08 July 16  |  Living   |  

Marketing of a Listing: Dirty Little Secrets Continued

By Janet Fetterman, Royal Shell Realtor®

So you are going to list your home and you are evaluating agents and their brokerages. Everyone has their pitch as to why “they are No. 1,” and you are trying to make an informed decision about marketing a listing.

A real estate agent is an independent contractor. Typically, in most agencies today the advertising budget is determined primarily by the depth of the pockets of that listing agent. There may be some joint advertising within a brokerage where a number of agents buy a page and put their listings on it or if they have enough working capital, they may buy their own page for their own listings.

Yes, this is exposure. It is also old school marketing. I don’t say this as a negative, I just say that for a return of investment dollar wise, this isn’t the most effective medium to use in selling your home. The dirty little secret is that as buyers pick up these publications, their interest in a particular home may be peaked. They contact the agent in the ad. That agent then has an opportunity, of course, to show that home and every other home in the buyer’s price range. In other words, these ads predominantly generate buyers for the agent.

Agents Typically Used Licensed Assistants

Man and woman holding paper house and keys

Many times heavy-listing agents use licensed assistants to work with these buyers. This allows them to focus on listing more properties and using the buyers generated from these listings to be serviced by their buyer’s agent/assistant. There is nothing wrong with this model. This is another revenue stream for the agent.  I support it totally. What is wrong is the seller’s perception that the agent’s spending a big budget in print media on their house will get it sold.

At best, a smart agent will budget up to 5 percent of their potential commission for your listing. Some agents may push that budget envelope to 10 percent if they have a correctly priced property that is strategically positioned in the market and justifies the expense, hoping to get similar listings to add to their inventory. Keeping an eye on their budget is necessary to stay in business. Remember, an agent only gets paid when they sell something and there are many other overhead expenses to stay in business.

If you are thinking of listing your home, give me a call at (352) 369-6969 or email me at Janet@RoyalShellSales.com . I’ll be glad to discuss how we will market your home to attract qualified buyers in the shortest amount of days on market.

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