Why You Need to Market when Selling Your Home
When selling a home, many factors intervene, such as its price, location or the condition of the house. But there are also other factors that influence the sale of your home. One of them is the marketing and promotion plan.
Although the house is in an excellent location, and it’s in fantastic condition and the price is right, if nobody knows that it’s on the market, it will be very difficult to sell.
Having a real estate agent in the area where the house is located will be the best option to sell the house without much worry. A real estate agent will ensure that the house for sale reaches as many potential buyers as possible, in addition to performing other tasks in the buying and selling process that can give a homeowner many headaches.
The real estate agent will prepare a marketing plan appropriate to the house, managing the resources for its promotion efficiently. A real estate agency will always have adequate means to promote the house that the owner alone cannot do. The experience and knowledge of the real estate sector by the real estate company is essential.
To start the sales process on the right foot, an analysis of both the market and the home must be carried out. This will aid in the process of drawing up an adequate sales and promotion plan. For this, a series of tasks must be carried out.
Analysis of housing and the real estate market
Determine potential buyers. Knowing the type of buyer who is looking for a similar home is key to optimizing home marketing. Potential buyers interested in a condo in the center of town will not be the same as those looking for a huge villa with sea views in exclusive urban areas.
Knowing the profile of the potential buyer is essential to know how to direct resources not only to the right audience, but also in the right way. For example, for the same villa with sea views, promotional messages will be different if they are addressed to a young couple with young children, where you will highlight nearby services or the number of bedrooms, as opposed to a retired couple, where you will emphasize the views or the tranquility of the area.
Determine the value of your property
Your house is worth what the buyer is willing to pay. Do not get carried away by rumors or opinions of neighbors and family. The real estate market is complex and determining the home’s value can be tricky. Not hitting an initial sale price can lead you to waste time and money. If you have doubts, the best option is to request an appraisal to establish the fair price for the home. In addition, you must plan how to respond to possible offers from potential buyers. The flexibility to negotiate your price is essential.
You must also take into account the expenses associated with the sale of the house, such as municipal capital gains, personal income tax or mortgage cancellation expenses.
Determine the characteristics of the home
It is important to know the best qualities that the home has, as well as its weak points. This allows you to prepare a series of messages and advertisements focused on enhancing the advantages of the home aimed at potential buyers. For example, if the house has unique views, you can make a panoramic video of the views from the terrace on a sunny day aimed at potential buyers, where such views are highly appreciated.
You should study whether it’s necessary to make certain improvements to the house before selling it . Some of these changes will be necessary to sell the house, such as fixing serious damage, so you must identify these needs immediately. Other changes are aimed at revaluing the home and facilitating its sale, such as installing air conditioning or efficient heating systems, or updating the roof; all which can be key for a buyer to make an offer on your house.
Determine the necessary documentation for the sale of the house
Before planning the steps in the sale of the house you must ensure that you have all the necessary documentation to sell the house. This includes: energy certificates, certificate of habitability, real estate appraisal and deed. In addition, before formalizing the sale, the property must be up to date with the payment of taxes and utilities (electricity, water, garbage, etc.). A real estate agent can advise you on the paperwork necessary to sell your home.
The Marketing Plan
With all this information, you can get an idea of the steps to follow to sell your house, and know who will be promoting the home. Thus, knowing the potential client, you can know what type of messages to use, what means to use and how to attract their attention.
A professional real estate agent will design an entire promotion and advertising plan specific to your home, aimed at potential buyers, in order to increase the chances of finding the right buyer in the shortest possible time.
This campaign can be carried out through various means, the most common being the following:
Internet
The Internet will be the most effective channel to reach a greater number of people. This medium offers, in addition to a global broadcast 24 hours a day to anyone in the world, incredible segmentation possibilities, being able to appropriately target messages to potential buyers.
First, the real estate agency must have a website to show the homes it has available. This website will be the main point of contact between clients and the real estate agency, adequately showing the catalog of homes in the area where the agency operates.
Through a real estate agent, the seller of the house will have access to professional resources for their promotion and sale through the Internet, such as:
- Quality photography of the house
- Making videos and virtual tours of the house, to show them on portals such as YouTube, social networks or even in shop windows
- Presence on the website of the real estate agency, with its dissemination through search engines such as Google
- Ads on portals, Google and social networks like Facebook
- Sending mass emails, known as newsletters, to potential clients
These resources, which can be expensive to obtain for an individual, will facilitate the sale of the home.
Traditional channels
The offline advertising ranges from classified ads in local newspapers, mailings, even the ads themselves in shop windows. These ads should be evaluated to know where and how to place them to be as effective as possible. It is about having the highest possible visibility, this time at a local level, trying to attract potential local buyers.
Share information
Word of mouth promotion is usually very effective. One of the most direct ways of making the existence of the house for sale known is by informing the neighbors themselves, who can share the information with family and friends interested in living in that area.
The real estate agency may have collaboration agreements with other agencies, creating a network of agents that promote the property in search of the appropriate buyer. Within these collaboration agreements, the MLS system stands out. It is a collaboration system between real estate agents in the same area.
Home visits
Once you have captured the attention of a potential buyer, the next step will be to prepare a visit to the house. This step is crucial to the success of the sale. On this visit you must make a good impression on the customer, taking into account some details:
Collected, clean and tidy housing. Take care of details such as hanging clothes, well-made beds, well-placed cushions, odors, noise, etc. Pleasant temperature in all rooms. Highlight the advantages of the house: light, views, facilities, materials. Prepare all the documentation that the buyer may request.
Consider using a home staging professional to redecorate your home. This consists of properly preparing a home for its commercialization, in order to make it more attractive to buyers. But it’s not only about decorating, lighting and properly distributing the space, but also repairing the defects that may distract potential buyers. With home staging, customers can imagine living in a home.
Open house
An open house is a day for interested customers to visit a home in person, without having to make an appointment. This event must be prepared in advance, announcing it in offline media, such as in the local press or through mailboxes, and in online media, such as social networks or by email. The house must be conditioned for the visit, taking care of aspects such as cleaning or decoration. You can also prepare material so that potential buyers can take it with them. The open sessions must have well-trained commercial real estate agents, who know how to transform visits into subsequent negotiations. It is a great way to attract the attention of people interested in buying a home.
