Many real estate agents (and many MORE “by-owner” sellers) employ the 4 p’s of selling real estate: 1) Put a sign in the yard 2) Print a flyer 3) Put it in the MLS 4) Pray
That may have worked in 2005. That may have worked if you actually had a yard to put a sign with a flyer box in. So if you are selling a loft or condo, does that just leave you with putting it in the MLS and a quick prayer?
There has been a shift in the Real Estate market. I’m not just talking about pricing, commission’s, foreclosures, and whatever else. There has been a shift in who is buying these properties. There has been a shift on how these new buyers are finding their property. There has been a shift of what is being demanded from a sellers agent.
We strive to be good listing agents. But we strive to do a whole lot more as well. We want to be so good at listing real estate that no one can compete with us. The thought of selling “by-owner” pales in the light of what we do, but we want to be so effective, and so thorough, that not even our fellow agents will be able to compete against us.
Before we discuss the list of five strategies, there are a few other things to consider. First, to successfully list and sell a condo or loft you need to complete three requirements: Contracting with the seller, marketing the home and servicing the transaction. We will discuss marketing strategies below, but the first step is to come to a complete meeting of the minds with the seller. We can only sell the houses that will sell — and whose owners are willing to sell — so we work hard to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Second, when contracting with sellers you are actually selling three times. Before we can sell your loft or condo, we sell the sellers on working our way. When this happens, we sell the neighbors on working our way in the future. Now to be clear, we don’t market our listings to sell ourselves. This is just a by product of going above and beyond for your clients; people tend to take notice.
So how do we go above and beyond for our clients? There are some things that we do, that every other agent does — Remember the 5 P’s? — but we’re going to talk about five things we do that no one in the area does, five killer tactics that sell our houses, in turn selling future sellers on our value as listing agents.
Now why would we want to share these ideas? Why would we tell the whole world what we are doing? Well, for starters, many of them already know. As soon as your condo comes up in competition with theirs, they know. The fact is that many agents do not want to put in the time and effort to do what we do. Many of our techniques are on the leading edge of technology and they don’t want to keep up. They are satisfied with old-school methodology and are not preparing for the shift that has already happened. The fact is that our strategy takes work. It takes research. It takes energy. Whatever the reason, no one does what we do to promote our listings.
And what types of things you might ask?
1. We can’t put a sign in your yard. You don’t have one remember? What we can do is put signs all of the internet. Our site is continually climbing higher, and higher in search engine ranks. We put our “signs” in front of People looking for Pearl District Real Estate. We put our sign where the buyers are going to see them, whether it is on Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes, Craigslist, ebay, or every other agents website.
2. We build a custom web site for every home we list. The RMLS allows up to 16 photos. Most agents do not fuse all 16 photos. We take hundreds of photos of our listings, and there is no better gallery for digital photos than a web site. Photos are not the only thing that buyers are looking for. Every relevant document we can obtain about the property needs to be at the buyer’s finger tips in the form of PDF files: The MLS listing, comparable market analysis (CMA), the appraisal or inspection reports, if available, the property disclosures, any unique building information, etc. The purpose of our website is to accomplish two things. 1) Sell your condo. 2) completely dominate the buyer’s mind. If a potential buyer is spending the afternoon learning about your home, that is an entire afternoon that is not spent discovering other properties. We do everything we can to swing the balance in our sellers’ favor, and our web sites make a huge difference.
3. We use multi-media like you wouldn’t believe. Everybody does a virtual tour; from a 360 degree photo, to a panning of a single photo. Most of these virtual tours fall between “eh” and “huh?” We do tours that capture the essence of your home. We supplement virtual tours with virtual slide shows on our site. In addition we also do walking tour photos around your building to show why it is the building they “MUST” get into. We allow buyers to move in. At least in their minds! Our interactive floor plans allow the buyer can place their furniture in their new home. When you figure out where your bed will be, you are committing in your mind to buy that home. As an agent you know when a buyer wants a property when they spend an hour figuring out where the TV will go. The next step in multi-media evolution for real estate is the listing video. We don’t want to put out the same old photographs. We want a buyer to “walk” through their next home. With new technology and multi-media solutions coming out every day, we will continue to be the first ones figuring out what works to sell your home the fastest. Just remember, the more time the buyer is thinking about your condo, the less time they are thinking about your neighbor’s.
