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Kimberly Howell Properties

San Antonio Real Estate

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Selling Your Home? Exposure is essential.

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Listing Exposure

Listing a home for sale isn’t as simple as putting a sign in the yard and entering some data into the San Antonio MLS (Multiple Listing Service). I should know, I help agents do it everyday. Marketing, particularly internet marketing, has become essential to listing a home and getting it sold, learn how to improve this area of your business by hiring one of the Top PPC Agencies. In order to thrive in today’s age of digital marketing, having a strong online presence is crucial, and you can do that with the help of a reliable SEO services similar to the ones at Damon Burton SEO.

Here at Kimberly Howell Properties we use multiple methods to get your property noticed by the buyers out there looking. The edge we provide is a knowledgeable staff who specialize in internet technologies and seeking out new opportunities to market and sell your home.

Where is my home listed?

When you list your home for sale with Kimberly Howell Properties, you can be assured that your home will have maximum exposure on the internet. From this site (and specifically, the listings pages and our home search) to the various syndication sites large and small, your home will be seen all over the internet. Syndication sites? Let’s talk about them…

Listing syndication sites are everywhere these days – you probably know a handful off the top of your head – Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia are well know these days. Realtor.com pulls info from the MLS and is typically the most accurate of the three (although not always the most detailed). Zillow and Trulia have a lot of listings, but don’t always have every listing and their data can sometimes be outdated. We work hard to keep our data up to date on these sites and many others. In addition to the big sites, we syndicate to many others – here’s some of the current sites you’ll find your homes on (they change often and we keep changing with them):

HGTV’s Front Door, Homes.com,Hotpads, Oodle, RealtyTrac, AOL Real Estate, Vast, CLRsearch, LakeHomesUSA, RiverHomesUSA, OceanHomesUSA, MyRealty, Enormo, LandWatch, Resortscape, Buyer Home Site, Condo Compare, Diggsy, eLookyLoo, Forclosure.com, FreedomSoft, Gooplex, GovListed.com, Harmon Homes, Home2Me, HomesbyLender, HomeTourConnect, Homew3inks, HouseHunt, HUDSeeker, IAS Properties, Juwai, LearnMoreNow.com, LiquidusMedia, ComcastOnDemand, Lot Network, NewHomeSource, OfferRunway, PropertyPursuit, PropertyShark, RealEstateMarketplace, RealEstateCentral, RealQuest Express, RealtyStore, Relocation.com, RentRange, The Real Estate Book, USALifestyle Real Estate, USHUD.com, Military.com, E-RealEstate, Homes and Land, and a host of over 280+ localized websites. Some sites are specific to certain types of properties such as foreclosures, lots and land, resort properties, location, etc., but if your home fits the qualifications, we’ll get it listed on every site we can!

IDX and your home.

In addition to the lengthy list above, your home will also appear on many other real estate sites – from large brokerages to agent websites – this is all thanks to the magic of IDX. IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and it is a way for brokers to allow their listings to appear on other sites. We use IDX to help power our home search – which is why you’re able to see so many homes for sale on our site, not just our listings. We are given access to the MLS feed and allowed to post homes, no matter who they are listed by (unless they opt out), so you can see as many listings as possible.

Other Avenues

Of course, we don’t limit ourselves to just these ways of marketing your property – ask your agent what they plan to do with your home when they list it. Some of the things that I do to help our listings get found are tips and tricks that I don’t share with everyone on the blog (wouldn’t want to tell everyone all of my secrets, would I?) and some things are custom for the property (single property websites being a great example). No matter what the methods employed, your San Antonio home for sale will be given the most exposure possible thanks to our agents and our staff who work tirelessly to ensure you’re getting the most out of your work with us.

Have questions – just let us know.

image courtesy of Mike Poresky

Why Good Real Estate Photos Matter

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Bad real estate photo

In real estate, you might only get one shot at capturing a potential buyer’s interest when it comes to the internet. Thanks to the explosion of the online home searching, that first impression becomes more and more important to you when listing your home. If that first photo doesn’t showcase the home or worse, makes it look bad, you may lose the one opportunity to catch the buyer’s attention. If you miss it, they’re moving on to the next house for sale. Good photos really do matter.

In the words of Eminem:
“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?”

Step 1: Getting Good Pictures

Knowing that the purpose of pictures is to present your home to potential buyers in the best possible light and entice them to come in for more information is incredibly important. If the lighting is poor, the home cluttered, or even the image blurry, a buyer can be turned off and never even give the house a chance. Buyers want clear images. They want to see unique features. They want to get an idea about room sizes, layout, design. They don’t need to see your furniture (although good furniture placement can serve to enhance), or your television programs, or doorways or your junk.

The best pictures offer variety, detail, depth, and quality. Taking a few moments to evaluate the room and make minor adjustments before snapping off a few shots is worth the effort, and then some. If the room is dark, turn on lights, adjust the blinds, or bring in a lamp for the 30 second shot. If you have an oversized highchair and piles of laundry on the kitchen table, move them out of the way briefly. Add fresh flowers, borrow artwork or design elements from other rooms. None of these things is permanent, but it can still make a significant difference in the impression being sent out to the world.

Sometimes, this also means excluding things. If you have a room dedicated to junk storage, maybe it’s ok to skip it for purposes of marketing and this site explains how if a buyer is impressed enough by the other rooms, they’ll see it eventually, and by that point you’ve already gotten them at least a little interested and inside your home.

Step 2: Getting Good Exposure

Where do people begin their home search these days? The internet. Whether a REALTOR® is involved from the get-go or not, buyers overwhelmingly begin their search online. A 2009 study by NAR found that over 90% of buyers used the internet to search for homes. And other than general statistics, such as bedrooms, bathrooms, renovation and bath remodel fort worth, and square footage; the photos tell the most about a property. Buyers get a feel for the layout. They can see the materials. They begin to imagine how a home might get re-arranged with their furniture. They share the pictures with friends and family and actually start getting excited about their prospects.

Recent surveys by the National Association of REALTORS® show that 84% of buyers surveyed said that the photos are the most useful information. And the number one action they took after viewing a home online was to drive by or make arrangements to visit the home.

There are thousands of people who are willing to buy or lease a property without ever setting foot in that home. Their ability to make this decision has come to rely heavily on pictures.

The more pictures you can include with your listing, the better the exposure. Just one picture of the front of the house tells a potential buyer very little about the property. Twenty-five pictures showcasing the large rooms, layout, or even unique details of the property will yield much greater interest and much greater results.

Choose your pictures thoughtfully. Let the image order flow naturally. Don’t skip from the living room to a bathroom to the backyard to the kitchen to the living room again.

Keeping these ideas in mind, and working with your REALTOR® to market and show your home in the best possible light will make an enormous difference in the long run.

image courtesy of carolyn.will