Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Real Estate Marketing

Technology is ever growing, ever changing, ever evolving, just like your client base. The question of what is the best way to get your property out there is getting tougher to answer. Or is that just for the people asking for free consulting? It does appear that there are more and more options hitting the market. Many investors, landlords, renters and sellers are wondering what the best method is.


Short answer is there is no ONE best. The long answer is there is no ONE best method or combination. All the methods that I will discuss will vary from market to market and then from the person implementing them to the person using them.  If you haven’t noticed, I am a big pusher to contacting and working with local real estate investing groups and or a knowledgeable local Realtor.  The cross thatching of marketing is one of the key reasons to align yourself with experts.

Some of the most common methods of marketing your property for sale or lease is sign in the yard, ad in the paper and online ads. I am a fan of using all three on certain properties.  We cannot deny that almost everything is moving online. That is true even for properties, homes and apartments that are in the lower economic threshold. If you doubt me, and you’re feeling daring drive thru a lower economic area and look at what everyone is holding and doing. They are on their smart phones, surfing the web, making phone calls and just being like everyone else.

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I would recommend that you do a mix and combination of all three in the modern world. When I list a home for sale or rent I do all three. The reasons are simple. The world is becoming cluttered and moving quicker. So the more you can have your property out there, the greater chance that someone will find you in the white noise of daily life.

One of the first steps to marketing your house is also the cheapest. Put a sign in your yard or window. It’s the cheapest since a sign is maybe $5. If someone is driving thru or in that neighborhood they either want to live there, knows someone to live there or they’re lost. If it’s the first option, you have just found yourself what is called a qualified prospect. If it’s the second, you have someone who may be interested in moving.  People like to live near others who are like them. So they move into or next to friends and family on a regular basis.  If its reason three, they’re lost and you’re great at sales, then you’ll have them be found.

Even though the written word is dying on many levels, I still highly recommend putting your ad in print. Almost for as long as there have been newspapers, there has been an ad section (I have no idea that is true, so don’t quote that in your senior thesis) For decades and centuries people have taken to the paper, the penny saver or the local ad paper to find homes, used cars and low rent samba lessons. Even listing services that started online print and distribute books, booklets and pamphlets with their listings, because they know people, still want to search for homes that way. Long as someone is willing to pay and pick up, the printed ad will live on.

Many publications that are loosing revenue to online services are now starting to offer their own. Many newspapers will also add an online ad for free to nominal fee. Meaning you purchase print and can still hand out/ email out a link. In Houston TX, our local ad paper offers a free to cheap ad on their website. When I review my statics on that money spent with that company. 90% came from their print and 10% came from their website. That property was leased due to a sign in the yard. The rent came in while I was showing the place due to a lead generated from the online advertisement. So you can almost count it as a split lead.

 There are more and more websites offering to help you advertise your property. Do a little research on your market and the websites before taking part. Just remember that being online will have varied results unless you have so many listings/ rentals that you’re constantly advertising there. If you are an apartment or own more than 20 homes, I would encourage a strong web presence with the rule of thumb that you’ll have 1 or more make readies and turns a month, so constant lead generation will help make life easier.  If you are selling your home, I also encourage a strong web presence since you’re looking to sell and sell quickly. Wider net, greater chance you’ll catch someone.

 Since I am a Realtor and a landlord I am toying with and currently developing a website that will help lessen the long term costs of the web presences. Since many ad are charged on a monthly basis, it increases your upfront costs as a landlord and creates a variable annual cost. I am working on systems that will allow you to advertise and bring for qualified leads, even if your rental home is rented out. A large fear many new landlords have is, “what if it doesn’t rent”. There are many reasons for a property to not rent. Today I’ll tell you that one of the biggest is the delay in making it known that your house is for rent again. That drive to put the sign in the yard, can be a long drive if you’re not use to it. I know I’d prefer to have list of qualified leads at the ready. Since the project is still in the development stage. Please feel free to contact me with ideas on what should be included in the service or to ask me questions on it.

Sincerely
Joe Nickels
Realtor, Lifestyles Realty, INC

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