Back in the old days when I did a lot of newspaper ads, the San Francisco Chronicle had made up a booklet for agents and they strongly recommended putting in the price which I hadn't been doing. I noticed a much better response to my ads versus the other agents ads where they were still declining to put in the price. I still didn't put in address but did put in the area and say yes to price.

Truth is I never call an ad for anything that doesn't include price whether it is real estate, a car, used furniture, etc. so I assume there are plenty of people out there like me, real buyers, and feel people that withhold price are not real sellers.

I believe in giving the buyer all of the information that they want without them having to search for it. I know that as an agent, if I drive by and pick up a fsbo flyer and the price isn't on there, I get really annoyed. I want to know what the price is at that exact moment without having to call anyone, talk to anyone (who may be long-winded) or wait for anyone to call back. I think that most buyers don't want to have to talk to an agent so unless they are very serious, they may not call for the information and be left wondering (unless they look it up on-line).

If the best tactic an agent has with which to start a conversation is to have a buyer call and ask for a price, uh, that is kind of pathetic.  Just my opinion.  Put in the price, and you'll get more qualified, motivated buyers inquiring.

Hi Margaret,

I always put the price and the address. We do have an option in the listing agreement that sellers can reject that we include the address. If the home is accessible... I personally would rather include both so if someone wants to drive by and see the location..they can before they decide if its where they feel comfortable. Also why not include price? I don't want to waste my time or their time if it turns out it isn't a realistic price. Just like an open house sign...most people come to open houses and when they find out the house isn't in their price range..they leave. Sometimes if you have other listings within their range..you can show them those but generally it's not worth it to leave it out. I don't want to show someone a home selling for 500K if they can only budget 250K. Thats just my opinion.

Margaret, wonderful discussion you started here...the office does a full page print ad every other month...always put the price in...i only want qualified buyers.  I have had it up to my chin with people who will not get pre-qualified because they seem to know what they can buy.  Sometimes on line I will not put it in because as price reductions happen will I always remember to go back & change that post???

Absolutely.  I really don't want the phone call if the only thing they want is the price and/or location.  If they know those two things already and then call, the call is much more productive and there's not near as many wasted phone calls and time.  I have had buyers tell me that if an agent does not put the price in the ad, they don't even bother to call because it must be overpriced or the agent would have put it in the ad.

Margaret, I agree that if one does use print advertising, the price and address needs to be included.  Having said that, I almost never use it (sorry, Washington Post!)  But bottom line, we need to do whatever works for us. 

Margaret - I would think price makes sense and an area if not an address.  It does take away one of the reasons to call though.  Please update us on your experiment.

In my area, print advertising is for the birds. I ask open house visitors how they found us. No one has ever said, "I saw your ad in the paper". So, I don't do them anymore. They respond the internet or while driving by the open house sign.

No, I do not typically put prices in my marketing materials as that usually prompts someone to call me and find out.  There are always exceptions.

In this day and age, if you don't put prices in your ads, they will find the price somewhere else.  Today's buyers will only pick up the phone when they are ready for a showing.  I think the more information you can give the bettter!!

I totally believe in putting the price in. I consider it to be misleading if it's not there. As a consumer I want the price right up front, too. Why waste my time or anyone else's?

Gretchen

Margaret, it will be interesting to see if you get a huge amount of calls.  Personally I would put the price in. I don't want my phone to ring all day.  I only want qualified people calling.

Praful Thakkar reblogged this post today, and he mentioned it on the Question board.

I always include the price!