How We Market Your Home Online

A skilled, qualified real estate agent brings tremendous value to the home selling process. You’re relying on the agent on many different levels, so be careful to select someone with the right combination of marketing tools, education, experience, performance and local insight. Look for a proven expert who can cast a wide marketing net and attract as many potential buyers as possible.

Be sure to let your agent know the particulars of your situation. Perhaps you need to sell within a certain time frame, are relocating out of state, or are facing foreclosure. Keeping your agent informed helps set the path for the best way to proceed, ensures that your needs are met, and ultimately contributes to a successful transaction.

Experienced agents understand how to accurately price your home and make it stand out in the market. They also have access to a vast referral network, enabling them to connect with potential buyers across town or around the world.

St Jude Realty marketing efforts on your behalf get your home sold- Fast and for top dollar. Here are just some of the ways we’ll market your home in Greater Metro Detroit and beyond:

Market Your Home Online

We want you to learn about the power of “syndication,” and why we spend significant resources, time and effort in syndicating your listing information to a great many real estate websites much larger and more heavily visited than any local real estate websites. We have systems in place to have your listing on over 70 websites, including Yahoo, Trulia, Zillow, and others, and within days of your listing going live.

Multiple Photos
Studies show that buyers are more likely to visit a home that includes multiple photos of the listing. Well-lit, wide-angled photos highlight your home’s best features and important rooms. This is why we take a full and expert suite of professional quality images of your home. These images will showcase your property and are critical to Internet marketing. In most cases, a professional photographer will be hired for this important job.

Virtual Tours
A Virtual tour is a 360º photograph similar to a small movie. It allows the viewer or audience to virtually walk through a home without physically being present. Some properties are better marketed with still photographs, others with a slide show of stills, and some with a video and voice–over. We’ll work with you to produce the very best marketing approach for your property. According to Realtor.com, consumers are 40% more likely to view a listing with a virtual tour than without.

So, although we’re getting great search engine exposure, we’re not relying on it to be my only resource to sell your home through online marketing. Each of those sites to which we syndicate your listing will have links back to the original and complete listing at our company website. It’s there that St Jude Realty shines in marketing your real estate property once we’ve attracted visitors from these other sites.

St Jude Realty Website

Once a buyer gets to our site from these many conduits, we don’t just let them look and leave. We offer showings and other special information about the market and your property in exchange for their contact information. If we can get into direct contact with them, it’s going to increase our chances of selling your property to them.

We get a great deal of our listing business from referrals by our satisfied sellers, so don’t hesitate, let us get started in helping you today!

MLS – Multiple Listing Service

The MLS is a tool to help listing agents find cooperative agents working with buyers to help sell their clients’ homes. Sellers benefit by increased exposure of their property. Buyers benefit because they can obtain information about all MLS-listed properties while working with only one agent. We make surethorough professionally written text descriptions and very thorough MLS® information fields to bring every facet of your property to the prospective buyer. St Jude Realty properties are listed with the Real Comp MLS for maximum exposure. When selecting a real estate agent to work with, be sure to ask if it will be listed on the MLS.

Reverse prospecting – Allows St Jude Realty to contact other agents with clients that are looking for properties similar to yours.

Public Open Houses
The more visits a house gets, the faster it will sell. St Jude Realty exposes your home to the widest possible audience, and an open house will get that done quickly and efficiently. Many real estate websites list home with open houses first when a consumer searches their site. According to the NAR 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, driving through neighborhoods is one of the top buyer activities, and if the house is open, they will stop in.

Broker (Agent) Open Houses
One extremely effective way to get the word out is to hold a Broker’s Open House – a special open house exclusively for local real estate agents. A Broker’s open house is amazingly targeted marketing. Agents generally work with at least 4-5 serious buyers at any given time and having 50 real estate’s agents tour your home is the equivalent of showing it to 200-250 motivated buyers.

Home Search Websites
More than 75 percent of buyers start their home search online. It’s important that your listing receives full exposure in the MLS and in search engine results. St Jude Realtyproperties are promoted online by a global syndication that includes more than 70+ of the top real estate websites on the internet. This type of coverage gives your home the best possible exposure to potential buyers.

St. Jude Realty Yard Sign
TheSt. Jude Realty yard signs were studied to bring the most recognized and marketed colors across all industries, not just real estate. A St. Jude Realty yard sign in front of your house makes an immediate, positive connection with potential buyers.

