Today's post was inspired by a reader comment on a post written nearly one year ago titled 3 Keys To Selling A Home In 2010. Of course, to sell a home in 2011, the advice still holds true as we saw it validated through all of last year. Last year's post went into great detail addressing promotion of a home with three key concepts:
- Think like a buyer
- Promotion - Be visible where buyers are shopping
- Follow the market
Yesterday, reader "Richard S." read the post and commented:
Interesting article, but as someone with a house for sale, I still feel a little underinformed. Besides repairing problems and keeping the inside of the house clean, is there anything else I can do?
My agent advised us that people love hardwood floors, so we ripped up the carpeting in the one bedroom that has hardwood. Otherwise, we’re not redecorating, on the assumptions the buyers will have their own preferred color choices. Some of the old-fashioned techniques still seem to work. Last week someone saw the sign out front, and walked into the back yard to take a look.
But I do have to ask my agent about how she’s presenting it online.
Thanks for the guidance.
Richard's comment is a perfect example of how home sellers need to change their thinking (expand their thinking). He talks about the "product" side of the marketing, but he only gives an afterthought about the promotion side of market (but I do have to ask my agent how she's presenting it online). This is a terrible mistake.
If you want to sell a home in 2011, you have to do a better job than this. Review some real estate marketing 101 basics and realize that if you are not promoting your home to the majority of homebuyers using the internet, then the likelihood of selling a home this year is very low.
The promotion portion of selling a home cannot be an afterthought. For me, it is the primary thought. With nearly 5,000 homes for sale in the Tallahassee MLS, the competition is too fierce to allow a home to be unnoticed. Changing the flooring in reality is far less important than getting 1,000 people to know that it has hardwood floors!
As a very basic minimum standard of home seller due diligence, go to google and search for a realtor in your area. If you hire a real estate agent that does not dominate the search results, how is your home going to dominate the traffic of home buyers to local real estate listings? The best agent to hire for the promotion of a home will be apparent in the search results. It only takes 5 minutes on google to figure out who is the best real estate agent in your local market.
To sell a home in 2011, you have to get your home noticed. Take a look at our Progressive Marketing Plan for selling a home on the internet, and then implement the many techniques and processes that we utilize. We would love to work with you to sell your home, but you can employ much of these same techniques if you are willing to take the time to learn. Regardless, if you do not expose your home to the 94% of homebuyers who are using the internet, then you will most likely be unsuccessful this year.
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