The Basics of Marketing Your Home

Advertising and Promotion

The David and Lois Marris Team understand how today's home buyer is searching for their next new home. Statistics show that over 92% of today's buyers use the internet to begin their home search. We understand it is vitally important for your home to bee seen, and seen in at its best, on the internet.

 

When you list with us, we will promote your home extensively on the internet. The #1 real estate website in the nation is REALTOR.com and you'll be there! Guess what? It's not enough to show up there, you need to show up as if it is the U.S. President's Inaugural Ball. We'll make sure you have up to 25 photos, not just 1. You'll have a personal home video on REALTOR.com along with your virtual tour.  We also use a banner to highlight your home and provide an extensive description of your property features. In addition to all of that, our team is a FEATURE team for REALTOR.com and your home will often been featured at the top or bottom of the home buyer's search page results for Rochester MN homes.

 

Your property will be advertised through the popular Keller Williams website as well as our personal website.  Your listing is shared on a virtually statewide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) providing maximum exposure to the public and agents. Your listing information then gets shared with over 25 other internet sites including most local brokerage websites, Trulia.com, zillow.com, frontdoor.com (HGTV) and more. 

 

The internet isn't just about webpages any longer and we understand that. Today's home buyers search for homes in a variety of ways including social media. That's why you'll find us on two blogs, one for agents and one for the public, Twitter.com/RocheterHome and our Facebook Fan Page. We connect with Rochester's home buyers and sellers using the tools research indicates they use most.

 

The internet is now the first place buyers look for their new home and second place they look is with a real estate agent. Knowing this, we are one of the few agents who concentrate on agent-to-agent marketing. We promote your home through the Keller Williams office networking meetings and agent home tours which is a good way of getting agents to view your home and to promote it to their Rochester MN buyers. We also develop special agent-to-agent marketing pieces which promote your property to agents specializing in your price range.

 

Even with all these advertising avenues "For Sale" signs on front lawns are still remarkably effective.  When appropriate, and with your permission, your we may send a mailing about your property to neighbors. Sometimes one of them has a friend or relative who always wanted to live near them. You never know how far reaching the benefits of word-of-mouth advertising by friends, relatives and neighbors can be. 

Showings and Open Houses

To prepare your home for viewing, make it as bright, clean, cheerful and serene as possible. Always look at your home from the buyer's point of view. We suggest that you be absent while the house is being shown to prospective buyers, because your presence will inhibit their actions and conversations. They won’t feel free to open closets and cabinets, test out the plumbing and discuss their observations objectively as they walk through the house. It goes without saying that your children and pets should not be on the premises either.

If you would like we will schedule an open house. You may want to notify the neighbors, and assure them that they'll be welcome. They'll jump at the chance to poke around in your house, and sometimes they can turn up a buyer among their friends.

Quick tips for showings and open houses:

  • Clean or replace dirty or worn carpets.
  • Open all curtains and blinds.
  • Replace any burned out light bulbs and turn on all lights.
  • Clear all clutter.
  • Clear all countertops.
  • Wash and put away any dirty dishes.
  • Set the dining room or kitchen table if you have particularly nice linen or china.
  • Simmer a few drops of vanilla on the stove.
  • Put on soft music.
  • Burn wood in the fireplace on cold days, otherwise, clean the fireplace.
  • Put fresh towels in the bathroom.
  • Take any laundry out of the washer and dryer.
  • Leave the house so your REALTOR® is free to deal with prospective buyers in a professional manner.
  • Put pets in cages or take them to a neighbor.

How Long Has Your House Been on the Market?

Professional appraisers sum up their entire body of knowledge in three words: " Buyers make value." Your home is worth as much as a buyer will pay for it.

If your home has been on the market for months, it’s a clear message that the property may not be worth what you're asking for it. This is particularly true if there haven't been many prospects coming to see it. What you do at that point depends on whether you really need to sell, and whether you're working with a time limit.

If you're not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait - years if necessary - and hope inflation will catch up with the price you want. The problem is that in that time, your home begins to feel shopworn. Buyers become suspicious of a house that's been for sale for a long time.

If you really do need to sell, we can discuss a schedule for gradually dropping your price until you find a level that attracts buyers. There's no point in saying, " We simply can't sell our house." Anything will sell if the price is right.

If You’re Buying Another Home

You may wonder what will happen when you're selling one home and buying another – how will all the details work out? This is a common situation and REALTORS®, lawyers, and title and escrow companies have plenty of experience in arranging contracts and loans so that the two transactions dovetail smoothly.

Should you sell your home first then buy or buy first then sell? Ideally, it’s best to find a home you like and make an offer subject to selling your current home. This generally works in a normal market. However, in an “extreme” market most sellers will not accept a “subject to sale” offer. In this case you need to sell your home first and then buy a new home in the interim period between selling and vacating your house.  We define an extreme market as one where houses are selling very quickly ("hot") or very slowly (over 100 days on market average).

If you find that you need to buy the next house before you've received the proceeds from the present one, lending institutions can sometimes make you a short-term " bridge" loan to tide you over between the two transactions.