by laudu

9 Excellent Reasons to Sell Your Own Home

There is a growing trend to sell your home yourself. Here are 9 excellent reasons I think homeowners should consider selling for sale by owner or FSBO.

1) Selling your home yourself can save you a lot of money.

This is pretty obvious. Saving 5-6% commission can easily save you tens of thousands of dollars!

2) You can price your home more competitively and still net more money.

To sell your home quickly, you need to price your house competitively, especially in a buyer’s market. Selling your home yourself can save you money on real estate commissions, sell your home fast, while you offer your buyers competitive pricing.

For example, if you are saving ,000 on commission, you can easily afford to price your house ,000 less than the identical house down the block and still come out with more money in your pocket. This creates a winning situation for both you and your buyer!

3) Many agents lack the experience and skill to sell your house like you want.

Unfortunately, basic realtor training involves mainly learning the mechanics of buying and selling of houses. There is little to no marketing education. I’ve had agents admit to me they’ve had NO marketing education. I was shocked when I learned this!

It is only through years of experience and ongoing training that an agent becomes what you expect them to be – a true professional with specialized talents and skills who can do something you cannot.

And many people that use an agent, pick a friend, relative, or neighbor regardless of their level of experience.

4) Your listing agent will almost never be the one to sell your house.

An agent who lists houses is called a listing agent. A listing agent will probably not bring you a buyer, and may never even show your house. You see, for them their job is a “numbers game”. The more houses they list, the better the chances are that one will sell. Listing agents look for houses to list and let other agents – the buyer’s agents – bring buyers to your home.

5) Some listings agents will tell you what you want to hear.

Let’s face it, if you had three real estate agents wanting to list your house and they all gave you a different opinion on what they thought you could sell your house for, which one would you choose? The one who tells you she can get you the highest price, of course! And do you know what the single worst thing you can do to make sure you don’t get your house sold quickly is? List it too high!

6) An agent has little incentive for you to hold out for the best offer.

Let’s do a little math. Let’s assume the agent’s commission is 6%. It will be split four ways (buyer’s agent, buyer’s broker, listing agent, and listing broker each get only 1.5%). So if an agent suggested you lower the price ,000 that would mean only a reduction of 0 for him!

7)Buyer’s agents know little about your house.

Once your house is listed, it’s now up to buyer’s agents to show and sell your house. They know no more about your house than what is on the listing flyer. So basically, people who you have never met, who have never talked to you about your house, who may have never seen your house before, will be trying to sell your house. That’s pretty crazy, isn’t it? Who knows more about your home than you?

Buyer’s agents don’t care if they sell your house or someone else’s.

They want to sell the most expensive house their buyer can afford that also offers the highest commission and bonuses. This is also pretty crazy, isn’t it? You are entrusting the sale of your house to someone who has no particular interest in selling your house.

9) The Internet and flat fee listings have taken away real estate agents’ main advantage.

This is probably the biggest reason of all that you can easily sell your house “for sale by owner”. The Internet has given buyers and sellers access to a variety of selling sites including agents’ main selling tool, the Multiple List Service (MLS). Now, anyone can list their house using flat fee MLS. Plus, you can market your house in many additional effective ways agents either won’t or can’t.

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Appraiser, Realtor, Home Inspector – 3 Pros required when you sell your PEI home

How many home owners know when it comes to selling their home what it is really worth in the market of today! Unless you are an active realtor or appraiser yourself chances are you know what you need to get to buy your next home. You probably know what you would like to make on having invested in this home and paid the mortgage all these years. You certainly know all that has happened in your life and the lives of all your family members while living in this house and most likely value all these memories highly. However you probably can not step back from your own needs, your own nostalgia and your own vested interest and properly evaluate your property as an appraiser would â?? not based on what you would like it to be worth but what homes of the same type in your area are selling for and what a prospective purchaser would most likely pay.

If you donâ??t list your home at close to the market price you will simply be wasting time and putting your life plans on hold. If you really donâ??t care if you sell and are only testing the market this might not matter as you may not really have any plans. However if you have a home under offer that you want to buy contingent upon selling this home then you might just be throwing away your dream home if you price your current home too high.

This is where a home appraiser comes in! Appraisers are trained to know the value of your home. They can look at any home and create a Comparative Market Analysis taking into consideration the area, the condition, the features and comparing these with other homes that have sold. In this way they define the value of your property.

