Open Houses this weekend
Saturday October 30 3pm – 5pm
2802 Buckeye Trail, Cedar Park 787613, Anderson Mill West $183,900
4 bedroom 2 full bath one story 2173 SQFT, high ceiling, exemplary schools
Sunday October 31 2pm – 4pm
23703 Shemya Cv, Austin 78729, Milwood $194,987
3 bedroom 2.5 bath, 2 story, .35 acres, tall trees on big lot, walk to Rattan Creek Park
(I don’t understand why this hasn’t sold already)
Open houses are a great indicator of home buyer activity in the market place. I have done an open house at the Shemya address on 4 Sundays over the past 2 months and the number of people who come through on Sunday afternoons has not changed that much. The biggest difference is whether the open house is posted on the internet or not. The INTERNET is such a HUGE factor on getting a house sold these days.
If you are selling your house, or planning to sell your house, you MUST have a professional internet presentation that shows off the model-like condition of your home and compels prospects to contact their agent for a showing. Depending on your price range you can expect 90% of home buyers or more to find your listing online first, and 70% of these prospective home buyers will drive by the houses they like:
36% will buy that home they found on the internet.
24% of home buyers called on the yard sign of the house they bought.
36% will buy the house their real estate agent found for them.
That accounts for 96% of the possibilities for attracting a buyer to your house.
36% - online presentation
24% - curb appeal for the people calling from the sign
36% - pricing, for the real estate agent search
The other 4% is print ad and miscellaneous. So, where should you be putting your marketing energy? What kind of internet marketing strategy and system can your listing agent demonstrate for you. (Not tell you about, but demonstrate.)
Go on Google and do a search for “homes for sale in [insert your favorite neighborhood] and tell me if the Realty Austin website isn’t at the top of the results page. If it is not, I will let my office know and we will make sure it is next time you look.
The Coming Holiday Season
The end of the year always sees a little seasonal pick up in home sales. For the past 4 years November and December have been very good business months for me, and for many other agents who continue to work through the holidays instead of going on their ski vacations.
Halloween is this weekend so I am advising my clients who are thinking of selling this year to start getting prepared for the professional photographer. (I would have preferred to have a sign in the yard so the moms and dads with their little costumed monsters and princesses could grab a flyer.)
Do whatever staging we are going to do and let’s get that photographer in your house next week or the week after. We need to have your listing on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) by mid-November at the latest. People travel during Thanksgiving and use that time to drive through neighborhoods and see homes they like. Those people want to be under contract with a close date before Christmas if at all possible. Because mortgage loans are taking so much more time these days, people might be travelling earlier.
News reports that this year's retailing business will see an increase in overall revenue compared to the last two years. People feel the economy stabilizing. I hope to see more home shoppers out in force this holiday season.
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