What a Realtor Should Do in Marketing a Home

Last week, I discussed know when selling a home. This week, I will turn the tables and tell you what realtors should be doing to market a listed home. During a listing appointment realtors will present all the things they will do to market a home. Some things are critical while others are not so important.

1. PRICE – Price is the most important and critical part of selling a home. If a home goes on the market and it is overpriced, all the marketing in the world will not help. Realtors have access to a lot of historical data that will help them recommend a selling price. As they do their analysis, they should be looking at market data. To establish a price that will sell, the amount that you paid, the amount that you need or the opinion of your neighbor should not be a factor. The realtor should remove the emotion out of pricing process and look at the data. Comparing the subject property to other homes for sale in the neighborhood/area is important, however, looking at those homes that have SOLD is critical.

Seeing the prices of the homes that have sold is the true test if where the market is for any neighborhood. The market is established by a buyer agreeing to buy at a price that a seller is willing to sell. This will include . A true professional will give you the data and tell it like it is. After that price is established, the seller can decide how to proceed.

2. INTERNET EXPOSURE – Most realtors take a listing and put the listing on MLS and FMLS. Both of these sites are critical as they are the tools that the realtors use when they are working with clients. It is important that the photos in both MLS and FMLS are professional and will actually market the home in a positive way. All the photos that go in MLS are the pushed out to all the other public websites that buyers use when doing their own searches. If the photos do not show the subject property in a positive light, then both realtors and buyers will pass it by and move onto the next one.

Outside of MLS and FMLS, what else can a realtor to maximize Internet exposure? Well, everyone has heard of Realtor.com, which is the most visited real estate website in the world. Does your agent have a premium account allowing more photos? More photos put the listing higher in search results list. A premium package also allows virtual tours and realtor branding. Your realtor should be pushing your listing out to as many real estate portals as possible. Those portals may include sites like, Trulia, Zillow, ajchomefinder, Yahoo real estate, and many more. Statistics say that over 80 percent of buyers start looking online before talking to a realtor, so having maximum Internet exposure is a critical piece to the puzzle.

3. CALL CAPTURE – Many of you have seen For Sale signs that have the 24 hour information hotline on them. Well this service not only allows a buyer to get information about a listed home, but it also captures the buyers phone number and sends it to the realtor. Your realtor should be willing to have this service AND be willing to follow up with those buyers while they are out looking and try to schedule a showing for the listed property.

4. VIRTUAL TOUR – Does your realtor use a ? Buyers online prefer looking at virtual tours if they are done correctly. Most virtual tour software allows more pictures than MLS (16) or FMLS (26). Virtual tours give the realtor an opportunity to market the home, the subdivision and maybe as much as the schools and shops in the area. A virtual tour may come with a unique link that can be shared with a seller. They could send it to everyone they know or use it to create a nice listing on Craigslist or Facebook.

Is your Realtor really doing everything possible to market your home? Other things that can be done include open houses and agent caravans. While these events have become less popular because of the Internet, they are things that show that the realtor is working for you. Communication and follow up is important as well. Selling a home is a team event, as the seller has to do their part in keeping the house ready to show and being flexible with their time.

All that said, remember, all the marketing in the world will not be effective if the price is too high!

Good Luck and Good Selling