Diane, maximum exposure leads to maximum traffic which further equates to (hopefully) multiple offers and the chance to utilize your professional negotiating skills. More importantly, it isn't always about price and motivation. If a Seller is willing to price correctly and is motivated they still have a choice to make. If your listing presentation articulates your ability to maximize their properties exposure and thereby the likelihood to sell for the most money, your chances are increased. Otherwise they may take their price and motivation to the competition. For real estate and other related info check out http://www.southcountyhomes.com

Will

Yes all of the above is necessary Diane. With the syndications though it can save you time & money. I have been very happy with my service, not to mention when sellers see a lot of exposure they are happy.

Hi Diane,

You are correct; it is almost always about price and motivation of the seller.
However it still needs to be marketed as extensively as possible. Syndication allows reaching that goal. Point2 syndicates to up to 300 destinations. I use it and I am happy with it. Creating a single property website also add values. I use ListingDomains and I am also happy with them.
I just see it as part of my responsibilities to my sellers.

I hope it helps-

Cathy Chaudemanche
Middlesex County Keller Williams Realty

Diane, there is no such thing as too much exposure. HOWEVER, you must be concerned with what happens to your listing that contains your name, your broker and contact information after it sells or expires. MOST syndicated sites, after receiving listing information do not update this data consistently. Trulia and Postlets are two of these errant syndicated sites. If your home seller and your broker agree having bogus listings sprinkled throughout the internet meets the business objectives of your organization one can conclude more exposure of any kind is better.

If you would like a list of which web sites manage your listing properly and those that claim ALL RIGHTS to your data drop me a note with your email.

The NWMLS is comprehensive, so there is no need to post the listing any where else.
At open houses, I find that the overwhelming majority of visitors find out about the open house from either Redfin, which downloads from the NWMLS, or CraigsList; both places where home shoppers seem to be looking for open houses.
Then, again, homeshoppers play websites as if they were a one-armed-bandit, hoping, it seems, to get different results from each site. It's possible that they may notice our listings somewhere that does not offer the comprehensive database of listings, but not really likely, is it?

No Doubt about it. Craigslist works! If you are pulling buyer calls, im sure it has to do with the actual ads, compelling titles and the critical call to action. You miss one of the those and your results will sink like a rock.

Here is some information about a twitter service as well.
http://www.tweetmymessage.com

90% of all buyers search for homes on the internet. If this one statistic alone isn't reason enough, I don't know what is. Real estate is a numbers games: the more people who see it the more likely someone will buy it and the more likely you'll get a good price. All of our marketing is geared towards the internet. Our sellers love it and we back all of our advertising methods up with hard facts and statistics. Yesterday, I had three direct contacts from buyers. One found a house on Yahoo real estate, another contacted me from Craig's List, and another contacted me from my personal website. I never got three strong leads in a day from print advertising.

It is about price and motivation of the seller. BUT it is also about visibility of the listing.
The more places a listing is able to be seen the more "sets of eyeballs,' people will see it. Don'ty for once think that this real estate business gets easier with technology and the Internet. The more sights the better!
Our company uploads to more than 50 sites, PLUS our own site realtor.com, postlets, craig's list and on and on. Our listings usually make it to the first page of a Google search for that town within days. This is important.
Any questions, please contact me.
David F

Well,
craigslist works well with rentals, I actually found tenants who turned into buyers after 1 year.
Facebook is surprisingly a good way to keep your sphere updated on what you do professionally: I posted a listing as usual, and got 2 showings the first day from that. Didn't sell the house but I have one pending sale from it...so yes it works :)

Price is absolutely the main thing in this current market--all the best marketing in the world will not sell an overpriced home. If you have unrealistic sellers, it is not worth taking the listing.

That said, if you have a listing, I think blasting it all over the net is a good thing. If for no other reason, it is one more thing you do that seperates you from the competition--if you list the sites you upload your listings to, that can make for a very impressive listing presentation. "Mr Seller, I upload all my listings to all of these websites--did you know over 80% of home buyers begin their search on the internet?"--something like that.

If you aren't already, I highly recommend craigslist, that has been very effective for me.

You can meet more prospective clients who believe in themselves not realtors from E-sources such as Trulia and other websites than traditional sources. Those people try to do their own research as more as possible. They try to delay to contact realtors. They treat their real estate case as buying a car from dealer. They do not understand this professional field and donot trust realtors as they do not trust car dealers.
That cause of realtors' fault. So many unqualified realtors act on this market. NAR and local association have heavy bureaucracy style.

