For most people, transitioning from summer to fall is an exciting time of the year. The leaves are changing, the air is fresh, and the holidays are soon approaching. For real estate agents, however, the autumn months can feel a bit…dragging. 

According to SetSchedule.com, August, September and December are the weakest months of the year for listing a house which is no surprise. With Halloween, Thanksgiving, and any of the many holidays celebrated in December, most people are too busy decorating their home to think about putting it on the market.


But unlike many of your Halloween decorations, that doesn’t mean your client list should be totally dead. It’s just a matter of getting creative to find new customers and engage current clients. Here are three great real estate marketing tips for the fall!

1) Start a food/clothing drive

Getting involved with the community is one of the greatest ways to harvest a win-win scenario: you’re able to help those in need as the months grow colder and you gain exposure for your business. If this is the type of event you would find exciting, there are plenty of ways to get started!

MendPoverty.org breaks the process down into five simple steps to have you collecting food for the needy in no time!

A word of caution, though.

This marketing strategy is a bit tricky because you need to be the right type of person to make it successful. In other words, you have to have a genuine desire to help those in need and be comfortable making others the main focus.

Though it may sound counterintuitive, the only way that running a charity drive will get you prospective clients is if your goal is to help the community and, ironically, not to make new clients.

2) Give away your best-kept secrets

This really boils down to content marketing. Grab your favorite bottle of Cabernet, pop open your laptop and get ready to do some writing! Generate articles that are “fall-themed” to send to your current or prospective clients. 

The type of content can be whatever you’re most comfortable crafting: newsletters, blog posts, social media polls, instructional videos, etc. The good news is that coming up with ideas for topics should be a breeze as there is so much going on at this time of the year.

For example, you could create a guide to decorating your home for Thanksgiving or an infographic on how to prepare for the upcoming winter months. When you’ve written a good piece of content that will actually teach something to the reader, all you have to do is hit “send.”

As the saying goes, though, there can always be too much of a good thing. Be sure not to overload your audience with too much content as you don’t want to come off as desperate or “spammy.”

3) Get to know seasonal contractors

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a village to sell a home. Part of your village should definitely be local contractors who specialize in seasonal work and who are in constant contact with homeowners. Once a relationship is formed, you’ll have a network of people in your community ready to refer your name to potential sellers.

So ask yourself, “what types of contractors do I usually need in the fall and winter months?” Often, a quick Google search will get you a quality list of chores needed to be done in the fall and, from there, you can contact companies that provide related services. Common culprits are chimney inspection/cleaning companies, leaf removal services, or window/door inspection and repair.

Just remember that if you’re approaching anyone for referral purposes, they need to know that the relationship is in their best interest too. Think about how you can help them and their business before reaching out.

Final thoughts

Every occupation is down to have “slow months,” but one of the best parts of being a real estate agent is you have the power to ramp up business anytime you like—all it takes is a little creativity and a lot of hard work (and maybe even that bottle of Cabernet).