Is the Marketing of Your Property Working?
When marketing just about anything, it can sometimes be hard to tell if it is working. When it comes to trying to sell your property, there are a few ways to gauge the results.
Is the Marketing of Your Property Working?
If you are determined to sell your property, marketing is going to be the key. There are many ways to get the word out about your property. The best methods are generally agreed upon, to wit, get an online listing, get listed in the local multiple listing service, place for sale signs around the neighborhood and tell just about anyone you know. While these tactics may be accepted strategies, how do you know if they are working? There are a couple of ways to figure it out.
Oddly, the first way to figure out whether you marketing is working is to use common sense. In this case, how many people are coming to look at the property? Even in a slow seller market, potential buyers will come. Do a head count. You should be getting at least a few a week.
A blunt way to determine the effectiveness of your marketing is to pay attention to those realtors. When your property goes on the market, you should be inundated by real estate agents within a few days and you should be very nice to them. The agents are viewing your home to determine if it matches the criteria of any of their clients that are looking to buy. Basically, the agents are lining up to bring prospects to you. Depending on your area of the country, you should expect to receive five to 50 agents. If only a trickle show up, you have a problem.
A more subtle method for evaluating your marketing has to do with confusion. Simply put, you need to listen closely to what potential buyers or agents say when viewing your property. Do they make an mention of something they assumed from your marketing that is not correct? If so, you have a problem and need to address it immediately. This problem arises more than you might think because most real estate advertising is confined to a relatively small amount of space.
At the end of the day, your chances of obtaining a quality offer are only as good as your marketing material. Stay on top of your marketing and refine it till you get a good response from agents and potential buyers.
Raynor James is with FSBOAmerica.org - get a free one month listing when you sell your home for sale by owner.


Real Estate - Selling the Dream
When it comes to real estate, most homeowners tend to focus on the technical aspects of selling their property. While details are important, it is vital to understand you are selling a dream.
Real Estate – Selling the Dream
One of the more infamous clichés is every scam is built on the idea of hope. Common sense tells you those Nigerians sending spam really don’t have 20 million dollars in an account, but you probably hesitate just a bit because a small part of you hopes it is true. While this cliché is undeniably cynical, there is a lesson to be learned from it when it comes to selling your property.
When selling your property, it is important to understand what buyers are purchasing. They are not purchasing a three bedroom, two level home with a two car garage. They are not purchasing a big backyard or a nice neighborhood. Okay, technically they are, but this represents only a small bit of their thinking. In truth, they are purchasing something much bigger and important.
When house hunting, it is important to understand that buyers are purchasing a dream. They are not really focusing on where they will sleep at night. When they see your property, they are creating a mental image of themselves living there. The image can include things ranging from how they would arrange furniture to envisioning kids playing in the yard to mention only a few things. In essence, they are purchasing the hope of a great living experience.
When getting ready to put your home on the market, it is vital that you understand what the buyers are looking for in a property. Yes, walls and accessories are important, but they are really buying a lifestyle. This means you need to accentuate the strong living points of your property.
Most people loosely refer to this as creating curb appeal. In truth, it goes beyond the mere appearance of the home. You want to make the home seem livable, not austere as many mistakenly do. For instance, you should always be baking something that smells delicious when showing the property. For many buyers, this will translate the home from a piece of construction to a livable space and make it easier for them to imagine living there.
One of the best tactics I ever saw in this regard was a seller who whipped up a meal on the grill. He then invited the potential buyers to sit with him, eat and ask any questions they had. He started reciting all of the things that had happened with his family while living in the home. The buyers became much more comfortable with him and the home. They subsequently made an offer and he accepted.
Obviously, you probably do not want to be barbequing each time someone comes to look at your property. That being said, you should focus on presenting your home as a clean, but livable place where the buyer can imagine themselves living for the foreseeable future.
Raynor James is with FSBOAmerica.org - get a free one month listing when you sell your home for sale by owner.


Buying Cheap Property Through Agents
Buying A Cheap Property Through an Estate Agent
Most private and investment buyers do so through estate agents. These often charge the vendor a fee of 1 to 2.5% of the total sale price. You might be able to get a slightly better deal by checking private advertisements. The estate agent should be viewed by investors, as a useful person to ask advice on investment property and to help them get to know the area. In a sellers market, such as what we have in early 2004 in the UK, they may be very busy – so investors should try and be as efficient as possible with the use of their time.
Estate agents add a lot of value in holding property deals together, solving problems and negotiating tricky issues for you with the seller. However remember they represent the interests of the seller, so be careful with advice you are given on specific property.
The best plan is to get to know one or two estate agents in your chosen area very well – make sure they know exactly what you want – be very honest with them. Tell them up front how much you are looking to spend what type of property you might be interested in. Ask them if there are any particularly good deals around for such an investor. You will be surprised what might turn up.

Tell them you like to buy under normal market value since you have finance already arranged and are an experienced investor with a strong track record. Offer to give references.
If you are interested in a particular property, ask about the vendor – what do they want apart from a good price? Are they in a hurry to sell? Are they looking for an investors to purchase their property? Do they have to sell because of moving jobs, divorce, financial problems? This information will give you an idea about how low a price you can offer. As a general rule, most sellers like investors because they are not in a chain, they often have finance already arranged and they are normally experienced, with high levels of commitment to purchase.
Estate agents often have their own websites that you can check property details on. Some estate agents also advertise with internet portals so you can see many different agents details on the same website.
If you think there is not any competition for the property, this is the best situation to be in. Put offers on a fax describing the conditions of your offer, advertising your strong points and saying the offer is subject to contract. Having something in writing for the estate agent to give to the vendor always goes down well and demonstrates your commitment.
If you are desperate to get your offer accepted and do not mind risk, you can offer say a small non refundable deposit in cash within say two days of the offer being accepted. This is to show how serious you are – of course the vendor can accept, take your cash, then sell to someone else, but the chances of this underhand behaviour happening is very small.
Try to get to know the vendor and strike up a business like relationship with them. Be nice to them, be friendly and courteous. If they like you they are far more likely to accept your offer even if it is low.
Andrew Stefanczyk has been involved in property investment for fifteen years and also runs a website for property investors.
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