Selling a home in Clark County is always an important task that has a lot of risks and rewards involved with it.

With more than 89% of home buyers using the internet to do research and look at homes, the online marketing of homes for sale in Clark County is critical.

In this article we will look at the 3 most important factors in online marketing of real estate and how they can be used to better market your property and get more people to contact your agent and then physically see your home.

According to the National Association of Realtors 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the 3 most important features of a real estate website for buyers are:

1. Photos of your home
2. Detailed information of your home
3. A Virtual Tour of your home

The key to successfully marketing your home online is to get potential buyers off the computer and into your home is using proven strategies of online marketing that are so often missing in real estate!

The first goal is to get buyers to contact your agent about your home; the second goal is to get buyers to contact your agent period so that the agent can schedule a showing of your home with the buyer.

Marketing Your Home to attract buyers

1.  Make sure that good pictures of your home are taken so that when buyers see your home online, that the pictures show your home to its’ fullest potential. Tips for this include to make sure that there is good outside lighting and that interior lights are turned on, that everything is picked up so that there is no clutter in the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, etc. and that multiple pictures are taken of every room so that the best of each can be selected for the marketing of your home.

2. Be sure that all the details of your home are given to your Realtor and that they use this in their marketing. More and more, buyers want information and data, and making sure your Realtor and buyers have all the information and data for your home is critical.

3. Bring both the great photos and information about your home alive by having a virtual tour created that lets buyers get a sense of your home in a way that is impossible except to actually be there themselves.

A serious flaw that most Realtors make when creating a virtual tour is including music with it!  Many people look at homes while at work or while doing other things, and having unwanted music blasting over their computer while they are just trying to look at the photos and information of your home is a great way to lose them immediately the one time they will see your home’s photos and information! Do not risk getting the dreaded back button clicked or the internet browser closed all together during the best opportunity you have for showing off your home to potential buyers.

Get on the Buyers Short List….or at least get them to contact your agent!

Buyers will look at hundreds of homes online and it is impossible for them to see every one of them, even ones that might be exactly what they are looking for. By the time even a short number of homes have been viewed, it is easy for buyers to miss the fact that your home is one they should schedule a viewing with to see!

This is where using the principals of online marketing can help sell your home.

By offering buyers more information they likely want, your agent can get buyers to contact them and then schedule a showing with the buyer for your home. If the buyer never contacts your agent in the first place, then it is impossible for your agent to even attempt to schedule a showing of your property with potentially the perfect buyers!

This is why offers of other important information should always be made in the Virtual Tour and the other online marketing tools your Realtor uses.

Imagine a typical case of buyers looking at homes online in Clark County.

Having looked at 25 other homes for sale in Clak County, a buyer sees your home online, but is tired from seeing so many homes and quickly glances at a few pictures and almost instinctively clicks the ‘next’ button. Does this sound familiar?!

A way to get the buyer to stop and make contact with your agent is to make a number of offers for other information that will then allow your agent to schedule a showing of your property with the buyer.

Offers such as a list of homes for sale that meet their profile in Clark County, a free list of foreclosed homes for sale (buyers in
all price points love deals and do not realize the issues with buying foreclosures and most quickly give up the notion and buy listed homes for resale), a home market analysis (most people selling are doing so to buy another!) and so on.

By combining good photos of your home with all the information about it and creating a virtual tour and then putting that virtual tour all over the internet via the MLS and other online marketing channels available to Realtors combined with additional offers prompting buyers to contact your agent, the process of selling your home can be made easier and faster than otherwise possible.

And since so few real estate professionals market homes this way, you will be at an advantage over all the other sellers currently in the market trying to sell their homes!

Scott & Keri Lippold

Windermere Real Estate

Over the age of 50 and considering selling the family home?   You need a REALTOR^® with senior experience, knowledge and marketing savvy.  Those qualities, along with a special knowledge of managing the sale of a home for those over the age of 50, are what SRES^® designees can bring to your next real estate transaction.  SRES^® designees are certified senior specialists and astute to the financial and emotional challenges senior clients face when they sell a long-held family home.  SRES® designees not only can create a customized approach to marketing and selling your property, but they also can work with you to explore your housing options to ensure that your next home best serves your current and future needs.  Such certified specialists have special knowledge about everything from reverse mortgages and the importance of universal design to the uses of pensions, 401k accounts, and IRAs in real estate transactions.  They’ll also help you steer clear of loan schemes and scams that victimize aged 50+ borrowers.  And when you need help from other professionals, SRES^® designees can tap their network and put you in touch with qualified home inspectors, movers, attorneys, CPAs and other experts.  SRES^® designees have all the resources and knowledge to simplify the transaction and eliminate the anxiety of selling your home.

Keri Lippold, Broker, SRES^®

PORTLAND METRO

• § Waterfront Blues
  Festival, July 1-4, Portland (Downtown)
• § St. Paul Rodeo, July 1-4, St. Paul
• § Oregon Lavender Festival, July 8-10, tons of locations
• § Mississippi Ave Street Fair, July 9, Portland (North)
• § Sandy Mountain
  Festival, July 9-10, Sandy
• § Columbia County Fair & Rodeo, July 13-17, St. Helens
• § West Linn Old
  Time Fair, July 15-16, West Linn
• § Robin Hood
  Festival, July 15-16, Sherwood
• § Portland International Beerfest, July 15-17, Portland (Pearl District)
• § Portland
  Highland Games, July 16, Gresham
• § Northwest String
  Summit, July 21-24, North Plains
• § Estacada Summer
  Celebration, July 22-23, Estacada
• § Milwaukie Daze, July 22-23, Milwaukie
• § Hood River
  County Fair, July 27-30, Hood River
• § Newberg Old Fashioned Festival, July 28-31, Newberg
• § Oregon Brew Fest, July 28-31, Portland (Downtown)
• § Washington
  County Fair, July 28-31, Hillsboro
• § Yamhill County Fair & Rodeo, August 3-6, McMinnville
• § Clatskanie Bluegrass Festival, August 5-7, Clatskanie
• § The Bite of
  Oregon, August 12-14, Portland
  (Downtown)
• § Elephant
  Garlic Festival, August 12-14,
  North Plains
• § Clackamas County
  Fair, August 16-21, Canby
• § Oregon
  International Air Show, August 19-21,
  Hillsboro
• § Oregon Brews
  & BBQs, August 19-20, McMinnville
• § Portland Pirate
  Festival, September 3-4, St. Helens
• § Belmont Street Fair, September
  10, Portland (SE)
• § Sauerkraut Festival, September
  17, Scappoose

SW WASHINGTON

• § Go Fourth
  Celebration, July 2-4, Longview
• § Castle Rock Fair, July 14-16
• § Battle Ground Harvest Days, July 15-17, Battle Ground
• § Bald Eagle Days Festival, July 16-17, Cathlamet
• § SandSations
  Sandcastle Festival, July 20-24, Long
  Beach
• § Kalama Community
  Fair, July 21-23
• § Cowlitz County
  Fair, July 28-31, Longview
• § Clark County
  Fair, August 10-14, Ridgefield
• § Skamania County
  Fair & Timber Carnival, August
  10-14, Stevenson
• § Washington State
  International Kite Festival, August
  15-21, Long Beach

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Tight Credit Continues to Shut Buyers Out.