Q: “Denise, I am trying to target sellers in the upcoming year like you suggested, but my challenge is creating an actual list of targeted sellers. I am a classic car hobbyist and I work with other classic car hobbyists to find properties with very large garages or a separate shop. Ideally, I would like to target properties like this because I always seem to have someone looking for that kind of property and I don’t think shops and large garages are marketed to their full potential. People always focus on the house, but for enthusiasts, the house may be secondary to the other property features. Any suggestions on how I would cultivate a list?”

A: The first thing I would do is pay a visit to your favorite title company depending on what area you are in. In some states, title companies are the keepers of this type of information and they may be able to run a list of properties which include a shop or outbuildings. If you are in a state that doesn’t do that, then check out a company that handles direct mail as they have access to all sorts of demographic information.

You may also want to see what kind of information is available with your assessor or with a database that accesses those records.

Finally, you could assume that no one will have this information for you and you can simply run a Facebook ad campaign that encourages homeowners with shops to opt in and receive information from you on homes with shop sales in the area. You could put together an interesting quarterly report that is all about shops, what people are doing with them, shop exterior maintenance and vendors, etc.

This is a great idea to take your niche to the next level!