Marketing your home

How important is marketing your home?

When you are selling your home, pricing is the most important factor, followed by location and condition of the property. In recent years “marketing” became a buzz word in real estate. Marketing of course is important, but how important is marketing when selling your home? Here are some of our thoughts about marketing your home.

Marketing has many different definitions but in essence it is trying to find the right person with the right message. First there is marketing that realtors direct towards their audience, buyers and sellers of homes. Then there is the marketing of your home if you are selling it. Both types of marketing intertwine and we notice that the public does not always see the difference.

Marketing your home…?

The marketing that a realtor performs to find clients, buyers and sellers, is varied. There are the almost classic bus bench, billboards to showcase realtors, customer appreciation days, sponsored events and so on. Realtors may target certain groups like seniors and first time home buyers. They may target certain constructions like luxury homes or condos. Or they may spend marketing dollars on certain communities in Calgary and present themselves as the area specialists.

Or marketing the realtor…?

Do flyers in mailboxes, advertisements in newspapers and real estate magazines, and glossy magazines sell your home? The answer is no. Print material does not sell your home. However, the public often sees this as an important type of marketing. Most printed material to sell your home is really to sell the realtor, not your home.

Our strong belief is that your home sells via the MLS. These days, 90% to 95% of home buyers start their search on the internet. Selling your home via printed material is very slim. But it is a way for a realtor to showcase whom s/he is and how many homes s/he sells.

Will an open houses sell your home?

An open house is a way of marketing both the realtor and the home and is something we still recommend, especially in the first few weeks your home goes on the market. Selling your home via an open house may be extremely slim, but it is still something we recommend for the following reasons. And these we really found out by doing open houses;

• Some people like to browse homes on their own, in their own time.
• There are people who don’t want to always ‘bother’ their realtor.
• Some people don’t have a realtor yet, and like to find their home this way.
• Sometimes realtors don’t have time right away and thus they can send their clients to the open house.
• Most people work and do not have many days available to see homes. It often comes down to evenings and weekends. An open house may offer buyers to see the home, rather than seeing it during your dinner.
• The first few open houses may give you good feedback from potential buyers. Feedback is often very helpful to determine your chances of selling and may indicate where you are with the price of your home.

Marketing your home on the MLS

So when you are looking for a realtor, interview a few, and don’t go blind staring at expensive glossy print and newspaper ads. Marketing your home is still important when you are selling, but we see it as having more relevance presented on the internet. Is the text correct, not over-promising? How are the pictures? Pictures too beautiful may disappoint buyers. And a lot has to do with a first impression when people enter the home. A glossy flyer is great to take home for a potential buyer but advertisements in newspapers are really not effective anymore. With the MLS, homes are showing on most realtors’ websites and more than 95% of home buyers search for homes via the internet.

 

Please note: The above is general information and not considered legal advice. We do our best to write informative articles about real estate in Calgary, Alberta. If you have any questions or concerns about our comments, please feel free to contact us or speak to your legal advisor.