Oh my goodness, I can’t believe we’ve just celebrated Independence Day and the middle of summer fun is upon us! I hope everyone had a great holiday week and no one got too terribly sunburned. I myself spent the week in the city of brotherly love, and it was fantastic!
I received a lovely email from a reader who asked what tactics we use to market homes and if we approach our plan differently depending on the style of home. What a great idea for a column! Thanks for the ask, Betty. She mentioned a few tactics in her email such as print ads, flyers, and open houses which are all still used in various ways along with more modern approaches for a broader reach.
When I first started in this business the norm was to have flyer boxes next to the yard sign so people driving by could grab one and get the basic details of the home. Although these are still used, it is more common to see a text code on the yard sign that triggers information be sent directly to the persons phone. The advantage of this is an agent can send full details of the property as opposed to tid-bits, and they don’t have to worry about the flyers running out or getting wet making the information available 24/7. The disadvantage is hesitance on the part of the consumer to disclose their contact information, however if they are really interested, they tend to be fine with submitting their requests.
The modern house hunter is overwhelmingly digital. According to the NAR 2018 Home Buyer survey 93% are looking online for a house. Of this overwhelming majority 76% are searching on their mobile devices, so marketing online with mobile friendly format such as text codes is essential in today’s market. Because of this photographs and videography are very important. It’s true you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and as you can see the first impression is almost always on the internet.
As important as a digital impression is, most people still want to see before they buy and open houses are still a great way to get exposure. Although a home won’t necessarily be sold as a direct result of someone going through an open house, it exposes the property to a volume of people who can spread the word! So invite those nosy neighbors and looky-loos, you never know who they’ll tell about it. Open houses also provide a great barometer to those just getting in home buying mode as to neighborhoods, price points, and features that are important to them. Also, the marketing ahead of time for open houses is expansive including newspaper, social media, and various websites.
This addresses the first part of Betty’s question, stay tuned next week and I’ll delve into Part B. Thanks so much for reaching out! I love hearing from folks, so please let me know what you’d like me to write about. Take care and enjoy your week…
Melissa Berube, 2019 MBOR President
