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THE MORE
A HOME is advertised and the longer it remains unsold the easier it
becomes for agents to persuade sellers to lower their prices. "Look,
we've advertised your home and it hasn't sold. The market is telling us
it's too dear." What the agents are not saying is that the
advertising itself may be the biggest reason the home has not sold.
In so many cases, if the home had not been advertised, the selling price
could have been much higher. The advertising damaged the value of the
home.
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The right
buyers have to see your home. They have to come inside, they have to feel
the atmosphere - or, if it needs repair, they have to feel its potential.
They cannot get this feeling from an advertisement.
Think about it. What is the best feature of your home? It's probably
inside. Sure, it might look nice from outside, but you have to be inside
to feel its atmosphere. Advertising kills atmosphere. It spoils the joyous
surprise. Many buyers are turned off by the look of an advertisement and
don't enquire about homes which may have been perfect for them.
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Agents
are notorious for using "puffery" in advertising. Good features
are exaggerated and bad features are ignored. As one buyer said, "I
am sick of looking at homes which are nothing like what is described in
the ads."
Most real estate advertisements are misleading. In the Sydney Morning
Herald (December 14 2002) one high-profile agent admitted that
"95 percent" of real estate advertisements contained
"exaggerated" information (read, misleading and deceptive). The
Australian Consumers' Association was reported as saying that such
continual exaggeration is "outrageous".
Exaggeration and "puffery" makes buyers angry. Even if they like
the home, they will not like being tricked. If they are still interested,
they will almost certainly offer a lower price - almost as revenge for
being deceived.
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Typical
real estate advertising allows buyers to make inaccurate price
comparisons. Many homes look similar from the outside. But some owners
have spent thousands of dollars internally, while others have spent almost
nothing. When homes look similar in advertisements this damages the value
of the better homes. The buyers compare the higher prices with homes
advertised for lower prices. They often judge the value of a home before
they see it.
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By
mass advertising a home it comes to the attention of thousands of people
who do not want to buy it. Aside from the wastage of money, this leads to
criticism of the home. People who have no interest in buying a home are
unlikely to praise it. On the contrary, many people 'knock' the home,
saying such things as, "They must be kidding. They'll never get
that price." The opinions of these non-buyers influence the
opinions of the real buyers. This damages the value of the homes for sale.
The only people who should know that your home is for sale are genuine
buyers.
The more a
home is advertised the less chance there is of getting the best price for
it. Buyers wonder what is wrong with it. The home quickly acquires the
lemon tag.
As one buyer said, "The more they advertise them, the less I want
them."
Many agents who have stopped typical real estate advertising have noticed
three things;
- They
save their clients thousands of dollars.
- They get
better prices and
- They
sell more homes.
Maximum Financial Danger. The trap of maximum coverage.
Today there are a multitude of places to advertise. And each has a
price. Attempts will be made to convince you that they all help get
"maximum exposure". This means maximum profit for the agents
who receive kickbacks. These days agents can earn a bigger percentage
commission from advertising kickbacks than from selling homes. Many
agents are selling advertising as well as selling real estate.
There are major city newspapers, local papers, specialty papers, feature
sections or liftouts in papers; and, of course, real estate magazines.
Plus, many agents now produce - at great expense - their own magazines,
each vying to be bigger, better and more frequent than the next.
As a homeseller, you can have colour brochures, floor plans, flyers,
mammoth signboards filled with detail - even colour photos on the signs.
Some agents charge for specialist copywriters to write advertisements.
And the cost of a professional photographer.
But let's not forget the Internet with "exposure" to millions
of people. As if someone in Alaska will buy your home in Australia.
Agents are quick to tell sellers that they must "expose" their
home to as many people as possible. But "exposure" is like
sunburn. The more you expose your home the more you burn your price.
Agents will argue that you do not know where the buyers are going to
come from. Sure, you may not know where the buyers are coming from,
but you know where they are coming to. They are all coming to
your area.
But, just to make sure you are totally "sold" on ALL of these
places, each has its own reason why you must use it. Be prepared, also,
for that great sales convincer - the story of someone who sold for a
great price because of one of these methods. And if you don't use it,
you could miss out. Just like the great stories about lottery winners
which never mention the millions of losers, agents will tell similar
stories with advertising.
As a homeseller you are the seller of a home, not the buyer of
advertising. It cannot be stressed enough - all these advertising
methods are not designed to benefit sellers.
"Maximum exposure" means maximum profit for everyone except
the homesellers. For sellers, it means maximum cost, both in the cost of
the advertising and in the damage to the value of their homes.
Protect Yourself.
It's bad enough to have the value of your home damaged through
advertising, but it's worse if you are tricked into paying for it. DON'T
SIGN ANYTHING
unless the agent can show you how to sell your home without damaging its
value. And DON'T SIGN ANYTHING
which requires you to pay any money for advertising. All costs should be
included in the agent's commission which should only be paid after your
home has been sold for the best market price.
[ Real
Estate Advertising Solutions - Click Here ]
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