The following appealed in the Daily News - July 18, 2008 in the section entitled - Your Home - Your Home Advice - Ask Barbara - Barbara Coccoran, leading real-estate expert:
Q - What are the best ways to publicize a home for sale in such a down market?
A - The lawn sign still generates more buyer leads than any other medium. Two out of three home buyers start their search online, so make sure your home is listed on all of the major home sale Web sites: they include realtor.com, trulia, zillow, terabitz, craigslist.org, as well as your leading newspaper's own Web site. Buyers online shop with their eyes, so spend a few bucks to either rent or buy a camera with a wide angle lens, and be sure to take the house pictures on a sunny day.
First, based on my Open Houses in the past two years, I would definitely agree that Lawn Signs attract as many potential buyers, if not more, as my real estate firm's, Crossroads Realty's media and web site advertising about the same Open House.
Second, with that being said, it is extremely important to echo Barbara's comments which confirms the industry's statistics that suggest that most potential buyers start their real estate home buying utilizing the internet. While she says that 2 out of 3 home buyers start with the Internet, I would refine those stats based on my experience indicating that age is a major factor.
Probably 80 to 90% plus of the first time home owner buyers are starting utilizing the Internet; whereas, the Adult Community potential buyer group is maybe 50%, but steadily growing in percentage.
Suffice it to say, having a presence on all of the most popular web sites which includes many of the sites noted above is simply a prerequisite to top exposure on the Internet. In addition to our award winning web sites at Crossroads, we place all our listings on all the major web sites plus our local MLS and more than 700 web sites of our affiliated real estate firms in accordance with our Real Estate Companies of the World network.
It is important to reiterate Barbara observation - "BUYERS ONLINE SHOP WITH THEIR EYES!"
Comments(2)