Connect2Agent - Home Buyers and Sellers

Support local businesses and sell your house faster

If you've been frequenting this blog, you'll know I am a believer in Internet marketing. You gotta have Internet marketing to sell your house--it's just that simple.

I have discussed the power of video and how your house needs to tell your story. Let people know what they'll be getting when they move into your neighborhood. Include video footage of your parks, tours of your schools, show support of your local businesses ... you can even spotlight your neighbor's prized garden.

Your real estate listing needs to be an online story.

Back to marketing--I was watching this video today and couldn't help but see the brillance in it. The marketing of the apartment homes in the video is sponsored by a local restaurant. The video of the ads lends itself to the luxury feel of the apartments.

The ads complement the real estate listing. The video tells the neighborhood story.

Take a look at your listing online: Is it appealing? Does it stand out from the other comparable houses in your local real estate market? Do you have a video?

Does it tell a story?

So, real estate sellers, it's time to start taking it to the streets. Get cozy with local small business owners. Self-promotion of your real estate listing is great, but engaging in joint opportunities is better. 

Expand your impact, support local businesses, and sell your house faster.

If you enjoyed this post, you'll want to read:

• Marketing your house on the Internet is essential to attract buyers
• Use the power of video to sell your house
• 6 places to get more exposure online for your house listing

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Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson

5 steps to a successful open house

When you have your house listed on the local real estate market, your real estate agent will probably employ a variety of marketing techniques to bring traffic through your house. Connect2Agent has discussed the importance of your real estate agent utilizing an online marketing strategy. Some more old-school styles of marketing may also be used to intrigue prospects to grace your door. One of these is the open house.

An open house is a time when you "open your home" to the public. Open houses are typically held on the weekend and are held for a block of time--some as few as 3 hours, some as long as all day--to allow enough opportunity for prospects to view your house. 

How to sell your house and keep your sanity

The spring market is coming to your town. What does this mean for real estate? An increase in interest and activity. Homeowners who had their house listed in the winter and didn't sell it are now sprucing it up to put it on the market for sale again. Homeowners who had been considering a move are moving into action, especially with their children's pending summer break on the horizon.

So if you are a homeowner in one of these scenarios, how do you sell your house and keep your sanity? Connect2Agent has five key tips to help you on your way.

1. Hire a real estate agent. Unless you like making a smaller profit on your house and you have an abundance of time, advertising tools and networking resources at your fingertips, let the experts take care of it for you. Unlike the difference between full-service and self-service at the gas station, the task of listing, marketing and selling your house on your own versus using a professional who lives and breathes your local market is vital to your real estate success.

2. Find the right real estate agent. Interview at least three agents. Make sure you set your expectations with each of the agents up front. Let them know what you are expecting to net from your home sale and what you are expecting them to do in order to accomplish your financial goal. Choose the agent who best suits your needs and who provides a detailed marketing plan and local real estate market analysis.

Send a flyer of your house to the World Wide Web

I have addressed the topics in this blog of marketing your house by video, partnering with your real estate agent to sell your house and where you can go online to advertise your house listing.

Now, I have found a great new site I want to share. The website is Classifiedflyerads.com and it allows you to create a flyer of your house and have it post to multiple real estate directories, which include:

• GoogleBase
• Trulia
• Zillow
• Oodle
• Lycos
• BackPage (Posting HTML)
• Craigslist (Posting HTML)
• Digg
• Homes.com
• House.com
• Local
• Hotpads
• Feedburner
• RealPropDeals
• eHouseAds
• Technorati
• ActiveRain (Posting HTML)
• eBay (Posting HTML)
• Kijiji
• Geebo
• LiveDeal (Posting HTML)
• CLRSearch
• RealtyFeeds
• Slashdot
• Info
• OLX
• PropBot
• Vast
• PropSmart
• RealtyFeedSearch
• Propeller
• Reddit

The service offers a free version, which includes the creation of up to 3 flyers, 5 photos, 1 virtual tour, customizable widgets and more. You can view the details of their free and paid versions on their website.

Check with your real estate agent to see if he/she is utilizing this service. If you are just in the initial stages of finding a real estate agent to work with, make sure you mention this marketing tool to him/her and see if they would be willing to use this service to send a flyer of your house to the World Wide Web.

Happy selling.

