Six Steps for Creating your Real Estate Marketing Strategy

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

A marketing plan will help you focus on your most critical tasks to grow your business while saving you time and money. Here are six easy steps for creating your marketing strategy.

1) Review your business. What were your key metrics for last year (sales commissions, listings taken, listings sold, number of clients, etc)? What were your successes? What do you want to improve?

2) Decide where you want to be. What do you want to accomplish over the next year? Based on last year’s performance, what key metrics do you want to hit? Be specific. How much will you make? How often will you work? What types of clients do you want to attract?

3) Review your performance. Which marketing activities are bringing in business? Which are a waste of money and can be cut out? What marketing activities should you invest in, such as publishing a monthly newsletter, developing your online marketing strategy, or doing more business networking?

4) Select your marketing tactics. It can take seven to ten contacts with someone before they hire you. Plan for it. What is the step-by-step process you will implement to convert a complete stranger into a paying client? What marketing tactics will you use to:

* Market to strangers: How will you attract the attention of those people who have never heard of you?

* Market to suspects: How will you follow up with people who have opted in to receive more information but you haven’t yet talked with one-on-one?

* Market to prospects: How will you sell your services to those who contact you?

* Market to clients and past clients: How will you keep in touch with clients, deliver excellent client service, and ask for referrals?

* Market to referral partners: How will you find and partner with professionals and community influencers to cultivate referrals?

5) Schedule your activities. Now that you know what needs to be done, schedule your activities in your calendar. What activities will you do each week? For instance:

* Strangers – Run weekly classified ads.

* Suspects – Publish a weekly email newsletter.

* Prospects – Follow up with phone calls, mailed letters and emails.

* Clients/Past Clients – Take a past client out for coffee each week.

* Referral Network – Subscribe to blogs, newsletters, and social media channels where colleagues interact. Each day, post a new comment on someone’s blog or engage with them on Twitter/Facebook.

6) Schedule a monthly review. Block off a few hours each month to review your marketing calendar and your goals. Are you hitting your targets? What is or isn’t working? What do you need to modify to achieve your goals?

By following these six steps, you can create a marketing plan for your real estate business if just a few hours.

Sell Your House without Lowering the Price

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

Read this article if you want sell your house without lowering the price.

Non-traditional measures. Most people and real estate agents are unaware of what non-traditional measures are. Real estate agents are not trained on these measures. So, there are still buyers and sellers out there who are not able to benefit from this opportunity. But Australians have taken on this opportunity and they are doing well!

Vendor or seller financing. As a seller, you would want to sell your house quickly but you also don’t want to lower the price to make it sell. But worry no more because vendor financing can make this happen. Vendor financing occurs when a financing option is offered to a buyer. Consequently, the buyer doesn’t have to go to a bank and apply for a loan just to purchase a property.

Known as wraps, vendor financed properties are bought by investors through conventional home loans. The investor places the property for sale on the basis of vendor finance terms. Later on, a contract is made between the buyer and the investor. With this procedure, an interest rate of 2% or more is paid by the buyer. It’s more than what the investor pays on the original home loan. Thus, the purchaser’s interest payments wrap around what the investor pays. In sum, the buyer owns a property even if he is unable to do such a thing.

Undoubtedly, many are trying this procedure. Take Meriton for an example. Since their buyers can only afford lesser deposits, Meriton decided to offer this opportunity. Through this, buyers don’t have to apply for bank loans. They move in as quickly as they desire. They even get to own the property faster than bank settlements. The seller also has his property sold at the price he truly wants. Thus, it is not only the investor who benefits but buyers and sellers as well.

A Better Chance in Selling your Vacation Home

Posted in category Vacation Home

One thing a Realtor can do for you if you allow them to sell your home is that they will stage your vacation home so that it is the most appealing to the most amount of people. Staging your home can be a relatively cheap and effective way of making your home stand out from others. This allows people viewing the house to better imagine what it will look like when they move their stuff in. Having an empty vacation home will not have this same appeal or effect on people.

Another great selling tactic is that your real estate agent will give you a few pointers on what to do to your vacation home before trying to sell it. This typically includes a light amount of maintenance or changes that do not cost a lot, but will make a significant difference when it comes time to sell.

Marketing is very important for selling anything. Whether it is a house, a car, a boat, or anything else, you can’t expect to sell it if people do not know it’s for sale. Your Realtor will have access to countless databases that advertise your house is for sale. There will also be many other ways your real estate agent will use in order to get the most amounts of people to know that your home is for sale. They know many tactics at selling houses because that is their profession and that is what they are paid to do. They will advertise and market your house to drive traffic and interest to your home, and then they will arrange open houses and viewings to give a better chance at someone making an offer on your home.

