Marketing Your Property to Sell for Top Dollar

How are you going to get the most money for your property? A big part of the answer lies in how many people actually see the home. Let’s market your property in a way that exposes you to thousands of potential buyers in the first one to two weeks that it is on the market. Gone are the days where you just opened the door for an open house, put a cheap flier in the front yard, ran a print ad in the local paper and hoped and wished that someone would write an amazing offer. Selling a home is a multidimensional effort using all kinds of resources in order to expose the house so that it sells for top dollar.

Thank you for taking the time to read this Blog. I am Crystal Glenning, a realtor here in Southern California and I specialize in luxury residential real estate sales.

I have a strategy/plan to market your home so that every potential buyer in your price range is exposed to the property. There are two phases to this marketing strategy:

• 1. Pre-Marketing Phase: what happens before you go on the market.

• 2. Marketing once we launch your property as LIVE on the market. How we handle each of these phases will make a difference in how people perceive your property and what their first impression will be. Each of these phases is strategically planned and executed. We are not flying by the seat of our pants. We have proven systems in place.

Let’s start with the Pre-Launch, Phase #1. We want to set a precedent prior to going on the market. There is so much to be done in the Pre-Launch phase and this is not to be taken lightly. Many of these efforts are repeated and go even bigger when it goes live on the market.

Step #1:

While we are getting the house ready for sale we can go into what is called a “Coming Soon” status. This allows us to actively market your property until we are ready to go live on the market. During this time, we cannot allow anyone in for showings, however, we can start to drive traffic to the property. Many times, “Coming Soon” includes one or just a few photos. Even with that, it is put into the Multiple Listing Service or MLS. The MLS is a Realtors website that introduces your house, all its amenities and statistics. The MLS then floods into syndicated websites, like Zillow, Realtor.com or Compass.com which shows it off to the public, primarily to anyone that is interested in purchasing a property. We can put it out onto Social Media which alerts the public that it will be available soon. This starts to generate a buzz around your property.

Step #2:

We Network with agents that may have buyers who are already qualified and make a good fit for your home. My Team has a track record of almost two decades of networking so we know a LOT of agents up and down the coast. Having built a reputable business, these agents and I work in a collaborative effort to match people and property.

Step #3:

We’re going GRASS ROOTS: A sign will be put in the yard which will notify the neighbors. So often the neighbors are your best resource. They already know and like the neighborhood and may want friends or family to move in close by. A sign gives us some leverage for the buyers to know when it is going to market so they can plan to see it the day it goes live. By the time we go live on the market we have people waiting to see your property.

During the “Coming Soon” phase, the final touches are put on your property to get it ready to go live on the market. We have discussed what this entails in other Blogs and videos. Basically, it includes preparing your home for sale, bringing in a professional photographer and videographer, preparing the marketing pieces, etc.

Then the day comes we go LIVE on the market.

This is phase two of the marketing plan. For this, I again, use a trifecta approach going after:

1. An online presence

2. Networking with agents

3. Local, grass roots efforts

An Online Presence gives us a Global Reach.

From the Coming Soon status the property transitions into a Live Status on the Multiple Listing Service and then into the syndicated websites. How an agent works to present your property makes a difference. Before actually coming to see your property, the majority of potential buyers have been through a virtual tour of the property. We want to make sure that this is when all your hard work of getting the home prepared pays off.

Have you ever seen those homes for sale that have the photo that the agent took without even getting out of the car? Or, the multi million dollar home with an agent that took all the photos on their own phone. What a disservice this is to the client. This may be the biggest transaction they ever have and the agent needs to put in their best effort possible. My expertise is in real estate sales, not photography. It is essential that your property is presented in its best light. A professional photographer is hired to make this happen both with still shots and with video.

We find there is a larger audience when buyers can see a video as well as photos. The goal is to have your house stand out among the competition. I also do a compelling write up about the property. Let’s introduce the buyers to your neighborhood, the schools, and the lifestyle. This isn’t just a house, it is an opportunity for someone new to call this a home and that is made up of so much more than just what is under the roof. The story for the write up on the property can bring it to life even more so. We want to influence the way people view and buy property. We want to tap into a bit of emotion and pull on a few heart strings. Many times we are appealing to a local buyer, but so often our buyer may be out of the area, from out of state or even from out of the country.

As mentioned before, we put the house in the MLS and it then is picked up by hundreds of syndicated websites allowing for a virtual tour.

• Social Media is also used to expose the property. We want to educate the buyers with all our marketing efforts and make sure maximum exposure is achieved. We then have very purposeful positioning with our online ads. Is someone buying a home off FB or Insta, or YouTube? NO. However, we utilize the tools that tap into where people are searching for property and show up on the feeds of potential buyers. The house will also be featured on my YouTube channel, my website, and will have a website of its own. We do not want to leave one stone unturned.

• Networking with other Agents: Other agents have buyers and we want to work with qualified buyers and agents that know what they are doing and have the same goal in mind, and that is to get to the finish line with a successful transaction sold. The networking groups I am part of are not just local but throughout Southern California and the country. In addition to that, I utilize systems to tap into agents that have sold in the last 3-6 months in any specific neighborhood. I have access to their email and phone numbers so we can directly send them the video of your house and call them to follow up after they have taken a virtual tour. This puts it directly in front of them so if they have a buyer we are on their radar. We can track how many agents opened and viewed the video giving us insight into how much interest they may have. Again, no stone unturned.

• On a Local Level: What I really appreciate about my company is that we are BIG, New York stock exchange big, but they prioritize and celebrate working with the local agents around the country like me. I am a Long Beach Gal, 3rd generation and I am raising my kids here in this great city. With Compass I can offer unrivaled access to amazing resources, but also offer eye to eye contact, a lifetime of connections, as well as local expertise.

In addition, we create a QR code, which is an interactive flier for the sign in the yard so that it directs people to the video and they can take a virtual tour prompting them to then call for an exclusive appointment, or to come to an open house.

Flyers are no longer done on cheap paper. Let’s make a statement with something that stands out in a crowd. We want to send a message of value.

Open Houses ~ Of course this is up for discussion (as is everything really) If you're up for it, let’s go BIG! Let’s invite all the neighbors with an invitation left at their door notifying and inviting them to the Saturday or Sunday Open House. Depending on the area, let’s host a Twilight Tour with some nibbles and beverages. No matter when the open house is held, we want to create a buzz around the event so there is lots of energy and excitement when people come through.

Broker Tours to get other local agents through the property. The house is pitched at a broker meeting. It is put onto a schedule that goes out to a few thousand people. Let’s get agents through the house.

Exclusive Private Tours: These are by appointment only. When showing the home, we like to have someone ~ me, or someone from my Team present. Why? Because again we are not just selling what is under the roof, we are selling a lifestyle. We are selling luxury homes in high end neighborhoods.

You will be continually updated after open houses, showings, and broker tours as to how things went and what kind of feedback we have received. It is so important to continue to communicate.

I also provide you with what is called an Insights report. We can track how many people are seeing your house. We can look at the statistics as to where they are seeing it and where they live. So let’s say the majority of our target market is coming from Los Angeles, let’s run more ads there. If they are coming from Orange County, that’s where we will focus. Again, there is a strategy behind the plan.

I hope you have liked what I have had to share on Marketing and Exposing a home for sale. If you’d like to continue the conversation, please don’t hesitate to reach out and connect with me. Thank you.