This is the first time I have ever posted a question so hopefully I
will do it right.
My husband and I are Real Estate Brokers in Syracuse, NY and we are
setting up our website to specialize and target people relocating to
Syracuse from other areas outside of Central NY. Before doing that, we
would like to know how big this target market is and, based on the
demographics of people moving into our area, how to best design our
website to reach them.
These are the questions that we feel would be most helpful. We would
like the answers to be as concrete as possible rather than just links
to places where we need to do the bulk of the research ourselves. If
there are alot of resources from which to research these questions,
then we can possibly re-consider our price based on the extent of
detail available.
Here are the questions (if you only want to answer a portion of
them, please let us know which ones so we can re-post the
others)(also, if we have overlooked some related questions that would be
helpful, we are open to suggestions because the more information we
have, the more targeted our website can be):
1) How many people relocated to the Greater Syracuse, NY
area(including Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego, Oneida and Madison Counties)-
PER YEAR - in the past 5 years? And what time of year if possible.
2) How many of them bought homes?
3) What were the reasons for relocating?
4) What are the demographics of those relocating: Age,
Socio-economic, Marital status, Income, Education, Type of employment
or retired, Children, and, ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT, the geographic areas
(states, cities etc)they were relocating from.
PERCENTAGES AND/OR QUANTITIES WOULD BE MOST HELPFUL, rather than just a list.
In summary, we want to be able to get a good estimate of how many
people are in our target market so we can estimate what % of market
share we can get and how that translates to potential income. We can
then estimate an appropriate budget for trying to reach these people.
Hopefully, I have worded my questions and objectives clearly. Thanks. |
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
10 Jun 2006 18:37 PDT
Hello, judynu!
Thank you for visiting GA. You have been very concise in outlining
your expectations. To be brutally honest, however, I doubt a
researcher would even begin to research this question at the maximun
price allowed, let alone the fee you have offered. Researchers receive
75% of the price alloted to a question, which would be slightly over
$26 for many, many hours of work - and that might fruitless research
if only a portion of the material can be found. You might want to
reconsider your pricing, as well as break up this question into
several independent parts.
umiat
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
10 Jun 2006 19:56 PDT
Hello judynu-ga,
I hope you will have a good experience with Google Answers. I agree
with my colleague that your current question would not be attractive
to researchers. I think you might find the following links helpful.
http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html
http://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html
I suggest that you close this question and post several smaller ones
much more limited in scope. That way, several researchers can be
working on them at the same time. It also makes it possible for you to
get a partial answer. On a multi-part question like the one you've
posted, a researcher cannot post a partial answer.
I think we'll be able to help you if the questions are more specific
and limited in scope.
All the best.
~ czh ~
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
13 Jun 2006 15:43 PDT
Hello again judynu-ga,
I have been researching your question for several hours and I?ve
concluded that the information you?re looking for is not available on
the web. My research shows that some of your assumptions may be
unwarranted.
1) How many people relocated to the Greater Syracuse, NY
area(including Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego, Oneida and Madison Counties)-
PER YEAR - in the past 5 years? And what time of year if possible.
My research shows that this area is suffering from a steady loss of
population and that projections for the next 10 years show a
continuation of this trend. The real estate market seems to be driven
by buyers trading up or first time purchasers entering the housing
market. I can give you solid statistics to back this conclusion. I can
also provide you information about which towns/cities were the
exception and had an over 10 per cent growth rate between 1990 and
2000.
2) How many of them bought homes?
I can point you to resources for monitoring home sales in the area
you?re asking about. I can also give you resources for reviewing news
and business reports on real estate trends.
3) What were the reasons for relocating?
I can provide you with resources reporting on the real estate industry
in your area. You can analyze and interpret these resources to see
what conclusions you can reach about the reasons for activity in the
real estate market.
4) What are the demographics of those relocating: Age, Socio-economic,
Marital status, Income, Education, Type of employment or retired,
Children, and, ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT, the geographic areas (states,
cities etc)they were relocating from. PERCENTAGES AND/OR QUANTITIES
WOULD BE MOST HELPFUL, rather than just a list.
?My husband and I are Real Estate Brokers in Syracuse, NY and we are
setting up our website to specialize and target people relocating to
Syracuse from other areas outside of Central NY. Before doing that, we
would like to know how big this target market is and, based on the
demographics of people moving into our area, how to best design our
website to reach them.?
Based on the information I?ve found regarding your intended target
market, you may want to reconsider the purpose and emphasis of your
future website.
As I indicated, the current trends show that there is minimal
relocation from out of central New York to the counties you listed.
Most of the relocation is going in the other direction. I have solid
research to confirm these conclusions. I can also give you a wealth of
demographic resources to help you get both a general overview of the
area and then use a variety of tools to zero in on specific
communities.
I believe the information I can provide will give you a good overview
of the economic climate of the area in general and population trends
in particular along with resources and tools for investigating the
real estate market. I think this information will be helpful to you to
help you and your husband develop your website and marketing plan.
Please let me know if the information I?ve collected will meet your needs.
I look forward to your clarification.
~ czh ~
|
Clarification of Question by
judynu-ga
on
13 Jun 2006 20:23 PDT
czh-ga
Thanks for all your comments. Although it doesn't surprise me that
you have come to the conclusion that people aren't relocating to
Syracuse - that conclusion (and the resources you say you have that
back it up) does puzzle me.
