With a professional background in Florida real estate, marketing and real estate management, Erica Muller has been licensed in Florida since 2002. She has worked with a property management company managing a team of CAM-licensed managers, and after earning her license spent time with several large real estate franchises until going with an independent firm. Her Florida vacation home online community is called “The Pink Flamingo” and includes a wealth of free information about the Orlando vacation home market.
Erica, you have a laserlike focus on the Orlando vacation home market. How is your market right now?
It’s fabulous – I specialize in a niche that keeps getting better and better. People find me through my Website, it’s opened a lot of doors. I actually spent about a year making sure I was found on all the search engines – it’s all been done very carefully. For example, I don’t compete with the keyword, “Orlando real estate,” but instead use local neighborhoods as keywords.
Your Website, ThePinkFlamingo, has everything from a travel guide to renting tips to buying and selling a
I know my clientele very well; they aren’t the usual buyers looking for a second home. They’re mostly international citizens who have stayed here in Orlando on vacation and now decided they want to buy here. I work mostly with Canadians, British, Brazilians and Australians. The Australians are interesting; it’s their culture that by the age of 25 they usually own a vacation home. They didn’t used to come to Florida but their currency is very strong now and we’re seeing more of them. Canadians have some of the same trends, but they usually purchase a second home in Florida when they’re 45 or 50. They plan for retirement – they’ll move right into that home or sell it and buy a nicer one. The British are having financial issues right now, but they’ll be back. Investors from Brazil used to concentrate on the Miami area but we’re seeing them in Orlando now. I stay on top of all those trends.
I love the way you use video for client testimonials as well as to show actual properties and neighborhoods (see “Orlando Luxury Condo Opportunity”). How has the response been to the videos?
Since most of my buyers are international, I do drive-through videos as if they are here. Many of my buyers are already familiar with specific neighborhoods, so they are thrilled to death to find my Website and all the content I have. I don’t have to win them over from another agent. It’s all based on hyperlocal content.
How do you integrate and share content between your Website (which actually is a WordPress blog), your ActiveRain blog and your Facebook page?
I’ve really built my whole business on my blog and don’t do extra advertising on other real estate Websites. However, I do syndicate my material all over, including my ActiveRain blog. But what I’ll do there is post a partial article to capture that reader, and then get them to go to my blog to search for listings.
My Facebook page has a number of followers but is being redone so I can get more leads and so people will be able to search for listings through it as well. People who are on Facebook really like to stay there.
Your background seems to have led you straight into working as a real estate agent in this niche. How did you come to this specialty?
I’ve been in real estate for 10 years, since I was 18. When I was a teenager, I worked in my stepdad’s property management office. I later worked at a vacation homes company and realized the potential of that niche. I think also being younger, I caught on to the “tech” aspect much easier. I’m very tech-savvy.
I see you’re about to publish a book, when is that coming out?
It’s crazy, I actually had it done last year but then decided to add two new sections, on marketing and on selling. I’m glad I waited, because it will be really packed with a lot of great information.
Getting back to your international buyers, are there specific tools you use to make them more comfortable with the U.S./Florida homebuying and closing process? What about the language barrier?
Luckily the language barrier is not a problem because unlike the U.S., most countries teach their students a second language, usually English. On the rare occasion someone from Brazil only speaks Portuguese, for instance, I send a referral out to someone who speaks that language.
Selling real estate is such an educational process. International buyers really have no clue, and that’s why I started the blog and why I’ve written the book. You really just have to know where they’re coming from – what country – to understand what they might be expecting that is different here. I must admit, the international buyers really appreciate you so much more! I love Canadians, especially, they are so nice.
