In today’s technology driven world, more and more buyers are turning to the internet to look for a home. As I stated in my last post I have found that almost all my buyers are looking at the property on the intenet before considering looking at it in person. And with so many homes on the market today, it is now essential that these buyers see your home first.
And in the real estate market’s current state, it’s now more important than ever to have a solid internet marketing plan as part of your overall marketing plan. With so many homes for sale, buyers simply don’t have the time to see the hundreds of homes on the market.
Here are some ways a technology savvy real estate agent can use to help market your home?
1. Preparing the Home to be Showcased
Even though this isn’t high-tech, preparing your home for showings and pictures is essential for producing showings and eventually offers for your home. In today’s market, buyers are pickier than ever and expecting homes in the like-new condition. If you look at the all the sales, the ones that sell fastest or at closest to asking price are the ones that stack up for an investment or are in move straight in condition. So before you even take a picture, talk with your agent about cleaning, painting, and staging your home to sell.
2. Photographs, Descriptions, and Virtual Tours
After your home is properly staged or prepared for showing, photographs should be taken, either by a professional photographer or by a realtor with a good, panoramic camera. I always offer and give my clients the option to use Open2View who use wide angle (panoramic) lenses. A panoramic camera will be able to showcase entire rooms and will make the house bigger. So many times, there are beautiful homes on the market with poor photos. And no matter how spectacular your home is, if you have poor quality pictures or a lackluster description, a buyer might eliminate your home without ever stepping onto your property. Also work with your agent to describe the features you love about your house into a description that makes your home stand out. Lastly, virtual tours may also be a good option for showcasing your home but in some instances not having a virtual tour encourages buyers to visit the property instead of just see the virtual tour.
3. Maximizing Exposure for your Home
Now that your home is featured in its absolute best light, it’s essential to get as many people to see it as possible. An agent up-to-date with technology should have a standard way of distributing information about your property online. I always send an email to my database of my new listings and my database also links with several other agents in the office so it gets out that way as well. My goal is to showcase my seller’s property to everyone I can, even to agents from other companies because they might just have a buyer for my client’s home. Second, I also have a constantly growing number of sites I submit to, in addition to those above, all to put your property in front of as many buyers as possible.
Although the tools above will help you gain more exposure for your home, internet marketing is not a comprehensive solution but should be used as a part of an overall marketing plan that includes traditional marketing ideas as well. Open homes are very important as mentioned in my last post, signs, and the real estate office network are still vital to selling a home for the most money in this market.