Selling Tutorial

Marketing: If You Advertise They Will Come

Ok, it's time to have some fun! Of course, we know you've been having fun the entire time. Well, now you get to market and advertise your property, putting all your preliminary work to good use.

The key to selling your home is to have buyers know that it's for sale. This could be as simple as sticking a "for sale" sign in the front yard or telling your cousin your home is for sale.

Marketing and advertising will play a key role in how successful you are in selling your home. You should have already established a marketing budget when you were determining your profitability. Try to stick to it as closely as possible, and make sure it's realistic with the types of advertising you believe will give you the most exposure for your target market of buyers.

So get out there and sell - sell - sell! Well, really you need to bring the buyers to you. Now that you have a general idea regarding your target market, you can determine which advertising techniques will work best for you. Let's start by covering the top places buyers use to search for property.

Homebuyers Property Search Sources

According to a study conducted in 2000 by the National Association of Realtors, the following table illustrates some of the main sources used by homebuyers during 1999 to find their "dream home." The percentages represent the amount of buyers that used the source as part of their property search.

Something worth noting, is that these different techniques have very significant differences in cost as well as levels of exposure. Some are free to you, while others can get very expensive quickly. When considering your target market and where you wish to advertise to reach this market, properly weigh the cost in addition to the effectiveness of the ad, as outlined above.

An important fact to mention is the effect the Internet has had on homebuyers and print media. First, use of the Internet for property searching has grown significantly since 1995 when it was a mere 2%. The Internet has had the adverse effect on other conventional advertising techniques, such as newspaper, home books or magazines, and open houses, which have seen a decline in usefulness in just a short period, from 1997, when they were 51%, 34%, and 39%, respectively.

Newspaper

Ok, you've seen them in the real estate section of your local paper every weekend. Well, now's the time to consider placing an ad for yourself. These ads range in price depending on the type of ad, the description length, if a picture is included, and the number of days you run the ad, from a couple of dollars a line to $70 or more for one Sunday ad with picture. You'll need to call your local paper in advance to get prices.

Generally, speaking print media, such as newspapers can get expensive very quickly, especially if you need to run an ad for 13 weeks or more. One technique known as "flighting" is worth considering when running print ads. The concept is simple - run your ads so that they are in the paper two weekends in a row, then off one weekend, and back on for two weekends.

You can do this as long as it takes to sell. However, mix up the on and off times. Basically, "flighting" will enable you to run the ad for a longer period of time without needing to pay for every week. Also, if you modify your ad slightly each time you put it back in the paper, your home may appear as a new property for those buyers that troll the paper every weekend. One example for your ad might be:

Since you pay per line, hopefully you'll use the customary abbreviations to save space. For examples of how to compose an effective newspaper ad, refer to either How to Sell Your Home Without a Broker or The For Sale by Owner Kit.

Internet

The Internet provides the greatest exposure possible. After all anyone in the world can view any web page. However, someone in China most likely will not be buying your Pennsylvania farm house. Carefully investigate any Web site you wish to advertise with prior to paying for an ad.

The types of services you receive vary from site to site, but the most important thing you want to consider is the number of properties on the Web site that are in your geographical area. If the site has very few properties listed with it in your area, chances are not many buyers in your area will be using the Web site to search for properties. Therefore, it may not be wise to pay money to advertise with them.

Shameless plug - we certainly welcome you to advertise your property for sale here at propertySites. We are one of the fastest growing resources on the Web with thousands of property searches conducted daily and plenty of great features.

Yard Sign

Typically, yard signs tend to be one of the most effective methods of advertising given the cost, whether you're doing it yourself or using an agent. Many buyers tend to know where they want to live, and may make weekly trips through your neighborhood looking for newly placed "For Sale" signs to get a jump on other buyers.

Make sure your sign says "For Sale" and "By Owner" as large as possible. You can go to your local Home Depot, Lowes, or hardware store and pick up the standard red sign or you can be creative and make your own. Position the sign so that it is visible to drivers going by your property from both directions. Be careful not to clutter the sign with too much information.

In order to prevent every Tom, Dick, and Harry from knocking on your door to take a peek at your property, you may want to also consider adding "By Appointment Only" to the sign. This simple phrase tells any passerby that you are interested in selling, but you want to schedule showings rather than just letting anyone in, any old time.

Consider making flyers (or leaflets) which you attach to your sign in either a flyer box or tube. Your flyers should give an in depth description of your property, including the sales price. Walk down the street to that house for sale by an agent. Take the flyer out of the box on the sign and bring it home. Use your computer to create a flyer that looks and reads similar to the one you have by the agent. Be sure to include an attractive spring or summer picture of your house on the flyer. This picture will be especially helpful if you are trying to sell during the cold or winter season.

If you advertise your property here at propertySites, you can have a flyer automatically generated for you that can be printed and used with your yard sign.

Home Book or Magazine

No, not magazines like Cosmopolitan! We're talking about those "free" magazines you've seen time and time again in your local supermarket. The ones that say "HOMES" in big letters. There are different publications across the country that provide this service, with varying fees, ranging from $100 to more than $1,500. Carefully investigate these publications if this is an approach you want to use.

Open House

This is more a technique for real estate agents to peddle their services. We cover this more in the next section regarding showing your property.

Word of Mouth

Shout it from the mountain tops - "I'm Selling my Property by Owner!" Tell everyone and anyone that your property is for sale. You never know who is coveting your property and would like to buy it. Perhaps a neighbor's sister wants to move closer to family and absolutely loves your home. Family, friends, and neighbors can end-up being some of your best referrals for you and your property, and it's free!

Promote yourself and your property. Go out and buy some Avery business card stationary for your printer. Simply put on the card, "Property For Sale" with the address, your name, and how a potential buyer can contact you. As you talk with people, give them a card. You may also want to consider giving your flyers that you made for the sign to potential buyers and people that express an interest in your property.

Public Bulletin Boards

Although not listed in the study conducted by the National Association of Realtors (hey, they're agents what can we say), we believe, given the cost, bulletin boards can be another effective way to create exposure.

Once you know it's ok to post there, take your flyers and staple them to bulletin boards in locations that your target market will see them. If your target market is young urban professionals, then post flyers on the bulletin board in the fitness center in the center of town. If possible, consider changing the appearance of the flyers on a weekly basis so that they look "new" on a stale bulletin board.

Follow Up

As with any advertising, you should always ask your buyers how they heard about your property. This will allow you to discover which techniques work best, which ones you should spend money towards, and which ones you should stop. Always stay positive, even if your property does not sell in a week or even a month. Remember, it typically takes 13 weeks of marketing your property to make it sell, so make sure you consider this when determining your advertising budget.

If you pay for ads, make sure to follow-up with the advertisers to ensure that your ad has been placed and is correct. Otherwise, you may not get the type of exposure you were hoping. By using a combination of low cost and high cost advertising techniques, you will be able to obtain the exposure necessary to reach your target market.

Discrimination Laws

One thing you need to be careful about when marketing your property is not to be discriminatory towards certain buyers - this is illegal! Pay attention to discrimination laws as listed at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Buyers have rights and you need to make sure you do not violate these.

It is prohibited to refuse to sell housing, refuse to negotiate for housing, make housing unavailable, deny a property, set different terms, conditions or privileges for sale of a property, or falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, or sale based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, sexual preference, and ancestry.

This shouldn't be a problem, because we know that you are a fine upstanding citizen in your community - use good judgement when talking, meeting, and disclosing information to buyers and you will do just fine.

Now that you have buyers, its time to show your property -->