In addition to an appraiser ask realtors with whom you are considering listing the same question. They should come in with prices in the same general area as the appraiser. Any realtor who is too far out is suspect. Those valuing too low are most likely just trying for a quick sale at your expense â?? those too high may either simply not know or they are trying to get you to list thinking that they can get you a higher price and then a few weeks in they will ask you to drop your price to what the home is really worth after they have you tied up in a listing contract.

When consulting with a PEI real estate realtor ask them to explain in detail how they plan to market your home. Gone are the days when putting a sign on your lawn and an ad in the paper was sufficient. Find out all the websites that will be carrying your listing and they should have access to more than just the realtor.ca, the MLS site. They should have a corporate site, company office site and their own site. Ask if their company system syndicates your listing over the personal sites of other realtors in their office.

Finally you should get a PEI real estate home inspection! Normally the buyer will have a home inspection done but you want to know what any inspector will find. This gives you a chance to re-consider your price or to do the work now to fix anything that the buyers inspector will find. If the market is strong at the time and in the area you are selling you might not have to make repairs or upgrades. If the market is weak you probably should â??take care of businessâ?. Sometimes though, if you want a quick sale, doing renos is not practical  as this will slow your property getting on the market. In this case you might take your lumps on the price and just get it sold.

The use of these professionals will however give you the knowledge to make informed decisions when it comes to the marketing of your property and are well worth the money they will charge.

8 Tips to Hiring a Good Realtor to Sell Your Home

Are you looking for a Realtor to represent you in the sale of your home? Here are 8 tips that will help you make a good decision on choosing a Realtor.

1. Business decision, not a personal one

Selling your home is not an easy task in today’s market. It is challenging and you need someone that is up to the task. Use a full time real estate professional with a proven track record. Think twice before using a family member or friend who has not sold a home since 2005. This may be the largest transaction of your life so make it a business decision. It is best to hire good representation from day one.

2. Ask for a referral

Ask your friends and family members to refer you to a good Realtor. Someone you know has probably used a good real estate agent. Ask around and get a list of good Realtors to interview. They will probably tell you a few not to use.

3. Interview Realtors

Most Realtors hate this tip. Meet with more than one agent and have them do a listing presentation for you. This usually consists of their marketing plan, backgrounds, background on their brokerage and a valuation of your property.

4. Hire the biggest producer?

Don’t assume that the highest producer is the best Realtor or gives the best service. Would you rather work with a good Realtor who has forty listings or a good Realtor that has ten? You probably will end up with better service with the Realtor that spread between only 10 listings. That is not always the case but this is what you can uncover when you interview them. The larger producer may sell ten homes between million and million a year. If your home is worth 0,000 would you rather use that Realtor or one who sells twenty homes a year priced between 0,000 and 0,000?

5) You get what you pay for

I am just as frugal as the next guy. However, often times you get what you pay for. The market dictates what Realtors charge for services. It is a negotiable item and there are discount brokerages out there.

From the outside it appears that Realtor make way too much money. 6% of 0,000 is ,000. That is a lot of money. However, when you break it down and spread it around it isn’t as much as you think. That commission is usually split between the listing agent and selling agent. The Realtors have to split with their brokers. Brokers have to pay their staff, rent, advertising, light bill, utilities, etc. Promoting your listing to find a buyer costs money so there are expenses like photography, advertising, direct mailers, signs, websites etc. The agents belong to one or several Realtor Associations. We have to pay dues to all of those Associations. To promote the listing on the MLS we have to pay dues to access the MLS. The expenses go on. Realtors probably don’t make as much money as you think.

I have a friend in the business who says, “If you want to pay peanuts you end up working with monkeys.”

6) Don’t let the Realtor buy your listing

This is fairly common occurrence. Realtors are fighting to get listings and they could tell you an unrealistic price for your home just so they list with you. Realtors either know that they are doing this or they are just horrible at pricing property. Make any agent you interview substantiate their valuation with market facts, data and trends. Often times, the Realtor with the lowest valuation is your best choice because they are most honest or most in tune with the market.

