With 50% of buyers finding their homes online and a sea of online listings, floor plans stand out to buyers. Additionally, they close faster and impress sellers, too! The #1 thing sellers look for in an agent is a great marketing plan, and floor plans are an important piece of that plan.

What Counts as a Floor Plan? 

With so many marketing real estate tools online, the lines between products and services are constantly getting blurred. Is it a virtual tour, a 2-D drawing, a 3-D rendering or something else, entirely?

Most simply: a real estate floor plan is a 2-D blueprint of a home. It is usually a black-and-white .j-peg image featuring a home’s dimensions and visual spacing.

Floor Plans Beat Out Popular Real Estate Listing Tools 

These simple, black and white .jpeg images are beating out fancy tech across the board. It is surprising to many real estate agents, but the effectiveness and helpfulness of floor plans beat out:

• Virtual Tours
• Drone Photography
• Drone Video
• And even Realtor Contact Info

Many agents are spending hundreds a month on virtual tour software and drone services, but floorplans are actually way more helpful for finding a buyer.

Why Floorplans Matter to Sellers 

Sellers are usually buyers, too. They have been spending countless hours scouring the internet to find their next home. During that time, many sellers have come to form their own opinions on what makes a good listing. The NAR data that applies to buyers applies to sellers also, since they are most often buying another home, too.

But floor plans are rarely ever featured during the marketing portion of listing presentations. This is a missed opportunity for agents to win listings. As we have covered in the past, data shows that the most effective online real estate marketing features stunning photographs, strong property descriptions, and helpful floor plans.

Creating Floor Plans Easily Online 

The good news is, there are tons of easy, cost-effective ways to create floor plans for real estate marketing online. Below, we have gathered the best options at various price points.

SmartDraw  

SmartDraw is the easiest and most cost-effective option. For only 9.99/mo real estate agents can create beautiful 2-D floor plans and even add virtual staging. Smart Draw’s integration with G-Suite and Microsoft Office make it perfectly tailored to fit real estate life.

RoomSketcher 

RoomSketcher creates beautiful 2-D renderings of properties for $49/yr. This floor plan maker is a hidden gem because they offer creation services for agents. Their team will create 2-D floor plans, 3-D floor plans, and virtual tours all-in-one, for agents. It is a huge timesaver.

SketchUp 

SketchUp is by far one of the easiest floor plan tools to learn. It also allows for simple 2D floor plans and for 3D floor plans, too. It’s price point of $399/yr may be off-putting to some agents, but for agents looking for a floor plan tool that is insanely easy to use, this is one to use.

Showcasing Floor Plans Online 

After creating floor plans for real estate marketing, agents can easily show them off with the rest of their marketing materials. Single Property Sites are one of the best ways to showcase floor plans during a listing presentation.

Floor Plans for Real Estate Marketing 

Floor plans are often overlooked as real estate marketing tools. But the data shows that floor plans are actually one of the most effective and helpful features of an online listing. There are plenty of tools available to easily creating floor plans as well as tools for winning listings with them, too.

The post Floor Plans for Real Estate Marketing: Why are so many real estate agents missing out? appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

When a real estate agent lands a listing presentation, it should be a guarantee that they will get the listing. The last hoop to jump through is the listing presentation, and it should be super easy. Luckily, the NAR has done all the research on what sellers want most from their real estate agents. The best listing presentation is backed by this data. By focusing on what home sellers want statistically, real estate agents are winning every listing.

#1. Market Home to Potential Buyers

The NAR’s 2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reported that there were two services that home seller’s wanted most of all. 20% of all home sellers wanted a real estate agent who could market their home to potential buyers. This was the most important thing they looked for in an agent.

