How to use a New Homeowner List to Win New Customers
We have many clients coming to us asking us for New Mover/New Homeowner information. And there are many choices each with specific marketing strategies in mind. So let’s go through them all.
First of all, a definition: New Movers vs New Homeowers
New Movers include BOTH new homeowners and New Renters. Sometimes people use the term New Movers when they really mean New Homeowners.
Deed Triggered New Homeowners
This is by far the most common new homeowner file source. When a home is sold, the deed for that home is filed with the County Recorder (so they can manage property taxes) and it becomes a matter of public record.
The good news is that you can target every new homeowner. But the bad news is that in some counties the government bureaucrats are very slow in the release of the public records. In most counties data can be received on a very timely basis (within a few days), but in some extreme cases (i.e. Nassau County NY and others), the data may take as long as 90 days before it is released to the public. This is often too late for many new homeowner offers as they have already made certain purchases.
When buying new homeowner data asking this question about the speed of the new homeowner data is crucial. Because you want to beat your competitors to the mailbox and make the sale before they do. Let us know your target county and we can tell you the average speed-to-market for your new homeowners.
The great news is that our deed triggered new homeowner data is extraordinarily fast. It has been tested by many of our clients and is proven to outperform competitive new homeowner files. Once the public record is made public, we get the data to market as fast as possible. In many cases, we are delivering data only 1-2 days after the deed was filed. And our data is available with daily updates, so you are getting the data as “hot” as possible.
Of course this file can be segmented based on home value, single family home vs. condo, loan amount and more.
Slowed Down Deed Triggered New Homeowners
Some of our clients don’t have a need to be first in the mailbox. So we offer a “slowed down” version of the New Homeowner files that are time delayed and at a lower price. These are available in a weekly and a monthly updated file.
These are a good solution for contractors that market kitchen and bath remodels, because new homeowners are sometimes not going to do a major remodel immediately upon buying the house. They will settle in, and then tackle the big projects later.
The other beauty of working with some of these “slowed down” new homeowner files is that all of the property characteristics such as square footage, # bedrooms, # bathrooms, lot size, swimming pool on site, year home built, etc. become available… these property characteristics are not available in traditional deed triggered new homeowner files.
The available of these property characteristics lead us to a few commonly requested new homeowner category: New Homeowners of Old Homes and New Homeowners with or without Swimming Pools.
New Homeowners of Old Homes
This is another category that is attractive to the kitchen and bath remodelers. You can target new homeowners of homes that are 10+, 15+, or even 20+ years old. These would be the best prospects to target for major remodels.
New Homeowners without Swimming Pools
These new homeowners are looking to upgrade their home, so why not a pool? Properties can be filtered based on home value and lot size to make sure they are good prospects, both financially and logistically, for a beautiful custom swimming pool.
New Homeowners with Swimming Pools
These people just moved in and are great prospects for pool maintenance. They have no loyalty to the current pool service company and will be open to a new provider.
Special Note re: Phone Numbers for New Homeowners
Often it is very hard to get phone numbers from these deed triggered files. Sometimes a phone number is included on the deed but it is rare. There are separate processes to append phone numbers, but these new homeowners may not bubble up into national phone number directories until 30 days or more after the deed is filed. And then the National Do Not Call file aggressively filters out as much as 80% of phone numbers. If you positively need phone numbers for new homeowners, you should consider the New Phone Connects file (see below).
New Home Construction New Homeowners
This is a special subset of the new homeowner world. These are cases where a house was just built, the home was sold, the deed was filed, and a new homeowner is moving in.
These homes often have bare windows without shades, no upgrades in the home, and a front and back yard surrounded by dirt. These are great prospects for window coverings, swimming pools, landscaping architecture and more.
It is rare to find companies that can identify these brand spanking new homes in a traditional new homeowner file, but we can do so. And our clients enjoy this targeting ability. In fact, they are getting great response from this group.
New Home Construction – before it is built
If you want to reach a homeowner when they break ground on a new custom home, then building permits are the answer. We offer these in many parts of the USA. And we can differentiate between tract homes built by a builder, and custom homes built by a contractor hired by an individual.
New Home Construction – new addresses
This is another category that sometimes is a fit for clients wanting to target new home construction new homeowners, but want to overcome those cases where some counties are slow to release deed triggered data.
This data is triggered by the creation of brand new addresses by the US Postal Service. It can be segmented by single family homes vs. apartments vs. businesses. But it does not contain a name. This is a good solution for some marketers.
New Phone Connects (New Movers)
Some marketers want to be absolutely, positively first in home. If they sell water purification, home security, satellite TV, etc. it is often the first marketer in the door that wins and beats their competition.
The New Phone Connects file is triggered when a new land line is installed by the phone company and the person does not want their number unlisted. Therefore they enter the 411 directory, and then this information is made available to marketers. Data is often available within 24 hours of the land line being made active with daily updates. And you get the names, address and phone numbers of the target recipient.
But New Phone Connects have some complications.
- Some people are now not putting in a land line and simply using their cell phones exclusively at home, or even doing Voice over IP (i.e. Vonage). So they will not come up in the New Phone Connect file.
- Often it is hard to differentiate between new homeowners and new renters.
New Utility Connects
This is a great solution to overcome some of the challenges of the New Phone Connect file, particularly if the new mover does not have a phone number available. And this file can typically differentiate between new homeowners and new renters. The data is not as accurate as the deed triggered new homeowners (i.e. you can not target based on value of home), but it is a good solution for some marketers. Data is available weekly.
Traditional New Mover Files
There are many on the market. And these are typically a blend of New Homeowner data triggered by deeds and various input sources to capture new renters including magazine subscription files, credit bureau files and more. This data is often only updated monthly, but in some cases weekly. This data is not as timely as many of the other sources, and it is priced accordingly (less expensive).
New Renters that Moved Over 500 Miles Away
These are great prospects for real estate and mortgage. Many people that move long distances will rent for a short while as they learn more about their new community and prepare to buy a home.
New Homeowners BEFORE they Move In (Pre-Movers)
Some marketers want to reach these new homeowners BEFORE they move in Moving companies and storage companies are prime examples. Some marketers want to be first in home so aggressively that they want to target these homeowners while they are planning their move (i.e. satellite TV, telecommunications, etc.).
The Pre-Mover file we provide is triggered from real estate advertising and then synchronized back to property data to get the owner’s name. Some think this information comes from the MLS (multiple listing service) that realtors use, but that system is proprietary and not available.
We take great care to filter out foreclosed properties, bank owned properties, etc. to ensure you are reaching actual homeowners in their home that has a for sale sign in the front yard.
Summary
There are a multitude of choices each with unique features and pros/cons. Depending on the marketer, some files are better fits than others. We have found these 4 files to be the most popular that we offer:
- Deed triggered new homeowners
- Brand new construction new homeowners
- New Building Permits
- New Pre-Movers
Call us at 858.485.MAIL to discuss your needs in greater detail and we can find the best fit for you.