Success as a Real Estate Agent For Dummies by Dirk Zeller

Author:Dirk Zeller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-10-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Getting the House Ready for Showing

In This Chapter

Preparing a property for a quick sale and maximum profit

Advising clients on what to do and what to skip

Helping a home make a great first impression

Getting a home ready for the big show is necessary to achieve a sale. The more competitively the home is priced and prepared, the sooner the rigor of showing will end. And the sooner the sale takes place, the sooner your clients can return to their normal routines — except for that little challenge of packing and moving. This chapter helps you guide clients as they transform their homes from how they look most of the time to how they need to look to win attention and positive decisions from prospective buyers.

Getting the Home Ready for Virtual Tours First

Most home tours occur online before they occur in person. More than 90 percent of all buyers use the Internet to search and review homes, with more than 79 percent using it frequently to access real estate properties and information, so visual information is essential to selling homes. According to the National Association of Realtors, 42 percent of buyers find their home online and then contact the listing agent or their own agent. That figure was a mere 8 percent ten years ago. We’ve seen a 425 percent increase in buyers finding their next home through independent Internet searches.

Today’s consumers want to understand a home’s amenities, feeling and experiencing the home online before they take time to drive by or tour the home. For a large number, 76 percent, the next step is to gather the family in the car and drive by the home. Potential buyers frequently check out the neighborhood, curb appeal, and condition of the property before contacting an agent.

Presenting the right image online

The first rule of online property marketing is pictures, pictures, pictures. A recent study comparing the average number of pictures per listing found that the average listing has fewer than five photos. The typical Multiple Listing Service allows agents to upload more than 20 images for a listing. This means that most agents use less than 25 percent of the visual impression power that is available. When buyers encounter property listings with few photos, they reach one of several conclusions:

They don’t want to waste their time

If potential buyers can’t align their wants and needs with the visual images of the property, they quickly cross it off the list for lack of information. Many buyers think properties are like buses; another one will be along in a few minutes or days. “I’ll wait,” they say.

The property barks at cars

In other words, the property is a dog! If the property was a quality one, buyers think, the agent would have taken more pictures of it. Their mindset is that something must be wrong. Even if you overcome that hurdle and secure a showing, you now have buyers on your hands who are focused on finding something wrong with the property. You’ve dug yourself into a hole.

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