dothanhomesearch.com

By: Charles Woodall


http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

This is an open letter to home sellers or potential home sellers in the Dothan area.

Dear Mr. and/or Ms. Home Seller,

I have been studying the 2006 National Association of REALTORS Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers and have some information for you. While trying to determine from said profile where is the best place to spend our marketing and advertising funds to find a buyer for your home, it occured to me that you may not be aware of what forms of advertising work toward this goal and what doesn’t.

First, a little background on the survey. Each year, the National Association of REALTORS surveys consumers who have bought a home over the previous 12 month period. The questionnaire includes items that relate to home selling as well, so consumers who have bought and sold answer questions related to both transactions. The results are tabulated and shared with professional REALTORS to help them better serve their clients and customers.

One of the biggest shifts in the real estate industry in recent years has to do with where a buyer ‘finds’ the home they end up purchasing. I think you would agree that the answer to this question should be the bottom line as to where an agent or company should be spending their money to find a buyer for your property. After all, you are hiring us to do a job, and do it as quickly as possible, so do you want us spending time and money on advertising that most likely is not going to result in a buyer for your home?

The top three ways a buyer found the home they purchased and the percentage that used this method were:

1)   From a real estate agent - 36%
2)   From the Internet - 24%
3)   Yard sign - 15%

As you can see, a total of 75% of all homebuyers found the home they bought through one of these methods. I know you are wondering where advertising such as the real estate section of the newspaper and the different real estate magazines falls on this list. Well, a grand total of 6% of buyers found their home using this type of advertising. More buyers found their new home by talking with a friend or relative (8%) than these forms of advertising. Open houses did not even make the list.

So if advertising in the newspaper and holding an open house is not going to sell your home, why do we do use them? Excellent question, and there are a couple of answers. First, to a certain extent it makes our phone ring, which allows us to talk with buyers, which gives us the opportunity to work with them to find a home, which gives us a chance to promote your home to these buyers. Second, we do these things because we have done a poor job of educating you on the very statistics I have listed above.

Rest assured Mr. and Mrs. Seller that we will do everything in our power to sell your property. After all, we don’t get paid until we do. And we will continue to use the newspaper and real estate magazines because they make the phone ring. Just remember, it is the ad and the subsequent phone call or website visit that will more than likely generate a buyer for your home, not the fact that the information on your home is in the ad itself. It is the effort we as your agent put into capturing buyers and showcasing your home on the Internet that will ultimately sell your home.

{A special thanks to Maureen Francis and her real estate blog covering Oakland County, Michigan for the idea for this category. Maureen has a lot of good information on not only real estate in her area, but the overall market as well.}

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