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I would like to get the opinion of residential agents regarding newspaper advertising.
First of all, let me say, I am a Broker Associate in FL, but do not deal at all with residential property. So, when I want to sell, I hire an agent who is more familiar with residential. I have used this agent previously as she sold my previous house, my boyfriend's house and my mother's house.
My current house has been listed since September and there have been 2 showings. I have dropped the price $30,000. I print out the flyers to put in the "take one" box. I realize it is a very tough market. My agent has had three open houses. She does no newspaper advertising. She has it on craigslist and (of course) realtor.com. A total of two people have been to any open house. The listing is going to expire at the end of this month. I asked that if she does another open house, I would insist she advertise in the local newspaper.
Am I out of line? As a professional courtesy, she did reduce the going commission percentage (1%), but even if I decide to handle the sale myself, I would advertise when I was going to hold an open house.
If it's an open house I think it is good to advertise in the newspaper. But IMO open houses are pretty worthless anyway. Internet advertising is where it's at.
I agree. Craig's list is known for attracting some pretty unusual types. One method I use is to email over 3,000 active agents and over 4,000 families on Thursday to let them know when I am holding a home open. Put the signs out the same day so when they get the email and drive by the house it will ring a bell with them. Most agents use open houses to meet buyers that they take and sell something else. The problem with open houses is that if you do generic advertising you have no idea whether the people are qualified who walk in the door. When I send my emails, I typically know from the sources of the list I compiled what price range they can afford.
Newspaper adverstising in my opinion is a waste of valuable dollars that can be used elsewhere. In addition, to Craiglist, write up a blog on it, drop flyers to move up buyers, email flyers etc.
Here in Northwest Vermont, newspaper ads help me find new prospective buyers, but they don't tend to result in interest in the homes featured in the ads. It's just the law of averages ...and the fact that buyers soon realize the paper isn't a good way to see what's for sale - the MLS is. Buyers have an agent sign them up for automatic email notification of new listings, and stay days ahead of the paper.
Sadly, open houses don't sell homes either - Realtors do. Most open houses here are attended by people who's agents either sent or brought them. I seldom do them any more. They just don't seem to work very well here any more.
When things are slow like today's market you have got to advertise. I am still a firm believer in newspaper ads but they have to be done right. Meaning a photograph needs to be included and describe as little about the property as possible. EX. "Area", "Bedrooms and Bathrooms" and some emotional terms like "quiet street", "Cozy Fire Place", "Trees". This is all the discription of the home that should be there because you can not sell a home in print so dont try. Most buyers dont purchase the house they itially say they want they buy what they fall in love with when they see it. So, dont give so much detail about the house that the buyer can disqualify it from the ad.
If there is several properties for sale in your area your agent should coordinate as many of the agents to hold a open house the same day at the same time and put together a pool of money for all the houses say $100 that will be given away in a drawing and that each home that the buyers visit and sign the guest book will have their name added to the drawing. As many of these agents as possible should put in a similar ad and the newspaper should be requested to place all the ads together boxed in with look at the top in big bold letters at least 10 times the font of all other print. Just under where it says look the drawing should be noted and it should be explained that it is a neighborhood open house and all the houses below will be open.
I have had a amazing rate of homes sold off open doing this, however, if when not done in this manner traffic is fairly low. Give this post to your agent if you want to and hope it helps.
According to the NAR (National Association of Realtors) 3% of home buyers found their home from a newspaper ad, less than 1% via an open house...
So...out here it costs $100 a week, yep for one week, to advertise a home in our local newspaper. So if the average house spends 6 months on the market, it would cost $2,580 to advertise the home every week for that length of time. That's a lot to get the 3%. You can put a one liner in the newspaper for less, but who looks at home ads without a picture?
I don't know the days on the market where you are, but if she already cut her percentage by 1%, there is no room to advertise that way.
As for open houses, yes, they need to be put into the newspaper as well as a multitude of other places. 2 people at an open house is fairly common out here. Gas costs a lot, and with the Internet, why waste time and money. I would look at your online marketing. For only two showings, I would bet people aren't liking what they are seeing online and just screening you out from the get go.
Me, I don't do any newspaper ads with the exception that on the rare occasion I do an open house. Those do go into the showcase area of our newspaper ($150 for the ad) out here.
If you don't have an add in the newspaper about an open house you might aswell not hold one. Also lots of signs pointing to your home are needed. If a open house will work....? You can also ask her to send emails to other realtors informing and inviting them to your open house and offer them 3%, might bring more traffic, and that is what you need. Tell people in your neighborhood to tell friends about the open house and if they bring you a buyer you can offer them something...
Thank you all so much. It makes me feel better about keeping my agent on. I do agree that sometimes an open house can be a waste of time. With gas prices, people aren't just driving around for no reason and happen upon a house they want to look at. She does put out signs the night before the open house to direct people there. In your opinion, is that enough time? Should they be put out any earlier?
Jamesww, you have some great ideas. My next door neighbor offered to cook BBQ (he has a commercial cooker) to bring people to the next open house. Food is always good!
I like the idea of a mass e-mail with the house information. Perhaps I'll talk with her about that.
Thank you all so much. Let's hope things begin to pick up everywhere - not only residential, but commercial as well!
Signs are a tricky issue - I put them out the day of the open house and HOPE to get them back, some towns have ordinances against them, some bad drivers hit them, some kids vandalize them, so there's no way I can put them up days in advance. They are a great lead generator on the day of the open home, probably 40-50% come in off of my signs.
As for newspaper advertising, I think it's almost worthless. I did an open house without newspaper advertising a couple of weeks back with internet advertising only and a customer actually wrote down "newpaper" on the sign in sheet where I ask, "How did you hear about this open house?"
I'm also curious as to why the agent reduced her fee (if your house sells)? Have her costs decreased as she carries it in inventory all these months? Or does she feel guilty that it hasn't sold and by reducing the amount she offers to the buyer's agents, does she think that will help your home stand out amongst the competition?
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