If an offer is put on your vacation home, your Realtor will help you negotiate the offer. Negotiating buying and selling terms can get difficult which is why its good to have someone highly experienced at this on your side. Your Realtor will be able to point out everything that justifies the price you are asking for your vacation home so you won’t have to come down in price. This really makes everyone happy in the end, and will make your selling experience a successful one.

Marketing Tactic for Real Estate Professionals

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

There is a list which can help you sell your home at or above the current market value. None of these bullet points are a sure fire way to do so, but together, they are a deadly combination!

Realtors are skilled negotiators and their opinion carries authority with a client. If you want the best opportunity possible of selling above market value, work directly with home buyer.

A recently popular marketing tactic for real estate professionals has been to list a home with a range of acceptable prices. For instance, instead of listing your home at $497,000, state that the seller will entertain offers between $486,000-$510,000. This will get people bidding up the value of your home.

Nothing can justify a higher selling price more than a few little “extras” that sweeten the deal. Consider paying for half the closing costs.  Sure, that might mean paying out $2,500, but if it allows you to sell the house at $10,000 more, it’s worth it.

Scarcity is an age old technique that always comes through. Give buyers a specific time window to work with. Give them only 60 days (for example) to submit an offer. At the very least, this will build a list of qualified leads with whom you can communicate directly after the time window closes.

Making the right home improvements is essential in getting a higher than usual sale price. Consider low cost curb appeal improvements, like fresh mulch, flowers, etc. Bathrooms and kitchens are also very important rooms to consider. A fresh countertop, or new appliance can go a long way with a buyer. Keep your costs down, make the right improvements, and watch your house sell over its comps!

Tips for Selling Property Quickly

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

If you are a person who thinking of selling property, there are important things to consider before selling property. Below are some easy tips for selling your property.

Make sure that you are ready to sell, once you have a contract with an agent or lawyer you are usually committed to fixed term contract. If you back out before the end of it, you may have to pay a fee unless you can prove breach of contract.

Have your representative make sure that any buyers have been pre-qualified. There is no need to waste time showing a property to someone who cannot afford it.

Get a good appraisal, and then do not over price the property.

Make sure it is ready to show, or be seen. If it is vacant land get rid of weeds or trash.

If it has a building, then make sure it is in good repair.

When there is a house or home involved, make sure it is clean and neat. Hiring a professional to ‘stage’ the house can help.

If there are any animals on the property either remove them, or have them contained in one area.

Having a vanilla, or other neutral scent, candle or air freshener going sets a nice tone for when showing the house. For empty lots, making sure there is no animal waste is must.

These are only a few tips, a professional agent will have tips specific to your type of property and location to help you sell quickly and successfully.

Planning to Selling your House

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

Start planning to selling your house, keep it in your mind that you need to make maximum profit within a specified time. You can focus on the ways to help you make maximum profit without spending much on preparations. At the same time, be aware of the fact that market offers great competition; hence avoid pricing it too high since high prices distract the potential house buyers.

First, you need to understand the entire process of home buying. It will help you understand the house buyer psychology that will help you set the right price. For this, you will have to do some home shopping for yourself.

Another thing is to understand the current scenario of the real estate market of your area. It will help you exploit the market better to your profit.

Speak with the people who have recently sold their houses. They can advice you about the different approaches to sell house.

Next step, you can concentrate on the preparations required to sell a house. To sell house fast, it needs to be good condition if not perfect. You need to examine your house to check if it requires any major repair since any such problem can distract the prospective buyers coming to see the house.

In addition, you can put up minor changes such as making your house clutter-free, painting it in new colors, taking advantage of home staging and more. These minor changes can do wonders to charm the buyers.

Apart from these preparations, you need to prepare your house with respect to all the papers and documents required. It might be a difficult task for you; you can take the help of a professional real estate agent. All these efforts will surely help you sell your house fast at your asking price.

Selling your Home by a Realtor

Posted in category Real Estate Agents

One of the ways that you could possibly increase the amount of money that you get out of selling your home is by offering to do a Realtor referral.

This means that you will help your Realtor to get new business and for each person that she talks to that lists their house for sale or purchases a home from the Realtor referral that you gave can result in cash for you. Now this is not the only way in which Realtor referrals are used as real estate agents have a few other options as well. Another way that you might be able to increase your money through referrals is by using a referral service.

The way that this type of Realtor referral works is that the referral company will offer you savings by only keeping a small portion of the money that the real estate agent gives them for a referral and in the end you can actually put this money towards the costs of selling or buying a home. This is because the referral company will pay you part of the money that they are being paid for you to be willing to tell the Realtor that you found them through the referral company.

