There Are Options When Marketing Your Home!
by Leigh Martinuzzi
All buyers are online and therefore, that’s the only place to market my home?
When it comes to selling anything, it is all about creating demand, which is best achieved by creating attention through effective marketing. When it comes to selling real estate, the formula is much the same, expose your property to the largest audience possible.
Typically, when products are not selling, there are a few reasons why. Firstly, you are selling to the wrong market. Secondly, the product or service is overpriced or not considered valuable. And finally, you may have overestimated the demand.
When selling your home or investment property these are things to consider. Who and where are my market? Is there a demand for properties like mine? And what would be considered reasonable value? It is easy to answer all these questions through some research and consultation with an industry professional.
For this article, let’s focus on who your market is and where they are. This will assist in busting the myth that all buyers are online so that’s the only place you need to market your home.
The fact is that the buyer for your property could come from anywhere and for that reason you don’t want to limit yourself to one channel. Most inquiries do indeed come via online real estate portals. The big two in Australia that you definitely should advertise on are realestate.com.au and domain.com.au. However, there are many other avenues that potential buyers might come across your property. Here are a few: social media, signboards, magazines, e-brochures, newspapers, neighbours or word of mouth, flyers, newsletters, and an agency’s database.
The best mix of the above may vary slightly depending on your market. Frequently we find that most buyers are local to an area however many buyers do also come from outside the area. Online advertising is very area-specific which is why some of the other mediums are a good choice to use. Interstate buyers might see your home online however if they are time poor or if a property comes to the market just outside their search location, they might miss it. You may also find a buyer drives past your home and see’s the for-sale sign. There are many occasions that I’ve experienced properties that have sold off the signboard.
Advertising via social media is another great way to attract buyers. What I love about social media is that we can find those passive buyers in the marketplace. These are buyers who may not be actively searching in your local area on one of the mainstream online portals. While scrolling in the evening through Facebook they may find your home. If it’s not them that is looking to buy it might be a friend or family member who they share it with who is looking to buy. We recently received a very good offer from a buyer who found it online and said he wasn’t even looking in this specific location. In this instance, social media worked. It is often a better spend of your marketing dollars than some of the upgrades offered by online portals or other channels.
As you can see the best buyer for your home could come across your property anywhere. As a seller, you don’t want to miss out on that one buyer that may have paid more for your home. Of course, there is a budget to consider when creating your marketing strategy and while online advertising is essential there are others to consider. I suggest focussing on what is necessary and what works, as there is a lot of wasted dollars when it comes to marketing. Make sure you do your homework. The more attention your home receives, the more buyers that come to inspect and the more competition you have. And competition is what generates the highest sales prices.
