A Guide to Selling Your Home – Part 5: Advertising Your Home
The key to increase demand and interest in your home is to reach out to maximum people. Advertising your home increases the exposure of your property and subsequently draws more attention to it. The more people you reach, the greater the demand, which can ultimately result in a higher price for your home.
The real estate industry has seen some ups and down over the past couple of years. The competition is fierce. So, you need expert marketing skills to sell your property. Therefore, under these circumstances, you should consider spending on advertising a little bit more to draw more attention from the potential buyers.
This fifth part of our ‘A guide to selling your home’ will show you how can you gain more exposure for your property and win plenty of prospective buyers.
Online Advertising
The broad reach of online advertising increases the exposure of your property to a variety of potential buyers. Your online advertisement is just a click away for property hunters. Most home buyers use the internet when conducting their property search. Property portals are big platforms for engaging buyers and showing off extensive photo galleries of your home. Most online listings are free.
You can also avail the facility of premium or feature advertising options on most online advertising portals which allow your property to appear higher up or highlighted in advertising lists.
So, there is a vital need for your real estate agents to have an active online presence. So, get the home prepared for vivid pictures and video of the property that can be posted on websites.
Print Advertising
Print advertising is considered as the more ‘traditional’ forms of advertising.
Magazine: Magazine that features all the properties for sale can be another effective way of reaching buyers.
Newspaper: Advertise in the newspaper to reach out to those buyers who also read newspapers. Some newspapers publish property classifieds. You can also advertise a larger ad in local newspapers for less money that targets those buyers who are looking for property in your area.
Social Media
Make sure you have social media accounts to promote your properties. You can smartly use social media to promote your listings and find a buyer for your house.
Take Photos
Most home buyers begin a home search online, so good photos are essential. Listings without a photo or with only an exterior shot are often ignored. Bad photos will diminish interest in even the best properties. Make sure you have a good selection of photos of your property from the inside and out. It’s absolutely essential to have great photos of your properties.
Hire a professional photographer to show your home in the best light. He will be able to find the best angle, make your home look relatively better, and even touch up some of the photos to make them truly pop online.
If you have sophisticated equipment and are confident in your abilities, have your own hand at it.
Interior Photographs
Take photographs of each room from every angle. For your photos to look the best, focus on interesting details like the condition of a wood floor, a fireplace or the huge bay window. Edit and retouch your photos just enough to enhance them.
Exterior Photographs
Take photographs which give an aerial view of your home to showcase the surrounding neighborhood. If you own a condo or villa then take pictures of the clubhouse, pool, spa or tennis courts. For luxury homes, photos of night view of the home illuminated by outdoor lighting will be the best.
Create a Virtual Tour
Virtual tours save potential buyers’ precious time by showing them visuals of your home prior to visiting in person. They provide them a comprehensive, accurate preview of the property.
You can hire a company to make a quality virtual tour and put it online to grab the attention of prospective buyers. You can also include sound, music or an exciting, professionally written description that scrolls with the movement of the tour.
Write a description that Sells
After the photos and virtual tour, buyers will read your listing details. When writing your property description be clear and concise in your wording of the property and the surrounding area.
At the top of your listing, put together the basic details of the house like the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and other stand-out features. Next, come the details of property valuation report, floor size, land size and property age etc.
It’s important to create descriptions that not only tells the facts but also sells stories. Identify the sizzling selling points and choose advertising words to sell.
Lastly, put all the photographs, virtual tours and descriptions of your home on the internet and print media. Put your contact info wherever needed. Once advertising your home process is done, you can list the property for sale.
Also read: A Guide To Selling Your Home – Part 1: An Overview
A Guide to Selling Your Home – Part 5: Advertising Your Home
Ajay Verma, founder, and writer of The Housing World, a real estate and mortgage news website. He has over fifteen years of rich experience in the above-mentioned industries.
