If 2020 is poised to be your year as a listing warrior, you’d best be getting your arsenal together. While there are some tools and weapons you can live without, others you’d be crazy not to own as we enter the summer real estate market.
1. 3D tours of listings
In case you don’t keep up with the latest real estate business practices stats that we are overly obsessed with, you should know that listings that include a 3D tour (not video) are getting 50% more views in the summer real estate market, according to Zillow research.
While video tours became common during the pandemic lockdown, buyers show a decided preference for 3D tours. It makes sense.
Videos show only what the agent decides is important to show. With a 3D tour, the buyer is in charge and can view the home features that are important to them.
The cost of a Matterport tour ranges from $0 to $9.99 a month, $69 a month and $309 a month. If you take a lot of listings, the last option is ideal and is certainly not going to eat into your commissions.
There are other 3D tour companies, but Matterport is the most popular among agents. Check them out online at Matterport.com.
For more ideas on how to make your business digital in 2020, check out this handy guide.
2. Floorplans: Buyers love them
I was a bit skeptical when I learned that homebuyers love floorplans. But, have you ever had buyers who walked into the home and then turned around and walked out because they didn’t like the floor plan?
When asked which website features they valued highest, more than half of homebuyers surveyed named floor plans as the third most valuable (NAR’s “Real Estate in a Digital Age), behind photographs and detailed information.
With 3D tours and floorplans, your listings will definitely generate a lot of attention in the summer real estate market. The bonus is that, when included in your listing presentations, you immediately stand out from other listing agents who aren’t using them. That includes most of them, by the way.
Vamsi Krishna at Techwiser.com reviews some floor plan apps.
3. Pro photographer
Good photography can sell just about anything, most especially a home. Gone are the days when a listing agent worth her salt can get away with photos snapped from her iPhone. When you’re giving a listing presentation, those photos won’t stack up to your competitor’s photos.
And, when your listing goes live online, you’ll meet with the same resistance from potential buyers.
Remember, without photographs in your listing description, you have only two seconds to get a homebuyer’s attention online. You’ll have 20 seconds if your listing includes photos.
If those photos suck, you’ll lose those critical extra seconds.
Real estate photography is no longer a DIY task. Not if you want to win in the summer real estate market.
Take a look at this real estate photography guide to get started.
4. Home stager
Staging your vacant listings is a must. Not only will it make the listing photos stand out far better than if the home is photographed vacant, but, as you know, buyers need to be able to see the lifestyle a home represents – to be able to envision themselves living in it.
Who pays for the staging – the agent or the homeowner – varies by listing agent. Many that we’ve spoken with offer free staging to set themselves apart from other agents. “It’s all about customer service,” says a Silicon Valley agent. “I have a list of services I offer sellers and staging is among them.”
So, what if you’re just starting out or aren’t among the deep-pocketed listing agents? Find a stager that is willing to take his or her fee at the close of escrow.
5. An assistant
Coordinating transactions, answering emails, writing blog posts and communicating with buyers’ agents are all important tasks. But they are also tasks that can be passed to a real estate assistant.
Before you say that you can’t afford an assistant, consider this: How much is your time worth?
Should someone who makes that amount of money be doing work that takes time away from the more valuable, income-producing tasks? If hiring an assistant can free up several hours a day in your schedule, the extra income you’re bound to produce will more than pay their salary.
Need tips for hiring an assistant? Here are some things to consider.
Something to consider as we head into the summer real estate market.
Are your real estate marketing ideas evading you at the moment? Here is a list of 200 real estate marketing ideas to get you more leads this month.
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