The sites help you get the home in front of buyers, whether or not they buy will depend on the price and all the usuall things. But since you can't really control if someone buys, all you can do is put it in front of buyers and see.

Are the obscure sites no one ever herd of really needed? Not really, but you do want to have your home on the major sites (trulia, zillow, craig's list etc)

I think even if your clients home is over priced, if you syndicate the listing on every availabe site the buyer inquires will lead to buyers for other homes, maybe one you have listed, or one on your local MLS. It is a win win situation. Get the listing out there and only good can happen.

To prevent this from consuming a full 8 hour day of work per listing, try and find a few individual sites that syndicate to many others sites you think will help, then go to those individual sites and register with them and set up a profile this usually will insure your listing will have your name along side it. Sometimes you may have to go to the sites and "claim" your listing. Registering will also allow buyers in your area who are searching for a Realtor to have you as a option.

I think getting through as many avenue of marketing is the key. Of course the internet is the most accessible and easiest for us agents to get the word out. With almost 85% of the buyers doing their searches on the internet, prior to calling an agent , we should highly be motivate to look at all internet marketing. I have paid for Realtor.com for years but starting to notice that domain is starting to get less hits. This could be due to the fact that there are so many other places to look for homes on the internet such as Trulia.com. The price and motivation of the seller is part one of the whole picture. Part two is to get exposed through internet marketing and capturing those buyers that are out there. Kenny Rogers ...not the singer!

Sure it does. Put your listings and yourself out there where everyone can see you and your listings. Show up every where and in front of as many people you can. Remember everyone knows or knows someone that knows someone that wants to buy or selling. :-) The internet is the blue ocean and the way to go. So many people now, would rather check out the property online first, and then you. Good luck

The objective is to be everywhere and leave nothing to chance

Of course they do. However in this market, we agents need to up our sales game. This means benefit-based selling, eliminating objections, identifying needs and connecting those needs with your product. Tha's why if you have a strong buyer, you need to meet them face to face and make the sale right there

JR-
You have got to believe the when they want it wher they want it how they want it. It's the truth. People will research where they will and where they are familiar...or is a site that works like one that they are familiar with. People rarely make contact directly from those sites. They gather home information...and then check you out. Keep up the good the good practices.

I realize consumers use all these different sites for research, but does anyone actually get any buyer contact from any? In the past 4 years I have gotten 3 emails from consumers on Craigs List, all bottom fishing, 1 from Zillow ("more photos?") and a handful from my own website. My own website has generated the most in depth communications, but I think they came from some of the B & B's I have linked to my site. And is it regional? I'm on Long Island. Wondering what other people's response is.

I gave over 20 sites to go on about a month ago. it is on one of the blogs
go check it out.back track from august till now you will find it.
cprisco@defalcorealty.com

Yes Diane...Anyway you can get your listings out there, and your name out there is helpful, although we have stopped using many sites that have not shown us any response, and we try new ones as they become available.

Great Question! The most important thing to remember is that the buyer knows the market better than an agent does. Some may have good arguments against that statement, but just give it some thought: Joe Customer is looking for a 3bedroom, 2 bath split level. Since they have been looking for a good amount of time, they know about every 3 bedroom, 2 bath split that has been on the market, is on the market and is always watching to see what is new on the market. They know the 3 bedroom, 2 bath split market like the back of their hands. We, as real estate professionals, know about them too, but not to the extent and detail that Joe Customer knows that 3 bedroom, 2 bath split level market. It is simply because of the amount of information that is out there today as opposed to 10 years ago, as we all know
If you can place your listing on a bijillion and 1 sites, do it!

Absolutely YES! Syndicating and manually posting a PROPERLY priced listing on as many sites as possible is NOT an option. It is a proven fact that up to 90% of buyers begin their search on the internet.
It is our job as a Realtor to get the property exposed as much as possible.
Yes, it takes time to do the work, but that is part of what we MUST do in order to eventually get paid and we owe it to our clients to utilize every option available to us to get their properly priced listing sold.
It only takes ONE buyer for each home, and we never know which site will lead them to our listing!

Good Answer, Hugo!
My Favorite new catch phrase "Less won't make you more."

