Selling - A Formula for Success in Any Market

The 4 Ps of Marketing, studied in every MBA program, can be applied to residential real estate marketing to achieve selling success in any market.  The simple but powerful formula below addresses the most critical components to the process of selling a home.

1.      Product - Repair obvious blemishes and clean, clear, and de-clutter the home.  You might also try staging the home, if it is vacant.  Entire articles and books have been dedicated to the topic of preparing a house for sale, and most real estate professionals know the tips and tricks of this step.

2.      Promotion - Create the best, most appealing image possible of the house through comprehensive and inviting descriptions and through wide angle pictures that show the house as well as possible, highlighting all the positives.  Depending on the price range and features of the house, you might consider a 360 or video tour as well.  Display as many pictures as necessary and display them in high resolution where they can be easily accessed online.  This will allow shoppers to compare the house to the other options/competitors, and when they do, your listing (product) will compare favorably.  Do you still see listings without pictures?  Well, they are shown far less than houses with pictures, especially in a buyer’s market (although you might want to keep this in mind on the buy side, as there are occasional deals and motivated buyers to be found because of this).

3.      Place - Maximize exposure of the image you created in Step 2 by ensuring it is found anywhere and everywhere people might look on the web.  Studies suggest that over 80% of people start their home searches online.  Much of the balance rely on agents who are using the MLS/web.  A negligible number may not be using either of these sources, but basic traditional signs with flyers should suffice for those few stragglers.  Some top places to consider are: the MLS, which feeds other sites (may want to upgrade to special listing like “Showcase/Featured”), Homes.com, Craigslist, PropBot, Google Base, Yahoo Real Estate, Zillow, Trulia, Lycos, and others.  This step ensures that someone looking online for this type of home will surely find it – everywhere and anywhere they look!

4.      Price – In a challenging market (inventory and time on market stats heading upward), this is surely the most critical step.  It is also where real estate professionals add the most value. Price the home so that when someone is comparing it to others online, they can do so effectively and so the value perceived will cause it to make the buyer’s short list of houses that they actually want to visit in person.  Price also needs to be right so that shoppers will continue to perceive it as the better value, even as they are visiting in person.  Fine adjustment of pricing is also affected by time constraints - if you want to sell faster, price more aggressively, and vice versa.

Other Tips

Make it easy to show!  If you require an appointment with the owner or listing agent or have limited access constraints, buyers’ agents might simply look beyond this house when planning a tour.  There are too many others that are easy to show!

Negotiate with skill to land the contract and then carefully foster the transaction to ensure it stays on track and consummates.  This is another place where experienced agents add incredible value.  Good luck!