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Why Philadelphia Houses Do Not Sell ? Reason Number 1

By
Real Estate Agent with The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia

Why Philadelphia Houses Do Not Sell ?  Reason Number 1

If you are:  1) Considering selling your property or 2) A Realtor looking to be the best listing agent you can be, then this is reason #1 of "The Somers  4 Reasons Why Houses Do Not Sell".

Reason # 1 is Insufficient Exposure

The days where you can easily sell your home by hiring a Realtor to put your home on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and place a For Sale sign on the lawn, are O-V-E-R !  

O= outdated   V= very outdated   E= extremely outdated   R= really outdated

Now don't get me wrong.  The MLS and signage are still vitally important, they are just not enough these days.  To sell a home, you need to let the world of buyers know, "This House is For Sale ! Buy Me !"

Expose the heck out of it !

Internet Marketing - The Somers Team

 

I've heard the latest stats that 80-84% of all buyers search the internet before even calling a Realtor.  To drive that point, I want to give you an example.  Just today, I received a call from a Philadelphia Realtor who wanted to show her client one of our listings. Now, this listing has been on the MLS for weeks, there is a lovely REMAX sign hanging in all of its glory in plain sight, and it is in a to-die-for location.  Her clients happened to see the house on one of our on-line ads. The buyers landed on our website and gave their Realtor my cell phone number.  The showing will happen today and it is another confirmation that to sell a home you need to do more.  This scenario is a daily occurrence for us.

 

Internet is where it's at!

Homes must not only appear on multiple high traffic sites such as Realtor.com but also (and possibly Internet Marketing - The Somersmore importantly) on local high traffic websites where people are searching for homes in your targeted neighborhood.  Chris and I have created 2 Philadelphia friendly websites that generate a lot of traffic for our client's listings. One website is for home buyers and sellers and the other for Philadelphia real estate investors.  Being able to provide this type of exposure is a key element in capturing leads that will lead to a sale of your property.

The good old adage Location, Location, Location is great but who cares if you are in a great location if no one knows about it ?  Exposure, Exposure, Exposure is Reason # 1 of 4 of "The Somers 4 Reasons Why Houses Do Not Sell".

Reasons #3 and #4 are coming soon.

For Reason Number 2, please click here:  "Why Houses Do Not Sell - STIGMA"

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Show All Comments
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

I say this to potential seller clients all the time...If your website can not be found in the search engines when consumers do a local Real Estate search it is the same thubg as not having a website at all.

Jan 25, 2009 02:10 AM
Ryan Hukill - Edmond
405home @ ERA Courtyard - Edmond, OK
Realtor, Team Lead

Somers, this is a great post that drives home a most-critical point that so many consumers (and agents) completely miss.  All REALTORS are NOT created equally, and it amazes me how many people just hire their cousin's brother-in-law to list their home, with no regard to whether he actually knows what he's doing, has any web presence, or has any success record.  In this market, it's a MUST to hire an agent who understands how to leverage the internet to get homes sold.  Just putting a house on one personal website, their company website, or R.com isn't enough to get real results.

Looking forward to the rest of your posts in this series!

Jan 25, 2009 02:25 AM
Li Read
Sea to Sky Premier Properties (Salt Spring) - Salt Spring Island, BC
Caring expertise...knowledge for you!

Excellent post!     You said it all!

Jan 25, 2009 03:32 AM
Loreena and Michael Yeo
3:16 team REALTY ~ Locally-owned Prosper TX Real Estate Co. - Prosper, TX
Real Estate Agents

I was really banking on Price as the number #1 reason. If price is not right, not amount of marketing will justify a buyer's realistic purchase. That's always been my thoughts though. I agree with what you have to say but I simply think that Pricing has to be Number 1 (IMHO).

Jan 25, 2009 03:56 AM
Stephen Kappre
KW Hometown - Mantua, NJ
Helping You Home

LOVE your O-V-E-R statement! Your post reminds me of open houses. They aren't the best, and people fear not having a big crowd, but really, how many buyers do you need ... one right? Sometimes a lot of little things gets it done, instead of for instance one super expensive real estate site.

Jan 25, 2009 05:33 AM
The Somers Team
The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia - Philadelphia, PA
Delivering Real Estate Happiness

Loreena- You are getting ahead of us! Exposure is one of four reasons and certainly not the #1 reason in all cases. As you know, every house that sits on the market too long, there is typically one glaring reason perhaps several that can be contributing to why it is not selling.

I think that sellers often think Realtors automatically default to price as the reason why their home is not selling. For example, a team member has a client who was concerned that no one was making appointments to see his home. He said it was because there was no sign up yet and lack of signage exosure was the reason. Perhaps he is correct but in looking at the listing price of his competition in the neighborhood, his home is listed significantly higher than the others. Well, the sign is up and we'll see what happens.

So, in the coming days Chris and I are going to reveal what we have found to be the 4 main reasons a house does not sell. I think we will mention price last since it is the most obvious one and it is often not well received as the real reason why.

Jan 25, 2009 05:43 AM
The Somers Team
The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia - Philadelphia, PA
Delivering Real Estate Happiness

Bill - Absolutely.  Which I think will be a main reason that you and I (and other AR bloggers) will gain market share in 2009 as sellers will certainly be looking for all the edges that they gain.  As expert internet marketers, we provide that edge !

