What You Don’t Know About Marketing Will Hurt You (Part 3)

This article is part of our For Sale By Owner (FSBO) series (Part 3).

We know you have received marketing pieces from dozens of Realtors® now that your home is listed For Sale By Owner (FSBO). You are probably asking yourself “Why don’t they just bring me a buyer?” The answer is simple. They are begging for business. They have no buyers for your home. As a matter of fact, most agents spend 85% of their time prospecting for new business because they don’t have enough clients to work with each and every day of the week.

What is Marketing?

Marketing is everything you do to try to get a buyer for your home. It’s not one thing that will sell your home. Yes, you should have a video and a professional set of pictures. You definitely want to get your listing on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) so that local real estate agents will see it. If it’s a high-priced home (not because you over-priced it), you may want to look at putting it in a local magazine for luxury homes. What does it cost? Time, money, and expertise. It’s not free. Not if you want to do it right.

The Unseen Marketing

Did you know that there is a lot of marketing going on that you don’t see? It’s called networking. It’s the name recognition behind the lawn sign. It’s the list of buyers a successful real estate agent already has. It’s the relationships said real estate agent has with all the other real estate agents in town. It’s the drive to do more than just put your listing on the MLS. It’s the service that tracks who comes to see your home (sorry, you don’t have access to that one). It’s the follow up after a showing or open house to find out if an offer is coming – and if not, why not. Sometimes the home just doesn’t suit the buyer’s need. Or it’s not looking good – or the price is too high. It can hurt your feelings, but you need to know.

Just Tell Me

We can tell you how to market your home. Heck, we will tell you how to market your home. Give Cities Real Estate a call (add link) and someone on our team will sit down with you and share with you everything you need to know to market your home. We want you to help sell your home – even if we don’t make a commission. Why would we do this? Honestly, most FSBOs end up listing with us. There are two main reasons for this: 1. Selling a home is not as easy as it looks. 2. We make it easy to list with us.

We can send you a copy to your email with all these helpful guides:

• Smart Seller listing Agreement.
• Our Coming Soon Bourchure
• 90 Things You Can't Afford To Neglect When Selling Your Home
• 151 Steps We Take Care Of For You
• Photo Check List
• Our Resume
• 10 Questions To Ask Every Realtor
• Our BOOK on achieveing Top Dollar

Why Agents Won’t Bring You a Buyer

The easiest way to explain this is to tell you a story. We know a seller who tried to do a FSBO on their investment property in San Diego. She’s a former Realtor® who was once licensed in both California and Texas. She knows her way around a real estate contract. She was willing to pay the buyer’s agent the same commission any listing agent would offer. She got lots of calls – from agents trying to list her home. There was one agent who offered to put her property on the MLS for a flat fee. Not to market her home or bring her buyer. Likely a ploy to get her to list later.

They Don’t Have a Buyer

Most of the real estate agents who contacted our San Diego seller didn’t have a buyer. Mind you, this was a hot property in a hot market. That’s why this experienced, former Realtor® and Texas resident thought she could go FSBO. For safety reasons (which we’ll cover in another article), she would only allow licensed real estate agents to show the home. But most of the agents who called her didn’t have any buyers.

The Trust Factor

One real estate agent (out of like a dozen), told her the truth. Most agents won’t work with you, he revealed, because they don’t know you – so they can’t trust that they will absolutely get the buyer’s agent commission. She said she would put it in the contract. Didn’t matter.

Protection

When a property is listed with a real estate agent, they use standard contracts that protect their interests. If one real estate agent tries any funny business with another real estate agent, they have recourse. How? Through their local association of Realtors®. That organization can lead to an agent losing their license – their livelihood. You, as a FSBO, just don’t have that power.

So, What Happened?

Our San Diego FSBO listed with a well-known real estate agent with a track record in her neighborhood. The property had two offers in one day. She got her full asking price plus some additional non-monetary bonuses. Who bought it? An investor her Realtor® went way back with. Networking – the unseen marketing – sold her home. It almost always happens that way. We know this because we work with FSBOs all the time. We’ve been doing it successfully for years.

We’re Shameless

We will shamelessly (but ethically) bribe you to list your home with us so we can get you to the closing table. Yes, you read that correctly, not only will we show you how to weed out the less than desirable agents, we will BRIBE you to list with us. How will we do that? Stay tuned for the next article in our FSBO series. Meanwhile, while you’re waiting, give us a call. Or check out our Smart Seller listing agreement. You’ll save time and money. We guarantee it.

Contact Cities Real Estate today at 817-797-9047 if you want tio start a conversation.