Real Estate Investing

When you’re ready to sell your home, thinking beyond running an ad in the Sunday paper is what it’ll take to get a contract.  Although many agents and “for sale by owner” homes are still found in the Sunday paper and in supermarket real estate books, a staggering 85 percent of buyers today turn to the Internet when looking for a house.  Online, buyers have the opportunity to look at interior and backyard photos, read about additional features like whether the yard has a fence and marble counters, and find directions so they can drive by they neighborhood before making an appointment to tour.

A good marketing effort will certainly focus on online, but a well-rounded program will also include some tried and true methods.  Here are my Top 10 ways to market a home. 

1. Put a brochure box in front of the home for flyers that will include basic information like number of beds and baths, interior photos, square footage, and contact information for a personal tour.  Make sure the box is never empty!
2. The local MLS is perhaps the single biggest boost to any listing.  Be sure the information is accurate, honest, and please-for-the-love-of-buyers include photos.  If you don’t they’ll pass you right by because honestly your words aren’t that eloquent that they’ll pull in a buyer without a photo.
3. Use Postlets.com.  This fantastic site is easy-to-use and will promote your listing at many other online places like Trulia, Zillow, and GoogleBase. 
4. This ties in with Postlets, but once Trulia picks it up your listing will go to Trulia Snapshot.  This is one of the most awesome, amazing, coolest sites I’ve ever seen.  Go there immediately.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.  It’s that good.
5. Develop a web page just for the listing at Freewebs.com.   Here’s a sample page by Theresa from my office, done for one of her listings.  I admit I haven’t done this yet mostly because I blog about my listings.
6. Write a blog.  It doesn’t have to be about real estate, but can focus on your family, your neighborhood, your town.  I’ve met a lot of great friends from hosting a blogsite (though I often call it a “site” because blog is such an icky word). My community blog has a real estate section where I feature my listings … some listings I’ve gained because I show that I care about my community.
7. Make business cards for your home.  Include an outside photo of the home and other basic features.  Give the cards to the home seller and ask them to hand them out to their friends, colleagues, and neighbors. 
8. Curb appeal.  The house MUST look good on the outside to attract buyers to the inside.  This isn’t necessarily the job of your Realtor, but a neat, well-kept appearance will go far to promote your listing.
9. Host a Realtor home tour because another agent is probably who will bring your buyer.  We have office caravans every week, but hosting a luncheon is an option to make other agents feel welcome.
10. Finally, Animoto is one of my favorite online sites.  I’ve opted to pay the $30 p/year fee for an unlimited amount of “long-version” videos, made by uploading still photos and selecting music.  Here’s an example of one of my listings.

Good luck and happy selling!

So in the interests of ensuring that a prospective home buyer never has to leave their computer, all things real estate are now available online. But up until recently, it was difficult to find a good rating system determining the number and types of businesses within driving distance. Very inconvenient. Now all that has changed, thanks to Fizber.com. Name a property - any property - and Fizber will rate it with its “Drive Score Real Estate Widget.”

My home scored 75 out of 100. So exciting. Of course, the mighty widget overlooked key locations like the Longhorn Steakhouse on the corner, but it did include the local karaoke bar! So hat’s off to this new innovative interactive interfacing. It’s worth a look if you’re eyeing that big move. Of course, you could always just do a drive-by and have a look-see in person (so early 90’s).

The mighty widget could be most helpful when relocating to a distant town. Not only will you discover the “Drive Score” of your possibly soon-to-be new home, but you will also learn a thing or two about the quality of businesses nearby, which speaks directly to the quality of the neighborhood. Fizber displays the businesses in a categorized list form and also on an interactive display map. That way, you can determine just how close that karaoke bar really would be.

Before a house sells, a buyer has to see the potential it offers for a profitable investment or a cozy, happy family life. And, of course, to see the potential a buyer has to get into the home in the first place. So how does a seller accomplish this? We’ve talked about Internet marketing and the importance of photographs, but which photographs are the must-haves?

There are certain photographs that speak volumes with their absence. These include the kitchen, bath and yard. People draw conclusions about your home (and whether or not they want to tour it) based not only on what you include, but what you don’t include.

Tight yard shot? Must be a tiny space. All exterior shots? The house must need a ton of work or even be partially unfinished. No bathroom or kitchen photo? Must be terribly small and outdated. And of course, if any of your pictures are dark, blurry, or far away, don’t even waste your time posting them. Hire a professional photographer if you must, but be sure to include ample and flattering pictures of key spots such as the kitchen, bath and yard if you want to secure a more positive image and more visitors to your property.