Real Estate Marketing

  • Putting a sign in the front yard and waiting for the phone to ring is not a marketing system.
  • Taking a photo of the outside of your home with a point and shoot digital camera (or camera phone) is not a marketing system.
  • Holding an open house is not - at least by itself - a marketing system.
  • Running an ad in the newspaper is not - at least by itself - a marketing system.

A comprehensive home selling marketing system, to be effective, needs to be customized for each individual property. What works in one neighborhood or for one type of home doesn't necessarily work for a different neighborhood or a different type of home. 

 

The decision to sell your home is a difficult one. Sometimes the decison is one that is more or less forced on you...a job transfer to a new community, an addition to the family, or the need to downsize when the kids move out. In other cases, you decide to sell your home just because you want to. You might want to live in a new neighborhood, closer to work or church or shopping. Maybe you just want a newer, more modern home. Whatever the reason, it's a big decision and involves what for most people is their most valuable asset - their home.

 

My Home Selling Marketing System

 

Whatever is behind your decision to sell your home, you need - and deserve - a RealtorŪ who will work with you to design a custom marketing system to get your home sold quickly. Of course I offer the same marketing tools as everyone else...MLS entry, yard sign, newspaper ad, company website, etc. If that's all you want - or need - to sell your home, there are dozens of real estate agents to choose from. 

 

My goal is to go beyond the standard, to treat clients like I would want to be treated if I were in the same situation, to exceed my client's expectations. Here are some of the things I offer when I work with client's to design a custom real estate marketing strategy:

 

A picture is worth more than a thousand words!

 

Eighty percent of home buyers use the internet to help find their new home. And survey after survey indicates that internet shoppers want to see photos of homes. Outside photos, inside photos, neighborhood photos, any kind of photos. Many internet shoppers will pass over a home if there are no photos or maybe only 1 photo of the outside. If you have spent any time looking at homes online, you probably know what I'm talking about. Photos help potential buyers get to know a little more about a home, get a "feeling" for the home.

 

However, not all home photos are created equal. Have you seen a photo that was too dark, too light, blurry, crooked, or just a bad photo? Here are a few examples that I found in just a couple of minutes surfing around one of the major real estate websites:

         

Do these photos make you want to find out more about a home? Or do you want to move on to look at photos that actually tell you something about the property?

 

Online real estate marketing

 

In today's real estate market, an effective internet marketing strategy is the key to successfully selling homes. And there is nothing that is more effective on the internet than photos. Lots of photos. Good photos. Photos that tell you something about the home. Photos that make you want to know more, or photos that help you decide that this is not the right home for you.

 

That's why every home that I list features professional quality real estate photography. In most cases, the photos are taken with a Canon digital SLR with an ultra-wide angle lens (10-22mm) and one or more electronic flash units. All photos are then imported to Photoshop, cropped if necessary, and adjusted for color, exposure, and contrast.

 

Here are some examples:

         

 

Exposing your home to the broadest possible audience

 

Once the photos have been taken, it's time to start putting them online. Here is a partial list of where home buyers can go to view the photos and learn more about your home:

 Realtor.com (Showcase Listing) LindaWestergaard.com  FirstRealtyHomes.com
 PrudentialRealEstate.com  Zillow  Yahoo Real Estate
 Craigslist  Trulia  PrudentialProperties.com
 Point2Homes  Google Base  Yahoo Classifieds
 AOL Real Estate  Live Deal  Homescape
 The Housing Pages  Cyberhomes  

 

 

 

Would you like to know more?

 

Are you thinking about selling your home? Would you like to know how much your home is worth in today's real estate market? Are you interested in how I would work with you to create a custom marketing strategy, using professional photography and the internet to sell your home quickly, conveniently, and for the best possible price? Click here and provide the requested information. I will be in touch shortly. Or feel free to call me at (515) 453-7339.