This (and helping competitively price the home) should be the main focus of the listing appointment. There are many ways that agents can focus on the marketing portion of their presentation. These include:

• Showing research-backed data on how to create the most effective MLS listings (with examples).
• A video testimonial from a satisfied previous seller
• Sharing an example of  Single Property Sites listing websites, that were designed specifically to win listings. They impress buyers with custom URLs, stunning photo, video, virtual tour, and panorama capabilities. And details on listings that the MLS simply doesn’t support.
• Staging, Photography, and Video before and after examples
• Sharing multimedia examples of virtual tours and video
• Explaining online/social media promotional strategy
• Explaining how open houses, sign riders, and other marketing materials will be used

#2. Help Price Home Competitively

Helping price a home competitively is just as important to sellers as a solid marketing plan. 20% of all home sellers said that the most important thing they wanted from a Realtor was help pricing their home competitively. This topic can be a source of headaches for agents due to Zestimates and unrealistic expectations. However real estate agents should not minimize this conversation.

Sellers want their agent to be transparent when pricing a home. Agents should be prepared to give home sellers detailed comp material. Sellers should know where the comps came from, what homes of their model have historically sold for in their neighborhood, and be given detailed analytics on the current market.

Above all, Realtors should focus on educating and empowering sellers. This is an opportunity for agents to position themselves as industry leads and to show sellers what a realistic price point is. The best listing presentation teaches a seller about the best price for their home.

#3. Help Sell in a Specific Timeframe

Selling in a specific timeframe is the third most service to sellers. 19% of home sellers say this is the number one thing they look for in a real estate agent. It is a perfect segway from the pricepoint conversation because as we all know, pricing a home is very important to selling quickly.

Marketing a home and choosing an appropriate price should inform the selling timeframe. Agents should:

• Share timeframe data from past sales
• Share timeframe data on the current market
• Highlight their marketing plan, again
• Discuss how properly pricing home can impact the timeframe
• Highlight their network group

#4. Help Find a Buyer

14% of sellers feel that help finding a buyer is the most important service agents offer. Many home sellers are unaware of the professional network that most agents have developed. Agents should demonstrate how a professional network of Realtors can help find a buyer. Open houses and the marketing plan should also be touched on again.

Historically, home sellers want to know a real estate agents track record looks like. By sharing how and when past homebuyers found previous listings, trust is built.

#5. Help Seller Fix Home to Sell it for More

14% of home sellers think the most important thing a real estate agent can do for them is helping them fix up their home to get a better price. Sharing staging ideas while doing a walk-through is an easy way to show off your services.

But, before offering up a ton of unsolicited ideas on home improvements, agents should be sure to ask the seller if they are looking to make any changes or if they want to sell as-is. This will guide the conversation. Presenting data-backed research on the biggest ROI improvements is the best idea.

The Best Listing Presentation Backed by Research

The best listing presentation is the one that is backed by research. The NAR has done the research and we know exactly what home sellers want most in a real estate agent. Real estate agents can win every listing by helping home sellers market their home, price their home competitively, find a buyer, and fix their home to sell for more. Agents that are transparent, offer data and their own sales history, and present a strong marketing plan will win every listing.

The post The Best Listing Presentation Backed By Research appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

Did you know that  58% of American adults own a Smartphone, and 42% own a tablet?  These statistics doesn’t only suggest the importance of technology and its influence to our society’s norms, it also further suggest the importance of the availability of information of a product. It’s apparent that more people are using the Internet for research which then influences their purchasing decision on a product. The more information the user absorbs from a product, the more likely they”ll be engage with it. It is no wonder why having a single property site for a listing is so effective, because of the level of engagement buyers get from a listing is fairly high.

I think one of the biggest draws of single property sites, is that it allows prospective buyers to virtually tour a listing from any location, and from any device: iPhone, web, Ipad, etc. Agents can “dress” the listing with strategic information, photos, and other highlights that could initiate an action from prospective buyers. In the digital age, engagement seems to carry more weight when it comes to content quality. This is how we transfer new prospects into the sales funnel. If we’re engaging someone, we are developing possible interest.  Potential buyers do want to be engage, and they want to be swept off their feet when looking at a particular home. I don’t think that these buyers would want anything less, especially if they are searching for their next financial investment. That’s why we aim for our listing presentation(s) to please, and also to have that “wow” factor that each buyer is hoping for. Using a single property site  achieves all of this.