4. We don’t stop promoting until they day you close. We promote the listing and it’s web site in everything we do. Every ad for your home pushes prospects to your virtual door. Besides the web, we promote your property face-to-face with people living in the neighborhood and moving into the neighborhood. When it is time for an Open House we will distribute hundreds of Open House cards for a listing, and hundreds more Just Sold cards when it sells. By far, the best tool for this is the business card. I don’t mean my business card, I mean your home’s business card. They are the perfect size to carry around and hand off when we over hear someone say they are moving to the Pearl District. And they stay with buyer’s after they leave the Open House.
5. We analyze. Analyze, analyze, analyze. Homes sell for three reasons: Preparation, Pricing, Presentation. Preparation is about getting your home ready to sell. We will tell you what repairs to make, and repairs to skip. Some make you money, others make you sell. Pricing is, by far, the most important thing you need to get right when selling your loft or condo. Price is the great equalizer. Any repair can be fixed with a lower price, many upgrades can justify a higher price. The most important thing to know is what history is telling us. Did the same floor plan sell 2 months ago for $20,000 less? What about similar floor plans in other buildings? How much actual competition do you have? Presentation is how we get the information on your condo out there. This includes all of the things we have talked about as well as the more traditional methods. When we hold your condo open, we make sure buyer’s have a way in. When the Broker’s tour comes around, we make sure that every broker in the area knows about it. We give them a reason to show up.
The beautiful thing about our system is that we make new converts to our way of thinking, and homeowners come to us pre-sold not just on us as listers but on the ideas we’ve discussed here. We tell everyone everything, just as we’re doing right now, so the people who are paying attention in Portland’s Pearl District know exactly what we’re doing. Many real estate agents don’t get it, but the sellers all understand.
What about you? Can you see our vision of we will get your home sold? Creating your Seller’s Master Plan will cover much more of the type of work we do to get your home sold. At the very least, what we have discussed today should earn us an appointment to discuss your unique situation. Give us a call at 971-235-9561.If you like, it can be as informal as a cup of coffee at Urban Grind to talk about the market.
It’s about added value
When you sell your condo or loft in the Pearl District, you will be spending money on a marketing plan. It seems to me that you should be getting value for that money. We want to be the leaders for marketing properties in the Pearl District. Not just a prayer, but a completely customized campaign around what you are selling. Weiden+Kennedy doesn’t sell Coca-cola, the new Honda’s, and the latest Nike shoes in the same newspaper ad. Each product has a specialized campaign because they will sell to specialized buyers. Your home deserves its own campaign.
The first step is creating your customized website. This website will feature an incredible array of photos, a virtual tour, a video tour of your home and the area, plus all accompanying documents. This would include the complete MLS listing, full version of the color flyer of your home. Every piece of marketing we do will direct buyers to see your home online: The flyers, home cards, postcards, online ads, etc.
The point of all this is this: We are the best at what we do. If you have a condo or loft in the Pearl area and you’re ready to sell, we’re eager to sell for you. If you know someone who needs to sell a home, we would be delighted to compete for the business. There is not one detail that will escape us. At the same time, we never stop trying to figure out what we can do better. That is what sets us apart. Many agents are trapped in the old-school thinking of selling real estate. You deserve better than that. We are better than that. We are better than the discounters. Better than doing it on your own. Better than the agents stuck in the same rut for the last 25 years.
What do you REALLY want?
What do you want from your next agent? A nice suit? Gorgeous Glamor Shots? An enormous, beautiful car? That must be what you want. At least in the minds of most agents. After all, that is what there half page ad in the Oregonian tells you about them. The fact is, that is not what you or any other seller really wants. What you want, what you need, is to get your home sold. You want it sold for your price, on your terms, and your time line. When we list your home to sell, it’s about your home. It’s not about me. It’s not about what I say about myself. It’s about getting you and your family on your way to the next stage in your life. When you schedule your Master Plan appointment with us, we will show you it is all about you. We will show you how we get the most qualified traffic knocking on your door.
Call me at 971.235.9561 and we can figure out your Master Plan together.