7) Interview a Realtor that specializes in your area

Some Realtors only work a small niche. Those agents typically know their niche or market area more than their competitors. They are good to have on your side. However, the process of valuing and selling real estate is essentially the same in all segments of market with slight variations. You don’t have to hire a specialist or niche Realtor.

Be Leery

Be cautious of Realtors who tell you everything you want to hear. I would rather be told the truth versus what I wanted to hear only to find out the truth later. Some Realtors are total “yes” people and lead you believe what you want to believe just to get your listing.

Keep these tips in mind and they will help you make a wise choice in hiring a Realtor. Selling a home is not rocket science but you can waste a lot of time hiring the wrong agent. The way home prices have been falling listing with the wrong agent can cost you a large amount of money.

Online Marketing Does Really Help Sell your Unwanted Timeshares

Most of Timeshare owners tend to hire or seek the services of  an online sale-by-owner marketing or advertising firm. With these companies or marketing gurus, your overall agenda in doing this covers the following:

To be able to market your Timeshares throughout the web to cover a broader audience. In terms of millions of traffic or surfers that may bump to your ad and be interested with your Timeshare. Doing this approach may simply cut-off marketing expenses compared to advertising your ad on TV or radio. Online marketing has a competitively low price in terms of advertising or marketing your Timeshare that has been for sale in decades. Online advertising or marketing assures you that you deal with “straight talk” and there are no hidden fees from online advertising or marketing firms. The bottom line here is that due to the various marketing and advertising schemes that you have implemented, none of those have succeeded and this is the last “straw” to get rid of your timeshare and this now depends on the online marketing or advertising firm or company that you are scouting for to do this.

How to Track an Online Company that Can Help Sell your Timeshare?

That is the most important question of all and there are various online firms that promises that “they can market your timeshare property to thousands and thousands of traffic or surfers on a daily basis”, organic traffic or “real persons” who will be interested in your timeshare inventory and that these companies are actively mining the net to track these investors.

But even if there is a slim chance to get that perfect company or firm that will be the “guardian angel” of selling your Timeshares, there are a few chosen firms that I can refer you that use an effective “internet marketing plan” in achieving the goal of selling your Timeshare. Sites such as the link indicated in the author’s bio is highly recommendable and it seems that those professional marketers or consultants have been selling and buying Timeshares for decades and has the greatest exposure in this field.

Once you start selling your Timeshares, the first thing to you must know is that you don’t need realtors or a real estate lawyer or even big realty firms to help you. Those are nonsense.

Let me tell you straight to the point: Dealing with the best experienced online marketers who know the nature of the Timeshare industry by heart is what you need. The best part here is that the company will even pay you out for a certain amount and I don’t know the details here but the fact that paying you out instead of you buying out their services gives the assurance that they know what they are doing.

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How Do We Sell in a Declining Market?

HOW DO WE SELL IN A TIGHT MARKET?

I hate to include this old response here, but this question is asked every week. Nothing has changed! For the past twenty years, we have been teaching that there are five main reasons why a property sells.

1. LOCATION – You may not be able to change the location, but the seller was once the buyer and chose that location at that time. A desirable location is often hard to get traffic to and an undesirable location is often highly visible. You must determine how to adjust your price and marketing accordingly.

2. PRICE – Sellers sometimes think that price is based upon their needs or investment. This just isn’t the case. Market value remains what a buyer and seller agree upon. The best indicator of market value is recent sales of like properties. Typically, like or comparable properties are about the same size and age and are in close proximity to the property being sold.

3. TERMS – Terms are negotiable once an offer has been received, but the seller initially dictates the terms. The most critical terms are the rules for showing. In a market where buyers have a large inventory to pick over, it is important to make your property readily accessible. If you have animals, it is best to get them and their equipment off the property. Everyone loves their own animals, but other people’s animals represent exposure that buyers do not like. If you cannot move the animals, then do the best you can to minimize their impact on showing the property.

4. CONDITION OF PROPERTY – Selling a property “as is, where is and with all faults” and getting market value are parallel opposites and the two shall never meet. Some deferred maintenance items absolutely must be corrected. Those include any moisture intrusions and most safety items. If you cannot and do not make the repairs before putting a property on the market, expect to reduce the price about double what those repairs would have actually cost.

