After several years of steady growth, the real estate market is \nshowing signs of another downturn: an oversupply of available \nproperties, stagnating prices, and increasing \u201cdays on market\u201d are some \nof the signs that we are shifting to a buyer\u2019s market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are you a real estate agent who has taken on several listings and has\n been working for weeks or months to get them sold? After a long period \nwith no results, your sellers are likely to start calling you. Why \nhasn\u2019t their property sold? What are you doing to market it? What else \nare you planning to do to make the sale?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would like to share with you a few effective practices and ideas \nthat have helped my own company get our listings sold, and hopefully \nthese tips can help you, too\u2014whether you need to revive a stale listing,\n or you need to convince a new seller why they need to list with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you\u2019ve got a contract and secured your position, it\u2019s time to get to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Share a short preview of your new listing \u201ccoming soon to the market\u201d across all your social media channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I applied this strategy in one of our most recent property flips, \nposting periodic updates on the renovation and its progress on Instagram\n (an ideal platform to share property photos), being sure to always tag \nthe location, the neighborhood, and a combination of other pertinent \nkeywords, as well as using the hashtag #miamirealestate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the day I announced we were ready to list, I got a call from a \nyoung woman who had been following my updates closely. She was looking \nto move into the area and wanted to know when we were hosting our first \nopen house. Amazingly, this first caller and her husband ended up buying\n the home\u2014all through the power of Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your brokerage offers an intranet for agents to communicate, post a\n sneak peek of your property listing with the address and price for your\n fellow realtors to see. They might be already working with buyers who \nare looking to move into the neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Install your real estate sales sign as you walk away from the listing\n consultation. Add a \u201ccoming soon\u201d sign to it, and make sure your \ncontact information is prominently displayed. Anyone driving through the\n neighborhood will be alerted that the property is coming to the market \nsoon, and they\u2019ll have a chance to contact you for more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can also be creative with your signs to make them stand out, like\n the one I saw recently that read \u201cFor Sale \u2026 Honey, back up the car!\u201d \nIt worked on me\u2014I made my husband back up so I could read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In those days when properties are flying off the shelves, sellers \nmight be reluctant to consider the option of staging their home for \nsale, as it can be significant up-front investment. However, when \ncompetition is fierce, can you really afford to not <\/em>stage and let the empty property sit on the market for months?<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the moment a buyer discovers the home online to the time they \nwalk it during the showing, home staging provides many benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We started staging our flips and it quickly proved to be an \nindispensable strategy. We have sold homes within as little as 6 days, \nat or over the asking price, while similar homes sat on the market for \n90 days or more, forced to reduce their prices over and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today we stage every one of our flips and I recommend staging to all \nmy real estate clients. We started to offer our home staging services in\n the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area last year and the results have been \nvery positive. Our latest project scored a cash offer in just two weeks \non the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hiring a professional photographer to take photos of your property \nlisting is essential. But beware: there are wannabe professionals and \nthere are real professionals. The first is the kind who might take \nphotos with the window blinds closed or at unflattering angles; the \nother is someone who knows how to make an interior shot look as good as \npossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t just hire someone with a DSLR camera and who knows Photoshop; \nhire a photographer who understands interior design, layout, light, and \ncomposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do I mean by that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A true architectural photographer does not just come in and shoot \nphotos of the space and its elements as they are. He or she moves, \nadjusts, and places pieces so that the pictures look just right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dining table decor as well as the mirror are typically not in the\n position you see in this picture, but a skilled photographer knows how \nto rearrange things in order to compose an interesting shot. Photography\n is both an art and a science\u2014invest in someone who can capture a \nfeeling in their photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. Hire a professional photographer who understands architecture and interiors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Give your listing as much visibility as possible<\/h3>\n\n\n\n