Marketing that matters.

Sellers are often pitched on how some company (brokerage) or agent are going to spend a lot of money on marketing your home, as a matter of fact, most of them use it as a reason to lock you into a long term listing contract with high cancellation fees. In our opinion, any cancellation fee is too high.

Have you ever wondered what they are actually going to do to market your home? Or how much are they going to spend on “marketing” to justify the listing contract that they want to lock you into?

It’s possible that they actually do spend a lot of money on marketing, but it probably has little effect (if any) on attracting buyers to your home. However, you may be surprised to know what forms of marketing actually drive more buyers to see your home.

What are other professionals saying?

We polled agents and brokers from different markets and asked them to select the four most effective components of marketing a real estate listing. The poll result showed that Professional Photography, Accurately listed in the MLS, and Easy to show, account for 82.8% of marketing a listing successfully.

According to real estate professionals, Social Media, Yard Sign, and hosting an Open House account for 17.2% and there is a reason for that. While these marketing efforts have the potential of attracting buyers, they are generally more effective at marketing the agents themselves rather than the property. That’s not to say that they are completely useless, but at the same time, more resources should be put in marketing efforts that are most effective.

So what do they talk about when they say they are going to spend all this money on marketing your home? Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe someone can clarify it in the comments section. We would love to know too. In the meantime, let’s break down the marketing that is effective.

The Breakdown.

Professional Photography – According to NAR (National Association of Realtors), 93% of buyers look for properties online (and no, not on Facebook or Twitter). 87% found photos to be the most valuable feature of online listings. So high-quality professional photos of a home is a huge component of marketing the property. More about it here.

Accurately Listing in the MLS – There is a reason we mention “accurately”. When a buyer contacts an agent to help them find a home, The MLS is where agents search for properties. They can perform very detailed searches to find exactly what buyers are looking for. They can search for details like pets, amenities, view, the number of stories, rental restrictions, community name and lots, lots more. So when a listing is not entered accurately, it simply won’t come up on a search. Unfortunately, mistakes in listings are made all the time – mistakes that shouldn’t be there. Another reason why it is so critical to input all the information accurately is that the MLS is the gateway that syndicates the listing to all other online searches, including Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, Realtor.com, and all other broker’s websites that display listings on their sites. More about the MLS here.

Easy to Show – Once a buyer sees your home online, they will contact a real estate agent to schedule a showing. Buyers are people, often with families and busy schedules. They usually need to make time to go see a home. If their agent is having difficulty scheduling a showing for the time that suits the buyer, they will end up seeing homes that allow them to schedule showings that better suit their schedule. It is important to make a home as easy to show as possible to accommodate buyers, even though it may be inconvenient to the seller. More showings generally result in more offers and a quicker sale.

Where’s the 4th Component?

Okay, all this is great, but the title says “Four Main Components…”, so it’s time to address the “elephant in the room”.

Pricing – This is the single most important component of marketing a home. It is so important that if a home is not priced correctly, any marketing you do is worthless. Overpriced homes don’t sell regardless of how they are presented and marketed. On the other hand, under-priced homes will sell regardless of the pictures or ease of showing or even how they are entered in the MLS. The key is to price it right from the beginning and then market it accordingly.

Find out what a good price is for your home in this market.