Traditional ways of selling homes is becoming more and more inefficient. 80% of home buyers start their search online. Because of this, it is more important than ever to give your home a strong online presence. The internet has changed the real estate industry and many real estate professionals have yet to adapt.

If you [...]]]>

Traditional ways of selling homes is becoming more and more inefficient. 80% of home buyers start their search online. Because of this, it is more important than ever to give your home a strong online presence. The internet has changed the real estate industry and many real estate professionals have yet to adapt.

If you are looking to sell your home in today’s market you should be aware of the tools available to you to sell your home online.

Tools like RSS (Real Simple Syndication) supercharge the online presence of your home. Websites like Trulia, Zillow, and others are helpful in this matter. You should also find a way to get your home on blogs, forums, and yes even YouTube.

YouTube is among the top 10 most visited and used websites.

What’s even more important than the amount of places where your home is being advertised is the SEO practices behind this. You should consult with an SEO expert to make sure the right traffic is driven to see your home. This is the most ignored aspect of online marketing and has cause many to think that online marketing doesn’t work.

So here’s a quick guide to sell your home online.

First, write down the advertising copy of your home. This will be your description.

Make sure the description talks about the benefits the buyer gets from buying your home. Most advertising only talks about the features which is pure junk by itself. Buyers buy on emotion. You must therefore talk to their emotional hot buttons.

Most advertising sound something like this “3 bed 2 bath, new roof, water softner, etc.”

A good ad is more like this “Beautiful family home on quiet street, bonus game room with soundproof wall so you can relax even if you have loud kids, cozy living room with fireplace, etc.”

The main difference is that the latter one talks about the buyers benefits while the former talks about the features of the home.

Second… find websites where you would like to list your home such as trulia or for sale by owner websites. On the internet, pictures are everything. You should use a wide angle lens to take pictures of your home. You should not use a fish eye lens. Lighting is everything when it comes to taking pictures. That being said, make sure the house is well lit when taking pitures and avoid dark room pictures. Many buyers will discard your home just based on that.

Once you have your listing up, you should visit forums and blogs and begin sharing your listing and participating in the real estate community. Selling a home is all about networking and talking to people.

You may also hire an agent to do this for you, just be sure that they are online experts and can help you do this.

Selling your home without an agent can be very appealing when you pocket in the commission you would’ve paid out to that pushy salesperson. Oh yeah, let’s not forget that you would love to rub it in their face how fast you were able to sell your own home without their help. But are [...]]]>

Selling your home without an agent can be very appealing when you pocket in the commission you would’ve paid out to that pushy salesperson. Oh yeah, let’s not forget that you would love to rub it in their face how fast you were able to sell your own home without their help. But are you really prepared to do just that?

Well, let’s test your knowledge…

Here’s what you should already know. Here are the basic skills you must possess if you are planning on humiliating the neighborhood expert and sell your home yourself fast and for top dollar.

1. You must have a good understanding of the market and the latest trends in the mortgage industry that will help you target qualified home buyers to sell your home. Are you in the first time home buyers price range? If so, you must know what types of financing programs are available in your area and find out if there are any special grants offered. You’d be surprised how many buyers don’t research the types of loans available to them and if you are able to offer them a good deal on financing they’ll be more considerate when buying your home.

You should also know if your home is a good cashflow property for an investor and use that as an angle to market your property.

If you are in the upper range or luxury home market you must know the potential buyer traps with jumbo loans and pay closer attention to how qualified the buyer is before accepting an offer and taking it off the market.

2. Know what to do and what not to do to sell your home fast and for top dollar. There are common seller mistakes that are never taken into consideration until the problem arises. Taking the time to prepare your home for sale and doing quick and easy fix ups can save you thousands and avoid traps during the home inspection period.

3. If you have the last two steps taken care of, you should have enough knowledge to market your property. You know what you are going to be offering your prospective buyers and you should know how your home compares against your neighbors. Part of getting to know the market means that you should know the condition of the homes that sold recently, the ones that are under contract, as well as the homes that are for sale. These are your competitors and you should know what type of upgrades they have so you can price your home competitively.

Your marketing materials should not talk about your home. This is the biggest mistake made in real estate. Even professionals make this mistake. You can look at homes being advertised and find that 95% of them are marketed poorly. Your marketing materials should talk about the benefits home buyers get from buying your home.

If you follow this advice your chances of being successful at selling your own home can increase.