Advice from an Agent: You Don’t Need to Market Your Home
“We don’t need to do all that ‘fancy stuff’ to sell your house. All we need to do is stick it in the MLS.” – Anonymous Agent.
Yep… that wisdom came from an actual real estate professional. Want to venture a guess on how we feel about the idea? If you’ve looked at any of our listings, it won’t be hard to figure out.
The idea that it’s okay to stick a few photos into a database, and not do anything else, is just plain wrong. That’s step 1 on a list about 20 steps long. In what other industry is it acceptable to give so little effort to marketing a product? Wendy’s puts more thought into photographing a 99¢ cheeseburger than some people put into marketing their $200,000 home. Why is that okay?
Unfortunately, the answer to that question is probably just a simple “that’s the way it’s always been done”. And to be honest, some homes do sell under that premise. Heck, FSBOs have sold homes with nothing more than a $5 sign in the yard. Of course it can happen. But will it happen? How much will it happen for? Are you willing to risk thousands of dollars on a roll of the dice? Because without “the fancy stuff”, the only marketing tool left in your box is a price reduction. And then another one. And then another one.
Professional photography, real video, copy worth reading, marketing the home where people will see it… those tools are here for us to help every Buyer in the market know why your home is special; know why they should pay you every penny of its worth. Without it, you’re nothing more than 1 of the 10,000 other houses for sale in the central Ohio market today.
Think I’m making this up? I’ve heard it firsthand from a Buyer: A property was listed for over a year with an agent who didn’t do any special marketing for it. We listed the home “our way” and put it in contract in less than 2 months. The Buyer told us they knew when the home was in the MLS previously, but they had no interest in taking a look at it. However, after seeing the photos, and especially the video, we did… they immediately fell in love with the home and knew they had to buy it. It’s not the only time this has happened. Ask anyone who has heard our listing sales pitch over the past 2 years. We love to tell these stories.
If simple success vs. failure isn’t a good enough reason, maybe more money on your bottom line will get your attention. Read about how professional photography will get you more money in this Redfin study. Or just take a look at the stats for our sold listings over the past few months. Notice the trend of how almost every one of them sold for more money than their neighborhood averages? This is why our listings had the highest sales prices in 7 different neighborhoods earlier this year. These aren’t coincidences.
But it’s not rocket science either… Over 90% of Buyers search for their next home online and there are over 10,000 houses on the market today. Do you think it’s better to get lost in the noise or to make sure your home stands out from the crowd?
So go scour the internet and find an agent who knows how to make your home shine. Or… you can just ask us to do it. 😉
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