The first step after you make the decision to sell your home is to find
a REALTOR® to market the property for you.
There are any number of ways you might do this. Maybe you will choose
a REALTOR® recommended by neighbours or co-workers, friends or family. Or
you might have noticed a particular name or photograph on "For Sale"
signs in your area, which suggests that the REALTOR® specializes in your
neighbourhood. The same name might also have shown up in newspaper or TV
ads or on flyers delivered to your door.
If you choose a REALTOR® through any of these methods, you will see the
value of a well thought out marketing plan that brings REALTORS® - and the
homes they have been asked to sell - to the attention of the public.
The marketing plan starts when you sign a listing agreement with a REALTOR®.
He or she will tell you about the option of selling your home through the
Multiple Listing Service, or MLS®, which offers maximum exposure of your
home to potential buyers and other REALTORS®.
Once you have agreed to work with a particular REALTOR®, it is time to
set a realistic asking price. If you ask too much, you could hinder the
REALTOR®'s marketing efforts before they even get off the ground. Set the
price too low and buyers might wonder what's "wrong" with your
home, and the proceeds from the sale will be less than they could have
been.
When your home is ready to be sold, the "For Sale" sign -
the most direct marketing tool of all - will go up in front of your property
to catch the attention of people walking or driving by.
People who enquire about your home after seeing a "For Sale"
sign are likely to be interested in your neighbourhood and already like
the look of your home. A "For Sale" sign also lets your neighbours
know you are selling and they may know someone who is interested in the
area. Your neighbours might even be interested in buying themselves; plenty
of people move on to bigger and better homes in the area they have lived
in for years.
Soon after your house is on the market, an open house may be organized
for REALTORS® who stop by the check out the potential of matching the house
to one of their customers. An open house for everyone else is sometimes
held on a weekend afternoon, when many buyers make a point of walking or
driving around neighbourhoods they are interested in.
The REALTOR® you have chosen to work with will set up the open house
and you can make plans to be elsewhere for the two or three hours when
visitors wander through. This lets people have a good look around without
worrying about disturbing you or offending you with questions about the
property they feel are pertinent.
As part of the marketing plan, the REALTOR® will be familiar with all
types of advertising - from classified ads in daily and weekly newspapers
to ads in specialty realty publications. REALTORS® also sometimes send mailers
- around the neighbourhood to let people who may be thinking of a move
know what is available nearby, to former customers who may be ready for
another move, and to clients who already have their homes up for sale but
might not have found a new house yet.
The day-to-day contacts REALTORS® make are an extremely useful word-of-mouth
type of advertising. A successful REALTOR® is often very involved in his
or her community, and gets to know plenty of people. It could be one of
them who decides to buy your house.
MLS®, Multiple Listing Service and REALTOR® are registered trademarks of the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Working With A REALTOR ® Articles