Alameda, CA

We've heard and read about cyber or virtual staging for at least two years now when the concept was introduced. San Francisco Chronicle featured this story today (geez --- what took them so long?)

And we've also heard that staged properties sell faster, and at higher prices than non-staged homes.

We also know that recent National Association of REALTORS studies show that 87% or more of buyers and sellers go on line to look at homes for sale.

So it seems natural to blend cyber staging with online marketing.

For agents and their sellers who are strapped for funds and can't afford the cost of traditional staging, the next best thing is cyber or virtual staging. The agent provides photos of vacant rooms. The designer digitally furnishes and stages the rooms, provides the images to the REALTOR who then uploads the photos on the MLS and other websites.

But....but...but.,,buyers expect the rooms to look like they do onlne when they come!

First, be thankful they came. You got them through that door.

Simple enough solution: the designer can provide photos of the rooms that the REALTOR can display on the wall, on an easel. The point is, this gives the prospective buyers ideas on how to furnish a vacant room.

AND download the staged photos into a CD you can hand out to prospective buyers. Naturally, the CD will have your name, number, website, etc. Get the picture?

But...but...but...it's gonna cost money.

Well geez, yeah....but not as much as traditional staging. For an average sized home (not McMansions), it could cost $2,000 - 3,000 for initial set up, and then monthly fees of $500-1000 until the house sells.

Compare that to cost of $200-300 to digitally stage a room. Economies of scale may apply: the more rooms staged, the less incremental cost per room.

But...but....no one I know is doing this.

Just watch. It's going to happen more often as people overcome their initial resistance, and as the next generation of SimCity aficionados start buying real homes.

HGTV'S HIDDEN POTENTIAL

If you've ever seen this show on TV, you'll get the idea. Check this out for full episodes of HGTV's "Hidden Potential"

Oh, such fun!

RESOURCES: Here are some virtual stagers. Check them out!

• Michelle Molinari provided a video on how this works in her blog
• Dennis Miller at http://virtualstagingsolutions.com/
• www.Staged4More.com
• www.VirtualEnrichingHomes.com
• www.VirtuallyStagingProperties.com
• www.HomesDesignedToSell.com
• www.george.aguilar.com/metaverse.htm

My seller is out of sorts due to the number of inspectors that the buyers want done to the property, following the pest inspection and the home inspection. This is not the first seller who has complained to me about this, but the question begs to be asked: when do inspections get to be too much and become invasive?

Certain things were tagged by the property inspectors that triggered a series of other inspectors who specialize in different things.

In one house, my seller works at home. So he had to vacate his home office multiple times to allow the inspectors to poke around the house. He sat in the car, working on his laptop, getting his wireless signals from his router --- and during his busy periods, it was quite a challenge.

In the other, I've had to get the dog out of the house so that he is not traumatized by the march of inspectors.

Thus far, we've had these inspectors and specialists:

• Pest inspector
• Home inspector
• Roof inspector
• Foundation/structural engineer
• HVAC specialist
• Plumber
• Electrician
• Roofer
• Window installer
• Chimney sweep
• Contractor
• City inspector (to finalize the work)
• Sewer lateral tester
• Irrigation specialist (sprinkler system and onsite well)

Because these folks are all specialists with their own work schedules, it was impossible to get them all to come at a mutually convenient time. The seller is tired of all the interruption, and feels that the inspections have become too invasive.

Tried to explain that the buyers are doing their due diligence in getting as much information as possible in what it would take to do some repairs based on what the inspectors recommend. But it does seem to be a bit much. I recommended that perhaps the buyer should have selected a contractor that can do all if not most of the work. That would have been preferable to many different inspectors.

And yes...the more inspections, the fewer if any surprises. The more the buyer invests in inspections, the more he is committed.

Open house: a waste of time? This goes for folks who say doing open houses is a waste of time. I like doing open houses: 15% of my business last year was a result of clients whom I impressed during open house.It's the battle of the old versus the new way of farming, or generating business.

Some folks prefer to do it the way they've always done it --- walking their farm areas, door hanging, mailing Just sold/listed postcards, etc. And some of them are really good at it and do get a lot of new business that way.

But others, like me, prefer to do find business in other ways. Some ways are tried and true, like writing personal notes, calling your client base, mailing monthly items of value, popping by --- basic principles of Brian Buffini's Working by Referral.

What works for you doesn't work for me

For folks who like to do it the old-fashioned way, go for it. But don't hate me because I like to do it another way.

Don't call me foolish because I invest time in coaching, or that I spend a lot of time blogging and doing other things online.