For the past 14 months, we have been using a lead generator website
and at least 80% of our real estate transactions have come from people
relocating to Central NY from other areas. More specifically, about 19
out of 24 have been relocating here.
We are very enthusiastic about working with relocators and wanted to
expand our exposure to that market.
Since you are a researcher and much more adept at analyzing facts
and trends, I'd be interested in your thoughts about how our
experience integrates with your findings.
Could you be a little more specific about how the information you
have can help us target our marketing efforts to increase our
business?
Thanks so much for your interest in my questions. I must say I am
feeling disappointed but I am eager to hear more details of your
suggestions.
Judy
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
13 Jun 2006 20:40 PDT
Hello judynu-ga,
"For the past 14 months, we have been using a lead generator website
and at least 80% of our real estate transactions have come from people
relocating to Central NY from other areas. More specifically, about 19
out of 24 have been relocating here."
I would love to answer your question. It would help a lot if you could
share with me the name of the lead generator website you're referring
to. What trends have you noticed on the originating points of the 19
relocations you've worked with?
"We are very enthusiastic about working with relocators and wanted to
expand our exposure to that market."
Please tell me more about your approach and give me some examples of
the kind of relocators you're referring to. How have you connected
with them in the past?
My conclusions were based on census reports, economic surveys and
articles in the business press for the region.
Looking forward to your clarification.
~ czh ~
|
Clarification of Question by
judynu-ga
on
13 Jun 2006 21:06 PDT
Hi Czh,
I will have to give that more thought than I am able to do right
now. I notice you are on the West coast but I am East coast and I am
pretty brain-dead right now. I've got to call it a night. I will
clarify more tomorrow.
The lead generator is Realty Generator. My website is
judy.exitfirstre.com. We are told by so many of our site visitors that
it is the most user-friendly real estate site they have found -
including Realtor.com.
Our desire is to build a website of our own (not connected to the
lead generator) that will further target homebuyers that are
relocating to Central NY and then point them to our lead generator
site so they can become a part of our database and communicate with us
and search for homes etc.
Feel free to log in to our site and just identify yourself as my
Google-Answers researcher in an email to me through the site once you
have explored it. I would value your comments.
I believe that the lead generator company purchases advertising or
something and people see our link and get to our site. Most of our
clients have no clue how they found us.
I guess I am doing the clarification now anyway (sleepy as I am).
The people we have had relocating have been from all over - (Texas,
PA, Colorado, Wisonsin, New Jersey, California, Florida and there also
have been a couple of parents buying homes for their kids attending
Syracuse University) The only somewhat consistent trend has been
people relocating from Long Island and New York City.
Syracuse has really captured the interest of investors (not really
the market we are looking to attract) because of the Destiny, USA
project.
Even if the resources that you have sited show the trend is not to
relocate to Central NY, obviously there are a certain number of people
who are relocating here. My question is: what is the best way to
target them?
OK, it is REALLY bedtime now. I'll look forward to your response.
Judy
|
Request for Question Clarification by
czh-ga
on
14 Jun 2006 15:42 PDT
Hello again Judy,
Thank you for the links. They?ve given me a better understanding of
what you?re about. Your profile was very interesting and you must be
an amazing person.
It sounds like the Realty Generator is working very well for you.
Since the number of people relocating to the Central New York area is
small, it?s hard to determine where there are pools of potential
customers. I?m afraid I haven?t come up with any insights on how to
find this information through online research. It would be great if
you could come up with some way of surveying people who are moving
into your area to see if any trends emerge.
I note that you list about 50 towns on your website. I don?t know what
were your criteria for choosing these. Based on my review of the 2000
US Census records, I could provide you with a list of the towns in the
five counties you?ve listed that had the highest growth rates from
1990 to 2000. You could then determine whether you might want to
include them in your list.
Since you?ve identified parents buying homes for University of
Syracuse students you might also want to work on some way to market
your services to incoming students and their parents.
The target market of people moving from Long Island and New York City
also looks promising. Have you noticed any patterns as to what they?re
looking for? Are they buying second homes or retirement homes? Are
they buying particular kinds of properties (i.e., lakefront, golf
course, etc.) that distinguishes them from others?
The census and economic reports for your area show that the population
is declining and the economy is sluggish. I?m glad to hear that you?re
finding opportunities going against this trend.
At this point I don?t know how to get you the information you need. I
would be happy to post what I?ve found for a lesser amount if it would
be of interest to you. In the meantime I?m leaving this question
unlocked and hope that another researcher will be able to help you.
All the best.
~ czh ~
|
Clarification of Question by
judynu-ga
on
14 Jun 2006 18:10 PDT
Hi CZH,
Well, I feel like I need to step back and take stock of all you have
said. David and I spent 5 hours today talking about our target market.
I know people are moving into the area, even if the larger trend is
outward, so I must creatively figure out how to attract them.
I'm starting to think that I should just structure my website to
include a rich number of keywords that will appeal to the
psychological, physical and behavioral needs of the relocating family.
I can then purchase very specific keywords that will target the
serious relocator - even if the numbers are small, they will be highly
qualified.
I don't know. I do appreciate all your thoughts and efforts. I think
I will hold off until I re-gather my thoughts. Leave the question open
but I doubt anyone will do any better than you.
Thank you so much!
Judy
|
