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Real Estate Round Up March 2016

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Executive Realty 91362

Do you like reading exceptional real estate content from around the web? Take a look at some of the terrific articles from multiple authors you may have missed. Each of these articles are jam packed with great advice for buyers, sellers and real estate agents alike.

Why Open Houses Aren't Necessary

There probably isn't a more polarizing topic in real estate than open houses. Ask the question of whether open houses are worthwhile and you are bound to get to very different camps. Those that say open houses are fantastic and others who say they are completely worthless. Each will be extremely passionate about their position.

My question is always this one. Open houses are good for who? Are they good for real estate agents or are they good for home owners? When a sellers asks this question I am very clear in my response. There is far more benefits of an open house to a real estate agent than a seller.

The reason for this is simple. Serious buyers schedule showings on homes they are interested in. The Internet proves this everyday of the week. In other words it is not necessary for a seller to have an open house.

For real estate agents however, the answer can be very different. Open houses can be great places to pick up prospects for other homes or even meet a neighbor considering selling their property. They offer significant value to a real estate agent and their prospecting efforts.

Many real estate agents have a hard time admitting this and they would rather just tell a seller that an open house works to sell a home. They may even go as far as to say it is a vital part of marketing. This folks is patently false and one of my biggest pet peeves. In fact many agents will fail to explain that many buyers coming through won't be qualified or could even be there for nefarious reasons like stealing.

Price a home properly, market it well and you will NEVER have to do an open house. Period -  end of story.

Some real estate agents however will go out of their way to say things like "my market is different than everyone else's!" Open houses work here. Again what does work mean? Does it mean that if you don't have an open house the property won't sell? Of course not!

Rocket Boost Your Business With Facebook

Facebook is the largest social network in the world. From a marketing perspective it is super smart for a real estate agent to have a presence there. What if I told you it was possible to get far more real estate business from Facebook than you are currently getting? One of the best ways of doing so is by targeting those in your own local market.

Wouldn't it be better when you are sharing your latest blog post to the world that it reached those who are in your local area? Of course it would!

In this article you are going to learn about re-targeting which will part your real estate articles in front of more people that matter!

By following the instructions in the article you will stand a far better chance of someone calling you and saying "I just saw your post on Facebook. I am thinking of selling my home and would like to have you come over to take a look."

Bingo this is what every real estate agent should be striving for when it comes to social media marketing.

 

Best Spring Home Selling Tips

Spring is just around the corner which means one thing. Real Estate markets around the country will be heating up big time! Some in fact already have. In many places the market is in full swing with buyers coming out of the wood work.

One of the most important aspects of selling a home is your presentation. As the saying goes a few impression really matters. Luke Skar of Inlanta Mortgage has put together a compilation of great tips from top real estate agents around the country offering some of the best home sellling tips for spring.

From the outside to the inside it makes sense to have your home looking it's absolute best. When you are done reading this article you will know exactly how to make your property stand out from the crowd.

Pitfalls of Selling FSBO

Without a doubt selling a home as a for sale by owner is a tough proposition. There is a reason real estate agents get a healthy sum of money to move property. It is not easy. Some sellers however think it is a breeze or a real estate agent gets too much money. They will insist on trying to give it a go on their own.

The national statistics say that a for sale by owner will fail over 80 percent of the time in their quest to sell without the use of a real estate agent. There must be some circumstances where a for sale by owner can increase their chances of success? In fact there is. When a real estate agent is marketing a home in the same neighborhood, their marketing efforts are bound to bring traffic by all the home. A for sale by owner can capitalize in this situation as long as they have their home priced correctly.

Getting the buyer interested however is only a small part of the battle. In the article you will see all of the pitfalls of selling as a for sale by owner. As long as a FSBO knows going in what they are up against it is possible for success in some circumstances. Some for sale by owners however don't have the luxury of being is a well traveled area where an agents marketing can help them. It is these sellers who will suffer and probably not have much luck.

Print Real Estate Media That Works

If you ask most real estate agents if print media works they will look at you like you have four heads. They will proclaim the Internet is the place to be and don't bother with print. This would be a mistake to listen to.

The reason why print media does not work anymore for real estate is because people don't go to the newspaper anymore to find homes. The Internet has in fact taken care of that. This doesn't mean that a newspaper cannot be an effective place for a real estate agent to brand themselves and be remembered.

This is the key to making print media work for real estate. If you run the typical real estate agent ad where there are 4-6 pictures of homes for sale then yes you will fail. Nobody is going to look at that or remember who put the ad in the paper.

In order for print media to be effective you must be memorable! The National Association of Realtors in fact did a story recently featuring my memorable print real estate marketing. Take a look and you will see a few example of ads I run in my local newspaper. I guarantee these will be ads you probably have not seen the likes of before. What do you think? A little better than seeing some houses for sale right?

These kind of ads bring me new listings every year. I have about forty of them that I run on a rotational business. People have actually told me they look forward to the paper coming each week just to see my latest ad. So if someone tells you print is dead they're wrong!

Final Words

So there you have it - some of the best real estate articles you may have missed from around web for March. Take a look at each of the articles and if you enjoy them please consider sharing them to your social networks!

