Advertising Your Home [A Complete Guide]

Marketing has its roots in every form of communication, be it newspapers, television, or social media. In 1981, 22% of all home buyers found their dream house through newspapers and people are still asking themselves the question… 

How Do I Attract Buyers?

You can attract buyers to your property by advertising across several mediums: social media, print media, Google, listing websites, and more. Your real estate agent may not use all of these methods when your house hits the market. Every realtor has their preferred methods of advertising, so you should ask them what methods your agent is most comfortable with.

Also make sure to ask them which trending methods will work best in today’s real estate market.

Changing Trends

Instead of using newspapers, home selling agents and buyers have moved to social media marketing, Google ads, print media and real estate websites.

With the rise of technology, social media marketing can be an incredible help in getting potential buyers to your home. There are many home selling tips that can be used to gain an advantage in the real estate market. From distributing flyers and investing in social media ad campaigns all the way to open houses and live events.

Some of these advertising methods can be complicated for some agents, so they may opt to hire a second agency to help them advertise online on your behalf. Ask your agent what methods they find most effective and how they handle online advertising.

Once your ads are up and ready, the next step is getting ready for your open house!

A classic way of making sure your house gets noticed and is to host an open house. Surveys suggest that 53% of all buyers in the US attended open houses when looking for a place.

Hosting an open house lets potential buyers see your house in real-time. This lets your prospects imagine themselves living in your home. When hosting, let attendees roam around, but make sure you are available to answer any questions they may have promptly and honestly.

We advise that you have your home selling agent with you throughout your open house. This not only gives you an extra set of eyes to keep watch for potential buyers, but also gives those that attend the open house the feeling that you are serious about selling.

Homebuyers usually travel in groups, so an open house will increases your property’s chances of getting noticed and spreading word-of-mouth.

If you’re hosting an open house, do these things to get ready;

1. Deep Cleaning: Everything in your house should be cleaned or repainted.
2. Staging Your Home: You can have a professional stager come in, or do it yourself.
3. Maintain a Sign-in Sheet: This keeps you in the loop of who attended the open house.
4. Have Copies of Mortgage Qualification Forms: Having copies shows preparedness and ensures everyone can access the full information.
5. Highlight the Property’s Best Features: This can draw attention to the better features and minimize the effect of the worse features of the property.
6. Offer Tours: By kindly offering a tour it shows potential buyers that you are available to them.
7. Prepare Snacks: This creates a feeling of being at home and can make your open house event more memorable.

Virtual Tours

Make a detailed video of your house that highlights the best features of your property. Make sure the video has good production quality otherwise it bore or turn away some potential buyers. If you have made changes or upgraded recently, such as adding new floors, include that in your tour.

When you are making a virtual tour, point out any details that make your house stand out. Perhaps a celebrity who lived here or if your property has an interesting history.

Once done, ask your home selling agent to post it online. You can also post it on your social media accounts for more coverage. 58% of Millennials and 46% of Generation X buyers find their new homes via mobile devices. You can also use paid marketing tools to ensure that your house comes on top when people search for a house for sale in your neighborhood.

Print and Digital 

2019 saw significant growth in newspaper subscriptions. You can also choose to list your house in a local newspaper to get more coverage. Home selling agents also recommend using signs and banners to attract more attention to the house. A “For Sale” sign can let everyone in the area know that space is ready to be sold.

Make sure the sign is big enough to be seen from a distance, but not too big as to scare buyers away. Other marketing steps for advertising home through print media may include:

• Flyers
• Newspaper Ads
• Personalized letters to potential buyers
• Brochures

There are many more options to try and raise the number of potential buyers going to your property.

Email/SMS Marketing 

Several marketing companies specialize in sending out text messages to potential buyers. An SMS or email is a very non-invasive manner of advertisement, giving users an option to read it at their leisure as opposed to phone calls.

Because calling buyers in your home selling agent’s contact list is not only a hassle but is also a little creepy. 41% of users in the UK use their cell phones to text frequently each day. Although not as effective as social media marketing or the other home selling tips mentioned here, SMS/Email marketing is still an effective way of letting people know your place is up for grabs.

Sell the Neighborhood

When marketing your house, don’t focus just on making your house more attractive, focus on the neighborhood as well. After all, a house is only as safe and peaceful as the neighborhood it’s in.

Make sure you point out as many features of the neighborhood as possible, like the following:

• Police response time
• Crime Metrics
• Nearby Galleries and Entertainment Centers
• Schools and Education
• Nightlife and Food highlights
• Neighborhood Parks and Recreational Zones
• A Neighborhood Watch
• Residential Organizations

The whole purpose is to make your buyers relate and imagine themselves living in your property. Who knows, they might like the neighborhood so much that they’d be willing to forgive a shortcoming or two!

Preparing your Home

Before working on the marketing steps for advertising home mentioned above, you must make certain arrangements.

Home buying agents normally call before bringing their clients, but independent buyers have a tendency to show up at doorsteps unannounced. That’s why it’s important that you are ready to show your house before you list it.

This is exactly why you’ll want to be ready to showcase your house whenever potential buyers arrive. You can take the following steps beforehand to avoid risking being unprepared or embarrassment:

1. Clean your place up and keep it clean.
2. Hire a real estate agent to value your house. Your home selling agent can do that for you as well, though.
3. Make sure all the listings you’ve made online have the right address and phone number
4. Depersonalize your space by removing family photos as much as possible. You want the buyers to imagine their photos on the walls.

When taking the above-mentioned marketing steps for advertising home, make sure there is no misrepresentation of facts. It is normal to ignore negative features, but misrepresentation can get you caught up in legal trouble.

Conclusion

There are innovative and trusted ways to advertise your home. You can use social media, digital or print media, and use your agent to assist you in home marketing. If you want to sell your home and are looking for reliable home selling tips and real estate agents, you can find your perfect real estate agent and get a good deal on your home today. If you are ready for that next step, you can contact us and get started to find your agent.

Source: https://www.fastexpert.com/blog/best-way-to-advertise-a-house-for-sale/