10 Things Your Agent Must do to Market Your Home
If you decided to sell your home, but didn't tell anyone, how
would buyers find out about it. The goal of a good
marketing plan is to expose your home to as many qualified buyers
as possible and entice them to come and see it personally.
Buyers don't right offers for homes they have never seen before.
At any given time, there are in excess of 10,000 homes on the
market in the Austin area, and about 1,500 buyers who will put
an offer in on a house within 30 days. So how do we get
those buyers to you home? Make sure your agent is
following this 10 point marketing plan.
1. Setting the right price. The first step in
attracting buyers is setting the right price. Your agent
should provide you a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) which
shows homes in your area that have sold in the last six months,
and currently listed homes. This information will be
extremely valuable when determining the right listing price.
Buyers agents won't recommend showing an overpriced home to
their
clients, and if they do show it, you can bet the first thing
they will tell their buyer is that it is overpriced. If
you're not getting enough showings, it may be time to consider a
price reduction.
2. Listing Preparation - Having you home in top showing
condition is critical. When a buyer does visit your home,
we want to leave them with the best impression. Read out
tips on
preparing your home to
list and
showings.
3. Photography - A picture is worth a thousand words, and
since a buyer’s first impression of your home will likely come
from the pictures they see online and on the flyer, you should
have professional quality pictures taken of your home prior to
listing. For outdoor pictures, High Dynamic Range (HDR)
photos will help your photos stand out from the competition.
For indoor pictures, a wide angle lens will make sure that a
buyer can see the whole room. 360 degree images tend to
confuse buyers and that's not what we want. Video tours
show some promise, but haven't fully caught on with buyers yet.
The bottom line, you need great pictures and a camera phone
isn't going to cut it.
4. Yard Sign - Although you rarely see a home for sale
without one (unless you're in Lakeway), this age old tool works.
Neighbors see it and tell their friends and casual buyers see it
which might peak their interest. Although it's the de facto
standard, it can't be overlooked.
5. Property Flyers - in addition to the yard sign, a flyer
is a great tool to let people know your price, how to contact
your agent, and show them some inside pictures. These
should be in color.
6. Property Texting - Property texting is a new marketing
tool in the real estate industry. It works by having a
text messaging code on the sign that allows the buyer to send a
message and receive information about your home on their cell
phone. It also captures their phone number so that your
agent can have a follow up call with them to see if they need
more information or if they would like to schedule a showing.
This tool shows lots of promise and may entirely replace the
property flyer someday.
7. Online Marketing - This category encompasses a lot of
possibilities, and in this day and age, you need to have a
strong online marketing presence. Virtual tours, virtual
flyers, social networking, Email, SEO, pay per click, video
tours, IDX links, and real estate marketplaces are just a few of
the tools available to market your home online. The more
sites your home shows up on, the more exposure you get to
buyers. Industry reports show that 90% of buyers start
their home search online. This is where the majority of
the marketing budget should be spent and your listing should
have a strong internet presence.
8. Multiple Listing Service (MLS) - The MLS is a service
that is supported and run by the Austin Board of REALTORS.
Only members have access to place listings in this service.
Through this tool, other agents will be able to match their
clients to your home and schedule showings of your home.
An MLS listing is an essential part of the marketing plan and
enables many of the other marketing tools to function properly.
9. Showings - This is where the magic happens. This is
where a buyer will see your home for the first time and
hopefully fall in love with it. Making it easy for agents
to show your home and having lockbox access for agents is
critical. If it's not easy to show, agents won't show it.
You also want your home in the best condition for showings, so
take a look at our
listing
preparation guide and our
showings
guide.
10. Print Media - This consists of news paper, magazines,
and post cards. Once the staple of real estate marketing,
it is quickly becoming an obsolete advertising method. Of
all the strategies, it is the most expensive and has the poorest
results. Today's buyer wants their information in real
time, and for that they turn to the internet.
You may notice that I did not list open houses as a marketing
tool for sellers, and there is a good reason. Open houses
are a marketing tool for the agent, not the listing.
Agents use these (not very successfully) to meet buyers who
don't yet have an agent in hopes of becoming their buyers agent.
Open houses don't sell houses, they sell an agent's services.
If you are interested in learning the best way to market your
home, give us a call. We'd be happy to help you with a
custom marketing plan.
