Marketing Your Home*

Chapter Four

You can't relax, but the hardest parts are behind you now. It's time to start marketing the property – just like a professional real estate agent might do. Don't be intimidated – just think of it as getting the word out.

Get Yourself a
Professional Real Estate Sign
Competing in the Tucson real estate market requires that you get a professional looking real estate 'for sale' sign to position in front of your home. The sign should be placed so that no part of it is obscured from the road's view, and so it can be read passing the house in either direction. You will need to attract buyers through as many different avenues as possible. The ‘drive-by’ real estate buyer group should not be ignored. One of the advantages to putting a professional sign in your yard is that it will attract buyers who are visiting other real estate in your area. You want every advantage and opportunity here.

Get a good sign. In Tucson, the real estate signs are sturdy and professional. Go for that same look. It will inspire confidence in prospective buyers. Remember, part of the equation of selling real estate in Tucson is competing with the other houses that are similar to your own. Make sure yours is offered at the same quality level or better. Don't use a handmade sign – you're not having a garage sale, you're selling a home.

You really should put your phone number on the sign – in large, clear printing. It's also a good idea to put a contact name on the sign. This gives your callers someone to ask for. It's much more professional, and it will attract more calls as well. You do not need to put any details about the real estate on the sign. Some professional real estate agents will list one special item about the house on the sign, such as "Spa!" "Swimming Pool!" and so forth. You can consider this, but small printing won't do much good, so keep it brief. Don't clutter up the sign and make it hard to read. It's not the professional way to sell real estate.

Many professional real estate agents leave some printed information attached to the sign in a plastic holder. This information can be taken home by passers-by. The printed materials you leave on the sign can include any number of things, such as the price, the size of the house and a list of features. This is not required, but since it's common in the Tucson real estate market to have such handouts/flyers, you may wish to provide it in order to be more professional and elevate your chances of qualified buyers.

It's time to make an ad
Even in a real estate market that is as active and viable as the on in Tucson, you will still need to do some advertising. Some ad vehicles are only available to professional real estate agents, so before you try to buy space in a media, be sure it's alright for you to advertise in it.

The first media that always comes to mind is the local newspaper. This is, of course, a good possible location for your ad. The second choice is customarily local magazines, and even regional ones. Again, these can be good places to show your home. However, at this writing there are dozens of places on line to advertise your home. By the time this article gets to press, I am confident there will be more. Advertising online can save you a great deal of money (remember making more money is what this adventure is all about) over local ads in the newspapers and magazines. Also, your ad will almost surely get to a whole lot more people in a whole lot more places seeing it. There are people all over the country who will be moving to Tucson within the next three months. The vast majority of these people will not be reading the local paper. So advertising in a Tucson paper will likely not get their attention.

You can advertise your Tucson real estate in a local paper any number of ways. You can go with a large ad, including one or more photographs – such as you see that Tucson real estate agents frequently do. This is quite costly! Or, you can take out a 'bargain' number of lines of text only, and do it very cheaply. Your online ads will not cost too much either, so you can expose your for sale by owner Tucson real estate to a great many prospective buyers living all over the country. The online ads also offer space for nice color photos, and generous descriptions. Some sites will even write your copy for you, just like a professional real estate agent would.

Note: if you don't have pictures of your house, now's the time to get them – lots of them! You can't have too many to select from when you're composing ads – especially for the Internet! Tucson real estate, like all real estate, sells better from photographs. If you start a dialog with an interested buyer in New Jersey, and they want to see the second bathroom's shower stall, you'll need to send them a photo of it as that may be what makes the sale. There are decent digital cameras for around $100 at discount houses. This is definitely an investment to consider. You won't need to buy film or pay for processing. Also, you can take and send a digital photo – all within minutes. That way, no matter what a buyer wants to see online, you can have it to them very fast! Many local prospects for your real estate will enjoy this also. People forget small details, and there's no better way to remind them of how far it is from the bedroom door to the west wall window than with a freshly snapped photograph. This definitely moves you a couple of notches cloer to what professional real estate agents do.

You really don’t need to create (or pay for) a full page ad in the local paper to get people to see your house. Small ads can be equally effective for a very simple reason: since prospective home buyers will read all the relevant listings in order to find the ‘perfect’ new home. On the other hand, a badly worded ad can be a waste of expensive advertising space. A well worded ad works wonders. So how do you word your ad like a professional real estate agent would? Simple – read on…

Collect several local papers and read the ads placed there. You don't have to spend money to buy new papers, they can be days or even weeks old. You're only getting the papers to see wording, and that won't change over a few days or weeks. Try to determine which text-only advertisements catch your attention, and which advertisements don't appeal at all to you – and loose your interest quickly. You will likely find that rambling, lengthy, and highly detailed ads not only bore you, they also offer so much information about the real estate for sale, that you no longer need to see the home, or even just talk to the owners. This way of advertising a house can be a critical mistake. You want to entice the prospective buyers to come by and actually see your home – or at the very least call you to find something out. Is the pool above ground, or below? Does the second bath have a shower?

