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Everyone wants to know what’s happening with real estate in their town, including your local media. Here’s a great way to use the information you already have from your MLS with data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to tell the story of your local market and get exposure for free.

Around the third week of each month, NAR issues the Existing Home Sales Report. This national real estate data is reported by most media outlets, but it is missing some key stats that only you can provide. When you combine the same data points from your MLS – things like average home price, inventory levels and time on market – you can give the media and your clients vital information about how your market compares to the national averages.

By providing this type of insight to local media, it allows them to understand the real estate growth or decline on a grassroots level and localize the story.  There isn’t an easier way to position yourself and your company as the premier source of local real estate information to the media and its readers/viewers.

Here are 4 steps for combining your local data with the monthly NAR Existing Home Sales Report:

1. Put the annual NAR dates on your calendar, so you can make sure you’re prepared.
2. Every month, the day before NAR releases its report, go to the MLS and generate a report with the following Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for your market. These are the same KPI’s that NAR is reporting. Be sure to include year-over-year figures for comparison along with breaking out each data point by category (entry, middle and luxury levels as well as single family vs. condo):
   1. Appreciation
   2. Inventory
   3. Time on market
   4. Completed transactions
   5. Pricing
   6. Profile of buyers and sellers (first-time, move-up, down-sizers)
   7. Mortgage rates
3. The morning the NAR report is released, which is around 10:30 am EST, couple the NAR numbers with your local MLS numbers that you gathered the day before. Share this information via a press release or write a blog post to share with local media shortly after the report is released.
   • If you don’t have a media contact list, you can always find the best reporters to approach simply by visiting each media outlets website. Use their site’s search engine to find stories that are related to housing, business or finance to compile your list of local media contacts.
4. Provide the reporter with every contact number you have, along with email addresses. When the reporter calls, make certain to respond to that call immediately.  Journalists are usually on tight deadlines, and you need to be available with your numbers handy.

If you don’t hear back from reporters after your first attempt, set a meeting reminder on your calendar for a two-week follow up. In your follow-up email, let them know that you can continue to provide this localized insight monthly. And remember, relationships take time. Anything you do that shows the reporter you are a valuable resource will help.  Reporters are under incredible stress to produce their work quickly and accurately.  If you can help and be a phone call away, you become a very valuable and trusted commodity, and you will have more opportunities in the future to be included in their real estate reporting.

Looking for more ways to get the most of your real estate PR, check out these tips or visit Coldwell Banker Exchange and search “public relations.”