Farming

Key Takeaways

• Farming means working one neighborhood or one contact list over and over, with mailings, door knocks, and market updates, until the broker is the area's known real estate resource.
• Every farming postcard, door hanger, sign, and email is advertising, and WAC 308-124B-210 requires each piece to carry the firm name or licensed assumed name.
• A broker who farms under a personal team name must display the firm's licensed name clearly and conspicuously and may not use words such as realty, firm, Inc., or LLC in that team name (WAC 308-124B-210).
• RCW 49.60.222 makes it an unfair practice to mail, post, or circulate any real estate statement, advertisement, or sign that signals a limitation or preference based on a protected class.

What It Means

Farming is a long game version of Prospecting. Instead of chasing whoever happens to raise a hand this week, the broker picks a defined group and contacts it on a schedule, usually for years. A geographic farm is a neighborhood, a subdivision, or a condo tower. A demographic farm is a group with something in common, such as landlords, downsizing retirees, or the broker's former clients. Either way the theory is the same: repetition builds recognition, and recognition wins the listing call.

The work is unglamorous. Brokers build the contact list from a title company farm list, from the county assessor or parcel search site, or from a property data tool, then keep a calendar of touches. Quarterly market updates, just-sold cards, invitations to an Open House, and door knocking are the standard mix. Our marketing strategies guide covers how brokers structure those campaigns.

The reason farming shows up in a licensing course is not the marketing theory. It is that everything a farm sends out is regulated Advertising, and the same mailbox rules that protect a Protected Class apply to a postcard.

How It Works in Washington

Two Washington rules govern a farm campaign. First, identity. RCW 18.85.221 says all real estate brokerage services shall be conducted in the name of the real estate firm or its licensed assumed name, and the Department of Licensing rule at WAC 308-124B-210 carries that into marketing: all advertising or solicitations without limitation for brokerage services, including internet advertising, web pages, email, newspaper, and other visual media, must include the firm name or an assumed name as licensed. A broker using a team name or brand that is not itself licensed as an assumed name must always display the firm's licensed name clearly and conspicuously beside it, must not use words suggesting a separate legal entity such as Inc., LLC, or Corp., must not use words that read as a firm such as realty or real estate, and must get advance written approval from the designated broker. The Washington State Department of Licensing publishes the licensing rules that sit behind that WAC.

Second, fair housing. RCW 49.60.222 makes it an unfair practice to make, print, circulate, post, or mail a statement, advertisement, or sign for a real estate transaction that indicates, directly or indirectly, an intent to make a limitation, specification, or discrimination based on a protected class. A farm piece is exactly the kind of mailed statement that rule reaches. Our advertising compliance guide works through the wording problems.

Example

Nolan Reyes picks a 480-home farm in one Wenatchee neighborhood. He mails a one page market update four times a year at $0.68 per piece, which runs $1,305.60 annually, and he door knocks 20 homes each Saturday. Two weeks before every open house he hands invitations to the 40 nearest neighbors, pulling addresses from the county assessor parcel search. His postcards run under the brand Reyes Home Team, which is not licensed as an assumed name, so every card carries the line Brokered by Cascade Peak Real Estate, LLC in the same size type as the brand, and his designated broker approved the brand in writing before the first mailing. The cards report sale prices and days on market only. Nolan cuts a draft line reading great neighbors, great schools, because RCW 49.60.222 reaches wording that signals who belongs in a neighborhood and his designated broker will not risk it.

Common Mistakes and Exam Traps

• Farming and prospecting are not interchangeable. Prospecting is any lead generation activity; farming is repeated, scheduled contact with one defined area or list.
• A farming postcard counts as advertising. Leaving the firm name off it violates WAC 308-124B-210 even when the card never mentions a specific property.
• A team name does not substitute for the firm name. WAC 308-124B-210 requires the firm's licensed name displayed clearly and conspicuously alongside any unlicensed brand.
• Farming a neighborhood by telling owners that a protected group is moving in is blockbusting, and RCW 49.60.222 also reaches the mail piece itself when the wording signals a limitation or preference.