5. THE AGENT YOU SELECT –Your agent should be responsive to you, have a proven marketing plan, have good communication skills and the tools to get your property before the largest audience possible. If you plan to sell it yourself, recognize that you are the agent you selected. You, the seller, control all five of these parameters. If your property does not get sold, no matter the type of market, then you do not understand, are not able, or decline to adjust one or more of these five parameters.

Contact the old realtor at :ask@capitolarearealty.com if you would like to discuss this opinion..

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by laudu

Tips on How to Choose a Realtor Agent to Sell Your House

Despite the increasing interest of people to engage in do-it-yourself projects in most aspects of everyday life and in business, there are those who still believe that if you want a job done right, you should hire a professional that has actual and formal training in the job that you require to be done. DIY enthusiast will insist that anything any person can do, they can also do just as well, if not better, but experts will say that years of experience can bestow upon a person certain techniques, strategies, and methods that cannot be learned by any other person who has not gone through the same training and on-hands experience as they have.

Take for example the business of selling a house. This is a business that may appear to be quite easy and seem probably effortless for some, but in reality, it takes years of experience to hone the skills needed to be an effective realtor agent. Professional realtor agents are trained to locate the right property for you at a price that is specifically within your budget, and even negotiate on your behalf, to try to get the best deal for you.

So how do you get to chose a good realtor agent to sell your house? Here are a few tips:

Sort out the best – There are a multitude of realtor investors out there that are all willing to find you a home, or find someone who will buy the house form you. Be sure to sift through the many realtor agents from different companies to find the realtor agent that you feel is best suited to helping you sell you house.

Familiarity – One of the most common questions a potential buyer can ask a realtor agent is about the safety of the neighborhood where the house being sold is situated in. The question of safety is something only someone who has really lived in the area can answer, and people nowadays can really discern if people are being honest with them or just feeding them hype in an attempt to close a sale.

Track record – Just like a professional athlete’s scorecard, the prospective realtor agent is sure to have a portfolio to back up his claims to being as good realtor agent. Check the realtor agent’s track record, as this will show the level of dedication and service that you can expect from the realtor agents.

Commission talk – Realtor agents, of course, live for the money, and will often give their best if they know they stand to close a huge deal and get a better pay for their efforts. A recent study, however, reveals that many agents are quite willing to accept 3 to 4% commission only, as compared to the standard 6% percent. This may, again, have to do with the economic downtrend that is currently happening around the world, and some realtor agents have decided that they would rather be earning a relatively smaller amount than not be earning at all.

Finding A Great Realtor To Sell Your Home

The Phoenix area is full of people who sell real estate. Some of them are smart, efficient, focused, versatile and willing to go the extra mile. And some of them aren’t.

Finding an agent who will sell your home in Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Maricopa & Queen Creek using a range of marketing tools to get you the best deal possible in a reasonable amount of time, all while charging a fair rate, takes some effort. Interview at least three candidates before you sign a contract.

Here, thanks to Alison Rogers, author of Diary of a Real Estate Rookie, and a practitioner in New York City, are 10 questions you really want to ask so you can identify the best real estate agent to sell your property.

How much? Ask potential agents how much they think they can sell your home for. If two agents say 0,000 and the third says 0,000, think hard. It’s likely the high bid is an exaggeration to attract your business. In the trade it’s known as buying a listing. In the end, you’ll be the one who pays because the high price will scare away potential buyers before you inevitably drop the price.
How will you market it? Running a few classified ads in the local paper, listing it on the Internet and holding an open house shouldn’t be the only answers. The practitioner should be able to talk about what kinds of people are likely buyers and how he will reach out to those specific people.
How has your business changed in the last five years? If she doesn’t talk about website tours and smart phones, chances are this is not a highly wired agent. While Luddites can still sell houses, it is getting harder. And if this is one of those people who doesn’t even use e-mail, you’re letting yourself in for unnecessary aggravation. And you may cut yourself off from opportunities.
Tell me how your last two deals surprised you? Every agent has a success story, but this question will give you a much better feel for what this practitioner is like as a salesperson.
What’s your specialty? If you’re selling a starter home in a community full of young families, hiring an agent who specializes in seniors is probably a bad idea. It doesn’t mean that if he only sells condos that he can’t sell a house, but he may not be geared up to do the best job.
How many people are you selling homes for right now and what are you doing for them? It may not be a bad thing that a high-powered agent is juggling 15 homes, but don’t expert her to give you personal service, although her assistant should be attentive. On the other hand, be wary of an agent with no other customers because she may lack experience and contacts.
What do you expect of me? A good salesperson will have expectations. He may want you to leave and take the dog when the house is shown, paint the garage, move some furniture around and scrub the tile in the bathroom. It shows that he can think like a buyer and that’s a good thing.
What advice would you have for me if I get an offer from a buyer who wants to use an FHA loan? It wasn’t very long ago when the right answer might be run the other way, but these days government –guaranteed financing  from the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and state and locally managed loan assistance programs can be key to selling a property. Real estate agents shouldn’t be pushing buyers toward their favorite lenders, but they should be able to help them and you wade through complex financing issues.
What’s your fee? Forty-six percent of sellers Consumer Reports surveyed this year attempted to negotiate a lower commission rate. About 71 percent succeeded and those people were just as satisfied with the performance of their real estate agents as those who paid the standard 6 percent or more. In short, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Can I talk to one of your previous clients? You never know.

