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Advertising Your Real Estate Listing: What Your Agent Does
Advertising Your Real Estate Listing: What Your Agent Does
You interview a few agents. They each give you their ideas on what needs to be done within your home to sell it. You make a ton of changes, paint the walls, and completely declutter. You sign a contract and your house is magically on the market. So what does your agent do next to make sure it is actually seen? While no two agents are alike, here are some of the things that often happen.
MLS Listings
The first thing your agent will do is take photographs of your home’s interior and exterior. This is quite a process and is a task you need to allow to happen. The agent will either do it himself or have a professional photographer working with his agency participate. The more the better. Showing your home from a myriad of angles will help those viewing your listings decide if they want to see it in person.
After the pictures are taken, your agent will set up an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) ad for your home. All of the details describing your home are listed online and this information is what feeds out to all of the home listing websites you love to browse. If you see your home on a website, the information is being pulled from the MLS.
Virtual Home Tours and Social Media
A virtual tour of your home, in the form of a video, may also be made. This video will be posted to YouTube and other video sharing sites to provide visitors with a more interactive view of your home. The listing will, of course, contain links back to your online home listings and your agent’s contact information.
Your agent should, hopefully, have a strong social media presence where he is also sharing links to your home, videos, pictures, and other pertinent information.
Agent Home Tour
While a lot of people are familiar with the concept of the open house and individual showings, not many are as familiar with the concept of the agent tour. An agent tour happens when your real estate agent invites other real estate agents to see your home. This increases exposure by allowing agents to see the home in person so that they have a fresh idea of what it’s like before recommending it to their potential buyers.
Real estate agents today have a lot of very creative options available to them when selling your home. Print ads, mailers, pamphlets for passers-by to take, and a little bit of old-fashioned scrutiny can go a very long way. Talk to us if you have concerns about where your home is being listed, or how. We’d love to help.
Making the Most of an Open House
As a prospective buyer, open houses are a wonderful opportunity to drop by, view a home and meet others in the neighborhood in a semi-relaxed environment. The advantage to an open house is that it’s completely open, and you can drop by during the specific window without an appointment or even being a serious buyer. Below are helpful tips for making the most of an open house.
Attend open houses early on in your search.
Before committing to a realtor, attend a few open houses and get a feel for the market. Seeing what homes are on the market, what they look like on the inside and how much they are selling for are all important criteria to learn about. Plus, it puts you in a position where you can meet realtors and agents who may be a good fit for your needs.
Introduce yourself when you walk in.
Prospective buyers are often concerned that if they sign in, they’ll be hassled for the next few months by the realtor. This can happen, but it’s not the norm. Still, if you don’t feel comfortable signing in, that’s okay. Politely decline. But, you should introduce yourself and be polite, as it’s important for safety reasons for the agent to know who is coming into the home. And, if you’re a serious buyer, make yourself known to the agent. Putting a name to a face is helpful when reviewing offers.
Ask the listing agent questions.
The realtor may ask you questions, but don’t be afraid to ask your own. Listing agents know the most about the property, and they can direct questions to the seller if need be. Some things to ask: how long the property has been on the market, why the home is being sold, what costs are attached to the property and what fixtures/furniture are being sold with the property.
Watch the other buyers.
If you notice that people are leaving as quickly as they came in, that’s a sign that there are issues with the property on some level. If people are asking questions, sticking around and envisioning their own stuff in the house, you know that it’s probably a good property you’re looking at. Take direction from the other buyers and gauge their confidence level.
