When it comes to selling your home, price and location are quite important, it’s true; but marketing your home for sale is also important as it spreads the words and drives traffic to your home effectively.
So how does one market a home for sale effectively? Nowadays, there are many ways to market your home for sale without having to spend too much money.
1- Get listed right
Make sure that you get your home listed on a great real estate listings website that markets your home effectively with optimal images and a comprehensive property description (*cough* ComFree *cough*).
It is also in your best interest to provide fundamental information about your property like property taxes, square footage, lot size, bedrooms, bathrooms, finished basement, etc.
2- Spread the word organically
Tell your friends, family and coworkers about your home for sale and tell them where they can find your home online so they can take a better look and check out the details. Of course you don’t want to be that annoying dude who won’t stop talking about his home.
Casually mentioning that you posted your home for sale and if they know anyone who is interested in finding a home in your vicinity is welcome to email or call you for more information is okay though.
3- Use internal message boards
Many workplaces have internal message boards or a spot for public postings, so use the space to post your home for sale.
If your home for sale is very close to a hospital, for example, this would also be a prime location to post your home for sale, as nurses and doctors would likely appreciate living very close to their place of employment.
4- Take great pictures
Before you take any pictures of your home, it is important that you clean up your home as though you’re holding an open house. It should looked lived in but have a neutral enough look that potential homebuyers can mentally make it their own when looking at it.
Only then should you take some high-quality pictures of your home. And yes, the more the merrier. Take pictures of your kitchen from two angles, and for the love of logic, don’t get caught in the picture via the reflection in the mirror when taking a picture of your bathroom.
Use proper lighting and keep in mind that this is not the time to get abstract with your pictures. Keep images as linear as possible.
5- Hold open houses
It’s becoming more and more commonplace for home sellers to hold open houses to create buzz about their property and drive the sale of their home.
Open houses creates an air of competition among homebuyers and may even score you more than your listed sale price.
The most popular times to hold an open house? Sundays from 2 to 4 pm.
6- Install a lawn sign
Speaking of open houses, since you’re using your lawn sign to tell passersby that your home is up for sale, it’s also a great way to promote your open house.
Your lawn sign is your key to helping others identify that your home is for sale, so ensure that your contact information (telephone number, website at which they can view your home) is on it and that it is easily spotted from a distance.
7- Advertise in local newspapers
Every little bit of marketing helps, so take advantage of community newspapers, as well as the big dailies in your city to make sure that you effectively spread the word about your home.
Keep the message short and to the point.
8- Create a video of your home
The beauty of YouTube is that it allows anyone to create a video and upload it without killing bandwidth. However, I do caution you to only create a video of your home that is of good quality. Creating a video with a shaky hand and a barely audible voice will not do your home justice.
9- Use social media
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flickr are great ways for you to market your home for sale and provide yet another way to spread the message among friends, family, colleagues, and of course, complete strangers.
Place a link to your home for sale on varying social media outlets and ask your friends and followers to share the post. Before you know it, you’ll have tons of people visiting your home online and, hopefully, in real life.
10- Offer a gimmick
A woman recently offered homebuyers $1,000 worth of free beer if they purchase her home and while it may have been a somewhat unorthodox way of selling a home, the media got wind of the story and wrote about it, which gave her home sale tons of coverage, and in turn, a buyer. A very, very drunk buyer.
Market your home for sale right
There are tons of ways to market your home for sale nowadays, especially considering that everyone is so connected via the internet and is surfing from their TVs, smartphones, computers and tablets, so take the time to craft your message and sell your home today.
If you need some commission-free guidance to sell your home on your own, ComFree can help.
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I think it’s about time that someone wrote this article to homeowners. I think that with the right tools and a little research, one can easily sell their home if they market it right. Thanks for the tips.
Love the idea about $1,000 of beer with the house… I think I’ll suggest that to a few of my clients and see what they think. You never know what will trigger the buying frenzy – and I think beer might be just the thing in this economy.
Thanks for the tip, Jeffrey, but would home buyers not feel more comfortable having their own home inspector conduct the inspection, as they are not certain of the relationship between the homeowner and the inspector they would have used?
A pre-listing home inspection can also remove much of the negotiations during the selling process. The buyer and seller will know the condition of the home and what repairs need to be completed. The home seller will also have the option of making repairs prior to the home going to market or have firm quotes for needed repairs.
Download our Guide to Home Inspection for more tips here http://howhomeinspectorshelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Guide-to-Home-Inspection-2011.pdf