There is always the question of “do I just sell my house myself or take it to a real estate agent?” Let me provide some insight from a REALTOR’S point of view as to what we do on a daily basis to get property sold. Please remember, these thoughts and concepts are what real estate professionals “should” be doing to market a home.
To successfully promote your property to the market,
a comprehensive plan of targeted activities is essential.
Your marketing program should have two aims:
Promote directly to prospective buyers
*Print advertising; Through local periodicals such as Homes and Land or The Real Estate Book. The weekend Real Estate insert in your local newspaper.
* The Internet; You need your house to get more than “just on the internet.” You need “web exposure.” You should have multiple ways of having your property found. For example, many Real Estate companies have a Media Strategy leverages the power of our Online Advantage solutions and uses offline media such as television and print to drive consumers to prudential.com and to our affiliates’ listings. The strategy includes many new Web alliances, online media partners and consumer resources.
Online Media Alliances could contain;
FrontDoor.com/Scripps Networks Interactive/HGTV
Google Base Coming Soon!
Oodle.com Coming Soon!
OpenHouse.com Coming Soon!
Propsmart
RealtyTrac Coming Soon!
Trulia Real Estate Search
Vast.com Coming Soon!
Yahoo! Real Estate
Zillow
Alliances for Real Estate Information:
Cyberhomes/AOL
Environmental Data Resources
* Yard signs; speak for themselves
* Open houses; These could be done for agents, potential buyers, and now-a-days we look at “virtual tours” as viable “Open Houses.” You need people seeing your house as much as possible. Virtual Tours are a great way for people to evaluate your home at times during the day that might be prohibitive for an onsite showing of the property. 24/7 a potential buyer would have the opportunity to pull up your house and look at it without you having to do the typical “pre-showing” dusting and cleaning that most people find burdensome in an onsite showing!
* Other marketing activities; These include having Caravan at your house after company sales meetings. This exposes a home to 50-75 REALTORS as to your house being on the market so that when they have a potential buyer in the car with them they know to keep your home in mind.
Enlist the efforts of other real estate professionals
* The Real Estate Network of a given National Real Estate company; noted above in the conversation on internet marketing
* Referral and relocation resources
* Multiple Listing Service (MLS); This is not just the local MLS, this also includes the GMLS (GA MLS) and FMLS for a broader range of agents and potential buyers. Make sure your real estate company is a member of each.
* Direct promotion to other real estate professionals; With over 750 real estate Licensees in the Greater Athens Area we have a sales force behind us to move your property on a timely basis. This also includes sending out eCards to every REALTOR in the Area and on the other MLS services notifying them of Open Houses, price changes, or whatever information we want to convey to keep your home on the forefront of their minds!
