If you hire a Realtor, what do you expect their marketing plan for your house to be? Does it include more than listing a home on the MLS and posting a sign in the yard?
THE TRUTH
I look at homes everyday, either on the MLS or in person and the marketing plan implemented by listing agents greatly varies. I’ve seen homes where I feel really bad for the seller for the job their agent is doing. I also often see homes where a great job is being done and I take notes on things that I think would be beneficial for me to implement for my clients. An effective marketing plan consists of more than putting a house on the MLS and popping a sign in the yard. It’s your responsibility as a seller to make sure the Realtor you hire has a real marketing plan otherwise you might as well save the money and try to do this yourself.
About a year and a half ago, I met with a potential client about possibly selling his home. He had bought and sold many properties throughout the years and his recent experiences with Realtors has not been the best. After hearing this, the first thing I wanted to do is ask him about his bad experience.
Let’s just say that he didn’t like past Realtor too much.
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What he didn’t like?
He didn’t like that his past Realtor disappeared after signing the listing contract. To him, all it looked like was that the past agent took some photos and put a sign in the yard. After a few wasted months, he changed agents and finally got the property sold.
So I took this opportunity to interview him and ask him what he would have wanted done differently.
Here’s his list:
- He wanted to be walked through the home selling process in depth. He wanted to know what the back up plan was should the initial house offering not be enough to sell it.
- He wanted to know what the agent was doing specifically to market the property. He wanted to see a step by step plan so he knew they were doing their job.
- He wanted his Realtor to earn their commission.
You see, here’s why people hire Realtors in the first place.
It’s never about the commission. Many sellers think that hiring a Realtor is an expense, but is it? Well, that depends on who you hire because the truth is that with the right marketing plan and property positioning, the commission should pay for itself the vast majority of the time.
You want to hire a Realtor who has marketing expertise that consists of more than a MLS listing and a sign in the yard. Otherwise what are you paying them for?
It’s the truth and I’m here to tell you.
So here’s my advice for you if you are thinking about selling your home and looking to hire a Realtor.
Find an Internet marketing savvy Realtor and interview them.
Don’t hire the first person you are referred to, but instead interview a few different Realtors and see what they are going to do for your house from a marketing perspective.
Don’t worry about what company they work for because that makes no difference. It’s the individual Realtor who is going to make or break your sale.
I have spent the last few years learning Internet marketing so that I can better serve my clients because the truth is if I didn’t step up my game I will not get any more business. Realtors in today’s market MUST get better at marketing their listings because you deserve it. A Realtor’s job is to provide more exposure to the property than you could do on your own in addition to facilitating the entire transaction.
Here are 4 Home Marketing Tricks That I’ll Share with You
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- Facebook Just Listed Ads– Facebook is great for marketing because your Realtor can target people who are likely to move and who are local to your property. They just need to know how to place ads in Facebook and then set the RIGHT targeting to reach your ideal buyer. This can get your property thousands of extra views if done correctly.
- Online Optimization– Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, and Homes.com is where the majority of search is done online. Optimization is all about investing in the upgraded packages these sites offer to get better placement and presentation of your listings for sale. You should check and see if your Realtor is using these sites to the best of their capabilities to increase your online presentation of your property.
- Back Up Exit Strategy– Everyone wants to start high on their listing price. However, what happens if you do not get enough traction on the initial offering? Having a pricing strategy planned ahead of time will is a very good idea. A listing that sits too long on the market without any repositioning leads to a longer market time and therefore a lower sales price than being aggressive up front.
You don’t need a Realtor, you need a real estate marketing company.
I hope this article helped you see the importance of becoming more familiar with additional listing marketing activities that should be completed by your real estate agent. A good listing agent for you is going to be someone who understands online marketing and how property search is being conducted right now so that you can increase the exposure on your house.
The higher the level of exposure the higher sales price you will get in less time!
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Thanks for reading!
-Kevin
