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.

This will take effect as of February 2011.

What this means for Single Property Sites and SPS is that we well be ceasing to include GoogleBASE as a syndication option for your listings.

Not to worry though. With our current syndication partner network we have massive coverage of key real estate search sites both in the US and Internationally.

The post Google drops real estate search in Googlebase appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

If you click the table to the right then you will see a larger version.

Drive-by Buyers Remain Consistent

Whilst other aspects of the industry move up and down, the proportion of buyers who seem to jump in their car and essentially drive around the neighborhood to find a house they like is remaining constant at around 15%.. Of all the methods that were measured this is the only one that remains constant.

Found via a Realtor – down 29%

Whilst this may seem cause for alarm, I don’t think it is. This is really just a result of the explosion in use of the internet and buyers searching for their own homes. I have always said that a REALTOR’s value is aiding the transaction and offering advice, not necessarily performing home searches for their clients. This, of course, is why IDX websites that allow consumers to do their own searches are now the norm.

Print, newspaper advertisement – down 50%

This was always a very small proportion of the market. However,  its probably not wise to write-off these approaches completely, especially for Brokers who need a broad marketing strategy for branding their services.  Also, I feel certain that the concept of ‘print advertising’ is pretty much the same – its just that its now done on craigslist.

Conclusions

Consumers will continue to demand access to information and services via the Internet.
Using Single Property Sites for your Real Estate Marketing will help you to take advantage of the changes in the market as SPS will automate much of your Internet marketing.
Always make sure you have a SIGN RIDER on every property to capture the interest of drive by buyers – they are not going away!

The post How Buyers Find Homes – NAR Report appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.