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October 31, 2007

Selling that home

I've got a story today about some of the bells-and-whistles marketing that Realtors -- and, in some cases, for-sale-by-owner folks -- are doing to get buyer attention in this slow real estate market. A taste:
A survey released this month found that agents are rushing to try blogs -- online journals -- and social-networking sites such as Facebook for advertising purposes. Coldwell Banker Real Estate announced in March that it had opened an office in Second Life, the online "virtual world." There are firms that send listing information to prospective buyers' cell phones and give the agent a heads-up.

I quote Joel Burslem, founder of the Future of Real Estate Marketing blog, but could fit only a fraction of the interesting things he said into the story. Herewith are some of his answers to my questions about what people are (or should be) doing to market homes:

--Get the listing information in as many places as you can. "Now there's multiple destinations where people are going to find real estate online these days, anywhere from Trulia to Zillow to Realtor.com to Craigslist," Burslem said.

--Create a video tour. "You don't even necessarily have to hire a camera crew and do any kind of professional editing," he said. "Most people's pocket digital cameras shoot decent enough web video."

--Blog. Whether you're an agent or a homeowner, you can blog about your community -- your block, even. For Realtors, there's the benefit of being able to "demonstrate that they're the expert without having to say it outright," Burslem said. On a related note, Realtors can also Be The Expert by answering questions on sites like Trulia and Zillow.

--Experiment. Realtors are trying social-networking sites, for instance. "I can't point to any particular success stories yet, ... because it seems like it's a fairly new thing that most of us are trying to wrap our heads around," Burslem said.

Of course, marketing can do only so much. Lenn Harley, broker at Homefinders.com, which works with buyers in Maryland and Virginia, says the key nowadays is choosing the right asking price. "That's critical," she said. "That's absolutely critical."

Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 9:21 AM | | Comments (0)
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About Jamie Smith Hopkins
Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
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