Realtor.com
Realtor.com, owned by the National Association of Realtors, is the second most used real estate website in the country, second to zillow.com. Your St Jude Realtyagent takes full advantage of the features offered by realtor.com by enhancing your listing. An enhanced listing is much more appealing and is pushed to the top of the search list, making it more available and attractive to qualified buyers.

Online – Social Media
Savvy social media usage extends your home’s marketing through one of the internet’s most influential channels.

Preparing Your Home to Sell

As a home seller, the goal is to sell at the best possible price and as quickly as possible. This doesn’t happen by accident; you need to prepare your home for a successful sale and have the help of an experienced agent.

Check out the resources below for strategies, tips, and a checklist to ensure your home is “Fit to Sell.”

“Fit to Sell” Tips for Selling Your Home

Make the Most of that First Impression: 
A well-manicured lawn, neatly trimmed shrubs and a clutter-free porch welcome prospects. So does a freshly painted, or at least freshly scrubbed, front door. If it’s autumn, rake the leaves. If it’s winter, shovel the walkways. The fewer obstacles between prospects and the true appeal of your home, the better.

Invest a Few Hours for Future Dividends
Here’s your chance to clean up in real estate. Clean up in the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen. If your woodwork is scuffed or the paint is fading, consider some minor redecoration. Fresh wallpaper adds charm and value to your property. Prospects would rather see how great your home really looks than hear how great it could look, “with a little work.”

Check Faucets and Bulbs

Dripping water rattles the nerves, and discolored sinks suggests faulty or worn-out plumbing. Burned out bulbs leave prospects in the dark. Don’t let little problems detract from what’s right with your home.

Don’t Shut Out a Sale
If cabinets or closet doors stick in your home, you can be sure they will also stick in a prospect’s mind. Don’t try to explain away sticky situations when you can easily plane them away. A little effort on your part can smooth the way toward a closing.

Think Safety
Homeowners learn to live with all kinds of self-set booby traps: roller skates on the stairs, festooned extension cords, slippery throw rugs, and low hanging overhead lights. Make your residence as non-perilous as possible for uninitiated visitors.

Make Room for Space
Remember, a potential buyer is looking for more than just comfortable living space. They’re looking for storage space too. Make sure your attic and basement are clean and free of unnecessary items.

Consider Your Closets
The better organized a closet, the larger it appears. Now’s the time to box up those unwanted clothes and donate them to charity.

Make Your Bathrooms Sparkle
Bathrooms sell homes, so let them shine. Check and repair damaged or unsightly caulking in the tubs and showers. For added allure, display your best towels, mats, and shower curtains.

Create Dream Bedrooms
Wake up prospects to the cozy comforts of your bedrooms. For a spacious look, get rid of excess furniture. Colorful bedspreads and fresh curtains are a must.

Open up in the Daytime
Let the sun shine in! Pull back your curtains and drapes so prospects can see how bright and cheery your home is.

Lighten up at Night
Turn on the excitement by turning on all your lights, both inside and outside, when showing your home in the evening. Lights add color and warmth and make prospects feel welcome.

Avoid Crowd Scenes
Potential buyers often feel like intruders when they enter a home filled with people. Rather than giving your house the attention it deserves, they’re likely to hurry through. Keep the company present to a
minimum. Or at least step outside so the buyers and their agent can take their time and walk comfortably through the home.

Watch Your Pets
Dogs and cats are great companions, but not when you’re showing your home. Pets have a talent for getting underfoot. So do everybody a favor: Keep Kitty and Spot outside, or at least out of the way.

Think Volume
Rock-and-roll will never die, but it might kill a real estate transaction. When it’s time to show your home, it’s time to turn down the stereo or TV.

Relax
Be friendly, but don’t try to force conversation. Prospects want to view your home with a minimum of distraction.

Don’t Apologize
No matter how humble your abode; never apologize for its shortcomings. If a prospect volunteers a derogatory comment about your home’s appearance, let your experienced St Jude Realty Agent handle the situation.

Keep a Low Profile
Nobody knows your home as well as you do. But St. Jude Realty Sales Agents know buyers – what they need and what they want. Your St. Jude Realty Agent will have an easier time articulating the virtues of your home if you stay in the background.

Don’t Turn Your Home into a Second-Hand Store
When prospects come to view your home, don’t distract them with offers to sell those furnishings you no longer need. You may lose the biggest sale of all.

Defer to Experience

When prospects want to talk price, terms, or other real estate matters, let them speak to an expert – your St. Jude Realty Sales Agent.

Help Your Agent
Your St. Jude Realty Agent will have an easier time selling your home if showings are scheduled through his or her office. You’ll appreciate the results!