I often ask myself why the majority of real estate agents continue to market like they did in the early 1980’s, dumping thousands of dollars into outdated, tired marketing plans. I have concluded that it is because, number one, many agents are just plain lazy, number two, agents are creatures of habit and resist change, and number three, they do not fully understand how the industry is evolving, the new tools available to them, and are unable to communicate to their buyers and sellers anything other than what they have always done.
DID YOU KNOW???
· Roughly 88% of buyers first find their home on the Internet.
· Buyers are 900% more likely to find their home on the Internet than in the newspaper.
· Buyers are 3400% more likely to find their home on the Internet than in a real estate home book.
(Source: 2007 National Association of Realtors, Profile of Home buyers and sellers)
NEWSPAPERS
I am about to touch on one of the big reasons newspapers are going broke. Simply put, circulation is down, readership is down, and they are losing millions of dollars a year in real estate ad space because it is an outdated marketing tool. According to the Belo Corporation consumer surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007…”Barely 10% of the Tri-County population receives the Seattle Times/P.I. and only 1.5% of that 10% reads the Classifieds section”. The result is that newspaper advertising to sell a house is practically hopeless.
It costs between $120 and $200 for one ad in the Sunday paper which will run for one whole day. There are much better ways to spend those marketing dollars which will help find qualified buyers in this busy buyer’s market.
It seems perfectly logically to me that if nearly 9/10 buyers first find their home on the Internet and are 900% more likely to find that home on the Internet than the newspaper, my clients had better be completely and skillfully positioned online in order to get the greatest return on their home. Yet, most agents ignore the importance of not just simply being online, but maximizing that opportunity when a potential buyer clicks on their listing.
Grocery Store Books
Do not even get me started on the various real estate home books! They are NOT organized by Price Point, Neighborhood, Agent, Alphabetically, Office, number of Bedrooms, or any other logical search criteria. I will admit they are fun to look at while waiting for a Teriyaki take out order, but the goal is to find QUALIFIED home buyers, not to provide entertainment to those who might be bored at restaurants, grocery stores, and mini-marts! I spent six months in two different home books smack dab in the middle of the real estate boom. It cost me $500 per page, per book, per month ($6,000) and created ZERO leads for my sellers.
THE PICTURES
Just this past week I stumbled across a listing of a 1.3 million dollar home with pictures my two year old could have taken. I honestly felt sorry for that seller at how their beautiful home was being portrayed to buyers when compared to other million dollar homes in the area.
The following photos compare the picture quality that most agents achieve to those photos that I guarantee to my clients…
The quality of a home’s pictures are extremely important when buyers are searching online. How easily a buyer can get the wrong impression of a home and rule it out unjustly because of poor pictures. Let’s face it, real estate agents are NOT photographers and it shows…badly!
VIDEO
Another untapped opportunity in real estate marketing is professional property videos. The virtual tour is a thing of the past and never really caught on as it distorted rooms and was difficult for buyers to navigate. But with the millions of people watching videos on YouTube, Yahoo! video, and the scores of other web-sites, this is an avenue that will only grow as real estate marketing continues to catch up to the 21st century.
Here are two examples of professional property tours. One utilizes Steady Cam technology to make it feel as if you are walking through the home, while the other is a less expensive alternative but still is able to capture the essence of the home nicely.
MY GOAL
There are so many more marketing opportunities to discuss, but simply put, my marketing plan is designed to find those buyers who are qualified to buy that home I am listing. I am not interested in simply shuffling as many people through the door as possible just so I can update my clients that we had 23 neighbors through the door over the weekend. I would much rather have that update be, we had 5 qualified buyers through the home this week, and that is my goal.
Furthermore, I want my listings to be easily accessible to people, not just in the greater Seattle area, but all across the world. Making certain that all of my listings are positioned on the most reputable, comprehensive, and state of the art Websites. And finally, once they are online, making sure they have the best pictures, video, and information so that they stand apart from the competition attracting qualified buyers and ultimately the highest and best offers.
From there, my job really just begins. The marketing of a property is maybe 20% of the overall transaction, 80%, and by far the most important aspect, is making certain that I save my clients thousands of dollars by negotiating the purchase agreement, protecting them within the contract, and managing the various parties involved such as the buyer’s agent, title, escrow, mortgage, inspectors, and appraisers, so a smooth, hassle free closing is achieved.
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