Single property sites could become the standard for real estate listing. It provides a high level of engagement that most buyers are looking for, and it also offers real estate agents a platform that could be easily optimized, whether for the web, or on mobile devices: tablet, smartphones.

What do you all think? Are you using a single site for your listing and has it been driving high levels of engagement from your audience?  Let us know below.

The post Using Single Property Sites for Real Estate Listings is Quite Effective. appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

However, we have steered well clear of this approach and instead offer an approach that is far more sustainable has a bigger impact with the seller.

With SPS, this starts with avoiding FLASH technologies as these wont work on Apple IPADs.
So, how to engage and impress Sellers so we can win the listing?

1. First, lets show them a REAL LIVE property site for THEIR property! With any SPS account, regardless of whether you have an active membership or not, you can use our FREE-VIEW system to create a fully functioning beautiful property site for the sellers home.
   Remember, this is quick! All you need to do is adjust the Example Website provided in your account with the right street address, a few details – and I would suggest seeing if you get a good quality external shot for the main photo – and Voila! – their sellers home all ready set up and ready to go.
   (or if you need to, copy, setup, or import another similar listing as a starting point.)
   You can even send the seller a special link to review / preview this site BEFORE you even meet them. How cool is that to have the seller engaged with your listing presentation before you even meet them!
2. To support you at your presentation, we have a professional set of PowerPoint slides which can be edited if you wish – or if you don’t want to do that (or can’t), download a PDF that you can then use. There is a full set of notes and even video where we show you how this might be used. If you don’t have PowerPoint, you can download the free PowerPoint viewer from various vendors – even Microsoft (search for “powerpoint viewer” on google).
3. The final part of this is an high quality flyer that you can leave behind or handout. Again this is available as a download for you to edit, or just download the PDF and print to use directly – just staple on your business card!

The post Unbeatable Listing Presentations appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

Whu? What is ghosting? Well, if an ad is marked by craigslist’s spam filter then it is marked as dropped from the listing page of Craigslist. However the creator of the post is generally not notified, but when the user checks with the URL the link will appear live. In reality the link is not live and this explains ghosting.

One way around this problem is to use several different email accounts and several different CPU’s or computers, as Craigslist can quickly and discreetly delete your post when the e-mail address or IP address matches one that has been used too frequently.

All too often people trust the green confirmation screen when they publish a Craigslist ad, but its good practice to actually go to Craigslist after 20 minutes and see if the ad is live (do a search of a word that appears in your ad). If it’s not, Craigslist quietly disabled it without telling you.

This may sound like a lot of subterfuge, but Craigslist is way too useful in website promotion to pass up the opportunity.

The post No ghosts! appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

In this article from Carla Hill, she sets out some great advice to ensure the best possible presentation of a property! Essentially, her advice is to set the scene by focusing on each of the 5 senses – Sight, Smell, Touch, Hearing and Taste.

Hill says that the bottom line here is that “Staging is intended to create an atmosphere for the prospective buyer where they can envision themselves in your home. You create a lifestyle with your staging, and through how you stimulate the senses.”

Read her full article here – good advice!
http://realtytimes.com/newsfiles/realtimes2.nsf/rtpages5.1/20110127_stage.htm

The post Hmmmm – this home is tasty… think I’ll have a bite appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

But, have you thought about putting your presentation on the web?

There are many ways to do this, and by sharing your presentation you have a great resource to discuss and link to from your social pages in Facebook and Twitter.

In addition, if you soend time to annotate your presentation, then you stand to gain signiciant SEO advantage too.

Using a service like Slideshare you can upload your presentations and make them available online very easily with a free account.

