By now you’ve heard the news. Homes are selling in just a couple days, and they’re selling for higher prices than ever before, even above the peak prices of 2007/2008! So how do you take advantage of the crazy sellers market that we’re in but also find your next home to buy?
We help home sellers all over Seattle negotiate this situation by using a “rent back”. Rent backs allows you to stay in your home after it has officially closed/sold. You get all of the money from the sale of your home before you need to use it for the downpayment on the next house you buy, and you can stay in your sold home until it’s time to move into the new one.
92% of homebuyers start their search for a house online. Our job is to make them want to get out from behind their screen and into your home.
How to Sell your Home for the Most Money in Tech Savvy Seattle
Below are some of the tactics that we currently use to get your home sold. This list will evolve as we are often testing out new ideas and technologies to see what attracts buyers the most. We pay attention to advances in technology, strategy, or tactics that will help get your home sold at the highest price in the shortest amount of time.
How does this compare to other real estate agents?
It doesn’t. The average real estate agents in the USA is 60 years old. That’s the average! How many 6o year olds do you know that are really tech savvy? How many 60 year olds do you know that leverage social media? By utilizing the following strategies and some tried true marketing methods (with a twist to set them apart from the crowd), your home can have a well-known online reputation. How will we make that happen? Keep reading…
What strategies do we use?
High Definition Video
One critical way to advertise your home is through a virtual tour. Old fashioned virtual tour were created by a camera that spun in place around the room. The pictures were usually distorted, and they took forever to load on your computer. These days we use videos instead.
Now most agents say that they use video, but what they are really using are photos stitched together and set to music. Here’s an example:
Outdated, right? Buyers today expect quick loading, true high-definition video that works on any device (phone, ipad, computer).
We provide that. In fact, we are one of the few real estate teams in Seattle that use HD video tours. By the way, did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world (only behind Google)? By having a video of your home on YouTube, you have a greater chance of getting your home seen by a potential buyer. There are also fantastic SEO (search engine optimization) reasons to have a video on YouTube.
Professional High Resolution Photos
With the majority of buyers looking at homes on the internet, professional high resolution photos and HD video are a must. Old point and shoot digital cameras with a basic flash don’t cut it, and taking while taking photos with your phone might work great for some occasions, it doesn’t work well for homes.
We hire a professional photographer who uses professional lighting and a wide angle lens to make your home look its best. Getting people inside your home is part of our job. Amazing looking professional photos and a high definition video help us do this.
For instance, check out these two photos. Which one makes the home look better? Can you tell the difference? Buyers can…
Notice how in the professional photo you can even see the grass outside, and notice how the wide angle shows off the entire room.
A Custom Website for your home
Example: AwesomeInNorthgate.com
Your home’s custom built website, with its unique website address (like in the live example above) is built so that it looks fantastic on any device, and will be syndicated to over 20+ major property search portals online like Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Realtor.com. Being on all of these websites gives you the best chance to be seen by buyers searching the internet for homes.
Some agents are finally starting to get your home on all of these websites – but we go a step further. We move these potential buyers off of these 3rd party websites and direct them to your home’s custom website. Why? Because this allows the potential buyers to get more detailed info about your home. Your homes custom website features a professional video right at the top of the page (which most syndicated sites try to hide) and offers a simple way for buyers to directly request a showing. The custom website we build for you is the hub of all of your home’s marketing. And it allows us to track the latest traffic statistics to see how we’re doing…
Website Stats
Ever wonder how well we are marketing your home? No need to wonder anymore. We are always tracking your home’s personal website traffic numbers, and we can use these numbers to judge how the market perceives your home. If you are getting a lot of views but no showings, that tells us something. If you’re not getting many views to start with, then that’s telling us something completely different.
Having these stats available is another technique which most agents don’t use, but they are vital to understanding how we are positioned against the rest of the competition. We know how to interpret these stats and how to use them to our marketing advantage.
Custom Made “For Sale” Sign
Have you ever seen one of these before? Didn’t think so. You’re probably used to seeing generic office For-Sale sign with the agent’s photo and contact information. We are one of the only real estate teams in the country that use custom made For Sale signs. Why do we go all out and create a custom made sign for each home we sell? Because it works to create attention! You’re paying us to market your home, not to market our own real estate company (which is what every other For Sale sign does).
So what the heck is a custom For Sale sign?
Well, it’s kind of like a normal For Sale sign… except instead of being boring, lame, and just like every other For Sale sign out there, it’s completely unique! It features photos of your home (8 in total, 4 on each side), your home’s website address, and a paragraph describing your home in detail.
The sign is designed to make people hit the brakes on their car and it works! It’s pretty amusing to watch people drive past your house, see the sign, stop in the middle of the road, and put the car in reverse just so that they can get a closer look at your for sale sign! We’ve tested the font size of the text on your sign so that people need to actually get out of their car to read it. Once they’re out of their car, they’re much more likely to take out their phone and visit your home’s website address… which means they’re going to see the video… which means that they’ll probably then look at the photos… and then they might just fill out the form to request a showing! It’s a calculated number and simple progression of steps to get people out of their car and into your home.
This is something that almost no one in the entire country does, let alone in Seattle. It’s this sort of cutting edge twist on traditional marketing that sets us apart from the crowd.
Paperless Transaction
Sometimes life is too hectic to allow for a face to face meeting, and who the heck has a fax machine? We utilize electronic signatures that allow you sign off on an offer using nothing but your smart phone. This means no more printing, scanning or faxing contracts. Don’t get us wrong, we prefer face-to-face meetings. But when that can’t happen, it’s nice to have electronic signatures as an option. 
How does all of this help you?
92% of homebuyers start their real estate search online. Real estate agents need to know how to market your home online. We not only know how to market it, but how to market it well. Because average doesn’t cut it in the market.
The creative marketing techniques we use to give your home an online reputation (including high definition videos, professional photos, a website specially made just for your house) shows you that we do things differently.
Customer Service
Check out the Yelp Reviews below to see what everyone is saying about us. You can watch video testimonials from past clients below as well. Christian and Les are available to answer your calls, texts, and emails between 7:30am & 10pm, 7 days a week. They prides themselves on being available when you need them, and giving you the best home selling experience possible. People LOVE working with Les and Christian. Request a time to meet up with one of them to see if our team is a good fit for you!
Would you like to meet up with us?
or…
Are you interested in learning what your home is worth?
We are no-pressure people. We would love to meet with you over a coffee or beer and chat with you face to face to talk about your goals and see if we are a good fit to work together. If you’re interested, please fill out the simple form below or give us a call/text at 206-949-3048.
Oops! We could not locate your form.
