This post was contributed by Real Estate Unlimited, an agency serving clients in the Los Angeles, California area.
Naturally, we believe that a real estate agent is a major advantage when you’re selling your home – and a big part of that advantage is professional marketing savvy. But if you’re planning to market your home yourself, we’ve got a set of time-tested expert strategies that you can use to market your home like a veteran real estate agent.
- Post a yard sign
Yes, the humble yard sign, a time-honored real estate marketing tradition dating back long before buyers could use sites like Zillow and Redfin to scan galleries of listings. Perhaps the most reliable tactic of all, a simple yard sign is still one of the best ways to attract house hunters searching in your neighborhood. For best results, make sure it’s easy for drivers as well as pedestrians to see, and make sure that your contact info is prominently displayed.
- Enlist your neighbors in finding their new neighbors
Do you belong to neighborhood email lists, message boards, or Facebook groups? Special interest groups like meetups, sports teams, small business owners? Send a link to your home’s online listing to neighbors, and share any Youtube or other social media links far and wide. When you have an open house, invite neighbors to spread the word – consider turning your open house into a block party. This will create opportunities for your neighbors to promote the neighborhood to prospective buyers, and for your neighbors to provide you with valuable referrals and leads.
- Create a video of your home
Film a walkthrough of your home so that you can show off what makes your house a unique find. If you can, share stories about what you like to do in your home – do you enjoy cooking, hosting, family game night? Take your audience on a trip through your neighborhood, showing prospective buyers the things you love most about the place where you live – your favorite bookstore or cupcake bakery, the local dog park or the summer jazz festival. The key is to imbue your home and its surroundings with a sense of personal appeal, so that buyers can begin to connect it with their own vision for their new living space.
- Hold an open house
An open house gives prospective buyers the opportunity to see your home in person. You can connect with them on a personal level and give them the grand tour of their new home. The social atmosphere of an open-house setting also provides you with a convivial setting for engaging with prospective buyers, which can help you engage confidently with prospective buyers.
- Stage your home
It’s worth taking a few weeks prior to the open house to carefully stage your home before opening it to the public. Decluttering, cleaning, removal of any old or unappealing furniture: don’t neglect any step in making your interior a showcase. If you feel like you might need help with prepping your home for showing or sale, consider contacting a staging company – these days, many operate independently of real estate agencies, and can offer you customizable staging solutions to fit your budget.
- Stage the exterior of your home, not just the interior
“Curb appeal” is the real estate industry term for a home that will capture buyer interest from the outside. You can display your home to its best advantage with a fresh coat of paint, some simple landscaping touches like geraniums or a modest bench, and any fixes and cleanups that will ensure that visitors see a home and yard in excellent condition. You may also want to consider creating a small area outside with seating for open houses. Buyers will love the idea of a yard for entertaining and relaxation.
- Leave some special extras behind to sweeten the deal
If you can, consider leaving behind some personal property, ideally larger items with some particular value as antiques, fixtures, interior-design features, or exercise equipment. You may want to prioritize items that would be costly to remove or transport, like bulky furniture sets, sectional sofas, or stainless steel kitchen appliances. You can use these pieces to focus descriptions in listings, social media posts, and video narration.
- Boost your property listing with social media
Your social media networks are ready-made marketing platforms filled with goodwill, shared interest, and community connection: the perfect place to gather valuable leads and referrals. Share your property listing, your open-house events, your photo galleries, and your video tours so that your social networks can help connect you with prospective buyers. You can create a sense of cooperative effort by engaging your friends in your journey, posting daily or weekly updates as you progress through listing to showing to final sale. Steal a tactic from professional marketers and incorporate calls to action into your posts – ask friends to help you spread the word, and they will!
Acting as your own real estate agent can feel daunting – and selling your home requires creative thinking and conscientious effort. With these tips in mind, you should be on your way to designing a marketing plan that will work for you.
About the Author: Real Estate Unlimited is a boutique real estate agency serving clients in the Los Angeles area, including the historic neighborhoods of Echo Park, Eagle Rock, Los Feliz, and Silverlake. Our digital marketing expertise and strong local connections combine to form an outstanding level of service for all our clients.