Don't tell me I'm wasting my time (what, spending days walking around neighborhoods is more efficient?) working online.

Don't tell me I'm wasting my money on a smart phone (putting your schedule on a blackboard or a paper calendar is better than having it on my phone that I carry with me at all times, everywhere?)

Open house: a waste of time? This goes for folks who say doing open houses is a waste of time. I like doing open houses: 15% of my business last year was a result of clients whom I impressed during open house. I once held an open house where there must have been 70-groups who came. I picked up a seller whose house I sold, and who bought a house I listed for a total of three sides.

Don't tell me that creating visual tours doesn't add value to a simple post on the MLS (I'm sure virtual tour companies can produce all kinds of data to support why virtual tours are attention-grabbers, etc).

Guess you don't believe in posting the tours on youtube either.

VisualTour.com makes it so easy to convert the tour to youtube, and to put a link on Facebook.

New business tools

Not one method is the absolute best. It helps to augment your current marketing with other tools that are in tune with how our target audience behave. And those tools include blogging on Active Rain, participating in social and business networks like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, adding your thoughts on Trulia Voices and Zillow.

Going to where my target audience is: ONLINE

In a previous post, I said that 30% of my business last year was from leads I generated via the internet.

With more than 86% of buyers and sellers going online to search for real estate properties and agents, then wherever they are, that's where I'm going to be.

During the Survival Guide 2009 seminar offered by REALTOR.com as part of heir Marketing and Technology Real Estate Series, Max Pigman (VP, REALTOR.com), he gave offered the following thoughts:

• Outwit: Use the power of free "viral" marketing tools, such as social networking and video podcasting, to connect with prospects and spread the word about your listings. Sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn have been skyrocketing popularity, particularly among the 35-44 age group.
• Outsell: Embrace technology. Be sure you have an excellent online presence and are using the latest methods to promote your online listings-slide shows, video and virtual tours, and interactive advertising.
• Outlast: Your marketing can't be stagnant. It must mold to the current market conditions and consumer concerns. Tell buyers about price decreases and attractive interest rates. Educate buyers about the new $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit.

So...those folks who aren't going to change with the times...stay true to what you do. As for me, I'm hitching my wagon to the stars.

RELATED POSTS:

• Convert VisualTour to Video and post on YouTube
• 10 Things to do when posting on craigslist
• What I did to get 70-80 groups to come to my open house
  

My co-worker was showing a foreclosure that was just listed in Alameda. It was priced aggressively, in a very desirable neighborhood. When she and her clients arrived at the property, there were literally throngs of people going in and out of the house. It was so busy they thought there was an open house. NOT!

Turns out that another realtor arrived to show the property to her clients, but that folks came to the property and wanted to see it, too. That realtor made the mistake of leaving the door open, so folks came in. And they came. And they came.

That realtor couldn't leave without locking the house, but because there were so many people there, she couldn't get them all out. She called out for help: "IS THERE A REALTOR IN THE HOUSE?" To which my co-worked responded, and said she would lock up. Big mistake!

By the time my co-worker and her clients were through and ready to lock up, she had the same dilemma: how to get the other folks out of the house. So she called out, "IS THERE A REALTOR IN THE HOUSE?" and when the third realtor responded in the affirmative, she left.

This situation opened up some interesting discussions:

• Foreclosures hunters are all over the place
• Some buyers are looking on their own, without their agents
• Should the realtor let others come into the property while she was showing it to her clients?
• Did she do it in the hopes she'd pick up new unrepresented buyers?
• How did her own clients feel about other folks viewing the property at the same time?
• Would you just hand over the keys to the house to another realtor whom you don't know?

Having been lulled into thinking that perhaps our lovely island city is not only holding its value but also somewhat insulated from the sweeping wave of short sales and foreclosures, it is interesting to see where we're going.

And are we there yet?

In 2008, short sales and foreclosures represented barely 6 % of total sales the first half of 2008. During the same period in 2009, that increased to 25%. This is somewhat sobering (and humbling).

At the same time, median price dropped from $619,674 to $549,481 or 11.5% decrease in market value.

What is encouraging is that the number of days to sell property has pretty much stayed the same --- and that we are still averaging 44-60 days on market.

It's important to share this information with sellers in particular to get them to see clearly what the current market conditions are, compared to where they were a year ago. Although we are again encountering multiple offers, it's on properties that are priced aggressively.

Are we there yet?

Yes, there are buyers. And they, too, are keeping a close watch on market values. We can't use the oft-repeated phrase that Alameda "holds its value" because they have dropped. We can hope that based on the slight increase in the second quarter, that perhaps we're slowly on our way back up.