TurnHere's YouTube Channel

A while back I covered TurnHere a professional digital videos production company and suggested that it could be used as a tool to research locations to purchase a home. Well I just received an email from Andrew at TurnHere who let me know that TurnHere is now distributing its videos on the major search engines, including YouTube (TurnHere Channel), Google, Yahoo! and AOL.

The TurnHere Channel on YouTube also has a real estate play list that displays videos that profile individual Realtors, real estate firms, neighborhoods and houses. The cost for producing your own professional video tour of your business, house for sale, neighborhood, personal message, etc. is $550. The ability to tell your story and/or sell your service or product with video is playing out to be a requirement for the competitive real estate industry.

The one complaint is that TurnHere has disabled the ability to Embed YouTube videos into other websites. Andrew who made that decision and why? Is it possible to give an option to the producer of the video to allow embedding? . Anyway here is the video I was going to include with my post~!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8edY7bUa18o

Internet Marketing Exposure

"Build your ad once. Get it on several top classifieds sites. Free."

Postlets are category-specific ads that you build just once and then they are automatically posted on several top classifieds sites quickly and easily. Postlets are currently available for cars & trucks, housing rentals and real estate. My favorite feature of Postlets is that it generates hosted HTML code that can be used (cut & paste) to post your ad on other classifieds sites such as craigslist and LiveDeal as well as on your blog or email newsletters.

The classified sites included to the automatically submit process: Oodle, Google Base, backpage.com, Propsmart, edgeio, Vast, HotPads and more.

Also make sure to review: Postlets Plus - a website dedicated to your property listing. It gives you all of the good things you've come to expect from postlets plus:

• Multi-page listing.
  
• Huge photos.
  
• Integrated mapping.
  
• School info and mortgage calculator.
  
• Virtual/video tour and external links.
  
• No advertising next to ad.

Another option to look at is the SinglePropertySites tool that allows you to make a website devoted solely to the property. SinglePropertySites is mainly used by Realtors but they also have a FSBO platform available. You can log in to your free account, create a website (no obligation, no contracts, no charge). Then you will see a FSBO option from the site build wizard. Simply choose the FSBO to build your FSBO site.

For Example:

1122 Main Street
www.1122MainStreet.com

How Much Money Do You Spend Marketing A House For Sale?

If you were selling a 600,000 house, how much money would you expect to spend marketing and selling that house? What is the average price for common marketing options available to the Sell Side of the market?

Marketing: Newspaper Listings

List your property for sale or rent on NYTimes.com now and reach over 1.1 million prospective home buyers and home renters in the New York area and nationwide today!

OR
Also you can Buy a Package or a Subscription

Marketing: - Real Estate Magazines

Free real estate magazines are displayed in high traffic locations such as grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, fast food businesses and hardware supply stores. Homes & Land Magazine: To advertise in this publication you need to be a licensed Real Estate Agent. So Im not able to get a cost to run a property ad.

Marketing: - Neighborhood Postcards

Well-designed or timely postcards can have a very high impact. Unlike letters, postcards have no envelope hiding their message. Also be aware that a local Title Insurance company will supply you with a FARM of neighborhood residents that live in a property that is non-owner occupied indicating that they are occupied by renters. Direct mailing to renters in the local area is a great way to find a homebuyer.

Marketing: - Virtual Tours - Professional Pictures

Sellers who want to maximize the impact of their listing online and print need professional pictures and/or virtual tours. The average cost I've noticed is around $149 dollars.

Marketing: - Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

The MLS is setup for Agent to Agent communication. If you are working with a Realtor to sell your home - ask to have your home listed on the MLS. The MLS is the single greatest marketing tool a Realtor has access too. There are also Low Flat Fee MLS services available online that will include getting the house listed on REALTOR.com - but make sure that you understand what's not included with the listing. For example, I bet dollars to doughnuts that the owner is listed for the contact information and that structure is disruptive to Agent to Agent communication.

Target Real Estate Marketing - Farming for Leads

Successful real estate salespeople have been farming for years. A farm is a marketing tool that organizes detailed information on properties and property owners in a format that can be used by realtors, real estate investors, home sellers, etc. for marketing purposes. A farm list is used to create a local geo-target area with detailed demographic information for real estate marketing efforts.

Farming is a excellent way to target homebuyers and home owners. The data attributes available include: geography, mortgage amount, lender, home value, financial attributes, characteristics, owner occupied, non-owner occupies, date of purchase, loan type, and demographics, to name a few. Most often a local Title Insurance company or a local Realtor can help clients develop a farm list for particular individual needs.

