J. Philip Real Estate Sells Westchester Homes in Large Volume Despite the Slow MarketNot long ago, a client requested that I run a print ad on a listing that had not yet sold. I was resistant at first because of the disappointing results my print advertising had garnered since 2005 or so, but the seller really believed it would work. My client believed that there was a demographic out there that flew under the radar of my considerable online-based marketing, and based on that theory, I contacted the paper. 

I have to say: I write a pretty good ad (pats self on back). I don't know if it is my English degree, learning to truncate big messages into small spaces like Twitter, blogging, or my 22 years in sales and marketing. Maybe it all factors in. At any rate, my representative at Gannett was absolutely delighted to hear from me. He asked me how business, was, how my family is, and if this was a one-time ad or if I wanted it to be for several editions. It was really nice catching up with him. 

After crafting a strong advert with a URL pointing at the  property link in addition to my personal mobile phone, the advertisement ran in the weekend real estate section. 

And boy howdy, did I get calls. Over half a dozen inquiries. 

  1. Inquiry Number One was a sales representative at the Pennysaver, who called on the ad posing as an interested buyer so I'd call him back. I then got a sales pitch to advertise in the Pennysaver. 
  2. Inquiry Number Two was a sales representative at a New York tabloid, offering me a great deal in her paper. 
  3. Inquiry Number Three was from an ethnic newspaper, promising me lots of buyers from that specific demographic if I advertise in their paper. 
  4. Inquiry Number Four was another Pennysaver that serves the Bronx and lower Westchester. They think I'd sell a ton of homes were I to give them a shot. Their real estate section seems to shrink every time I check. 
  5. Inquiry Number Five is a small community newspaper offering me another great deal. 
  6. Inquiry Number Six was a supermarket picture booklet that also seems to have gotten a touch of anorexia since I last paid them $500 for no results. 
  7. Inquiry Number Seven was a guy I met with 6 months ago who tried to sell me on advertising on supermarket shopping carts. He was curious to know if I had changed marketing philosophies. 
Every call I got was about "the house" but none of the callers were actually in the market to buy a home, they were soliciting me because they harvest print ads in competing publications to find customers for their own. 

Clients do voice the occasional doubt that my abandonment of print advertising is due to an unwillingness to spend money. My wife would laugh at this; she is the more frugal of the company partners, and if you knew what my overhead was you might consider me a spendthrift in my quest to generate business. The bottom line is that I'll incur almost any marketing cost if it will sell my listings. If it got results, I'd put your house on every urinal mint in every eatery in Westchester County. But it doesn't.

Every demographic that is in the market for a home, from a $10,000 mobile home in upstate New York, to the most affluent mansions in the breadbasket of Westchester County, is a demographic that searches online. Our research indicates that the biggest area of growth now searches on their phones, and that is on my short list. Even open houses in our area seem to attract more people from online information than 

Home buyers shop on the information highway, and my listings are on every storefront

print ads, which I considered the last vestige of hope for print. I have not had a buyer client ask me to show them a home they found in print since opening my company in 2005.  

In March 2006, when the company was less than a year old and with just one transaction in the pipeline, my wife insisted that we stop advertising in the New York Times, which had been, at one point, my secret weapon. We were one of the very first brokerages in Westchester County to syndicate listings online to outside websites, and in June we had 3 closing sides. By the end of 2006, 90% of our 30 closings occurred from June on. In 2007, I sold more single family homes than any other of the 7000+ members of the Westchester Putnam MLS. The company was not yet 2 years old and was by and large unknown. And it was due to hitching our wagon to online marketing, where the buyers look. Buyer agents submitting offers often asked who I was and where I came from. I liked that. 

All real estate is local, and things might be different in other markets than Westchester and the Hudson Valley. We will continue to do what works and seek new ways of marketing our listings, and right now the business is generated online, via Internet Data Exchange (IDX) and Syndication. If you are unfamiliar with these terms and want to sell your home, we should talk.

Real Estate is changing. You have to keep up or sit unsold.  

 

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This post has been included in New York Real Estate News Westchester County, NY Real Estate News
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74 Comments on I Get Lots of Calls on My Print Ads

20 Most Recent Comments Displayed Show All

OCT
21
2010
187,855 Points 15 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Called Shot Master

Phenomonel post! Every once in awhile I think maybe I should put an ad in the local newspaper. Thanks for reminding me why I don't want to do that.
8:26pm • #55
316,022 Points 2 Featured Posts

Philip - I believe online advertising is the way to go.  Buyers check the internet all the time.  Paper advertising is a waste of money.
9:08pm • #56
2 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

J - I am dying of curiosity to read the ad you post on the newspaper... Care to share?

You should save this blog and share with any future client that suggests you place a print ad again. I liked the way you told the story... I like stories with a twist and surprise endings... :O)
9:59pm • #57
157,178 Points Called Shot Master

J. Phillip

Great post. I may have to keep a copy of this just to hand to print advertisers when they come calling. Thanks for the ammunition!
10:22pm • #58
1,208,022 Points 193 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Your title had me interested, wondering what I had missed. I'm glad we are still on the same page there.

