excerpts from article by
David Hitt
Due to the high inventory of homes for sale,
homeowners need creative marketing strategies to set their homes apart
from all the rest. Sellers are competing with other comparable homes
for sale in their neighborhoods as well as short pay, foreclosures
and bank owned properties.
Sellers' goals must be to attract a large pool
of buyers to their homes by using a combination of creative marketing
strategies including maximizing exposure, proper pricing, and offering
incentives to buyers and their Realtors in order to sell their homes
for maximum dollar and in a short period of time. Your home should
sell within a couple months of listing it if you follow the suggested
marketing tips below.
Creative marketing strategy tips:
1. Price home at or below market value. Buyers are looking for great
deals. It's a buyer's market so overpricing is the wrong marketing
strategy to follow. Savvy buyers are educated about the home prices
in the neighborhood. They will not make offers on overpriced properties
because they know the sellers are unrealistic.
2. Offer buyer incentives. The following are
suggestions of various buyer incentives that sellers may want to offer
their buyers:
3. Seller financing. Sellers who are in a position
to offer seller financing to potential buyers should consider doing
so because traditional lenders have tightened their lending guidelines
making it more difficult for buyers, even with good credit, to obtain
financing. By offering your buyer financing, you are one step ahead
of the competition. The worse scenario is if the buyer defaults, you
take back your property.
4. Paying the buyer's closing costs
5. Prepaying homeowner or condo association
dues for the buyer for six months or one year if you own a townhome,
condo or live in a subdivision that is governed by a condo association
or homeowner association.
6. Paying concessions for repairs or paying
for repairs before the close of escrow.
7. Gift certificates, travel vouchers for cruises
or airline tickets, or giving away big ticket items such as flat screen
televisions.
8. Offer incentives to Realtors. Smart sellers
recognize that offering incentives to Realtors is good business and
pays off because a Realtor would rather show their buyer Utah real
estate that pays them a 4% commission than another property that is
offering a 2% or 3% commission, providing the homes are comparable
and meet their buyer's needs and wants.
9. Another idea is to offer the selling agent
a bonus if the buyer closes by a certain date.
10. Professionally Stage Your Home...
The whole concept of marketing your Utah real
estate, whether your home is on the north, south, east or west side
of the valley, is to stand out from the competition, think outside
the box and be creative. That is why more sellers are listing their
homes with experienced Utah Realtors because they recognize the value
of a real estate professional's expertise in selling and marketing
homes in this tough real estate market.
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