Did you know that over 88% of all home buyers search for their home online? The Internet has become the primary means for potential buyers to search for a home. Using the Internet to market your home is a comprehensive mass marketing approach to selling a home. And when selling your home on your own, you need to take a total approach to being able to spread the message that your home is for sale to the masses. You also need the message to be strong, clear and engaging. There are many websites that can help you sell your home, although some are more effective than others, and these websites will give you as much exposure as any real estate agent. Regardless of the website you choose to use, make sure you have great images and a great virtual tour to upload to the website. Great photos and virtual tours sell houses.
Since 88% or more of potential buyers will use the Internet to search for their next home, it’s clear that you need to focus your attention on Internet marketing and make sure you’re marketing in all the right places. So where do you market on the internet? Don’t waste your time promoting in places where your home listing will have mediocre or no exposure. Based on years of experience, we recommend that you only market on effective internet websites that have been proven to gain massive exposure and successfully sell homes. We have many websites to recommend, but there are a few that stand out. Most of which are FREE.
The number one place to market your home is Craigslist, which has become a great online classified resource used to sell real estate. Make sure your headlines and ads shine and your classifieds content is clear and detailed. Be sure to respond quickly to inquiries, as internet prospects will continue to search for homes to see what else is around the corner.
The second website is Facebook, which now has over 140 million unique visitors in the US and can give you incredible and trustworthy exposure. You can share your listing with your friends or create a new separate page specifically for your home.
The third effective Internet resource for marketing your home is Postlets, which is a website service that automatically posts your home listing to many other online websites. It is easy to use and gives you great exposure to the masses.
Rooms are for sale through proprietary websites, also known as “FSBO” websites. FSBO websites are the Do-It-Yourself option that allows you to market your home listing through the Multiple Listing Service (“MLS”) system, once an exclusive venue for real estate agents only. Marketing through a FSBO website will give you the same exposure that 99% of real estate agents have. And if you combine that exposure with the other places we’ve mentioned, it will dwarf the marketing efforts of most real estate agents.
Now of course there are other great places to market your home, but the ones listed will point you in the right direction.