Birds Eye View with Aerial Photograhy

I was looking at the Homes & Land Publication which advertises homes for sale that are represented by real estate sales professionals. On the Homes and Land cover was a excellent low altitude aerial photograph of a house for sale. I started to wonder how the picture was taken since a full-size aircraft is prohibited from low fly-overs of populated locations. I envisioned a giant ladder or a crane with a camera hooked up to it - "that would get the job done", but how affordable is the cost. Then I figured to just search the concept online and find the answer.

I found a company called Aerial Views of Virginia Inc. that produces aerial images with remote control (RC) helicopters, airplanes, and airlifts. Ariel Views of Virginia's remote piloted planes do offer cost-effective aerial photography.



This zoomed birds-eye view is perfect for real estate and can produce an excellent value-add image to marketing a house for sale.



Many thanks go to Félix Nadar (1820-1910), a French photographer who is remembered primarily for his successful and world's first aerial photograph, from a balloon.

Vendors Gain Market Share - Ignore FSBO

I've visited a few Virtual Tour sites on the web recently and they do not make their products and services available to For Sale By Owner home sellers to purchase. This trend of only offering marketing tools to licensed Realtors is nothing new but not much has been said about this market-share/safe business practice of having a strong customer focus towards Realtors while turning away business from FSBO home sellers. I call these companies Non-For-Sale-By-Owner (NFSBO) sites.

For example I visited a company website that has been in business since 1996 called TourFactory. The site states: “(Listing) Agents have been using the TourFactory Internet Marketing System for 10 years - as a cornerstone in their marketing program."


I agree, TourFactory sells products that would make a house stand out online from the overcrowded inventories of properties For Sale. Also check out TourFactory's HomeDebut that allows homebuyers to search virtual tours ordered by participating Real Estate Agents.


Moreover I also visited Obeo that states "(our) solutions help the Real Estate professional thrive." I saw great products here also with 100+ tons of online marketing tools available that would capture the attention of home-buyers searching for Real Estate online. Yet, these companies still decide to stay market-share/safe and only offer services to licensed Real Estate Agents.

Just to double check that I wasn’t making a mistake with my comments - I called TourFactory at (888) 458-3943 and made a request. "I'd like to order a Virtual Tour." The operator on the phone started to set up an account for me and took my first and last name. Then she asked if I was a licensed Real Estate Agent. I said “no” that I was selling my property For Sale By Owner. Her response was "I'm sorry we only sell tours to Real Estate Agents." Of course, I asked why and was told that "We're exclusive to licensed Real Estate Agents it's the company policy." I then contacted Obeo through its LivePerson chat and received the same answer.


My feeling is that the Internet hasn't created a new real estate consumer; it just formed a more educated one. We should all know this – it’s old news. But, still some vendors/transaction service partners in the Real Estate Industry will take the route of the slow box turtle towards adopting the Internet in full. While the traditional real estate consumers continue to hop onto the Internet taking full advantage of the many online resources available with the speed of a European Brown Hare.

Marketing a Home For Sale with Online Auctions

I just read an Article from MSNBC.com that talks about motivated sellers that are still showing the house through an agent but using eBay to market the home for sale. The article suggest that "online home auctions are not putting real estate agents out of business. Many agents are learning how to use these Web sites to their — and their clients’ — advantages."

SMS Delivers Instant Property Details

CellSigns Products turn the front yard "For Sale" Sign into a interactive sales system with SMS technology.

"Home buyers can request property information by sending a text message with the property id to CellSigns. Then the buyer can request a callback, schedule showing or request a property brochure by email - all via text messaging."

Available for the Listing and FSBO market.

Take a Test Run send a TXT message - - - To: "79274" with the Message: "CS20051"

UPDATE: House4Cell looks to be a service only for the Realtor market, but wanted to share the Flash Demo.

Making a Open House Video

A digital camera is one of the best investments a home seller and/or a Realtor can purchase. The pictures and movie clips taken with the digital camera can be uploaded to the Internet or sent to homebuyers as e-mail attachments. Moreover the pictures can be used to print marketing flyers with data about the home for sale. Of course the biggest concern is what camera to get – Check out DigiCamHelp.

Making movies on a digital still camera isn’t exactly a point and click activity. Think about a professional videographer to film the home; If you're not sure where to find a local videographer try giving a local wedding photographer a call. However I found a blog with a few guidelines to help you create your own Open House video.

A Guide To Making a Real Estate Video in Three Parts:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three