Novice, realtors get their business off the web mainly. Over 80% of buyers find the home they purchase off the web. Realtors who understand this, have a web presence.
Gone are the days of open houses, flyers, etc. That’s the old way. Buyers used to see a realtor to get a printout of homes that matched their criteria. The realtor would drive the buyer around. If the buyer wanted to see the insides of a house, he needed to schedule the viewing with a realtor or go to Open Houses. Today, that buyer previews the houses online.
Today’s buyers go on realtor.com (or similar), search the homes they want, and call the realtor to see the home. Usually they’ve already taken the home video tour, and thrown out many of the candidates. The buyer goes to the realtor with the list of homes he has chosen. The opposite of how it was!
It used to be curb appeal, house appeal.
Now it is internet appeal, curb appeal, house appeal.
When you sell your house, make sure your realtor gives you a NARRATED VIDEO. It must be narrated, to really get the viewer’s attention. Most are so stupid – silent movies! Our audience these days doesn’t want a silent movie. Make sure your realtor does a good writeup with the best photos. The internet marketing is what gets you the showings. I paid scrupulous attention to this when I did my listing. I took many photos over and over, and cropped the images…I reworded the text. Unfortunately, I did not get the video with HelpUSell, but I saved $12K in commissions, and got lots of foot traffic anyway.
I find it interesting that sdrealtor does not have a website, given all the above. I think that realtors benefit by putting their name out in front of as many people as possible, and promoting their presence through the internet. This is proven with the 80% figure cited above.
For example, Jim the realtor and Bob Casagrand are two realtors who have a website. With picture. Rich Toscano has his photo on the Voice column. None of them are anonymous. I don’t see the point of being anonymous.
Perhaps the CEO of World Savings would wish to be anonymous when he comes on here and writes that RE will tank. But for the average person, why hide behind a screen name? No stalker is going to come look you up for your views on real estate!
Novice, I hope I have explained this sufficiently.