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Price Reduction? Maybe…

This blog is brought to you in part by:  www.AZRealtorAdvantage.com

This particular blog post is directed at real estate agents but I’m sure that anyone, including sellers, can see the logic!  And…I think we can all agree that 90% of marketing a piece of real estate in today’s housing market is coming on the market with a good, competitive price.  Therefore is it crucial for real estate agents to have a plan, up front, for making price reductions with their sellers.

With that in mind…

Have a “pricing reduction” system in place and explain it to your sellers up front.  Many sellers want to “test” the market and not start out so low with their home’s price and that’s fine but most likely that is not the price that will get the home sold.  So have a system in place.  IE: If you have 10-15 showings in a 3 month period and no offers, it’s probably over-priced.  Figure out your own system and implement it with your clients.  Be sure to even bring your listing modification form with you on your first appointment letting the seller know, up front, that you expect that there will be a price reduction in this housing market.

Set up clients with  an email search of their neighborhood.  Knowledge is power.  Agents, keep your sellers educated with detailed information from their neighborhood or subdivision.  Sellers will typically be able to understand the realities of their own market.  It’s easy!  Just use MLS!

Show them Internet traffic! If you are not posting your listings online with at least 3 or more real estate search engines like Trulia, Zillow, or Realtor.com then you are missing a large audience of technically savvy buyers.  90 percent of all home searches now begin online.  Provide clients with weekly reports to let them know that their home is being “seen” even when they’re not being seen.  In addition to using property search engines, use social networking sites to your advantage!  Post your listing to Craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Keep your sellers motivated by keeping them on the buy side.  Sellers are going to be buyers, most likely, and a smart agent will already have set up an email drip of MLS listings that match the sellers buying criteria for their next home.  When sellers find something they like they can become much more motivated to sell their own home sooner.

Give ‘em what they want! Most clients truly appreciate open houses, they really do.  They will know that you’re working for them that day.  Sellers will be much more willing to adjust their prices when they know you are working hard for them.

Once you had made sure that you are the local real estate expert for the neighborhoods you market in, let the seller ask for the price reduction. Use a “passive aggressive” approach to sales.  Agents, you want your clients asking you to reduce the price.  Act as an adviser.  Provide them the raw data like the MLS neighborhood/subdivision information, the online traffic is good but the showings are low, feedback from those who have seen the home (feedback forms).  Most sellers will see the writing on the wall and realize that a price reduction might be the key to receiving an offer!

One of the best ways to incorporate online marketing into your overall marketing strategy is have a single property website.  Since 90% of new buyers are looking online, they want to see LOTS of information and pictures before stepping foot into a hot car to drive out and see a home.  A smart single property website can automatically feed property info to the major search engines, provide for unlimited media options like being able to show hundreds of pictures, virtual tour, a actual walk through video tour of the home, a panoramic tour and show city demographics & local schools as well as aerial views of the neighborhood.  Buyers want to know these things.  Pictures are worth thousands of words.  Make it easy for potential buyers to have the information all in one place!  This is the kind of stuff that might make price less of a driving factor for buyers.

Drive traffic to your single property website using print ads with the URL and text code or hanging a sign rider with that same info.  Include that URL info in your blogs and on your websites.  When anyone sees a new product on the market (or in this case a home’s website address or URL) they want to learn more about it before they invest any time to go and see it in person.  Give them that information through a dedicated website that only features one property.  Load the website up with as many pictures, videos and documents (positive inspection reports, completed appraisal supporting the homes listing price, etc) and when prospective buyers land on your listing’s website and sees ALL of that info, they are much more likely to find a picture, document or statistic about the home that makes them want to come out and see it.  We live in a Google age.  You can either embrace that and be successful or wither away…trust me on this.  Then you should post the property’s website URL into your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, any social networking site and get some real traffic into the home!  If you still aren’t seeing offers after doing this much work marketing, then a price reduction is probably in order.

Post your own thoughts about pricing on your own blog or website and share that info.  Sellers will read it and they could easily turn into your clients!

I hope some of these tips work for you as well as they have worked for countless agents I work with that seem to get fantastic results from implementing these concepts.

Want more information about single property websites at no charge?

Check out www.AZRealtorAdvantage.com and watch the video.

Regards,

Spencer Anglin

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