Five Seller Appeasement Strategies that won't Break your Bank

With longer listing periods, there’s more pressure to appease seller’s with ad buys that we know in most instances won’t amount to anything. Since this isn’t without cost in a time when we’re all watching our marketing spend, here’s some tips on how to appease your seller without wasting money on ads that haven’t proven they work. It’s important to set the expectation upfront so that if it’s comes to a longer listing time period, you aren’t on the defensive. Here’s five  things to tell your seller.

1. I bought ads in the local real estate magazine for years. I have yet to sell a house from one of those ads. They have only occasionally worked to get new clients. I want to focus on items that will sell your home, not get me more clients. We have found that buyers only use those magazines when they are in the early, day-dreaming phase of the buying process well before they are focused in their buying plans.
2. One of the largest real estate firms in the country did an analysis of cutting back their open house ads in the Sunday paper by 90% and didn’t see a drop-off in open-house attendance. Bloomberg reported on that broader trend a couple years ago and the trend has only accelerated since.
3. I will provide you a bi-weekly report of activity on your listing from views on our website to showings. I want your home sold as much as you.
4. NAR has reported that 85% of all home buyers use the Internet in their sales process which maps to the overall use of the Internet. The few who don’t use the Internet either aren’t your targeted buyer or we can reach them through traditional means such as their agent finding the home for them in the MLS.
5. Your home is unique. A small ad in the paper or brief ad on TV won’t do the home justice. One of the reasons to focus on the Internet is the ability for the buyer to go deeper.

What else have you found useful? Don’t be bashful, add your thoughts and we’ll give you a tip of the hat.