Ryan - Correct - the expertise and experience of ones Realtor is going to be the difference between getting the listing and not getting the listing (or getting a call at all).  In addition, many of the part time folks already have exited the industry or will be.   Am glad you are looking for the next parts to our series.

Li - There is more to say but it is a start : )

Steve - Agreed.  It gets back to the sum of the parts analogy being greater than the whole.  We tell our sellers that with our marketing plan (basically marketing everywhere on the internet) increases the percentages to get the maximum exposure (and eyeballs) to their listing !

~ Chris Somers

 

Jan 25, 2009 07:03 AM
John Cannata
214-728-0449 http://TexasLoanGuy.com - Frisco, TX
Texas Home Mortgage - Purchase or Refinance

Great point.  I think you are right that some will just post a sign and hope for the best.  You see that with Open Houses also. No 'word of mouth' or anything.  Just a few signs placed and cross our fingers.  Its a shame.

Jan 25, 2009 03:44 PM
The Somers Team
The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia - Philadelphia, PA
Delivering Real Estate Happiness

John - Yes, it gets back to when the market was hot all a Realtor really needed to do was put the property in the MLS and wait for the offers to come in in a week or two !  The market is much different now, and yes the Realtor who now puts it in the MLS and does an open house (or two or three or four) is not doing much better.  It gets back to exposure exposure exposure as my wife Stephanie would say !  ~ Chris

Jan 25, 2009 10:46 PM
Richard Stabile
Re/Max Real Estate Limited - Oradell, NJ
Bergen County New Homes Builder Realtor

Christopher and Stephanie,

In the past couple of months I have gotten many new good buyers fronm the internet. These are buyers I may never of gotten. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel for all the work i have done on my site and blog etc.

It is where people begin to search and when they find me they end there search.

RIchard.

Jan 28, 2009 01:19 AM
Everard Korthals
---Preferred Lifestyle Advisors--- - Lancaster, PA
Mountain Realty

Easy answer for you. It's 2009. Now that we know the stimilus(if passed) will only affect our economy come september, we can expect 2009 to at least live up to 2008 standards. IF not, then we know rock bottom was hit but the numbers when comparing to the previous year are already lower still. Those that advertise stricly online aren't doing that good. Those realtors sticking to traditonal standards of networking face to face are actually holding up much stronger. It also helps to have a good referral database ofcourse which also makes this a good time to be part of a team or larger brokerage. People still love a good sign, and the more exposure you have in this case, the better. People are looking for signs to see if a certain brokerage or person has any business. This ofcourse, from a realtor standpoint, does not mean they are selling properties, but the consumer doesn't know any different since they don't have access to the MLS(yet). It's best, in our opinion to use both mediums (tradional vs 100% internet) to help your case if you want your listed homes to sell. While print is not doing well in some markets, in others they are still the only source of real estate information. Do your research and find out where your market stands before you make a marketing decision. 

Good information as always Somers, you guys are on top of things in Philadelphia, PA. Keep up the good work associates!!

Sincerely, Active Castellum.

Jan 29, 2009 02:26 AM
J. Philip Faranda
Howard Hanna Rand Realty - Yorktown Heights, NY
Associate Broker / Office Manager

Want to know something funny? I have people that list with me because they love what I do on the 'Net. Then, three weeks in, they hand me the real estate section of the newspaper and ask how their home can be featured. Ironic.

Jan 29, 2009 11:20 PM
The Somers Team
The Somers Team at KW Philadelphia - Philadelphia, PA
Delivering Real Estate Happiness

Richard - That is awesome !  Congrats on that hard work with your blog and your site as far as folks finding you from the internet.  The internet and online searches grow more and more every day.  It is great to see a few of us become the cuting edge Realtors in our respective markets.

Castellum - Great input and insight.  Thanks for the compliment !  I agree that a strong combination of traditional marketing combined with online internet marketing is the best combination... and for a Realtor, I agree it makes sense to have the whole package, a strong brand name, signage, traditional print ads and so forth, and now more importantly the internet marketing expertise.

J Phillip - I hear you.. a bit ironic.  People are stressed out so they can waver back and forth sometimes which is okay.  It is our job to be resilient and stay focused and really listen and communicate with our clients.

 

Jan 29, 2009 11:42 PM
Anonymous
Harry

My realtor just advised me to drop our listing price by $20,000.  Home has been on the market for 5 months has gotten great feedback but no offers.  Home was priced about 20,000 less than competition when listed as that was advised by our realtor when we put the home up for sale.  We priced it 20,000 less then competition as we were looking for a quick sale.  We took the recent advice to lower another 20,000.  I really don't believe it has to do with price.  Unfortuantely our realtor doesn't seem to do any internet advertising, just on the realtor website although its hard to tell why it hasnt sold in this market.  Thanks.  

Feb 03, 2009 06:45 AM
#14
Anonymous
Tejes
Wonderful blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any dcsoussiin boards that cover the same topics talked about here? I'd really like to be a part of community where I can get responses from other experienced people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Kudos!
May 21, 2012 05:50 AM
#16
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