Real Estate New Media Style
Chris Penn wrote about this last week and it has had my mind wondering for a while about it.
As you know we are going to be selling our house. It’s just a matter of time really as we are getting things in place to sell it right now. In fact a guy is here as I type this measuring a couple of rooms so that we can replace the carpet in them. We’ve looked at some houses and know we want to stay in the same town. It’s just a matter of timing from now on.
What’s cool is I found our agent through new media. I met Kelle Sparta at a New England Podcasting meetup and we got talking about real estate and she made a recommendation for an agent that I instantly connected with. I think we talked more about life then anything else when we first hooked up. I loved it.
I’ve registered a couple of appropriate domain names that I will be using to help sell the house. I’m going to be taking my own pictures since I’ve realized most of the people taking photos out there are CLUELESS how to shoot a house. I actually joked with Laura that I should do this as freelance for people. Come in and shoot their house so that on their listings the houses actually look great.
One crazy idea I thought of this morning (and I can already see Laura shaking her head) is what if we did not put a listing price on the house? People who are shopping know what similar houses are going for. With services like Zillow this is even easier. So what if we told people “make us an offer.”
If I walked into a house and was posed with this I’d make them a real offer based on the value I thought the house was to me. If I gave them some crappy low ball number then they would laugh and move on. But, on the same time if I made them offer above and beyond what they were thinking they’d jump for joy. As a seller this makes me really think hard about it. When we bought the house I thought the price was way to low, but as a buyer I’m not going to argue. Now that I’m in the seller shoes why not see what people think of the value and have them make an offer. How is that for new media?
I will be posting photos, perhaps a video walk through and other things to help sell the house. You can be sure that I’ll have lots of pictures because I hate looking at listings that only have a couple. I actually looked at one the other day that had three photos of the house and three of landmarks around town. Why in the world would someone want to see a picture of town hall when shopping for a house. Pictures of the parks, schools and other attractions? THAT makes sense and I will be doing that as well since I had never heard of the town we live in before moving here and I really like it now. Knowing what is around here and how good the schools are is a selling point to the right people.
My agent must have had his ears burning because I just got an e-mail from him. Too funny.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:48 am |
[…] Real Estate New Media Style […]
May 15th, 2007 at 12:14 pm |
CC:
This is awesome! I was getting thoughts about how you could sell your house just reading it!
I think to stay on Jaffe’s UNM2PNM track (and luckily I’m in Wisconsin because your wife may hunt me down!) you should definitely pursue the “make me an offer” track. It would be a great case study for your book!
Also, when will agents get on this bandwagon. It seems that social media is perfect for real estate. I like your idea of photos etc of local parks, schools, etc. What about video interviews with the neighbors? What about not just video walkthroughs of the house but the neighborhood.
Then, the agent could extend it to have a DVD to give the new owners. Tips about local grocery stores/attractions. Info about the little “quirks” that every house has.
I think that the industry is ripe for this type of agent…and they’d do a great job!
Best of luck! If I tons of money I’d buy the house. Turn it into a Social Media Graceland or like the Woz/Jobs garage!
May 16th, 2007 at 7:46 am |
Hey C.C.!
Imagine my surprise to see you pop up on my google watch! Great to see things are moving forward with Ed. A few thoughts for you and the others out there considering this edge of real estate (and I have to say I’m loving being the voyeur watching non-realtors do the math on how to apply tech to real estate).
1) If you don’t set a price, you can’t be listed in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) which means you’ll miss out on roughly 65% of your market. Plus, no respectable buyer’s agent will take you seriously - they’ll think you’re just playing at selling.
2) Realtors (as you have already noted) are not the best photographers on the planet and now you guys want them to do video? Whew! It’s a lot to ask. Real Estate is already the single most demanding field I’ve ever encountered requiring agents to be part counselor, part negotiator/mediator, part expert marketer, part interior designer, part network marketer, part appraiser, part home inspector, part attorney, part accountant, part financial planner, etc. They don’t do all of these jobs with everyone, but they have to know enough about each one to make sure to refer you out when you’re getting in over your head. Adding another thing to that plate is a little over the top.
It might be a nice niche for someone else to offer a service, but that service would have to be cheap. Already we’re feeling pressure from sellers to come down on commissions when our commissions have already come down with the price of the house. The average agent gives half of their commission to their broker and spends half of the balance on expenses to sell the listing and get the next piece of business in. That’s a 25% profit margin - not a lot of room for spending large quantities on videography.
I’m all for podcasting. I think that’s an ideal solution. One thing agents are good at is talking. That is a great addition to the fray and I’m training agents to do this now.
Give me some more ideas! I’d love to take new stuff into the real estate world. Since I am a trainer for the industry, you’ve got an “in” with me. Talk to me!
May 17th, 2007 at 7:03 am |
C.C.
Good luck to you and the family in this adventure of home selling/buying. A friend of mine in New Mexico who is an agent recently suggested to me and Gina that we post a listing on Craigslist with photos as a way to sell our home. Just a thought, but I definitely think you are on the right track with the pictures. Best of luck to you all. I hope that you find a great house.
May 20th, 2007 at 1:02 pm |
I agree with you about realestate photos and the neighborhood “tour”. I also agree with Kelle Sparta about realestate agents time and abilites. I am an agent in the Paciic North West and if you take a look at my web page (www.timwing.com) you will see a tool that yields me nearly $100,000 a year just from web referals or connections. It covers a lot of ground about the local area and it has professionally done photos of the homes I have listed.
When it first started producing these results I thought I should keep it quite. Than I found out that the vast majority of realtors won’t bother to make the extra effort even when they are exposed to results like these.
I am always looking for the next great advance in pomoting my listings. Your suggestions are good. I would like to see some ideas that are even further out front.
Tim
July 29th, 2007 at 2:24 pm |
[…] Real Estate New Media Style […]