PropertyPreviews-10 Tips to improve your photos in 10 posts: Tip #2

Give your listing online curb appeal.  The front photo of a listing is one of the most important photos in my opinion.  If it captures interest, in will lead to the online shopper to go further down the rabbit hole to view and learn more about that listing.

This tip is mainly for listings where the garage is attached to the front of the house.  A garage can take up a good majority of a front photo.  Lets face it - a garage is a garage.  There is nothing great about it, but you need to show it.  Most people will take a front photo straight on giving the house and garage equal line of sight and making the garage appear large.  What we want to achieve with this tip is a different line of sight, but still capturing the whole house and garage.  If the garage is on the left of the house, you want to position yourself all the way to the right of the house.  This way you are focusing on the house, and while the garage is still in your picture, it is not overpowering the house.  This gives your listing online curb appeal.  Thanks for reading and Happy Selling.

Below is an example.  To be fair I used a standard point and shoot camera on this fine overcast day in the North Midwest.

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Cheers,

Tom

Embracing Technology – Will It Really Help You Sell More?

I was at the NAR conference last month.  I am a newbie to the real estate space so it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about the service providers in this industry and to chat with agents and brokers.  My background is in technology so I spent a lot of time learning more about the latest and greatest tools that are out there for real estate professionals.

I’ll bet if I walked the show floor some 10 years ago, I would not be seeing the number of vendors promoting some type of computer technology, hardware, online databases and multimedia products.   And looking at the session topics, I’m sure the whole idea of social media would have made most brokers and agents heads spin back then.  But welcome to 2008 and the onslaught of technology – where the NAR session on Blogging 101 was packed and had to be repeated the next day because of all the interest.  And like Carrie in Sex in the City writes – “Will technology really help you sell more?”

If you ask the more seasoned top producers (like I did), the answer would be “No”.   They know how to sell, they know how to reach the buyers and sellers, and they don’t need all these fancy tools that are out there now to help them do any more business.  It’s all about the relationships they tell me.

If you ask those that have less experience, the answer is “If you don’t embrace technology, you won’t survive in this business.”

I guess there is no right or wrong answer here – but after attending many sessions and talking to many people, my conclusion is – “It certainly can’t hurt”.

Do you need a Web site in this day and age?  Probably.  It just makes sense given that the highest majority of buyers now are Gen X and Gen Y and guess what, they know what a computer is and they know how to surf the Internet.  You know the number – 84% of home buyers begin their search on the Internet.

Do you need all this social media stuff?  Blogging, twittering, Facebook-ing?  It may help you get exposure to more people, but like the more seasoned pros would tell me, it doesn’t necessarily help you build that one-on-one relationship that will help you get referrals and gain repeat business.  If you have the time, go for it – but I wouldn’t expect to measure the return on your efforts.

Do you need more ways to expose your listings to more people – Yes.  Because it will help you sell more?  Maybe, but primarily because you are demonstrating  to your seller that you are doing all you can to actively promote their property.    YouTube, GoogleBase, Trulia, Zillow, Oodle, Yahoo, Homescape and the list goes on.

You can do it yourself or certainly go the free route – it’s all about putting a dollar value on your time.

Photography and videos – Yes.   The stats are out there – 12% increase in perceived value with photography and almost a 6% increase in perceived value by using a video.  There are so many inexpensive options out there that can give you a quality product – and quite frankly, your sellers should be demanding it.

Lead management systems, contact management systems?   In this market, would be a luxury to have.  I wonder how well these particular vendors did at this year’s show.

All in all, embracing technology is probably a good thing.    And if you invest your time and efforts wisely in the right technologies, chances are that you will become more efficient and more effective over the long haul – and yes, that will probably translate for more sales.

Getting your video on Realtor.com

You’ve created a video on PropertyPreviews.com.

You think it looks great.

You’ve posted it to the MLS and to your broker/agent website.

But have you gotten it in front of the largest trafficked real estate website in the US, Realtor.com?  You want people to SEE the video - that’s why you made it, isn’t it?

Realtor.com does not allow agents to directly post video links to their listings, but we can help you do that automatically.

When creating your listing, be sure to place your MLS ID number in the Property ID # in the LIstings Detail section (see below).  Without it, Realtor.com won’t know to what listing to attach your video.

After creating your video on PropertyPreviews.com, you can “Manage Media” for any listing from your home page.

Once there, you’ll see many options, but we’re talking about Realtor.com, so look for this:

You’ll note there are two prices, one for “Showcase” members, and one for “Non-Showcase” members.  Showcase membership with Realtor.com allows you to easily enhance your listings on Realtor.com with the features buyers want most with up to 25 jumbo photos, full motion videos, open house alerts, and most importantly – multiple leads forms so that buyers can contact you directly.  If you’re already a Showcase member, attaching your video is $5.95.  For non-Showcase members, the fee is $24.95 (because Realtor.com charges us more to post to a non-Showcase member’s listing).    We automatically check to see if you’re a member or not and charge you accordingly.   So just add it to your shopping cart, and you’ll be able to see your cost.   Either way, you’re video is now in front of a very large and active real estate buyers’ portal.

To learn more about Showcase membership on Realtor.com, click here.

Good luck!