Bob and Sue Whigham

All Realtors agree that a home decorated for marketing correlate to a higher sale price, and a faster sale. So, grab a chair and preview these marketing tips. In the home selling marketplace of today, making your home stand out is extremely important. Potential homebuyers usually view ten other homes before finishing their home tour. Buyer confusion is commonplace, except for the homes that stood out.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

As it is the first thing a homebuyer sees, the outside of a home cannot be overlooked. Many a potential homebuyer has driven past a home and not stopped because, of his or her first impression. Here are some helpful hints:

THE LIVED IN LOOK

Smart home sellers use a lived in look for special impact! Burning candles are an inexpensive idea for that lived in look. An open cookbook decoratively placed on a clean counter is another. Silk flowers in a basket placed on the entryway floor, can offer dramatic results. Use your imagination, or go strolling through a nick-knack section of a store for fun ideas!

KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS

The bathroom and kitchen are the most important marketing areas of a home. Clean—Clean—Clean. This advice can only aid in the successful marketing of your home. Set a basket of fruit on the kitchen counter. Bake bread or cookies before an open house. Place the cookies out with help yourself note! Decorate the bathroom with matching towel sets. Scented oils that placed by the drop on a light bulb will last for hours!

QUESTION: Do you add value to the customer? It is important that you continuously improve how you do things to ensure that you meet or exceed your customer's expectations.

ADVERTISE

You could have the best service and top sales skills in your community, however, if you do not advertise these facts to your clients, they will never know. A monthly newsletter is an excellent way of expressing the services you provide as well as your particular talents. Numerous studies have shown newsletters increase business substantially.

SERVICES

Impressing your clients with outstanding services can assure their devotion and loyalty. Below are some excellent suggestions:

Make remodeling expense tracking journals for home remodeling and investor clients.

Ask your customers if they would like notification of new listings in their neighborhood.

Enter customer birthdays and important dates in a scheduling program and send cards or other applicable items. (If you seek success--know your client).

Call your past customers quarterly, just to say hello.

Send out holiday recipe suggestions, spring flower seeds, and holiday cards.

CREATE A NICHE

You cannot market yourself to everyone, but you can target people in a specific locality. Target letters, brochures, and newsletters to the following:

Renters, for sale by owners, and investors

Newly retired, recently married, and renters (use reverse directories and local newspapers)

ORGANIZATION IS KEY

Organization ensures more efficient business operation. Enter and organize your business contacts. This makes sending marketing material to different segments of people easy.

THE BIG PICTURE

The lifetime value of a customer can be calculated by figuring the average amount of purchases in a year (referrals included). Multiply this with the number of purchasing occasions in a year, and again by the purchasing life expectancy or number of years in which they have the potential to buy what you can sell them. This calculation shows a customer can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime in business.

any sellers are very confused when they list their home for sale.

They don't realize that listing a property with a

Realtor has a tremendous advantage over selling a

home "For Sale By Owner."

Depending on the area and market conditions, 97%

of homes sell through the MLS.

What is the MLS? It is the "Multiple Listing Service"

that allows your home to be offered for sale to ALL

Realtors in your area. It could be a few hundred

or it could be a few thousand, depending where you

are.

The reality is, when you list with your favorite

agent, you are actually listing your home with ALL

the Realtors and their offices. Through the MLS,

these agents receive complete information about your

home and have the opportunity to SELL it.

There is often a misconception among home sellers

that their listing agent "didn't do anything" to

sell their home. What you may not realize, is the

way your agent describes your home in the MLS listing

can interest the other agents or have them skip over

it. The more interesting the listing, the more agents

will show your home.

The main goal of sellers is to SELL their home. It

shouldn't matter WHO sells it! When you list your home,

you are actually hiring hundreds or thousands of agents

to work for you!

Often sellers get upset when their listing agent

doesn't sell the house. However, when the home is

offered to thousands of agents - all of whom are

working with potential buyers - it is much more likely

that another agent will sell it!

Listing your house with a Realtor is one of the

smartest things you can do to sell your house. Your

listing automatically hires all the agents in all the

MLS offices in your area. They, in turn, present your

home to THOUSANDS of buyers.

The MLS is the BEST vehicle your agent can use to

sell your home. This is why 97% of all home sell

through the MLS.

Because the listing is so important, you want to make

sure all the information such as room dimensions,

taxes, and upgrades are all listed correctly. (Errors

can happen since many times a secretary enters the

information into the computer.)

Now you know the advantages of hiring your favorite

Realtor to sell your home. Where else can you hire

thousands of agents to work for you - 7 days a week?

As a "For Sale By Owner," can you alone replace all

these agents?!!

Get your house market-ready for at least two weeks before you begin showing it.

Price it right. Set a price at the lower end of your property's realistic price range.