Marketing today’s hot properties in an incredibly competitive environment affords buyers the virtual opportunity to minutely tour your home through the professionally directed lens producing fusion photography, cinematic video, and 3-D doll house tours. (Examples of how your home would be presented are shown HERE.)
Depending upon price point, aerial drone photography may be opportune as well. Buyers appreciate seeing where your property is located relative to Fawn Lake, Lake Anna, or the nearby Potomac, Rappahannock, MCB Quantico or the Blue Ridge! Or, where is your home located on the golf course?
MARKETING YOUR HOME
Your buyer will most likely initially find your home online. And the images and descriptions provided are the first opportunity for creating that “wow” impression in the potential buyer’s mind provoking the shout: “Honey, we have to see this one! Text the agent.”
Interior shots portray that huge kitchen island or your glorious cabinetry, and your six-burner gas stove. How about those shining granite tops and that backsplash? Aren’t those pendant lights awesome from this angle? Woo-hoo, a 300 square foot walk-in closet with organizers!
The word descriptions used should be crafted in a way that gives your buyer a feel for the environment they and their family and guests may inhabit. Descriptions should cover the many features of your home, but also what it feels like to have the family chef prepare taste temptations while chatting across the breakfast bar and watching the kids and the dog in the back yard. What is it like to awaken in the serene owner suite, prepare for the day in the spa-like master bath? Will you catch your breath descending to the light-filled family room? Touch those emotions!
Does the home support multi-generational living? What amenities and lifestyle are available in the neighborhood and community? What transportation and commute routes are available? Where are shopping, entertainment venues and restaurants? What are the room measurements? Are there floor plans and a plat? What is the utility expense history?
With all these digital and descriptive assets in hand, your agent will place them on the MLS and through it the hundreds of webpages dotting the world wide web!
Most of the homes listed online originate from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which is the “Active Market”. The homes listed there come from listings of the Real Estate Brokers. That is the “Active Market,” the real estate equivalent of the stock exchanges, only much more geographically dispersed. All real estate markets are mainly local.
That infrastructure and its standards, cooperation and data exchange drives your offer to hundreds of web portals globally. Getting your home listed on your local MLS establishes a base to get your listing massive exposure to buyers.
In addition to the MLS listing, Facebook ads about your property will drive interested buyer traffic to a beautifully presented Individual Webpage with custom description, photos, video and extensive Information for responding consumers developed specifically for sale of your house.
Generally speaking, and particularly so in the present sellers’ market, those steps will be more than enough to bring about immediate sale. But markets change over time. This time will be no different.
In the current market, this is overkill. But I can get your home listing on Page 1 of Google, the world’s most powerful search engine, under 30-50 or more search terms routinely used by purchasers looking for exactly what you have!
The search term “Pristine in Augustine 7 Pinkerton Court” has my video thumbnail at the top and bottom of Google page 1 still, almost three years after sale. And if one clicks “more” then “videos”, there are more video thumbnails from other search terms!
A Video Thumbnail is 87% more likely to be clicked than either a Sponsored Ad or an Organic Search generated by a national portal like Zillow or Realtor.com, and your link will many times be ahead of theirs!
EVERYONE who could possibly be interested is going to know that Your House is Available for Sale. Your sale will receive MASSIVE EXPOSURE designed to be responsive to the existing market environment, good or bad!
The same individual property webpage is promoted on my Google Business Page and is potentially seen by up to 40,000 verified homeowners in Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties and Fredericksburg, a list built as a Facebook Custom Audience.
The current market environment may shift, or the nature of your property may be such that more advertising of your offer is required. If so, similar advertisements will also be placed on Instagram, Craig’s List, Google, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Showings will be scheduled electronically by appointment or buyers will instead attend an auction-related Mega Open House on a scheduled date to view the house. Open Houses will be broadcast live on Facebook Live and YouTube Live.