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Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson

Four considerations when choosing a color to paint your house

When you put your house on the real estate market, your real estate agent might advise you to first paint it. Before you go out and buy the paint or brush a stroke on your walls, read on for the top four considerations in color psychology.

In the article, "Using Color Psychology to Sell Your Home", Jeanette Joy Fisher gives real estate sellers the top four considerations in selecting their paint colors:

1. The Exterior--Muted shades with tints of gray or brown are attractive to high-end, luxury home buyers. Shades of yellow or tan with blue, green or white trim are great colors for lower-priced houses.
2. The Interior--Home buyers prefer color to white walls. Entryways, living rooms and family rooms look great in muted versions of the exterior color of the house. Kitchens shine in natural shades of browns, greens and yellows. Master bedrooms can be painted in colors that elicit intimacy, such as medium shades of blue, green or red. 
3. The Season--Choose cool colors such as blues and grays for winter. Paint in warm colors during the summer season, such as yellows and maroons.
4. The Intensity--The hue for the color that you choose is important. Pale, sunny yellow exteriors sell the fastest. Exteriors in a green-yellow hue or orange hue are a turn-off to home buyers.

Make sure to get recommendations from your local real estate agent when choosing a paint color for the interior and exterior of your house. Ask your real estate agent what colors would help to sell your house quickly and if there are any trends you should be aware of.

You also might want to consult a professional home stager or interior designer. Some real estate agents are home stagers or have an interior designer on their team, so make sure you ask for a recommendation first before you try to find someone on your own.

Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson

Three tips to sell your house by using Feng Shui

What types of methods have you considered to help you sell your house? According to Wikipedia, Feng Shui is the "ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with the environment." You can use the practices of Feng Shui to create harmony and balance in your house to attract prospective home buyers.

In the About.com article, "Sell Your House the Easy Way with Feng Shui", author Rodika Tchi gives three helpful tips for attracting buyers to your house:

1. Analyze the outside of your house. Ask a friend to view your house from the outside. You should both write down all the positives and negatives about the outside of the house. From the list, decide what you can do to create an inviting entrance to your house.
2. Concentrate on greenery. Consider hiring a landscaper to make your house attractive on the outside. If you are in a unit without much exterior property, add plants and flowers to your front entrance.
3. Eliminate clutter in your house. Concentrate on the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Try to keep clutter at a bare minimum so home buyers can visualize themselves in your house.

Have you used Feng Shui or another technique to sell your house? Connect2Agent wants to know. Share your story by commenting below.

Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson

The three things your real estate agent must do to sell your house

Has your home been on the market for 30 days or more without any offers?  Here are three steps to gauge your real estate agent's performance.

1.  Your home cannot be found on the internet. 

Yesterday's market would have found your home listed in the Multiple Listing Service.  Your agent might have sent out "just listed" cards to your neighbors.  Of course, a sign would have been put in your front yard with your agent's name, photo, company information, and a contact phone number.  There also would have been some newspaper advertising.

Top 5 Factors to Determine your Home's Value

How do you know if your listing price is based in fact or fiction? 

Typing into the Google Search Bar the words "Comparative Market Analysis" this afternoon yielded 961,000 results.  Skimming through the first two pages of results, I visited similar sites that promised me a free market evaluation by a professional if I filled out a relatively simple form.  One site that doesn't even require a professional to produce a number for me is the ever controversial Zillow.  I can retrieve an estimate for a home I am interested in (either to buy or to sell) by in some cases just typing in the address.

Can it be this simple?

When I sold my home three years ago, before I even listed it, I had a good idea of what price I would settle for, and what price I wanted to list my home at.  I had an advantage.  I had been watching the market in my subdivision, in the surrounding areas, in the city for a few months. 

I had watched them the prior year as well.  I kept tabs on similar style homes via email notification of current and new listings.  I also kept tabs on what public information could be provided to me via the internet and local real estate advertising on similar homes in the area that had sold.  My advantage was education.

When I interviewed the first real estate agent for my home listing, I was very disappointed.  I was ready for a discussion on price and her views on the market and my home.  Instead I was handed a glossy 2 pocket folder containing her business card, a biography page,and a sample newspaper listing. 

When it got down to the nitty gritty price conversation, she handed me 60 comparable listings and asked me "So what do you think we should list your home for?"  I gave her my reasons, with no input or feedback on her part other than, "I think that is a good price".

Isn't that what I was interviewing her for?