Posted by

With three decades of experience, Bill Gassett is an authority in the real estate sector. Bill writes informative articles for numerous prestigious real estate sites to help buyers, sellers, and fellow real estate agents. His work has been featured on RIS Media, the National Association of Realtors, Inman News, Placester, Realty Biz News, Credit Sesame, and his own authority resource, Maximum Real Estate Exposure. Reach out to Bill Gassett for his real estate, mortgage, and financial expertise.

Comments(17)

Women of Westchester Working Together
Women of Westchester Working Together - West Harrison, NY
Women helping Women get ahead

Super article of articles, Bill.  I have seen some of these circulating on FB and LI.  I will check out the FB one now.  Glad to see you posting some of these on here.  Hopefully others will follow your lead on great content and outstanding graphics.

- Debbie

Mar 21, 2016 10:02 PM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Thanks Debbie Gartner much appreciated!

Mar 21, 2016 10:08 PM
Raymond E. Camp
Ontario, NY

Good morning Bill,

Catch a lot of them on Google+.

Make yourself an astonishing day.

Mar 21, 2016 10:30 PM
Bill Roberts
Brooks and Dunphy Real Estate - Oceanside, CA
"Baby Boomer" Retirement Planner

Hi Bill Gassett Nice to see you back here. Have a beautiful Spring.

Bill Roberts

Mar 21, 2016 10:49 PM
Steve Loynd
Alpine Lakes Real Estate Inc., - Lincoln, NH
800-926-5653, White Mountains NH

Great Stuff.. Bill, I think the content is timely as we head into spring... I'm of the school of thought that an open house is better for the agent than the seller...in case you are taking a poll.

Steve

Mar 21, 2016 11:32 PM
Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, CRS
Fathom Realty Washington LLC - Tacoma, WA
South Puget Sound Washington Agent/Broker!

 I was having a conversation was a fellow agent the other day and he quoted you . I can't believe how famous you are even here on the West Coast Bill Gassett ...

Mar 21, 2016 11:50 PM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

LOL Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, Broker, Tacoma Washington  you will have to fill me in on the conversation.

Thanks guys for your comments - much appreciated!

Mar 22, 2016 12:05 AM
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Burlington, MA
Metro Boston Homes For Sale

Bill Gassett thanks for sharing all these articles. (Actually went for a field-trip while reading your post...lol!)

Facebook indeed is very powerful when it comes to connecting. I never liked 'cold calling' (as mentioned in one of your articles) so this seems to be an excellent alternate option for spreading the word about our career.

Great to see you in 'Rain.

Mar 22, 2016 08:38 AM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Praful Thakkar I think you have me confused with someone else when it comes to cold calling. That is the last thing I would ever want to do! Glad you enjoyed the articles!

Mar 22, 2016 10:33 AM
Praful Thakkar

(The autohr also hated cold calling - and that's what I wanted to say, Bill Gassett .Actually I was wondering were you ever in Calgary? We did a transaction together in 2005 or 2006 I think.)

Mar 22, 2016 01:38 PM
Women of Westchester Working Together
Women of Westchester Working Together - West Harrison, NY
Women helping Women get ahead

Bill Gassett and Praful Thakkar LOL...misunderstanding here.  Praful, it was Joe Samson that wrote that article as a guest post on Bill's site.  Bill - It sounds like you and Praful (and Joe) are in agreement - all of you hate cold calling.. (Same here, BTW).

I will schedule a reblog for tomorrow.

Mar 22, 2016 12:57 PM
Praful Thakkar

I clicked on these links Women of Westchester Working Together - and just assumed they are all from Bill Gassett. My bad!


And yes, hate may be a strong word - I just don't like it...(and not against anyone who does that.)

Mar 22, 2016 01:37 PM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Thanks for clearing that up Debbie Gartner I actually forgot Joe had written that.

Mar 22, 2016 09:17 PM
Ed Silva, 203-206-0754
Mapleridge Realty, CT 203-206-0754 - Waterbury, CT
Central CT Real Estate Broker Serving all equally

You have done a lot of research on making the Internet work for your  business and with this article are very generous with sharing some of that knowledge

Mar 22, 2016 11:59 PM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Thanks Ed much appreciated!

Mar 23, 2016 12:01 AM
MadisonMortgageGuys .com
MadisonMortgageGuys - Oconomowoc, WI
Your local mortgage company serving 47 states!

Excellent round up Bill Gassett. All great articles to read from March! Thanks so much for including one of ours as well!

Mar 23, 2016 12:20 PM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

My pleasure Inlanta Mortgage - Madison great work!

Mar 23, 2016 09:05 PM
Mary Yonkers
Alan Kells School of Real Estate/Howard Hanna Real Estate - Erie, PA
Erie/PA Real Estate Instructor

Thanks for the scoop on what's happening and what's not happening in real estate

Aug 08, 2016 06:10 AM
Bill Gassett
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA
Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Thanks Mary Yonkers as you can see I don't blog here all that often as I focus on my own (non Active Rain) blog.

Aug 08, 2016 06:12 AM