While you're reading through the Tucson real estate ads, if you see a specific feature, such as pools, ceiling fans, etc. are being promoted by a lot of people selling homes in Tucson, don’t use that feature in your ad. This will help your home stand out amongst all the 'repetitive' real estate ads.

Many professional real estate agents use a concept called USP – Unique Sales Proposition when they advertise real estate. Make a list of what your real estate has to offer, that you are not seeing frequently in the other real estate ads. List these things in your house ad first. This way, your real estate ads won't get lost.

A phrase you will see a lot of in Tucson real estate ads is "great location." Another one is "great views." If your location or view is really so great that you must put it into your ad, then at least find another word to describe it. You might try using spectacular, amazing, stunning, or breathtaking – for example. When you read through the real estate ads yourself, you'll quickly see how easy it is to get 'numb' to a feature after seeing it 10 or 15 times.

It won't hurt for you to mention in your real estate ads, and on any flyers you print, that your home is for sale by owner. Another eye-catching term can be "private sale," but make sure it's not being overused while your real estate ads are running in the newspapers.

Here are some ideas for features that you might consider for use in your real estate ads for a single-family house: Large Yard; Renovated Kitchen; Grade Entry Basement; Bright Rooms; Quiet Street; Close to Schools (shopping, transit etc.); Heritage style; New home; Starter home; Landscaped; Pool; and so on.

If you are selling a condo or other home with common property in your real estate ads, consider including features such as: low fees, pool, exercise room, landscaped grounds, pet-friendly, RV parking area, storage, etc.

Let's create a fictitious house, and then compose an ad for it. Let's say that you are selling a three-bedroom home that is close to schools, and has an unfinished basement and a large yard. Your submitted real estate ad might read something like this:

SAVE MONEY! – Motivated private seller. No commissions! Three-bedroom bungalow w/large yard and basement – walk to schools – great for family. $250,000. Call Brad or Peggy for viewing ###-#### (phone number to call).

The same ad could also say:

FAMILY HOME – 10 minutes from downtown – and near schools. 3 bedrooms w/full basement (could be family room). Only $250,000. Sale by Owner. Call Brad or Peggy for viewing ###-#### (phone number to call).

Changing the main feature listed in your real estate ads will attract different prospective buyers. In the example ads, you might attract either a younger couple that wishes to buy an inexpensive starter home, or a family that needs more room for their growing family. Both would be interested in the proximity to schools, and with the 'extra' basement space. If you find an ad formula that works, go with it, or perhaps very slightly modify it. You might also ask the callers where they saw your advertisement, of you use more than one vehicle for your real estate ad – to determine which one is working harder for you. There are a large number of print media options in Tucson where you can run effective real estate ads.

While you don't want to answer all the questions in your real estate ad, you also don't want to be too vague. If you don’t give real estate shoppers an idea of the cost, location, and size of the home, you'll be getting all sorts of calls, the vast majority of which will only waste your time and energy. This is definitely a bad idea, for several reasons. Not the least of those reasons is simply this: when you are selling something with the value of real estate, you really don't need to have repeated phone call failures – especially not failures that could so easily have been avoided. If you are asking $150,000 for your Tucson real estate, you don't want people calling who have only been pre-qualified for a loan up to $125,000. And that's just one example.

Take your time writing your ad, and do your research. Any newspaper in Tucson will have numerous ads for every conceivable type of real estate. Study them before you write your ad. Never forget: you're trying to earn a big paycheck here, it's worth it!

It's time to place the ad
Tucson newspapers, like newspapers in most cities and towns, have one day of the week with the most real estate listings. Buyers know that day. The paper on that day will attract more prospective buyers. Place your ad to start on that day.

Some Tucson newspapers also have special sections of the paper that are exclusively for real estate on a specific day of the week – usually weekends. Place your real estate ad(s) in the papers on these "hot" real estate section days.

Real estate sales on the Internet are changing so fast, that I dare not write how to advertise your house or other real estate on the Internet. But you should take the time, if you have an appropriate computer, to research advertising on the Internet. Check out websites that specialize in advertising real estate – especially those that do it for real estate that is for sale by owner, or FSBO.

Just a couple more little things to remember
Be your own best advertisement. It really works much more often than you might think. Tell people you are selling your home. You never know who’s looking for real estate. Or maybe you are friends with or work with someone who knows someone looking for a new house – and it may be one just like yours. Professional real estate agents do this all the time – and it works for them!

Don't be shy about talking up your real estate. Bring it up whenever you get any chance at all. When a clerk, UPS driver, or dentist asks how you are, tell them you are actually looking for a new place to live, and that have your own house on the real estate market. Also, you should ask them, when it's reasonable, if they know anyone looking for a home in your area? 'Networking,' as it is known, is a key element for many professional real estate sales people. Since you are your own real estate agent, use networking!

Lastly, your real estate ads will attract the attention of professional real estate agents in Tucson. You should prepare yourself for their calls. And some (more aggressive) real estate agents will actually stop by your home to visit with you. Most of these real estate agents will tell you that you cannot sell real estate in Tucson without a professional real estate agent. This is simply wrong. Every day Tucsonans sell real estate with no help at all from real estate agents.