Well when you're vying for that next listing, openly tell your potential client that Trulia, Google, Your Blog, site, REALTOR.com and all the others won't sell the house so there is no reason to post it there. Let's see what their opinion of that is.

Options. That's what it's about. I'm not sure how many millions of websites exist, but I do know that each internet viewer regularly attend only a few, which will differ from viewer to viewer. The contemporary buyer will want to see the home where they want it and when they want to. However, no amount of well placed marketing will sell an overpriced home or overcome a motivationless seller. A bijililon websites is like having the home on a billboard in the buyers current home, but if for something makes the listing undesirable- the buyer will cover it up with a plant.

The quantity of web sites is not nearly as important as the quality of the marketing message and media (video, photography) you use to convey the experience of the home. Quantity alone doesn't cut it.

Quality is first - standing out above other listings and conveying an experience will generate showings and phone calls. Multiply a quality marketing message across a bijillion (my, that's a lot!) sites can only benefit the seller and increase the exposure rate - and produce a qualified buyer.

I agree that pricing is key especially in this market. I'm finding buyers will reject a home completely based on out-of-sync pricing. Thoughtful, realistic pricing coupled with a high quality marketing message posted everywhere imaginable is a solid formula for success!

I think our Sellers want to see more exposure in this type of market that we are in. Price is key and the more "web" exposure you have the more chances of a prospect. I think the "header" to your posts are key.

I think price and exposure work together. I advertise my clients home on over 50 websites... I think it is crucial not only for your clients but also for your business. Exposure on the internet is trakable, unlike the newspaper. The internet accounts for roughly 90% of my business.

From a marketing perspective, price and advertising are the keys. Price is self explanatory, especally in this challenging market. Advertising: Internet exposure is certainly the best and most effective media tool. Now, about 9 out of 10 customers say they have seen your listing or done their research on the Internet. Differentiation, added value, and pricing. Good luck to us all!

It's always about price, seller motivation AND marketing, last but not least. Worst case is that YOU are branded across the internet as well as you listing. That never hurts. As someone else has said, if it's automated, why not.
Real estate is a face to face business. Whatever tools get you face to face is what anyone in our business should do.
BLOG YOUR BRAINS OUT!
Rob

It definitely can't hurt! Let's say I advertise one listing on a bijillion sites. Let's say one person sees this ad and then asks his realtor to provide them more information about the home, they go look at the home, and his Realtor makes an offer. The listing agent might not receive a single lead, but did the website advertising help sell the home? Absolutely in this case. You might not ever know where the buyer learned about the home, so the more advertising the better. The listing agent can also help use that advertising to bring in more traffic to their website and increase search engine ranking at the same time - if they advertise correctly with keywords and links back to their site.

Simply put, if you price a property correctly in whatever market conditions you are currently in, it will sell!!! Me being primarily a listing agent in my area, my most powerful websites are my local mls website, RE/MAX website and Craigslist. In a buyers market, you have to price to be the most desireable home in the area. If you home is in fantastic condition, it makes the home even easier to sell. Key again is LISTING THE PROPERTY @ THE MOST DESIREABLE PRICE, THEN TONS OF PICS ON WEBSITES. You will even have bidding wars on properties if priced correctly. Whatever the recent SOLD comps are going for in your area in the last three months, try to convince the seller to price 5-10% less than these recent comps. If the motivation from the seller is not there, just walk away from the listing. Second, make sure you have EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR PHOTOS AND/OR VIRTUAL TOURS of your property. Amazingly to me, I'm shocked @ how many agents don't have pics of their listings online. Your most powerful tool to advertise your property are MULITIPLE PICS. Most of your buyers are online before they even consider reaching out to you inquiring about your listing. Pics speaks volume......let the sellers know how important it is to also have a spotless home when preparing to sell.

Travis C. Waller, CRS, Realtor
RE/MAX Advantage Plus
TravisCWaller@remax.net

I personally am not getting any buyers for my listings by posting on any of these websites....It is however an inexpensive way to "keep the Seller happy" if they want to see their home in as many places as possible...
I think we (Agents) know exactly where the buyer is going to come from - and that is from another agent who has the "serious and well qualified buyers"! Pricing is CRUCIAL at this point in the market with all the foreclosures to compete with...

