source of income, not FSBOs. Little by little as you sell list-
ings, dump more and more money into your farm and re-
ferral business. The industry pros suggest devoting 10
percent of your income to marketing and farming. This
will pay off in the long run, with less work demanded from
you to be at top production.
Finding the Most Profitable Farm
Whether you have already picked your farm area or
you’re still in the process of getting started, you should
make sure that it’s a profitable farm before you sink money
into it every month. Any farm is a good farm, but some
farms are better than others, and you’ll want the best bang
for your buck. There are a few key elements to a farm from
which you might find important:
1.Turnover Rate of Homes in the Neighborhood.
Some neighborhoods turn over more slowly than
others. When you have some neighborhoods in
mind, go onto the MLS and look at the number of
homes that have sold in those areas in the past
year. Also look at the market time of those homes
that have sold. Of course, the faster the turnover
rate the better. The average family moves once
every three to five years. So do the math on your
farm. If you have a farm of 500 homes and, on av-
erage, homes sell every three to five years, it
means that between 100 and 166 homes will be
turning over per year on average. Eventually, evenThe Real Estate Agent’s Guide to FSBOs