Monday, May 11, 2009

Where to spend advertising Dollar$


360 Through The Door Virtual Tours
www.360throughthedoor.com
Central Illinois Virtual Tour Provider

How Do You Advertise?

Let's say you are selling or looking to buy a used personal item. It can be anything valued at $10.00 to $15,000. Where would you advertise if you are selling the item and where would you look if you are buying the item.
Pretend that you are buying a pleasure craft boat (summer is just around the corner). Where would you search?

Click Here to View Sample Tour: above
I would start my search online. I would conduct a google search and see what similar items are selling for. I would then limit my search to Craigslist, e-bay, or a local online shopper. Wow! I found my new (used) new to me 32' pleasure craft in 5 minutes. I called and I am going to travel to the marina to look at the boat. No, not the local marina....that never happens, it is at least one hour away. Wish me luck..I really have the boat fever!

Why didn't you drive to the nearest retail store and pick up a trader magazine, newspaper, or boating magazine. I can tell you why I don't look here. The trader magazine is usually free or just a few dollars. The trader magazine is usually published monthly. The trader magazine has a deadline before it can be published. That means that the ad is probably 3-4 weeks old prior to you seeing it. If it was a great buy...It was sold 2 weeks ago.

Local newspapers are similar. Have you advertised lately with a local newspaper? I can tell you that they don't make all of their money from selling the newspapers. It is mostly generated from the classified ads. One 3" x 9" ad including photos in the Sunday newspaper can cost around $350.00. When does that ad expire? Probably the next day. If your newspaper is ahead of the curve, they have an online side. Your ad still costs $350.00 for the large ad with photos or you can advertise in print only for much less. Your ad is now visible online and hopefully your ad will remain active for weeks or a month.

I think you should advertise with online advertising only! Print material is expensive and it expires. Online advertising is usually half the price or more. With print material you can usually advertise one or two photos. If you want more photos, you usually have to pay more. This is why virtual tours make so much sense.

Have you tried looking for a house to buy online recently? Some of the Multiple Listing Photos (MLS) I have seen have been pathetic. Some recent photos have been taken from inside of a vehicle and you can see part of their car. How is this representing the seller to the best of your ability. Most MLS offices allow the list agent to upload 12 or more photos. With our local MLS, you can upload 12 photos, Virtual Tour (branded and Unbranded), and multi media tours (slideshow movies).

Do you know that many home buyers only look at homes online that offer virtual tours? Of those buyers they are the ones taking note on what agents market the homes the best. This is done because they are going to be looking for an agent to sell their home they are currently in.

ONLINE APPEAL is the new CURB APPEAL. If your home that you are selling does have an online presence, it will probably take longer to sell, and you will sell it for less.

For around $150.00 you can have a professional virtual tour to showcase your home , business, City, Chamber of Commerce, Golf Course, Hotel, Spa, Lake, Tourist Atraction, and even the pleasure craft boat that you are selling.

The average virtual tour remains active for one year, our residential tours remain active for 2 years. That is pennies a day for online advertising. The tours can be downloaded to your computer or disc and once they are downloaded, they do not expire. You can post the virtual tour link on your website and on most websites that offer online advertising.

Our 360 Interactive Virtual tours are the real deal. You can walk seemingly from the front door all the way through the home to the rose garden in the backyard. Our virtual tours include a slideshow, map feature, community information, mortgage calculator, and flyers. All tours are shown with music or voiceover narration.

Be sure to view the sample virtual tour at the top of this blog.

Now is the time to spend your advertising dollars wisely!

360 TTD
360 Through The Door Virtual Tours
Springfield, Illinois
(217)825-3930

Monday, March 16, 2009

Top 5 Things Buyers Don't Like About Your House
360 through The Door Virtual Tours

Central Illinois Virtual Tour Provider

www.360throughthedoor.com

I came across a discussion on city-data forum the other day on what people dislike about looking at homes. The following items were mentioned over and over again. Here are the Top 5 Things That Buyers Don't Like About Your House:

SMELL...Overwhelmingly, the #1 complaint among prospective buyers were unpleasant odors in the Dog smoking Cigarhome. The chief offenders were smoke, pet odors, and strange cooking aromas. Some in the discussion said they turned right around and walked out because they found the smells so oppressive. Most of us are unaware of the 'peculiar' odors of our homes because we become immune to the smells - the buyers are not immune to these same odors.

CLEANLINESS...This one just boggles my mind - the #2 complaint that buyers had about the homes they Dirty Dishesviewed was that the seller simply did not bother to clean. We're not talking about home staging (which will help) or even unrealistic expectations of the home being spotless - just simple old-fashioned cleaning. Selling your home can be a bit inconvient, but when you have advance notice that a buyer is coming to view your home - clean it up!!! At the very least, remove the pile of dirty dishes from the sink.


SELLER AT HOME
...Coming in at #3 is having the owners at home while the buyers are tring to view it. Most buyers felt very uncomfortable with the seller there. Many said they could not take the time to really look at the features of the home because they were in such a hurry to get away from the seller. This is a real problem for FSBOs, as they are usually the ones showing their own home.

CLUTTER...The #4 complaint is related to the cleanliness point - the dreaded clutter. We have all seen it on the home shows, many buyers have a hard time seeing your home because of all the stuff. When I was selling my small (875 sq. ft.) home, I hauled a big truckload of stuff to a storage facility. How in the world do we accumulate so much stuff?

UNFINISHED PROJECTS...Unfinished projects take the #5 spot. If you are planning on selling your home, finish up any on-going home improvement projects before placing it on the market. Homes with half-finished painting, flooring, trim, etc. gave buyers a bad overall impression.

But, none of the above matters if your home is overpriced. Buyers really hated it when the homes were priced above what the market indicates. An obviously overpriced home discourages offers because the buyer believes it is an indication of an unrealistic and unreasonable seller. The more out-of-line your price is with the current market, the longer your home will sit unsold and the more inconvenient the process is for you (the seller).

diamond

If your home is priced correctly and you have addressed the other items on this list, it will stand out like a diamond among the many lumps of coal out there.





Pam Simpson ~ Original Author