Written by Trevor Mauch The Hybrid Model For Investors & Agents
As the industry continues to shift, the market is moving more and more towards a “one solution” model for sellers. Those experts who can deliver sellers multiple options to sell their houses will win.
Agents who try to fit every seller into their pretty little box of it having to look like a listing (not many repairs, is showable, a non-urgent seller, has equity, etc.), those agents will lose business more and more.
A growing number of sellers are requesting “iBuyer” offers before they list OR would rather have speed and convenience in exchange for equity. Up to 20% of agent leads may be better served with a cash offer OR creative finance, meaning agents are leaving huge profits on the table and under-serving their clients, forcing them to look elsewhere for a solution.
Investors who try to fit every seller into their pretty little box of it having to look like a discount cash deal (willing to take a deeply discounted offer, want speed over money, etc.), those investors will lose business more and more.
On average, 80% of the leads investors get thrown away because “they’re not serious,” or “they want too much,” or “they’re tire kickers.” These leads are retail OR creative finance and can and should be served by the Investor/Agent Hybrid Model by moving it to a listing or owner finance.
The future is the Hybrid Model.
Hybrid Model Overview
- You market to motivated house sellers.
- As the Hybrid expert, you dig in to find out their goals and motivations for selling.
- You give them different options to sell, each option has different benefits.
- Option #1: We can list it for $XXX,000 as-is and likely have cash in your pocket within 90 days. We’ll market your house, do open houses, show it, etc. Our listing fee is the standard X%
- Option #2: We can make an all-cash offer and have cash in your hands in as little as 7 days. We’ll pay all closing costs, you won’t have to do any repairs, you can even leave the junk you don’t want and we’ll haul it off.
- Option #3 (Advanced): A third & most successful option in the Hybrid Model is the “Fix and List” Model. The Hybrid expert brings their remodeling expertise and cash to do a light renovation on the house (usually less than $30k); they bring their own construction crew and sell it for a new higher price. If the house would have sold for $300k before, and they put $20k into renovations and increased value by $60k, the Hybrid gets their $20k back at closing, they split the extra $40k in profits w/ the seller, and the Hybrid lists the house and gets the normal listing commission. Helping the seller put more cash in their pocket, having a beautiful house the buyer doesn’t need to renovate and adds an additional $20k+ in profits
This way, every seller lead that comes through can be helped in one way or another, and leads don’t get thrown away. We suggest using a Hybrid Model using one of two strategies.
One question we often hear is, “is the hybrid model a buyer or a seller strategy?”
It’s a seller strategy, and here’s why. Retail buyers are retail buyers and very rarely will venture to buy wholesale for cash. They tend to be buyers living in the home themselves.
Wholesale cash buyers are very rarely retail buyers. They tend to be investment property buyers or house flippers.
The Agent ↔ Investor Hybrid Model
🥕 Your primary business is as an agent, and you also invest.
This Hybrid Model is a person who is known as an agent in the marketplace. People may know they invest as well but they are a very active real estate agent in the community and treat it like a business vs. a side income. They consistently list and sell houses and pick up investment opportunities as they can find them as a way to add on extra income and build wealth. Some markets are making this a necessity, such as Philadelphia, so it’s a great idea to get ahead of the game now.
Website Strategy
Have an AgentCarrot website to grow trust and authority as an agent. In addition, this will have the IDX feed, your featured property listings, and ways to generate retail buyer and seller leads to feed into your business. Adjust the copy on the agent site to make it clear that you can sell in multiple ways and that you even will buy houses. This offers you as an agent a huge advantage vs. other agents who are all using the same messaging. Have a link in your main nave that says “We Buy Houses” or “Cash Offer Program” or “Guaranteed Sale Program” that links to your investor site OR a page on your site w/ a hero section form and content explaining your value proposition.
Have a motivated house seller site to attract highly motivated sellers. Attract them through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid ads. Once you get those leads, then you find out if they’re best for an investor strategy or listing. This website should be updated to include any state disclosure requirements as an agent AND you should adjust the copy to be along the lines of “put the most cash in your pocket” or “here are our 2 or 3 ways to sell” or “We’ll offer more than anyone else in this market” or “Check with us last before you list or accept a cash offer” etc. Use this to your advantage.
Website Example:
- SellTucsonHomeFast.com – Agent/Investor Hybrid Model using an investor site
The Investor ↔ Agent Hybrid Model
🥕 Your primary business is as an investor, and you’re also an agent.
This Hybrid Model is a person who looks at every transaction from the investor perspective first and the listing/agent side second. They primarily focus on buying houses, fixing/flipping, fix and lists, etc., and will list houses as an extra way to serve their seller leads and for extra income potential.
Website Strategy
Have a motivated house seller site or an Investor / Agent hybrid site to attract highly motivated sellers. Attract them through SEO and paid ads. Once you get those leads, you find out if they’re best for an investment strategy or listing. This website should be updated to include any state disclosure requirements as an agent and you should adjust the copy to be along the lines of:
- “Put the most cash in your pocket”
- “Here are our 2 or 3 ways to sell”
- “We’ll offer more than anyone else in this market”
- “Check with us last before you list or accept a cash offer,” etc.
- Use this to your advantage.
check out our step-by-step guide that walks you through the recommended updates to your existing motivated house seller site and get our Hybrid On-Demand Training series with over 3 hours of insights and strategy from top Carrot Investors/Agent Hybrids! Click here to get the guide and our Hybrid On-Demand Training →
Optional: If the agent/investor wants to foster the retail side and attract retail buyers and market their retail listings then they should have an Agent Carrot website as well. If they don’t, and they just use their license to list or share in commissions but they aren’t actively looking to market their listings or get buyers, then they can go without an agent website.
Website Examples:
- DenverPropertyFlip.com – Investor/Agent Hybrid Model using an investor site
- WeBuyHomesinTucson.com – Investor/Agent Hybrid Model using an investor site
🎙️ Check out this episode of the CarrotCast to learn more about the Hybrid Model →
The Marketing Is Shifting…
The real estate industry is shifting. Tech giants and iBuyers are trying to squeeze out mom-and-pop agents and investors. And with a hot market, there are more agents and investors on the streets competing for the same deals. You want to stand out from the crowd, and the existing tools help you automate stuff every other agent or investor puts out.
You also are tired of getting a gazillion unqualified leads to close a deal. More leads = more time and expense to sift through the tire kickers. Inbound Online marketing with Carrot’s content is the answer. It attracts your most qualified prospects who are motivated to solve their problem. They convert from visitor to lead between 2-4 times higher… and lead to deal closed from 2-3 times higher. Resulting in lower lead volume but more profits and less hassle.
You can see direct traffic and social traffic get more visits than organic search, but organic search converts twice as much, and it’s more than half the traffic direct and social receive.
So you get more leads by building a site designed to rank high in search engines than you would if you just focused on direct and social traffic. Those are also important, but we believe in the power of organic traffic. After all, year after year, it has outperformed all conversions since the launch of Carrot.
🎙️ Check out this episode of the CarrotCast to learn more →
