Marketing Your Home
A Step Above the Rest
We at CT Home Pro set ourselves apart from other brokerages in the type of marketing that we do to sell your home fast and for the best price. Traditional marketing strategies are typically passive and called the 3 P’s of marketing: Place a sign in the ground, Put it on the MLS and Pray that it sells. These methods usually include a few additional strategies like Open Houses or putting an advertisement in a newspaper, but they don’t actively advertise your home for sale. A lot of Realtors will tell you this will sell your home, and it might, and we use these techniques as well, but we then take the additional steps.
The marketing strategies listed below incorporate our “Active Marketing” plan used in conjunction with the traditional passive strategies. Our systematic, proven approach will provide the best results and instead of waiting for your buyer to show up, we go out and find them. We use cutting edge technology along with the “old school pound the pavement” approach to ensure our clients receive the highest quality experience.
Here are just some of the other ways we market your home in order to sell it quickly and for top dollar:
INITIAL LISTING CONSULTATION
The first thing we are going to do is meet at your home to develop a strategy to best achieve your desired results. We know that everyone’s first priority is selling their home for the most amount of money and typically as quickly as possible, but through years of experience there is usually more to the situation. Whether that be selling the current home and finding another, selling in a specific time frame or needing to make certain updates to maximize your value. One of the biggest concerns we hear is "what comes next?" the uncertainty of the process can be overwhelming and creating that clear cut plan is how we make the process go smoothly.
CIRCLE PROSPECTING
As one of the key components of active marketing, we will be calling 20, 30, 50 or more neighbors, depending on your area, to ask if they know of anyone who might be interested or if they have any interest in selling their home. The first question we typically get is "Why would you want additional homes up for sale?" The truth is, statistically speaking, when one home goes up for sale or sells in a neighborhood, there will be at least one or two more that follow in short order. It is not a coincidence that if you see one for sale sign, you usually see multiple, it happens; if we have the listings, we control the attention our clients' properties receive, not a competing brokerage. This also helps spread the word about your home being up for sale, typically people choose an area to live in because they like being there, so when you ask a neighbor if they know of anyone looking to buy, or if they want to be the one to pick their next neighbor, they tend to spread that information around as much as possible.
WALK THE NEIGHBORHOOD
In addition to getting on the phone, this is where the old adage of pounding the pavement truly comes into play. We will be walking your neighborhood to pass out marketing materials and invite your neighbors to the Mega Open House. This type of marketing creates a sense of community and personalizes the home a little bit more, your neighbors now have a face to go with the sign in your front yard and in a day and age where we don’t get the opportunity to talk with neighbors like we use to, this helps build that sense of caring. We also take the time to mention that their home is usually worth what the most recent home in the neighborhood sells for and that tends to motivate neighbors to get the word out there!
FRIENDS & FAMILY BOOST
We will provide you with marketing pieces that you can share with your friends and family or let us know the names of people you think would be happy to help and we will take care of the rest! Some of the best marketing of a home comes from the people that know you best because they have a genuine concern to see you do well.
SOCIAL MEDIA
We have cultivated an online presence by blending personal and professional posts that appreciate our authenticity rather than an ordinary sales pitch. We create powerful visuals through photography & video on social media to provide an edge over those relying on traditional media alone.
STAGING
The first impression potential buyers have of your home will heavily dictate the offer you receive. We want to make sure that the first impression is a great one and that we have as many qualified buyers as possible walking through your door. In my studies of and experience with renovating and selling homes, I have learned inexpensive, yet impactful ways to increase the desirability of a property to create value through professional staging. A recent study by the Real Estate Staging Association reports that homes that had not been staged before listing sat on the market an average 143 days. Once these homes were staged, they sold in 40 days! Homes that were staged pre-listing averaged 23 days on the market.
AGENT NETWORK & DATABASE
Over the course of my career as a Real Estate and Mortgage Broker, I have been able to help quite a few clients buy, sell or invest in properties. This has created a database of people that are happy to help me, help other clients, and in return, they all help one another. Each time a new home goes up for sale, those same marketing pieces are sent out to my database through email and social media asking if they know of anyone who might be interested asking if they'd share the new listing as well.
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEOGRAPHY
After completing any updates or staging, this is how we capture all that work and make sure the buying public sees everything the home has to offer. The National Association of Realtors has conducted studies that show homes with professional photography sell 32% faster with an average days on market of 32 days as opposed to 70 days. NAR also found that homes in the $200,000 and up price range sold for $3,000 to $11,000 more as well. Simply said, professional photography sells homes!
PRICING STRATEGY
As a designated Pricing Strategy Advisor, PSA®, I have studied the different ways to effectively market homes based on price and my clients needs. There is more to selling a home than you might think. We come up with a plan dependent on each client’s situation to best fit their desired outcome, not just on price, but the entirety of their situation, and in return, ensure that the process goes smoothly on all levels.
COMING SOON MARKETING
Now that we have staged the home and taken the professional photos, we start building the exposure of the home. If the schedule allows, we will take 2 weeks before going active to start multiple advertising campaigns. This will be one of the ways that you can assist if you would like with using our Friends and Family Boost program. We will make sure that everyone you know, whether directly or indirectly, knows that your home is up for sale, ultimately letting everyone they know as well.
MEGA OPEN HOUSES
All of the work mentioned above is ultimately what leads to this big day! With the hope and expectation that we have given the home the maximum amount of exposure, and in return, will bring as many qualified buyers as possible to stop by and take a look. The Mega Open House will be marketed to neighbors, the general public and have its own social media campaign. The Mega Open House itself will stand out with a banner in the yard, signs throughout the area and all the refreshments a prospective homebuyer might enjoy while walking the property.