Good Luck!
Jennifer Horn
Greensboro and Cary NC

If it is an automated proess, why not? You have to evaluate your time. If nothing is selling you need to do more.

Trey Langford http://www.BuildingCredibility.com

I know Stew from Scottsdale has it right. I use point2 and let me tell you, I receive alot of leads from this site. I encourage everyone to get your listings out there. Yes, it is about price but, if no one see's your listings, how will they sell. This is not just mls anymore and there are more than just want everyone is calling the major sites. Everyone is looking everywhere if it is online. Make sure you claim your listings on most of these sites and you will see results. Good luck.

I think the more sites it is on the better the chance the buyer has to find the property. I am showings as a result of buyers finding the listing somewhere on line. Many times they do have an agent but the agent has not shown them the property for one reason or another. Being on a bijillion sites has resulted in showings and sales. The online market is so fragmented. It is just like an open house or any other marketing you do. It only takes one buyer to find it to result in a contract.

NO. I know, I'm the lone NO, but let me explain: Posting the home on a 'billion' sites keeps your seller satisfied that their home is getting the exposure they deserve, it does NOT help sell that particular home. As others stated, it's the price!! With IDX, your listing is automatically fed to numerous home search engines. Anything you do in addition to that is simply to help the seller feel better about choosing you as their agent; they LOVE to see their home blasted everywhere, and for that purpose alone, you should blast it. But does it REALLY help sell it? I don't personally think so - unless it's a paid 'Featured' ad on a very popular site it may draw some interest from a real buyer. If it's a distressed property prime for investors or in a first time buyer range, than you have to post it to Craigs List.

Oh! I almost forgot - Showcase Listings on Realtor.com really do draw some interest. I can't say that it results in the sale of THAT particular listing, but it definitely drives buyers to that listing, and again, your seller wants to see that!

We offer enhanced listing marketing services that send personalized links to your sellers whenever your listing is posted to these 'billion' sites; and we can span it out over the course of your listing so your sellers never feel as though you've run out of ideas. If they are receiving new links for their listing weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, they are going to see how valuable you are, and be more receptive to a price reduction when the time comes.

That's an easy one; it was all about price; not it's back to all about price and terms. One of my listings is on a syndicated to the world for about 2 months and is not selling. A different one, with a price more in line with it's real value, went in escrow within 6 days of listing. And it's not price range; the one not selling is $399,900, the one in escrow is $649,900, and it's got a full price back up.

Yes, internet marketing DOES work...but only if it's done correctly. I don't believe posting on every site is necessary....but keep in mind that the top sites for cunsumers are realtor.com, trulia, and zillow. Craigs List in your local market is also important. Over 90% of consumers search for homes online.

To answer your question without spamming you---YES on all accounts. Yes it is about price and motivation, but it is also our job to get the information to as many potential buyers as possible. By using Postlets, Zillow, and Craigslist, your listings as well as your name/logo will be added to more places on the information super highway..... obviously :) -Remember the Internet is just a series of tubes that Al Gore invented. It's very simple and will help people find you when they search your name, or are simply looking for a property. THE BEST PART IS THAT MOST OF THESE SERVICES ARE FREE!!

The answer is a resounding YES. With print advertising going away, you must justify your fee for service. Besides that exposure is the number 1 reason why a seller hires you.
The other advantage is that if your sites can pinpoint hits and market activity directly to the seller, similar to Prudential's Online Seller Advantage (OSA), the seller recieves the info. automatically, and therefore, your job to get that price reduction, makes it so much easier.
The other advantage is being able to get leads for the property to you on an instantaneous basis. It works for you and for the seller also. A great tool being BETA tested with Prudential New Jersey Properties, only, is REALTOR.com's 1st responder in which the listing agent gets texted and emailed any leads in an instant when there is an inquiry on their listing. AND WITH NO REFERRAL FEE ATTACHED TO IT - NONE.
I believe an agent needs to look at the companies that can provide their associates as many sites as possible for their listings with feedback and instant response system and with little or no cost to the agent, especially in the current market we are in. Prudential is the answer.
Looking for a career change or just a change? Please visit:
http://www.prunewjersey.com/pages/careers.cfm

Exposure is the main thing you have to offer. I believe that more exposure the better. Judy Krall Denver

I believe it is necessary. But do it in a smart, time and cost effective way. Our company site is networked with certain site, Trulia being one. But my personal site is networked with a few different sites with duplications. Make sure your efforts are getting you listed with the most sites with the fewest repitions of entering the same info. PLUS, not only are you marketing the home on each of these sites, you are marketing yourself. And since when did a REALTOR not want their name and photo on everything???

