What Makes Some Northern Virginia Listings Go Under Contract Quicker Than Others?

What Makes Some Northern Virginia Listings Go Under Contract Quicker Than Others?

Assuming that you have a Northern Virginia home that is in good condition, shows well and has been priced correctly, any Listing Agent sitting in front of you will tell you that your home will be in under contract sooner than the competition.  However, if the conversation was left at that, you would be missing a big chunk of the puzzle.

As a top producing Northern Virginia Real Estate Agent, I see other top producers marveling at how quickly my listings, many of them Short Sales, go under contract.  A lot of agents believe that anyone who lists Short Sales must be underpricing them....that's why they go under contract so fast, right?  WRONG.  I price all of my listings according to condition and current market value.  So a lot of my Short Sales are priced at the high end of the market.  And still, even my Northern Virginia Short Sale listings go under contract quickly as do the regular sales. 

Sitting across from another top producer today, it hit me why it is harder for some agents to get their perfectly lovely and well priced listings under contract. 

THEY DON'T MARKET THEM ONLINE.

This particular agent was laughing at me as if I had some sort of mystical magic that I brought to my listings.  Not at all.  As if on cue, the agent's teammate walked in at that moment with one of their PRIMARY sources of marketing.... PRINTED BROCHURES.  In order to get one of those amazing looking brochures, you would have to have already BEEN IN THE HOME.  And if someone can't remember a home they just saw, chances are, it's not the home for them.  So really, what good is that lovely brochure doing for the Sellers?

Home buyers are looking for properties while searching the Internet.  If you're Listing Agent isn't extensively marketing the property online, you may not be the first, second or third property to go under contract in your neighborhood.  Creating online brochures.  Featuring the listing on a blog.  Purchasing Realtor.com listing enhancements are all part of what gets a home noticed before those that are just thrown in the MLS with the photos. 

Want to get your Northern Virginia home sold for top dollar in the shortest time possible?  Get in touch with me and I'll put my online marketing to work for you and we'll get the job done before you know it.

Chris Ann Cleland, Associate Broker, Long & Foster REALTORS®

703-402-0037, ChrisAnn@LNF.com, www.NVARealEstate.net