However, I have recently starting Postcard marketing. It's still Print, but I think it's PRINT of a different kind. I got 3 postcards from that 1 postcard. I think it's not bad. 2 are not ready to sell, but they have my contact now. 1 I will be listing in the spring. Not bad.
10:27pm • #59
150,404 Points Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Wow!  You really had me going.  I was wondering why my print ads were such loosers!  Thanks for a good laugh:)
10:48pm • #60
499,569 Points 22 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

We've abandoned print ads too - & our local paper seems to be shrinking almost monthly.  I'd love to see the demographics for newspaper subscribers these days because I don't know anyone under 30 who gets the paper & I know LOTS of people more in my age demographic who don't either...
11:17pm • #61
OCT
22
2010
413,712 Points 88 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Phil, you're wrong. Get your attention? Well, that shows that there is still power in the written word. (I don't really think you're "wrong").

Print advertising is useless for promoting an individual house. There are over 100,000 homes listed in northern Illinois. Whether we have 5,000 listings or 10,000 listings, we could not possibly display our entire inventory in print ads.

Marketing communications is (and always has been) a many pronged effort with many goals. Print advertising can be used to drive traffic to the website where the consumer can be engaged in all the services we provide. Print advertising gives legitimacy to a broker's name and reputation, especially with members of older cohorts. Some ethnic groups rely very heavily in finding home listings in their community newspapers.

I haven't personally paid for print ads in about 6 months. Cut all the cords. But I still see a need for the broker to run print ads, especially in Sunday real estate sections, regardless of which few homes are displayed.
1:26am • #62

Hey Philip, your article was interesting to read and I loved the way you mentioned about your experience. I agree with you that most people today are tech savvy and like to search the Internet for real estate ads. Searching in the Internet allows them to find millions of home whereas the numbers of ads in the newspapers are much less. Also one can get huge amounts of information on the net and unfortunately in the newspapers, the information is limited. One can also check about the real estate companies in the Internet and get an idea about their dealings, past projects, future planning etc.
Rebekah Whiteman
8:03am • #63
225,681 Points 20 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

I haven't run a print ad since 2007 when the boutique brokerage i was with slapped me with a 4K bill for all the ads I had run.   They were not getting any sort of bulk discount and somehow I paid through the nose for something that never genearated a peep of interest.  I recently placed a free ad with my new brokerage because it's free, and my broker thought it would help me build my buisness to get that extra recognition, and in that he has a valid point.   But to help you sell a house?  No way.  Yet our local paper consitsts almost entirely of overpriced real estate ads, probably only to help the agents get recognition.  
8:12am • #64

Our office still pushes the local paper to advertise in. Not sure why, there are so few people reading the paper and tons looking at Realtor.com etc.

Great post.
9:14am • #65

Our office still pushes the local paper to advertise in. Not sure why, there are so few people reading the paper and tons looking at Realtor.com etc.

Great post.
9:14am • #66
182,424 Points 30 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

@ Erica Ramus: That's brilliant.
10:06am • #67
174,297 Points 4 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

Philip,  Thank You for the info...We have gone almost entirely online here as well.
10:56am • #68
324,724 Points 88 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

Phil

 

I know an auto broker who gets good results from print ad. Helps him cut thru the clutter. But buyers of real estate are so visual, and every home is unique.
5:46pm • #69
813,493 Points 243 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Thanks all of you for your comments. I feel like a schmuck for not replying but it has been a killer week and I can barely keep up. 
7:18pm • #70
162,619 Points 10 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Well, I have to jump on the bandwagon with the majority here.  Print advertising has not been successful for me over the past 3-4 years. We on AR pretty much know that the internet is where it is at, and the cost is much more effective. I do still advertise from time to time in a local paper that goes free to all residents. It is the only paper that has a wide enough readership to bother with.
10:35pm • #71
OCT
23
2010
136,554 Points Outside Blog

Very true.  Sometimes I place an ad in the local paper to make my sellers happy but realistically I don't get much out of it except an invoice.
9:00am • #72
1,337,315 Points 128 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Phil, Thanks to Praful for pointing me to your post. At first I thought we were writing on the exact same subject and results but that is not the case.

 
10:00pm • #73
OCT
26
2010
339,755 Points 9 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

JP, that's a great example of who calls on print ads. Thanks for the smiles, but seriously, Internet is where 93% of buyers are!

Thanks for posting to Agent's Toolbox!

 
4:19pm • #74

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Briarcliff Manor, NY

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J. Philip Faranda (J. Philip R.E. LLC) Westchester County NY

Address: 522 North State Road , Suite 100, Briarcliff Manor, NY, 10510

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Phil Faranda is broker and owner of J. Philip Real Estate LLC in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Since founding the firm as a sole practitioner in late 2005, the team has grown to over 30 agents & closed 350+ transactions valued at $140 million. He is in his 4th term as Vice President of the HGMLS. This blog commentary is geared toward consumers and industry colleagues alike. You can reach him at (914) 723-8900.
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