The Basics of Home Marketing
Basic marketing efforts by a reputable realtor should include advertising and showing your property. Your home may be listed through a Multiple Listing Service (MLS), although luxury homes may use alternate venues.
Advertising and Promotion
Properties for sale are commonly advertised through real estate agent Websites, Internet home search/listing services, classified advertising, and real estate guides. Promotion efforts through office and MLS tours are a good way of getting other buyer agents to view your home and to promote it to the buyers they are working with.
Even with all these advertising avenues, "For Sale" signs on front lawns are still remarkably effective. Many realtors promote their Websites on the sign and use brochure boxes on the signs to market the property. When appropriate, and with your permission, your realtor may send a mailing about your property to your neighbors. Sometimes one of them has a friend or relative who may want to live nearby! Sometimes the benefit of word-of-mouth advertising by friends, relatives, and neighbors can be highly effective. Ask your realtor what he or she will do to advertise and market your home.
Showings and Open Houses
To prepare your home for viewing, make it as bright, clean, cheerful, and serene as possible. Always look at your home from a buyer's point of view. Your realtor will probably find a tactful way to suggest that you be absent while the house is being shown to prospective buyers, because your presence will inhibit their actions and conversations. They won't feel free to open closets and cabinets, test out the plumbing and discuss their observations objectively as they walk through the house. Your children and pets should not be at home either.
If your realtor has scheduled an open house, you may want to notify your neighbors, and assure them that they'll be welcome. They'll jump at the chance to poke around in your house, and sometimes they will find a buyer among their friends. Here's a quick checklist for getting your home ready for showings and open houses:
- Open the curtains and blinds.
- Replace any burned out light bulbs and turn on all of the lights.
- Clear all clutter and empty the trash.
- Clear all countertops, wash and put away any dirty dishes.
- Set the dining room or kitchen table with nice linens and china.
- Simmer a few drops of vanilla on the stove.
- Put on soft music.
- Clean the fireplace.
- Clean the carpets and floors.
- Make the beds.
- Put fresh towels in the bathrooms.
- Leave the house so your realtor will be free to deal with prospective buyers in a professional manner.
- Put your pets in cages or take them to a neighbor's home.
Long Time on the Market?
Professional appraisers will tell you that your home is only worth as much as a buyer will pay for it. If your home has been on the market for months, it's a clear message that you may be asking too much. This is particularly true if there haven't been many prospects coming to see your home. If this happens, what you should do depends on whether you really need to sell your home, and if you've got a time limit.
If you're not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait as long as necessary and hope that the market will catch up to your asking price. The only problem with this is that in time, your home begins to feel shopworn. Buyers are suspicious of a house that's been on the market for a long time. If you're content to wait out the market, you may want to take your home off of the market until the prices heat up again.
If you really do need to sell, discuss a schedule with your realtor for gradually dropping your price until you find a level that attracts buyers. There's no point in saying, "We simply can't sell our house." Anything will sell if the price is right.
If You're Buying Another Home
You may wonder what happens when you're selling one home and buying another; how do all of the details work out? Should you sell your home first and then buy, or buy your next home first and then sell the one you already have? Ideally, you should find the home that you'd like to buy first, and make an offer on that subject to selling your current home. This generally works in a normal market. However, in a "hot" market most sellers will not accept a "subject to sale" offer, and in a slow market they may not be willing to wait. In these cases, you will need to sell your existing home first, before you buy your new home.
If you need to buy your next home before you've received the proceeds from the sale of your present home, lending institutions can sometimes make a short-term "bridge" loan to tide you over between the two transactions. These loans are rare in the current market, and as with any loan, you should make sure you fully understand your exposure and emotional investment before proceeding with this type of loan.
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