There are more to just listing a property on MLS and sticking a For Sale sign in the yard (for the most part, this remains true in most of the country). Depending on our business model (Jennifer Allan's Blog on Discount Brokerage - Is it for you?), it is how much we net. After all, we are in the business with intentions of making more than we spend.

First of all, the house has to speak for itself. Hence, a new word: STAGING. Staging transforms an ordinary house into a warm and inviting home that awaits a new beginning. Saging brings out the features of the house. Staging also displays the maximum potential of the property. Most of all, a well-staged home invokes buyers to imagine life in this new home. (It's a fact that buyers SHOP with emotions). Eventually, it motivates them to put in THE OFFER.

According to NAR, over 80% of buyers look on the Internet for available propties. Sometimes, this process happens even before the buyers work with an agent. With the flixibility of "looking" online, the World Wide Web made the shopping process "farther". Buyers have more options to enhance this "looking" experience.
With the amount of houses in the market and the digital photo technology readily available, there is no reason why listings appear with no photographs. Listings without photos get overlooked. As resourceful agents, providing value-add services are a part of servicing our clients. A good marketing package should include high-quality photographs, not just clear, non-blurry ones. Take these still photos one step further. How about a slide show, equipped with panning, zooming features for the photos. A good selection background music typically accompanies the slide shows.

Besides great pictures, resourceful agents also use virtual tours. Virtual tours bring these digital still photographs to life. Upgrade features of virtual tours include 360 degree panoramic views, audio accompliment (music or property description) and floorplan views. More and more listings are utilizing this feature. Sellers request them. Beyond featuring listings, virtual tours can be used for recording fun and memorable events for clients. They can share this short clip with their friends and family....It is a small subtle way of "self-promotion" since most virtual tour features the agent's contact information on the website.

In my quest of searching the best tools for my clients and listings, I found real estate video tours gaining a large media share. For those who may have motion-sickness, looking at virtual tours may cause dizziness for some people. Real estate videos are recorded with professional voice, bringing buyers the first experience of touring the home. Careful shots are taken to appeal to our emotions and again, "get that home on my list too!". Shopping in my "jammies" have a whole new world of meaning.

The final key to the puzzle is the PRICE. A correctly priced property is a property that sells at the right time.  It is not too early, neither is it too late. The chart below basically tells it all.....

More buyers purchase properties at market value than above market value. If they are priced at market value, it exposes to a much greater percentage of prospective buyers and increasing more opportunity for a sale.

The task of real estate agents are definitely more competitive now when compared to years ago. Buyers simply expect more in a digital world like ours. The cost of listing per property have shift away from newspaper advertising into more senses-provoking tools like staging, professional quality photographs to virtual and video tours.

There are debates questioning if the real estate commissions that we charge are at par with the work we do. After reading this blog and knowing this just discusses some of the tools real estate agents use, proudly present that to our potential clients. Show them that we do deserve what we invested in. Only 15% of consumers select real estate agents based on their fees, we have ample opportunity to serve the other 85%.