There are also  great sites that offer services (most free) for recording your presentations so that you can share on sites like YOUTUBE.

http://screenr.com/ – very fast and easy way to create a quick screen recording

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ – similar to screenr.com – but for longer vidoes

The post Put your Listing Presentation on the Web appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

Managing reputation is challenging at the best of times, but for Realtors, as with other Service Businesses, its more complex because your service is also intangible.

So how can you manage and build reputation? Here’s two tangible ideas!

1. Create the best impression with your listing presentation. The listing presentation helps you to set expectations and is also your best chance to create a lasting impression. Use SPS to create a site about the sellers home and use the FREE VIEW to share this with them – and impress them – before you even meet.

2. Be active on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. As we all know, it’s easy to do web based research and your prospective clients will be researching YOU.

So, make sure you express yourself as a knowledgeable expert on all your social profiles. Use SPS widgets to showcase your SOLD listings remember that with SPS all your SOLD listing sites stay live for free which is great for SEO backlinks and also helps showcase your experiences to build your reputation.

Finally, here’s a good article full of ideas to help you manage your reputation.

The post Manage your reputation to win more business appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

The post Creating Structure in you listing presentation appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

In a listing Presentation you will want to highlight your superior Internet Marketing skills, and for your main website you can certainly explain your SEO strategy and all things related.
It’s very important that the seller knows that buyers will find your “main” website by searching search engines like Google, for keywords like ‘homes for sale in san diego’ for example, – and your main website needs to pop up!

However, this does not apply when selling the benefits of Single Property Sites.
You should start by making sure your seller understands how the real estate market works.. that is to say  HOW a buyer actually conducts a search, and WHERE they search – so that they are clear about how and where Buyers are looking for properties.

Buyers searches will generally be in specialized real estate search portals, Broker websites and similar marketplaces that focus on ‘homes for sale’. In other words, NOT the general search engines.
For example, I would not go to Google and expect to find homes for sale in San Diego, or a street in San Diego, by doing a general GOOGLE search… there are too many specialized portals and agent websites out there that that have been around for a long time that would come up first  .. I know I might get some results… but that’s clearly not the best resource out there for finding homes for sale!

I am often asked – “but this is a website, shouldn’t it be performing with SEO etc, like a regular website?” Well the answer is ‘maybe… possibly…’ – but to what purpose? At the end of the day it doesn’t matter because there are specialized market places created for selling houses that we need to take advantage of. Google, Yahoo and others are not used by consumers to search for a specific property or “houses for sale” in a specified street or city etc.

The same concept applies to automobiles – you could advertise your vehicle with a special website and hope people find it on Google – but that would not be a “primary” reason for doing it, because sites like VEHIX.com and Craigslist are where people are actually looking.

So – the bottom line is that it’s important to get your listings placed in the specialized portals.
Today, this means CRAIGSLIST, Realtor.com, GoogleBASE, Trulia, Zillow  and others.
And that, of course, is a key part of the SPS Listings Marketing System (a.k.a. Single Property Sites).

So, to answer the question that the Seller might have .. “I cannot find the property site? Where is it” – I would say, OK, well lets conduct a search as a Buyer might – lets go to CRAIGSLIST – perhaps do a search in google and identify TRULIA or Realtor.com as a place where we can search for homes – do a search there and show them their listing website via these routes.

Also – if you have a Street Address Domain name (e.g. www.1122MainStreet.com) and Sign Rider, then for the “drive-by” buyer (or if reading in a newspaper advert), they are going to find your listing straight away by typing in the domain name that is branded to the sellers street address – so they will get to the listing data faster than than any other method.

So – next time you do a listing presentation, don’t just show the seller the Free-View(tm) of their Single Property Site, make sure you build up to this with a simple overview of how and where Buyers are looking for homes, then you will find closing the deal and winning the listing as easy as flipping the switch that turns on your Single Property Sites!

The post Using Single Property Sites to Sell to Sellers appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.