Mason’s Blog Posts on Selling a Home
When it comes to selling your home, properly marketing your home is the single most important factor in maximizing your sales price and reducing the time your home is on the market. While other important qualifications to consider include the agents’ knowledge of your specific neighborhood and area, extensive transaction experience, and making sure you have good chemistry with the agent, an agent’s marketing plan is the biggest way they can differentiate themselves from other agents in the marketplace.
Don’t be fooled or enticed by agents offering a discount in the commission they will charge to list your home…you might be paying less in the event that your home actually sells, but you will also be getting less in terms of the marketing they will provide to attempt to attract a buyer or seller to your home. Less exposure for your property greatly decreases the chances of selling your home for its maximum value.
After years of successfully selling homes in the Smyrna Vinings area, I have developed a marketing plan that, combined with the Keller Williams brand, eclipses the offering of any other agent you will talk to. It combines important elements including targeting local buyer agents, promotion to neighbors, and a heavy emphasis on internet marketing.
Residential real estate practices and techniques have changed dramatically over the last 10 years and nothing else has made as significant of an impact as the internet. Buyers used to turn to the Sunday newspaper to get information about homes available in their area. While many agents still utilize these mediums to market their listings, they simply are not effective. With an overwhelming majority of our society having internet connections in their home, the internet has quickly become the source that buyers look to when searching for their next home (more than 74% of home buyers use the internet as part of their home search). The internet provides buyers the visual they need in the form of multiple photos, the description they want that can’t be achieved in a 4 line newspaper ad, and the ability for them to easily search by location, price, and number of bedrooms/baths.
84% of online home shoppers consider multiple photos and detailed text to be of prime importance. Much like you wouldn’t want buyers to start viewing your home until it was in top condition and thoroughly straightened up, you don’t want buyers to look at photos of your home on the internet unless they represent your home in the best way possible. That is why I shoot all my listings with a high resolution Digital SLR camera using a wide angle lens, tripod and shoe mounted flash. Before posting them on the internet or creating property flyers, I spend the time to touch them up in Photoshop so that they will stand out and make the best impression when a buyer comes across them on the internet. Additionally, I create panoramic tours and a thumbnail tour (also referred to as a Virtual Tour) where I can post more than the 16 photos allowed by First Multiple Listing Service. To view a sample tour and see how a buyer can view one of my listings online, click here.
If you are in the market to sell your home, I would love to go over my complete marketing plan specially tailored for your community. I feel that every property should receive Million Dollar service and marketing attention. Your home represents a significant financial investment…don’t trust the sale of it to just anyone!
