My dog Murphy and I preview homes every morning from about 5:30 am to 7. We don't go in, of course, we just like to look at what's new on the market and what's still on the market. We take a different route every day making a mental note of who has listings from companies we've never heard of, how many FSBOs are stubbornly staying the course, and how many "For Sales" are now "For Rent." We look at knock downs being re-constructed, and the new homes going up in what used to be an empty lot and we evaluate our little marketplace on a daily basis.
We live in an older neighborhood in Fairfax City. The houses are over 50 years old and there are still some original owners here. But the demographics are changing. Every weekend morning for 3 years now, Murphy & I go down and hang around at our neighborhood 7-11 with a group of guys who were born and raised right here in the city, some right here in this neighborhood. We talk a little real estate and they give me the scoop on what's going on in the 'hood. Real estate is an amazingly universal topic of conversation. It surprises me the number of agents who don't wear a nametag when they are out in public because doing that is an open invitation for people to talk to you about what you do. When I used to wear my polo shirt with the company logo on it around town, people would frequently stop and ask me, "Are you a real estate agent?"
Sometimes it's easy to overlook the simple and the obvious. Research I read recently says the majority of inquiries on listings are still being generated by yard signs. The ever so humble, low tech, yard sign. So Murphy and I started looking at yard signs more closely in our morning tour and discovered that some designs are more practical and appealing than others. Some are easier to read and and are not as cluttered with their information as others. Our case in point are the two yard signs here.
I will tell you up front that I am partial to post signs. The information is up higher making them more visible and they
just have more curb appeal. I don't know what the norm is in other parts of the country, but in the Washington, DC, metro area, it's mostly post signs. Which automatically makes the squat metal low-to-the ground signs . . . well, lesser. In an earlier post on Choosing a Domain Name, I had specifically suggested a custom name rider with a website address. And lo and behold! Murphy and I found one, exactly one, only one right here in our own neighborhood. With a SOLD sign on it. A coincidence or a sign of the times? You be the judge.
I do think it's easier to remember a short, simple, easy to spell website address over a phone number. Especially if you are driving by it. The other sign here also has a website address, but it's longer and therefore smaller and it's sharing space with a phone number as well. Too cluttered, too noisy. The other wasted advertising space I've seen is directional signs for open houses. They either have no information at all or the one I saw this weekend said "Tom & Cindy." Tom & Cindy who? How do you search that way? The same space could have been used for a domain name. Phone numbers are not as easy to remember as words. And if you get them to your website, they then have a choice of emailing you or calling you on the phone number that's there. I would be interested to know how many agents are using domain names on yard signs and directionals. Better yet, show me! Please post a photo of your amazingly appealing yard sign so we can all benefit from the people who are ahead of the curve on this form of marketing!
always advertise your website, come rain, shine or sunday.
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Catherine,
That sounds like a great way to stay in shape and scoop out the neighborhood. I have a very similar neighborhood except mine is a fairly new community - 3 years old - so when my community was started we had a ton of investors come in and buy houses thinking they would make some money (some did) but like many communities these investments are coming due. Well I too have a ton of houses currently on market and many still coming on, that would be a great idea for me to stay on top of my community.