To see what your home is worth and see our marketing plan in the south East valley of the Phoenix area visit us at http://ralphandtricia.com/sellers.htm 

How is Anthony Gugliotta (Goog-Lee-Ah-Tah) going to get your home sold? He is going to incorporate his 25-Step Top Dollar Home Marketing Plan. The objectives of his marketing plan are: To expose your home to the maximum number of interested and capable buyers. To educate all interested prospects on the unique features and lifestyle benefits your home offers. To help you get the highest possible sales price for your home To make the listing and sales process easy, convenient, and problem-free for you; and To educate and assist you in the most effective ways to present your home for the greatest buyer impression. One of the most important steps in Anthony’s 25-Step Top Dollar Home Marketing Plan is to post your home to the world. Anthony pushes your home to over 25 websites and partners including: Realtor.com, GoogleBase, Trulia.com, Cyberhomes, Yuvie.com, Point2Home.com, Geebo.com, Unique Global Estates, MSN.com, AOL.com, Juno, Wall Street Journal Online, Netscape, iWon, NetZero, CompuServe, IBS, Yahoo, Craigslist, and many more.Remember, the #1 objective to get your home sold is to expose your home to the maximum number of interested and capable buyers. The internet is the number one place for people to search for homes, and 72% of the people start their search on line.To learn about the 24 other steps that Anthony takes to get your home sold, go to his website at www.HuntingForHomesOnline.com or give him a call to set up a free no obligation meeting.
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by joannamkay

Teach Your Realtor How To Sell Your House!

“Whether buying or selling, the ‘lease-option’ really works for buyers and sellers!” stated Realtor Mike Payne with Horizon Realty (Sarasota, Florida) of Southwest Florida.

In today’s housing market, conventional selling strategies don’t work.

The various terms “lease-option,” “rent to own,” lease-purchase” and “lease to own” allow both buyers and sellers to take advantage of a “sub” market, a market not exploited by traditional Realtors.

When done legally and ethically, a “rent-to-own” transaction provides a win-win for buyers and sellers.

”Owner financing is not new…far from it. In various forms, buyers and sellers have utilized ‘rent to own’ strategies for decades,” Payne confirmed.

When done right, both buyers and sellers enjoy a win-win transaction. The buyer gets a nice home in a nice neighborhood at a fair price and with time to get financing. The seller gets his sales price, depreciates his property during the lease term, and collects a sufficient option fee from the buyer.

The option fee and rent premium are viewed differently by buyers and sellers. To the buyer, they’re part of the equity in the house they will soon own. Fully expecting to exercise the option, buyers pay a 2-5% option fee to control their new home with no bank qualifying. To sellers, however, these option payments are the best guarantee that their houses will sell; if they don’t sell, the payments are retained as income.

Further, each party relies on a strong lease-purchase contract, not a three-in-one “contract” loosely thrown together and dangerous to both parties.

Payne added, “Many buyers and sellers have ended up in court over a bad contract they attempted to throw together without a Realtor, a trained ‘rent-to-own home specialist’ or a real estate attorney. Absolutely, buyers and sellers must use a solid Lease-Purchase contract protecting both parties and both parties should not even think twice about involving a real estate attorney.”

It’s not enough to have a strong contract protecting both parties.