The good way to be able to take advantage of a Realtor referral in order to guarantee that you save money is by being a well informed consumer. You will have to ask that you are being connected with a Realtor that is willing to give you closing credits for shopping for a home with him or her. This means that you will have additional cash taken off of the amount of money that you would need for closing costs.

Plus you do not have to worry about anything with a Realtor referral because it is all completely free. It is something that is available for you as a consumer since the Realtor can legally pay any fee that they want out of their commission. This can really add up in savings for you and help you to have the best experience when purchasing or selling a home.

Guide for Selling your House

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

If you have been looking for the best tips for selling your home, then you have come to the right place. Here I am going to give some of the best tips ever that could help you quote a higher price on your home and sell it for a better profit margin.

As for the first among the tips on selling your house, make certain that you make the outside of the house look immaculate. Let the lawn be well trimmed, let there be a lot of flowering plants around and make certain that they are well maintained. Also make certain that you paint the outside of the house in an appealing color. If there are any loose boards or planks, make certain that you have them fixed immediately.

Remember, when a prospective buyer is coming over to look at your house, they first need to be impressed by the exteriors of the house. Hence make it a point to keep everything in immaculate condition.

Next you would have to take a look at the inside of the house. You would have to ensure that everything is in working condition in your house – the faucets, the toilet, the electrical circuits and every other contraption that you are planning to sell as a part of your house.

Apart from the faucets and electrical circuits, it would be best if you could have the walls freshly painted or perhaps have a new batch of wall papers to cover the old torn ones. Also ensure that there are no nails or drywall damage.

After taking care of both the insides and the outsides of the house, it would be best if you can have the documents to the house ready and easily viewable for when your buyers arrive.

Don’t make selling your house difficult. A fresh can paint and doing minor repairs can go a long way.

Tips on Selling your House Fast

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

Sometimes it may be necessary to think outside the box or conventional methods of selling your house fast.

The following tips will help you in selling your house fast.

In this article, the assumption is that you may or may not be behind on your mortgage payments and whatever the reason you need to sell your house, you have to do it fast.

1) Repairs
One of the first things a potential house buyer will check is if the house needs repairs. It is especially important because it directly determines how much they will have to spend to get the house to a good condition. And of course, it is one of the most obvious things a potential house buyer will notice.

Sometimes it may be possible for you to do your own repairs if they are minor or get someone to do it for you. If you can afford to repair the house yourself, then it becomes much easier to sell the house.

Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer. Things like air conditioning, heating, plumbing and so on need to be working properly. The foundation and the roof need to be sound. The kitchen, windows, bathrooms all need to be in a good condition.

And of course, as obvious as it sounds, make sure the house smells nice. Get rid of cigarette or pet smell. Give it a fresh look maybe a fresh coat of paint and carpet.

Lastly, make sure curb appeal is attractive. What is the first impression a potential house buyer get when they approach the house? Keep the yard clean. Revamp the mailbox. Repaint the house address on the curb if there is one. And sometimes get a new door if the one you have looks old.

Of course, a fresh coat of external paint will give the home a new, fresh look that will appeal to potential buyers.

2) Type of buyer
What if you cannot do your own repairs on the house?
What if you are already behind on your mortgage payments?
What if you are facing foreclosure?

It may be time to think outside the conventional house buyer. It becomes necessary to talk to real estate investors who buy investment properties where you live.

These real estate investors will most likely buy your house as it stands, fix it up then sell it or keep it as a rental property for cash flow.

In some cases, real estate investors may also sometimes get creative and buy your house on terms even if you may owe more than the house is worth.

Whatever the situation is, it may still be possible to sell your house fast to a real estate investor, walk away with money and move on with your life.

Where do you find real estate investors?

A lot of real estate investors advertise themselves in local classified ads. This would be a good place to start. In most areas, there are real estate investing clubs that you can attend for free and make contacts.

Ultimately, looking outside the box will help you sell your house faster even in a down housing market.

Summer Sale on your Home

Posted in category Commercial Real Estate

People everywhere are looking for great places to buy homes before the new year starts. When kids get out of school, parents realize that summer is the best time to move because it makes it a lot less stressful on the whole family. So, get your house ready and up to sell. Here are some ways to make a guaranteed summer sale on your home.

First of all, summer is awesome for selling because it’s when your house looks absolutely amazing. In the winter, things get really dirty and it’s impossible to keep the yard looking descent. People can’t really imagine how nice it will look in the summer. But if you keep your yard and front area really nice for the summer, then people are going to drive by and become very interested.

It’s also nice to hire yourself a real estate agent. In the summer, you tend to go on a lot of trips and you are probably going to be out of town a lot. When a big buyer rolls around and offers you an offer, but you are in Hawaii, how horrible is that going to be? They may want to see the house right now but you just can’t do it. This is why a real estate agent is so handy. They will do all of that for you.