Monday, April 23, 2007

The Internet Is Where It's At

Look for a Web-savvy Realtor to get your home sold fast and for the best price! Virtual tours and videos are a MUST on the web! Did you know that 80% of the people start their home search on the Internet?

Internet presence is the main marketing tool to get your home sold fast and for the highest price. In the days before the Internet, most people used newspaper ads, Realtor caravans and open houses. But the Internet has changed product marketing, and real estate is no exception!

Did you know that only 5% of the homes for sale are advertised in the paper? Savvy home buyers don’t typically shop for homes this way anymore, and Realtor caravans are also a thing of the past. Why would a busy Realtor drive from home to home on caravan when they can see dozens of properties online in the same amount of time? If you see a group of Realtors munching on goodies at a caravan, chances are good that they don’t have much else to do. The Realtors that are hungry for business are out in the field working hard for their clients. Another type of marketing, the open house, has dropped drastically in effectiveness, too, since the advent of virtual tours and Internet marketing. Why would you leave the comfort of your home or office to drive from house to house, maybe in miserable weather, facing road construction, paying the high price of gas, when you can view listing on the Internet?

When you interview Realtors whose marketing plan is newspaper ads, Realtor caravans and open houses, take the time to shop around. Marketing that requires no cost and no particular skill, and very little effort other than sitting in your home, died with the dinosaurs. Any Realtor who takes the sale of your home seriously knows the effectiveness of using today’s technology to do the best possible job they can for you. Check out www.realtor.com to see this great technology at work. You have the option to see all listings, or only those with virtual tours and/or extra pictures. Most buyers click through those homes with no virtual tour or interior pictures. It’s interesting that even though statistics show 70% of home buyers search on realtor.com, less than 50% of homes on that site have virtual tours. The Realtors submitting those listings without virtual tours are not doing the best job marketing their seller’s homes!
Look for a Web-savvy Realtor to get your home sold fast and for the best price! Virtual tours and videos are a MUST on the web! Did you know that 80% of the people start their home search on the Internet?

Internet presence is the main marketing tool to get your home sold fast and for the highest price. In the days before the Internet, most people used newspaper ads, Realtor caravans and open houses. But the Internet has changed product marketing, and real estate is no exception!

Did you know that only 5% of the homes for sale are advertised in the paper? Savvy home buyers don’t typically shop for homes this way anymore, and Realtor caravans are also a thing of the past. Why would a busy Realtor drive from home to home on caravan when they can see dozens of properties online in the same amount of time? If you see a group of Realtors munching on goodies at a caravan, chances are good that they don’t have much else to do. The Realtors that are hungry for business are out in the field working hard for their clients. Another type of marketing, the open house, has dropped drastically in effectiveness, too, since the advent of virtual tours and Internet marketing. Why would you leave the comfort of your home or office to drive from house to house, maybe in miserable weather, facing road construction, paying the high price of gas, when you can view listing on the Internet?

When you interview Realtors whose marketing plan is newspaper ads, Realtor caravans and open houses, take the time to shop around. Marketing that requires no cost and no particular skill, and very little effort other than sitting in your home, died with the dinosaurs. Any Realtor who takes the sale of your home seriously knows the effectiveness of using today’s technology to do the best possible job they can for you. Check out www.realtor.com to see this great technology at work. You have the option to see all listings, or only those with virtual tours and/or extra pictures. Most buyers click through those homes with no virtual tour or interior pictures. It’s interesting that even though statistics show 70% of home buyers search on realtor.com, less than 50% of homes on that site have virtual tours. The Realtors submitting those listings without virtual tours are not doing the best job marketing their seller’s homes!