”Proper screening of prospective tenant-buyers must occur in order to separate the renters from the homeowners-in-training. Once the tenant-buyer checks out, a seller must demand a sufficient non-refundable option fee to keep the tenant-buyer committed to the property,” Payne added.

Each party further believes the other side will act honorably during the lease term. The seller will not attempt to take the property back to recapture lost appreciation.

The buyer agrees to make on-time monthly payments, maintain the property according to the contract and the homeowner’s association & improve the his/her credit (or other issues) to qualify for traditional financing.

Fundamentally, this is how a lease-to-own contract works. It’s a simple but effective buying and selling strategy.

”Yes, it’s simple and effective, but as with any real estate transaction a successful transaction depends on the details,” said Payne.

Success depends on the details.

For instance, SELLERS must:

1. Prevent an equitable interest claim filed against the seller?
2. Oversee their property during the lease term?
3. Know about a monthly rent credit?
4. Know what causes mortgage underwriters to disqualify a monthly rent credit?
5. Know how to determine the length of the lease term?
6. What is an “assignment” and how could an assignment hurt you?

On the flip side, BUYERS must:

1. Protect their interest in the property against unscrupulous sellers who attempt to cancel the contract & take the property back.
2. Get contract language protecting against unforeseen setbacks.
3. Avoid unlicensed & untrained “rent-to-own home specialists” who have taken the latest “guru” weekend bootcamp and suddenly “specialize” in owner financing.
4. Protect their option payments with strong contract language.
5. Pay a real estate attorney 0-0 to confirm the proposed contract protects the buyers.

Big paydays lure many people, including scammers, to real estate. Some scammers dress nicely, drive expensive vehicles & sound as if they want to help you.

Sellers and buyers both can benefit from “owner financing” provided both parties have their interests reviewed and protected by attorneys & work with people who know Lease-Purchase Agreements.

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by taminator

How a Realtor Can Help You Sell Your Home

SELLING REAL ESTATE TODAY IS STRESSFUL

Selling a home can often prove to be a stressful time in oneâ??s life. So much goes into preparing a house for the market and getting a house on the market–and then finding a potential buyer for the property. With all the homes on the market today competing for a much smaller pool of qualified buyers, it has become harder for any home to stand out and to sell. That is where a top real estate agent in the Tampa Bay area can help.

FINDING A TOP SELLING REALTOR

Finding a great agent does not have to be difficult. One of the best ways to find the perfect agent is through word of mouth. By talking to both current and past clients of an agent, a seller can better get an idea of exactly what that agent has to offer. When selling Tampa, Florida real estate, the services an agent offers are often crucial to executing the sale of a home. And you may wish to inquire if the agent is certified by an independent company for quality service. The QSC is now offering a rating of real estate professionals â?? please visit their website at http://www.qualityservice.org.

REALTOR SERVICES

The first, and most basic service, is pricing the home so that it will sell. Another important service is keeping the seller informed, in a timely manner, of any changes in the market that will impact the selling price. Once a competitive price has been established the home will be listed in the MLS (multiple listing service), allowing for those looking for Tampa, Florida real estate to find prospective homes.

I INTERNET IMPORTANT REAL ESTATE SALES TOOL

Internet marketing has become increasingly more critical and most of the real estate internet sites get their information from their local MLS. Some top public home search sites are Realtor.com, Zillow.com, and Trulia.com. Historically, advertising in newspapers and magazines was an important aspect in marketing Tampa Bay Real Estate, but those days are definitely over.

A great real estate agent will take the burden off the homeowner and can make selling that Tampa, Florida real estate a much less stressful process than it might otherwise be. It pays to work with a proven professional.

Marketing Hard To Sell Properties

Property owners tend to have a different view of the value of their properties when the time comes to sell, but from time to time it is necessary to market a hard to sell property. Whether the property is in a state of poor repair or there is a high volume of similar properties for sale in a the area, there are a number of techniques that can be used by for sale by owner (FSBO) sellers and real estate agents such as Minneapolis Realtors alike to market hard to sell properties. These techniques range from free methods to highlight the benefits of a particular property to expensive marketing plans developed by consulting firms. Each with its own benefits and drawbacks but the joint message is that you must identify your target market and your message in order for any marketing plan to work effectively.

