The ONE Marketing Tool Other Agents Did Not Use

With 95% of home buyers beginning their search online and over 50% using a mobile device, aggressive and complete marketing of a home has never been more important.

It is easy to identify the ONE thing that other agents did not do and compare the resulting sale price with the listings which utilized this ONE thing. We can see this simply by looking at the MLS listings. However, there are probably several things the other agents did not do that do not show up in an MLS listing—things like direct mail, social media marketing, feature cards (a lost art), full color brochures and more.

While most, but not all, listings have property photos, a surprising number have low quality photos taken by the real estate agents. In contrast, a professional photographer would have known how to stage the perfect shot to capture every room and angle of a property for the best presentation.

Potential Buyers Spend 60% of Their Time Looking at Photos and Only 20% Reading the Property Description – Wall St Journal

Potential buyers often make a quick decision about a property by just viewing the photos. They may decide to move on to another listing, view a listing but have apprehensions due to low quality visuals or fall in love with a property online and be ready to make a purchase as soon as they attend a live showing.

Make a Buyer Fall in Love with Your Home Online

The buyer who would be likely to pay the highest price for a property is the one who fell in love with the property online. Professional high-quality photos are great and will capture the interest of a buyer. However, photos are probably not enough to cause a buyer to fall in love with a property.

The ONE thing that can cause a buyer to fall in love with a property and the ONE thing other agents who sold similar units at a lower price DID NOT include in their marketing was a virtual tour of the property. A virtual tour allows a buyer to walk through a home, view every room from every direction and every angle, see the layout, the finer details—they see everything while on their computer or mobile device.

The blue icon under the main photo shows that the property includes a virtual tour. Besides our listing, only one other listing included a virtual tour. The interesting thing is that the other listing, which included a virtual tour, was previously the highest sale in the complex prior to our listing. Take a look.

Previous Highest Sale (December)

The following listings did not include a virtual tour and did not include professional photography. They have narrow photos taken from the phone of the agent.

List Price $310,000 | Sale Price $333,333

The two highest sales sold for $345,000 in May and $333,000 in December. Each included professional photographs and a virtual tour. All of the properties that were sold for a lower price did not include professional photographs and a virtual tour.

It is pretty clear that professional photographs and virtual tours have an impact. We can’t conclude that a virtual tour is the only thing that achieves the result of a higher sale price. However, since including a virtual tour is a much easier to implement than other marketing tools such as direct mail, social media marketing and more, we can assume that this full marketing strategy was not completed on these listings that were sold at a lower price.

Work With the Right Agent

If you are thinking of selling your home, you have to first avoid the number one mistake sellers make: not knowing the real market value of their home. Work with an agent who is also an experienced certified real estate appraiser, one who understands market value. Second, do not settle for anything less than a full and complete marketing plan of your home. Work with an agent who has a comprehensive marketing plan AND implements the full marketing plan.

Our marketing plan is the most comprehensive marketing plan in the industry and is fully implemented with every listing.

Find out the real value of your home by requesting our absolutely free, no obligation Appraisers Report.