Leveraging Technology to Sell Real Estate
Technology is constantly changing and the internet is becoming one of the best tools available to conduct business. Many traditional “brick and mortar” retailers such as Best Buy and even Target have a great web presence and according to their 2008 financial results, are increasing sales year over year through e-commerce transactions. Research is becoming easier because of the internet, everything from travel and vacations, to researching for a thesis can be done from the comfort of your own living room. Statistics show that up to 65 percent of potential home buyers initiate their home buying and conduct research on the internet.
Whether you utilize the skills of a Realtor or chose to sell your home on your own, there are some technologies that should be used to give your property maximum exposure.
Having a dedicated website with a virtual tour, online photo album and potential customer contact management is the first step to getting your property out there to buyers nationally and internationally. The next step is submitting your website to the hundreds of online search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Doing this and performing “search engine optimization”, which is the process of using key words and content rich text, will allow potential buyers to find your website. Capturing potential “lookers” information on the customer contact management tool will give you or your Realtor an avenue to contact that buyer. We offer free websites to our clients and those selling by owner. A quick way to get people to go to your personal property website is to list it in the newspaper. Placing a very simple classified ad stating “4 BR/2BA Excellent Pool Home, www.123mainstreeet.com” will eliminate all the unnecessary phone calls and streamline the contacts to people who took the time to check out the property.
The next very useful tool to driving traffic to your property and property website is social media web sites. This includes web sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. These social media websites are an excellent way to promote properties but are limited to the impact depending on the depth of your contacts. For example, I currently have over 6,000 people following me on Twitter. When I publish a website for a property I usually get about 250 hits to that website and capture nearly 25 names and telephone numbers. I also have over 1700 direct contacts on my first level on LinkedIn and 439,000 on my second tier level and again, when I promote a property there are nearly 300 hits to the websites and nearly 30 names and phone numbers captured. Having this level of depth is important to successfully promoting a property.
Another way to promote properties is to list them on already highly sought out websites like Trulia.com, HomeFinders.com and Zillow.com. These websites get a tremendous amount of traffic because they are highly advertized. Having a property listed as a preferred listing is a great way to get on the front page of the website when someone looking for a home in your zip code goes to one of these sites.
In today’s Real Estate market is very important to leverage the technology that is available, and most at a very reasonable rate. If you are interested in learning more contact me at 239-463-3178.
Jason M. Jakus is a licensed realtor for Leisure American Realty, a full service Real Estate and Property Management company serving the beaches and surrounding areas of Lee County. Their office is located at 2450 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach FL 33931. For more information on this or any other real estate or property management subject contact Jason at 239-463-3178 or email RealtyInfo@LeisureAmerican.com.