The more exposure you give your listings the better chance of getting the buyers to and in the door. The sale ultimately comes down to pricing it right but it must first be marketed to the best of your ability. I embraced the internet 6-7 years earlier than my peers in our area and it has been very succcessful for myself and my clients. It definitely helps get the exposure to buyers working with other agencies that typically will not show other agency listings. They have no choice when the buyer brings the property to them. You just never know where the internet surfacing will take a potential buyer. Again, the more exposure the better.


Carol Foltz
Coldwell Banker Developac Realty

Thank you all for your ideas on this topic. It's so easy to think we are not doing enough in this challenging environment - I love this forum for us to talk openly! Here's to us!

Diane

Internet leads have dropped off dramatically in our new market. There's so much inventory out there that the buyers are using the internet for a fun shopping experience but feel no benefit to actually connect with the individual agent. We used to give out dozens of website leads each month but now I rarely get one. When good listings were scarce and there was an urgency to find out about an internet listing with market appeal it was much better. Buyer's online habits will change again. For now, having well presented postings is the name of the game rather than just having a lot of them. The downside of using a service to place your listings on the syndication sites is that the information that ends up there is whatever turns out to be the lowest common denominator in most cases. What I mean is, every sydication has its own guidelines and information presets. You're probably only getting a single picture with abbreviated data submitted for your listings if Postlets is distributing to a lot of obscure websites, just because they are limited. Do it yourself and stick with the major players, Craigslist, Zillow, Google Base, Trulia and Realtor.com but be thorough with your photos, data and links. It's amazing how many agents worry about syndication yet do a terrible job with their MLS input. I see you are good with your photos and virtual tours and that's way more important.

I understand why "exposure" is considered a must. But every buyer I have ever met is either using an agent that uses the MLS, or the buyer was searching a site themselves that sweeps the MLS.

So I think the short answer to "is all of this actually necessary" is no. Craigslist is the exception. But we do want to get the exposure for our clients' properties so it is probably a good idea to a degree and for homes in higher price ranges.

Just entered a new listing right here on Trulia so it is funny you asked this. THE reason the seller called me was because wherever she looked, there I was. Your job as a listing agent is to market the property to as many people as possible. If it means that one extra site I listed to gets her property sold, then I did my job! I start with this site, then work my way thru many many others. Yes it is a bit of shotgun marketing, but I take very seriously the job of marketing the property to as many potential buyers as possible.

I think so many realtors below, especially Meredith and Stew, summed up how I feel more eloquently. I do believe the main two factors to getting properties sold in this market are price, exposure, and your seller's motivation. I also feel very strongly that they need to work hand in hand in order to be effective. Simply put, if your property is not priced correctly, it won't matter how many web sites you have it on since it will more than likely mean MORE people will simply overlook it. The same can hold true if you have a phenomenally priced listing that the public may miss out on due to the lack of properly being exposed.
The last part of your question is asking whether or not a seller's motivation should trump exposure or price. To answer that let's say that you have a great price on one of your listings and have it on all of those websites you mentioned. What good are they if every time you receive an offer your seller wants to hold out for something better, or is unwilling to move with the fluctuating market, or be open minded to assisting the buyer in the purchase? All in all, I do agree with you that price and exposure are key, but if you can't work with a motivated/reasonable seller they may be of very little use to you...
If you would like a list of some other free websites to expose your properties on feel free to email me directly to my email address listed below.
Sincerely,
Dan



Daniel A. Lamas, CNS, CMS, TRC
Licensed Real Estate Professional in FL & IL
Previews Property Specialist
Certified Negotiation Specialist (CNS)
Certified e-Marketing Specialist (CMS)
Certified Transnational Referral Specialist (TRC)
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, Inc.
20803 Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 102
Aventura, FL 33180
(305) 776-6993- Cell
(305) 931-8266 ext.468- Office
(305) 933-1141- Office Fax
(630) 723-5696- eFax

Please visit my web site at http://www.Floridamoves.com/Daniel.Lamas to search for additional properties, view my listings, see virtual tours, or read my profile. You may also contact me using whatever medium is most comfortable for you.