Working Harder to Sell Your Leavenworth Home
I spoke with a homeowner the other day who was disappointed by the results that he got from the three agents who had previously listed his home.
His big question to me was great – “What do you do that is pro-active when it comes to selling my home?”
I started my answer telling him about the marketing we do on the internet.
“But Geordie, anyone can post a home on the internet!”
True, anyone can post a home on Craiglist and any agent can get it on the internet by being a member of the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). In today’s market, that’s not enough to sell your Leavenworth home.
Internet marketing today is about understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how consumers use different tools today to find homes. Do you ever use Google to help you find an answer? You’re not alone.
How do you “get found” on Google or Bing?
What searches are home buyers using online?
What is the “long tail” and how does it affect real estate?
What is Google doing today that they didn’t last month?
Online Curb Appeal:
Having your home looked at online is only part of the battle. It also has to look great and be priced right if you want buyers to come look. We work with professional real estate photographers like Jesse Cunningham and Travis Knoop so that the photos come out great every time. We also hire stagers or interior designers when we need help getting a house to look it’s best.
What other tools do we have at our disposal?
Social Media Marketing :
Can you sell a house using Twitter, Facebook, Myspace,or Linkedin? What are the best practices? What gets real results? (Yes, Twitter has helped us sell a house.)
Listing Syndication:
How do you get your house listed in as many places as possible on the internet? How do you get those listings to turn into showings and sales?
Analytics:
How many people are seeing your ads? Where do they live? How did they find out about your house? Did you know that an increasing number of Leavenworth buyers live in the Tri-cities? Did you know that Americans living abroad are choosing to buy real estate in Leavenworth?
But what else?
I’m constantly working to put myself in touch with more people who may be buying a home in Leavenworth or Lake Wenatchee. More often than not, this means someone who lives in the Seattle or Bellevue area and works in the technology or financial fields.
How do I reach these folks?
I am active in Windermere’s Premier Properties program. This means going to Seattle for monthly meetings with the Seattle area’s top luxury home specialists. I make sure these agents know about my high end listings in Leavenworth and that they have a resource to turn to. While there are 70+ Premier Associates and Directors in Washington, only 9 live east of the Cascades and I am the only one in the Leavenworth area.
I have also been invited to speak at Windermere offices in the Seattle / Bellevue area about the Leavenworth market.
I am also involved in groups like Seattle’s Social Media Club. By going to Seattle I not only learn about the newest tricks and tips of online marketing, I meet the people involved in creating the newest internet tools – often the buyers for Leavenworth homes.
In 2010, I traveled to Austin, Texas for SXSW Interactive – a week long conference about all things internet, technology and social media. It was great place to see what the movers and shakers are doing and planning in the tech space.
Real Estate Kaizen
Wikipedia defines kaizen as a ” philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, supporting business processes, and management”. Kaizen is “the culture of continual aligned small improvements and standardization yields large results in the form of compound productivity improvement.”
I like to think that Allyson and I have embraced real estate kaizen – a culture of experimentation leading to continuous improvement. You might not see all the experiments we try – some of them fail. But know that we are ALWAYS trying to do things a little better and always looking trying to find a way to build a better mousetrap.
