Property Blog

Become a mini-marketing specialist!

Marketing, Marketing Management, CIM….. These are qualifications that somebody achieves to be up-to-date about customer’s wishes and demands. What does the costumer wants? And why? And how can you ensure that the customer wants your product? A full-time and tough study of customer psychology, research and market information. You as a home seller, you need marketing skills. You should make sure that the customer chooses your house and not the one of the competitors. You, as a consumer, become a mini-marketing specialist.

Without any marketing training whatsoever you have to sell your former big investment.  If you would have been a manufacturer of razor blades or cars, you would have had enough money to promote your house in a 30-second commercial, in which your house could be displayed in full regalia. But unfortunately you are just a “simple” homeowner and you have no money for an expensive TV commercial.

Therefore we provide a short course to become a house marketer with these 12 essential tips.

1. Determine the correct current price

Every marketer knows: if I am asking too much money for my product, it goes wrong. But what is your home really worth? That question is easy to answer. Home appraisals are often done by brokers. So, invite three brokers to ‘possibly sell your house.’  They all accept the invitation and give an estimate value of the house. Grab the average and you’ll know how much your home is worth!

2. Determine the correct asking price

People will negotiate on your house. Sometimes with undesirable low bids. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer. Would you respond to your own property at the current asking price? Make sure you’re in the right price range, a small change can make a big difference. With a house of $ 299,000 people will find you easier than with a house of $ 302,500.

3. Make sure your home looks nice and neutral

Probably you like your home. Also the dark brown furniture, just like the dusky pink color on the wall. But the likelihood that the customer has the same taste, is nearly negligible. Therefore, make your home as neutral as possible. Get inspired by retailers who also want to sell furniture. For example Ikea, the Swedish home furnishings retailer, they organize their merchandise even so it must be attractive to many people. Creativity is just not your thing or you don’t have time for this? Then involve a house stylist.

4. Find a flexible broker

They still exist: the brokers who only do visits on Tuesday and Friday. Does a buyer or customer wants to visit on a Monday? Impossible. Those kind of brokers are not helping selling your house. Brokers who are willing to do weekend viewings and early evening viewings, that’s what you need!

5. Check the presentation of the broker

A real estate agent has to sell your home. But having a good personal story, making good photos and writing a good sales text are three very different things that are also part of the job. The question is whether the broker is good at all three. Be critical. Aren’t you satisfied with the text or photos, talk to the broker. After all, you pay a lot of money for the job. There are plenty of parties who are indeed specialized in this.

6. Call after people who are interested

If someone has been visiting your house more than once, but afterwards you hear nothing of this person, this person had an excessive interest but there is something wrong somewhere. That’s when you should ask the broker to call after the customer. Perhaps it is about something you can easily solve for this customer. If you don’t call, you never know. Brokers don’t do this very often, these follow-up calls. In other words: Go after these people!

7. Add gimmicks to your selling profile online

Gimmicks have proven their value. Therefore it is an important step to use them. With gimmicks we mean 360-degree photos, altitude photographs, video presentations and interactive floor plans in which the customer can virtually place his furniture. Probably this has more effect for a spacious villa in Los Angeles than for a two-bedroom apartment in New York.

8. Join the open-houses day

Again, this advantage is not yet clear either. Many open-house day visitors are people who like to snoop around just once but aren’t seriously looking. The advantage is that you benefit from the advertising that the corporation that organizes these days has to do. That attracts some extra visitors.

9. Advertise in a local newspaper

Don’t do this. The costs do not outweigh the range. You’re missing all the people who are not from the region. After all, this would not fit in the world of iPad, social media and the internet. Your broker gives you this option? Then you know you have to find another broker. Your broker is lagging behind in his vision of sales.

10. Put your home on social media

Showing your home via Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest? Yes! It costs nothing, so yes. Please note that on the internet you don’t have that much privacy. Everybody knows exactly where you live, as the user name and address on the profile are linked to each other.

11. Place (and pay) your home again at the top of a list online

Are you selling your house online? Is it possible to pay to be in the top of the ranking list? You should consider paying a little money for this. In the search results your house could be ranked on page 1 instead of page 15. The just arrived visitor of the website then still has energy to watch listed houses. On page 15 he is usually already tired of looking around and quits the job.

12. Do something weird

Use your own imagination. You’re probably more creative than you think. Show your house wherever you think you can. Christmas is coming. Take a large plate. Paste your house photos on it and put it in your sales booth at the Christmas market. It could very well result in a successful sale. Giving something away by selling your house may also still work. Do you have a second home in Aruba? Let the buyer stay in your house for free for two weeks. Little money, can have great results.

Don’t throw in the towel. Think creatively and become a marketer of your own home.