Real Estate ads do not sell houses

Newspaper ads do NOT sell houses and why agents do them.
 
As a follow up to part 1 of this series I talked about the fact that open houses do not sell houses and why real estate agents still do them. In this blog I will talk about ads whether they are newspaper ads, pennysaver ads, magazine ads, etc.Just like with open houses, ads for homes for sale are not done to sell
the home they are done to make the AGENT more money.
 
What do you mean ads do not sell houses? How do ads make the agent more money?
 
There are statistics but I do not have them in front of me but something like 2% of the people who call on ads buy the house they are calling on. I recall that statistic years ago when the market was hot and the Internet had not dominated the real estate market like it does now. I would guess now it is less than 1/2 of 1% buy the house they call on.  Just like with open house attendees, people who call on house ads really do not know much about the house and are rarely qualified or ready to buy a home. The ad is usually black and white or has no photo at all. The ads are ALWAYS vague to entice the prospective buyer to call and ask questions. After the caller finds out the house is not for them they often ask the agent what other houses they have for sale. At that point the agent EMAILS a list of houses in the callers price range and now that agent has a brand new client!
 
So why do agents place for sale ads?
 
For the same reason they do open houses, to appease the home seller and make them think placing a tiny ad in a paper is how to sell a house. Also some agents think ads are what sell homes. The seller also thinks this means you are doing your job. As I said earlier the REAL reason agents place ads is to get more clients/buyers from the ad. I used to work for a company that would hound me every week to authorize more ads for my listings so they can put them in the upcoming paper, ads that the COMPANY PAID for, it costs me NOTHING to run an ad but yet I was literally being hounded to provide as many ads as possible to run in the paper.
 
So it costs me nothing to do and they were hungry for more ads. The more ads the company does the more calls they get and the more recognition they have among town. Eventually sellers start looking at the ads every weekend and they think because this company runs ads all the time that they are the best ones to call to list THEIR home. So not only do these ads not sell houses but it gives the real estate company 2 types of potential sales. A new buyer client and a new seller client. Here is a little tip… ever notice you see the SAME ad for the SAME house EVERY weekend for months?!…. Still think ads sell houses?
 
One ad sells 8 houses.. what!?
 
My previous company placed and ad, we got a call from a buyer who asked about the house, did not like what they heard and asked us to help find her a home. She then asked us to list her house as well. We met 3 people from ads from this clients home who ended up buying another home through us. 1 of which had to sell their house and we did and we found our own buyer and that buyer referred her cousin who we found a house for. So that 1 ad turned into 8 sales. So why else would a real estate company love doing ads? The sad part is, the longer a house does NOT sell the more money that company makes, sad but true.
 
As I said in my open house blog Open Houses do not sell houses,  if something is FREE to do but more agents do not want to do them, you have to wonder why. Because they do not sell houses! I would rather do something that sells houses and costs me a lot money then waste time doing something for FREE that does not sell houses.
 
If you notice over the past year or so that there are less and less ads in the paper yet we have the HIGHEST amount of homes for sale in many many years. The fact is that more real estate companies are realizing not only do ads not sell houses but NO ONE is calling on the ads any more. Some new companies in the area have a business model that specifically does NOT run ads.
 
The truth is that the Internet has completely taken over the real estate industry and is the only EFFECTIVE way to sell a home other than the obvious – PRICING it right. I get thousands of emails a every month, people send me text messages, instant messages, you name it looking for houses or inquiring about the listings on my web site. There was a study done a few years ago that said that the Internet consumer on avg makes about $3,000 more per month than the traditional consumer who buys homes, products from looking at ads, magazines. So when it comes to a buyer for your home, which type of consumer do YOU want looking at your home?
 
A good Realtor should have multiple web sites for different segments of the market, a cost of $100,000 for a few web sites is not uncommon, the typical $100/month web site provided to an agent by their company is NOT a web site, it is just an unproductive expensive business card that just takes up space on the web.
 
When choosing a Realtor to help you sell and buy a home, make sure he/she dominates the Internet with their web sites and can show you proof of the business these web sites produce. My web sites are some of the most highly trafficked sites in all of Westchester and Putnam County. With over 20,000 visits a month, my web sites generate thousands of buyers and because of this I am able to sell homes much faster than the average real estate agent with a non productive web site or no web site at all. My most recent sales last month were listings where I was able to find my own buyers from my web sites in less than 2 weeks! Most of the time I can find a buyer easily in under a month, no matter what type of real estate market we are in.

Some examples of my web sites are:

• MikeTrinch.com
• NorthernWestchesterCondos.com
• PutnamCountyCondos.com
• ThePreserveAtSomers.com
• Putnam-Westchester-Homes.com

 
Regardless of what the media and politicians tell us, this is a great time to buy a home, it is also a great time to sell a home. Rates are at record lows (my last client just locked in last week at 5.125% for a 30 year fixed), prices are stabilizing and buyers are tired of waiting and ready to buy a home. The announcement that the Senate passed a $15,000 tax credit for home buyers in 2009 has made my phone ring of the hook from buyers who have been on the sidelines waiting to purchase.