Chicago's Sue

Every once in a while I like to go back and revisit old posts and see if there are still relevant or thoughts of the moment. This post still rings true and truer for both buyers and sellers: Telltale Signs Your Listing Broker is a Dinosaur. Meeting with new clients recently, I have been getting asked some questions as a result of statements of other real estate agents they have interviewed have made to them. Folks, this is 2010!

Home Sellers

• A new listing or price change is like breaking news. It no longer matters what time or day a listing is entered into the MLS. What is important is that the listing needs to be entered with complete information including great remarks, professional photos, a virtual tour, and where sites allow a video. The first impression is the most important. The MLS and the Internet are  now the first showing.
• Reaching the most buyers is not only about what the brokerage does to expose listings, but what the agent does with the listing. A listing agent?s vernacular now needs to include such terms as interactive marketing, listing syndication, SEO, and listing enhancement. Being on the MLS does not equal  marketing a home.
• Its back to basics in many aspects of marketing homes. An example are open houses which are becoming key again. If the buyer?s agent hasn?t scheduled a viewing of the property, the buyer will go themselves.

Home Buyers

• Reaching the home buyer is no longer dependent on the Realtor®. Buyers should be on automated searches from the agent and the client can interact with online applications such as Listingbook. This will give buyers live access to new listings, price changes, and pending sales. Because of this, listing agents need to be more concerned with reaching the client directly with a quality listing presentation.
• Knowing the local inventory is more important than ever. What is the impact of foreclosures and short sales on pricing in that particular neighborhood? How do you weigh those factors the value of a property when submitting an offer on behalf of a buyer? Distressed properties are no longer something that any real estate professional can refer to as something they don?t deal with. They are a factor in our market place.
• The issues that agents used to wait until they got the buyers under contract need to be asked upfront especially about condominiums associations. The status of an association can be the difference if the buyer can qualify for financing for the property or not.
• The question to the client is not just what are you qualified to spend, but what are you comfortable spending at the end of the month after mortgage, taxes, and assessments.

I have been in this business for over a decade now. I don?t do business the way I did 10 years, 5 years ago, or even a year ago. Both real estate market conditions and the tools of our industry keep moving forward so I am as well. It is called being a professional. That is what my clients deserve.

We would like to thank Susan Renee for kindly sharing today’s photo via the Creative Commons License.