Athens GA Properties, Athens Georgia Homes, and Athens Real Estate

Way, way back in February of this year I blogged about a service I found that offered Real Estate Marketing Report Cards.  Ouch. This could be touchy.  Not really, if you are a “pro” at gaining online presence in your marketing.  What is interesting is that I bet there are still sellers in our market who don’t know if their marketing is working for them or against them.  Case in point.  If we pull one of my newer listings at 185 Horseshoe Circle, Athens, GA  30605 in Cedar Creek, we find this Athens GA home for sale on the following;

Now, I know for a fact that the listing is on Zillow and Trulia.  This would put me up for a strong “A” on my marketing approach to this particular listing!  Now with this said, the report card states beside my grade that “the listing has achieved significant presence across major real estate listing sites.”  Good for me and great for my Seller!

Well how does this compare to other listings and services provided by other Realtors and brokerage companies in the Athens area?  Let’s pick on another listing in Cedar Creek.  525 Cedar Creek Drive, Athens, GA  30605 has been listed now for 183 days by one of the black and blue (I mean blue and white) companies. How does the marketing approach match up with my listing?  I mean we certainly don’t want to assume the ability of any individual Realtor or brokerage company without seeing if the rhetoric matches their promises.  Not trying to “reign” on anyone’s parade but here goes;

According to the Online Marketing Report Card this listing received a “C+” based upon the fact that the property lacks a significant presence across major real estate listing sites.

When choosing your Realtor it pays to make sure your Realtor understands what a “Zillow” is and how to use it.   Now with all of this said, if you live at 525 Cedar Creek Drive or anywhere within my service area, please understand that I am not trying to compete for your business if your property is currently listed for sale.  I just think that all to often we buy the rhetoric paid for with marketing dollars without looking to see where those dollars are going and without asking the question, “are those marketing dollars going to market my home for sale or are they going to get my Realtor one more billboard around town?”

Incidentally too, I find that Realtor.com and Yahoo Real Estate are too sites you cannot live without.  The two make up typically more than half of the traffic alone attributed each month to the Top 10 real estate Websites according to Hitwise.com, and yes we use these guys too! If you would like to know what your real estate report card looks like please email me at hankbailey@kw.com or post a comment to this blog entry with your contact information and I will get it right over to you!