Page 10 - Selling your Home - The CommFREE guide to all you need to know

SELLING HOUSES IN THE MODERN ERA: WHY MARKETING IS DIFFERENT NOW

A property that is not marketed may just as well not be on
sale! Estate agents selling houses used to do extensive print
advertising but in our era the internet is re-shaping property
marketing. Most estate agents in South Africa are aware of
this, but few appreciate just how powerful the internet can
be in selling houses, whether to local buyers or to those
further away. On the other hand, many private sellers expect

the web to produce hundreds of buyers, simply by listing on
any old website and regardless of whether they are selling
houses, cars or assorted junk!

There are few ways to strategically target your ideal clients,
lets look at the best ways to market your property:

The reality is that online marketing is critical and effective,
but selling houses online requires knowledge of which websites
to advertise on as well as how to get the best out of all the
digital mediums available.

Print media (newspapers or magazines). Advertising in selected
local newspapers is still common for estate agencies even

though it is expensive. Except in some niche markets, print
advertising is no longer as effective in selling houses as it was
before the internet. Estate agencies often advertise simply for
brand exposure rather than to sell their listed properties.

Networking between agencies. Estate agents in an office or even

between offices will often compare notes on houses that they are
selling. Each agent may have a “buyer list” of potential buyers and
could find a match between their buyer and the house that another
agent is selling. Referrals between agents are usually restricted to the
estate agents’ own national group, but there are formal associations
between independent agents known as multi-listing networks.
Although CommFREE has these relationships with independent
agencies, they also have a database with an excess of 20,000 clients

whereby, the system automatically generates a buyer property match.
This gives CommFREE an added advantage of selling your property
quicker and assisting in achieving the price our sellers are looking for

10 10 Title of the book
The CommFREE Guide to Selling your Home