation system until they return.
Going Out of Town? Give Your Appliances a Vacation!
Set your refrigerator on vacation mode, turn down your water heater,
Change your thermostat, unplug TVs and your other appliances.
Better yet, connect them to an Advanced Power Strip that
Eliminates “vampire loads” automatically.
Contact me at 800-555-1212 to learn more.
With interest rates and inflation still high, the people in your contact database are eager to discover ways they can save money. Use this 12-month campaign to make sure your top of mind, especially when one of them decides to list or buy their next property.
Bernice Ross, president and CEO of BrokerageUP and RealEstateCoach.com, is a national speaker, author and trainer with more than 1,000 published articles. Learn about her broker/manager training programs designed for women, by women, at BrokerageUp.com and her new agent sales training at RealEstateCoach.com/newagent.
