Generally, when a real estate agent gets a listing, they will tell you that they are going to get the listing information back to the office and get it uploaded right away… and they say it with such enthusiasm. “I’ll get this into the system RIGHT AWAY, so we can start marketing your house.”
But I’m going to tell you… that is the first mistake that most listing agents make in this environment. They rush to get the listing into the MLS. Instead of taking their time to get everything ready. And it is a huge waste of opportunity. Here’s why…
Most agents photograph the listing themselves, instead of hiring a professional photographer to do it… and most agents shouldn’t be allowed to carry a camera. I have seen $1,000,000 homes photographed with a cell phone… seriously. And even when they use a camera, most look pretty pathetic. But there is a level even below pathetic… invisible.
You might as well go ahead and cover the yard signs and unpublish the agent’s phone number… nobody will visit this listing. And they aren’t going to come back later… it is rejected. Gone… invisible.
But that isn’t all.
- That cool single property website they told you about.
- The really nifty virtual tour.
- The pretty flyers.
- And just about everything else…
Let’s say that we “rush” to get the listing into the MLS, but we don’t have the virtual tour… The most views a property will get will be in the first week it is listed. And those people that see it in the first week won’t see the virtual tour. On average, unless/until there is a price change, I see as many hits in the first week as I will in the next two months. So, does it make sense to elimintate half of the interested/possible buyers for the first two months? Of course not.
Still rushing… But no flyers. Folks are driving by the house… but there are no flyers. Of course, the invisible flyers can’t promote the property’s website, which is going to be a much more effective sales tool than a simple flyer… but the website isn’t done either.
The big question though is… why?
For some it is just because they don’t know any better. For others, it is because they want to hurry up and “solidify the sale” before the seller changes their mind. And for a few, it is because they are hoping that lightning will strike and the house will sell before they start spending money.
If you agent is one that doesn’t know any better… Is that the agent you really want? They don’t know enough about marketing to know that the #1 request of buyers is MORE PICTURES. That means that obviously, NO PICTURE is a very bad idea.
If your agent is one that wants to “solidify the sale”… What is going on there? I know that I don’t want to list a house for someone that doesn’t know if they want/need to sell the house. This isn’t a market to casually enter as a seller.
If your agent is hoping to sell your house before spending any cash… They are living in the past. A few years ago, that was a distinct possibility. But not right now. Houses NEED marketing plans and they need them to be coherent and complete.
Here are a couple of websites…
Enjoy