When someone list's their homes I like for them to have a clear understanding that I don't just want the listing, I want the home to sell. That is our purpose, and believe it or not many people do not realize that if you are going to list your home with a Realtor you should be ready to move within 60 - 90 days. Not all homes take a 6 month period of time to find a qualified buyer, not if they are marketed properly and priced at what the market calls for.
I have decided to take the time to elaborate on some of the tools and resources I use to help my listings get to sold.
Professional Photo's and Videos
The company I work with for the pictures, also does a Virtual Tour which is uploaded to YouTube allowing your potential buyers to feel as if they are walking thru your home, all the while they are sitting in their living room. This does 2 things, it catches the buyer and makes you that memorable listing because virtual tours are not yet common, and gets more serious buyers into your home !
** Sellers Tip **
Buyers in todays market, spend most of their time searching for their new home on the internet. Those pictures are your very first impression, if there is not enough or they are not well taken you could be overlooked. On more than one occasion I have had to push for a buyer to go see a home that they didn't like the pictures on MLS, after some prompting they agree to go and almost all the time they can not believe how the home showed in person.
Another inside tip for sellers, many websites have their own way of how the homes they show in their search results show up to the potential buyer. Many first go by what kind of account the listing agent has with the company, second they go by how many pictures you have of the home ! Let your listing agent take pictures, trust us we spend 90% of our time in people's homes we know what they are looking to see !
Here is an example of a home I personally have listed, and used professional photography to give it an edge on the competition.
Staging
Any home can benefit from staging, a professionals eye will be able to give your home a un-biased opinion.
Realtors will know what can distract a buyer, even though what distracts them has nothing to do with the home they are potentially buying.
Sometimes simply moving around things in a room, can give it the illusion that it is bigger than it is, some de-cluttering is always recommended you don't want your home to be cold or sterile feeling there is always a happy medium.
** Sellers Tip **
Begin your packing the moment you list your house on the market, not the everyday necessities but the things you can do without.
If your home is on the market your ultimate goal is to be moving, it will help de-clutter the home for the prospective buyers that will be coming in to view your home, and you will need to pack those things at some point, I look at it as positive thinking ! Many storage facilities offer specials for very low rates, and the benefit to you will be priceless.
Now some people have decided to buy their new home first, and than list their home for sale. Vacant homes can be a wonderful thing, but buyers are visual, I work with a wonderful company who does staging, it is at no cost to my sellers. Their is no pesky rentals fee's it is all done virtually, and again it is a benefit of using a professional photographer.
This home was bought by investors, renovated but they did not want to have to rent furniture for the pictures.
Online Marketing
The absolute best marketing tool you could possibly have today is the internet. I don't mean just Zillow, Trulia, or Realtor.Com.
Social Marketing is the best exposure you could ever ask for, you know how you re-united with past colleagues, classmates, or even extended family. You will never know if they or someone they know is looking to a buy a home, you want your home to be blogged, twittered, and facebooked as much as possible. Not only does it attract prospective buyers it will catch the eye of other agents we all network together and it is the easiest way to let other realtors know about our listings all over Long Island.
On any given day you can look at my Twitter feed and know exactly what I am doing, and where on Long Island I am. The same goes with other realtors, if we are having an open house we like everyone to know. When I first list a home I will often blog about it, conveying the excitement I have about this new listings to my network and many people will share this with others. Remember you never know where your buyer will come from !!
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