Mr. & Mrs. Seller, Have You Actually SEEN Your Home's MLS Entry?
Everyone has heard the numbers about how buyers start their home searches on the Internet. They find whatever website suits them, input a few key criteria and hope to see their dream home pop up in the results at a price they can afford.
Yet time and again, homes that SHOULD be at the top of a buyer's list AREN'T seen at all, or if seen the home is torpedoed by poor photos and blah commentary. While we totally understand that you trust your listing agent to handle the marketing of your home, a little quality control can go a LONG way towards making sure your home is both VISIBLE and APPEALING to the buying public.
Every agent is human, and so are the admins that often enter your home into the MLS. A typo can be the difference between a quick sale and wondering why so few people are coming to your home. As a for instance, one of the most expensive homes in our area with an almost 4 acre lot currently has 0.0 entered for lot size. What does that mean? Every buyer searching for homes with a minimum lot size (say 1 acre) won't see this home AT ALL! Poof, invisible to them. And other that than, the home has solid marketing and photos, but that one error is all that it may take to keep the right buyer from finding that home. 
And the Internet is filled with pictures of jaw droppingly bad MLS photos. Blurry, tilted, dark, open toilet lids, Fluffy in the middle of the room, self-portraits in the mirror, shots of just a small corner of the room, you get the idea. You don't even get a chance to make a deal because the buyers scratched you off the list right out of the chute. Our buyer was " " this close to not viewing a home because of the home's photos (example at right). Fortunately she DID go, and that's her new home now. That home got a viewing opportunity SOLELY because of it's location and price point. And yes, those photos can mean lower numbers of visitors, and the seller thinking they need to take LESS for their home than they might have gotten with solid marketing.
So bottom line, if your home is on the market, look on the Internet and find out how your home looks. In particular, focus on your MLS entry because how your home is presented there is still THE most critical marketing venue your agent has. Any listing agent should be quite happy to email you a link of your home's MLS entry for your review. Check the data entry, check the photos, check the marketing remarks. If you find an error, ask for it to be fixed pronto.
Bottom line, be aware of how your home appears to the public. One little slip is all it takes to go into the pile of also rans!
Serving Warren County's residential real estate needs,
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
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