Real Estate Does Coffee

 

Do two things make for a trend? If so, what’s up with real estate blogs and coffee shops?

Ellicott City Neighborhoods With Coffee Shops: Live Near the Ellicott City's Best Cafés, posted by The Bob & Ronna Group on Maryland Real Estate Advantage (their website)

10 Baltimore Coffee Shops to Keep You Warm This Winter, Chibuzo Ezeokeke on The Redfin Blog

In a sense, I was tipped off to this possible trend by Jeremy Dommu of The Merriweather Post, who posted on Facebook:

Whoa!  Redfin names The 3rd as one of the best coffee shops in the greater Baltimore area to keep warm this winter. 

Hmm…all the coffee shops listed are in Baltimore proper except for The 3rd. How did it make a roundup post of Baltimore Coffee Shops which was researched and written by a content creator for Redfin who lives in…Seattle?

“The spacious yet cozy interior has a vibe that invites one to linger,” says Baltimore-area resident Jeremy Dommu of  The Merriweather Post. “It features coffee and tea from local Black-owned businesses, made in-house sandwiches, salads, and soups, and a pop-up bakery called AppleCore BakeShop that has delicious treats, including sweet potato cheesecake and chocolate toffee nut bread pudding. What makes The 3rd truly unique is that it’s not just a coffee shop but a business community for women of color entrepreneurs that offers rentable office space, conference rooms, resources, and tools to help grow businesses and showcase products.”

Ha! Well, it’s named in the Redfin piece because Dommu himself named it. But, how? It’s no secret that The Merriweather Post is a cheerleader for all things downtown. The missing piece is how a hyperlocal blog connects with a national real estate chain whose marketing director lives in Seattle.

I bet that would make for a good blog post. 

Anyway, now that we are here…I searched “real estate blogs and coffee shops” and got a hodge podge of responses. 

Here’s one on something called “The Starbucks Effect.” 

Real estate research group Zillow has conducted much research on the Starbucks Effect and have determined that the value of property within a quarter-mile of a Starbucks rise faster than those that aren’t.

Zillow, of course, is also a real estate group. I’d like to point out that there are very few chains listed in either of the two blog posts. Starbucks, eat your heart out.

From 2016, this interesting question:

Would a Real Estate Coffee Shop Work?, Drew Meyers, Geek Estate Blog (“Stay on the cutting edge of real estate technology and marketing”)

Oh! I love this one:

How to Write Real Estate Blog Posts That Practically Write Themselves from the Luxury Presence website (Luxury Presence sells real estate website designs and marketing services.)

This piece gives real estate agents who may be new to the blogging scene five categories for real estate blog posts.

1. Frequently asked questions
2. Objections 
3. Market Trends
4. Community
5. Round-up Posts

Under item number 5, Round-Up Posts, I found some clues to this coffee shop trend I’m noticing.

With a round-up post, you pick a topic like “The 5 Best Cafes in Santa Monica”, for example. From there, you can pick 5 cafes that you want to tell your audience about.

Now here comes the fun part: send a quick Facebook message or email to those coffee shops and say something like, “Hey! I love your coffee shop and I happen to be including it in a blog post I’m writing about the best coffee shops in Santa Monica. I’m a real estate agent here and my goal is to highlight some of the best businesses in our area. 

Would you mind shooting me a quick message back with just a few lines about what you believe makes your shop special, why you love this community, and how it inspires your work? I’m looking forward to sharing this with my readers!”

Aha.

The last one I’ll share today brings in the big guns: WalletHub.

The Buzz About Coffee’s Effect on Real Estate, Katie Jones for Agape Investing (Jones describes herself as “…a youth pastor’s wife, a traveling enthusiast, a real estate agent & investor, and your personal money mentor.” Agape is her personal business.)

I always love a place that has good coffee options! Clearly, coffee shops have a positive effect on the quality of life in a city and make a place more enjoyable to visit if a personal finance site like WalletHub adds that metric to a lot of its [quality of life] studies. So coffee and real estate go together!

Oh! Well, if WalletHub says so…Those of us who love our coffee, and enjoy meeting up with friends (when it’s feasible from a COVID standpoint) don’t need validation from WalletHub, of course. 

But it’s fascinating to take a peek at how the real estate business searches for what appeals to buyers and markets those very things to draw in even more potential buyers. I’ve always considered things like good schools, nearby parks, and easy access to a grocery and pharmacy to be at the top of the list. These days walkability and access to a decent transit system are becoming more common on buyers’ must-have lists. 

And then there’s coffee. Would knowing about really good coffee shop options influence your decision in buying a house? Or will an interesting article about coffee shops make you more likely to remember the name of the realtor or real estate group? Perhaps that’s more to the point here. Reading a piece about something that interests you may inspire a bit of confidence in that realtor or real estate company. It suggests that the writer is knowledgeable about the area you’re looking at. Perhaps even subliminally it inspires trust.

If you were looking for a new place to live right now, how high would coffee be on your list?

Village Green/Town² Comments