Having a clear message in your marketing is a key element to marketing your property.  Typically in the case of selling a property, even a hard to sell property, the message is that the property is For Sale. It does not matter how many things you say about the property if people don’t know that it is for sale.  Some real estate companies overlook this key aspect when they place signage. There are for sale signs that have numerous riders and large print contact information but a teeny tiny for sale or for rent message.  The same goes for open house and yard sale signs. Often we see signs at the corner and don’t bother to drive around the block because it is not clear if the sign is for an open house or a yard sale. Other messages you may want to consider when marketing a hard to sell property are: Reduced Price, Buyer Incentives or, Special Financing Offers. Remember though, one message per marketing piece. Now that you have a clear message make sure that it applies to your target market.

Identifying your target market is just as important as your clear message. You can send your message out to thousands even millions of people but if they are not the type of buyer who would be interested in your property the chances of your marketing message resulting in a qualified buyer are slim. Sending out a property flyer for a 5 bedroom family house into a neighbourhood designed for executive couples makes about as much sense as marketing a rib fest in a vegetarian establishment. Now if you sent that same marketing flyer into a family oriented neighbourhood where the typical house has 3 or 4 bedrooms, the chances of your attracting a family that is looking for a larger house greatly improve. Now that you know the importance of targeting your market, let’s look at some of the free marketing methods that can be used to highlight the benefits of your property.

The internet is a great place to start.  The majority of buyers look for real estate such as Minneapolis real estate, online. Here are a few ways to strategize your marketing plan:

Digital Pictures: Buyers like to see pictures! Even if the property is not in the best shape, pictures will allow the buyers to have an idea of what the property does offer.  If you had two properties with a similar price and one had pictures that showed some flaws such as peeling paint or outdated decorating and the other property only showed the outside of the house, wouldn’t you wonder what the seller was trying to hide? Furthermore, if you did happen to attract a potential buyer without posting additional pictures they would likely turn a run when they got inside the place and saw that it needed work.
You Tube style video tours: This is the new trend.  FSBO sellers and real estate companies alike are beginning to make free You Tube type virtual tours of the properties that they are trying to sell. Similar to pictures the video tours give the buyer an idea of the overall picture of the property. You can even add audio to your video and give it that little something extra.
Blog-sites: In some cases you can set up a free blog-site that looks and acts just like a website. WordPress.com offers some easy to use templates that allow users to upload videos, photos, links and other information.  You can even have more than blog-site that can be customized to highlight different properties.  Take it one step further and purchase an inexpensive domain name as outlined below.
Email Campaigns: This is likely more applicable to real estate agents as they typically have at least a few contacts who are looking to buy at any given time. Email flyers and templates can be made up which include the information on the property.  Effective email campaigns are an inexpensive method to reach a number of pre-qualified buyers.

Print marketing although lessening in popularity with today’s buyers may be suitable for certain properties or in certain market places.  Commercial magazines are still very popular in some markets and may be worth the price of placing an advertisement, if the above guidelines regarding clear messages and target marketing are applied.

Larger real estate companies or specialized industrial property owners may consider utilizing large scale marketing techniques. A few examples are:

Professionally shot video tours – these tours are often used to professionally highlight the numerous features of a particularly large or special use property.
Dedicated websites – similar to the blog-sites mentioned above, dedicated web sites are designed specifically to provide information about the property.  This strategy involves a great deal of commitment, time and investment and is more suited for large and specialized properties that will take longer to sell.
Extensive Marketing Packages – an effective follow up technique used to provide interested and qualified buyers who have already responded to the initial marketing pieces. These packages generally include items such as estimates for repairs, information on repairs that have already been completed, property surveys, zoning information (where applicable), pre-listing home inspection reports and other property specific information.

In some markets it may be necessary to enlist the services of a consultation company.  This can occur in markets that do not have a real estate company who specialize in the type of property in question.  This typically applies to large and specialized industrial properties. They may use a number of the same techniques mentioned above and many will coordinate the entire marketing project.

When it comes time to market a hard to sell property there are a number of techniques that can be utilized by real estate companies and FSBO sellers alike. Knowing your target market and using a clear message in your marketing program can be applied to a variety of marketing techniques. These techniques rang from free online methods to highlight the benefits of a particular property to expensive marketing plans developed by consulting firms. You can know more at www.agentsranking.com

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