Marketing the Home

Know your Target Market

A family of four is not likely to buy a 2 bedroom town home, a single retiree is not likely to buy a 4 bedroom home and if you live in a neighborhood with strong schools you can assume having a home near the school is more appealing to buyers with kids in grade school versus college.

Know the assets of your neighborhood and your home and think about who they appeal to.

It is also important to think about the assets of a home that people typically require and want. Some examples include a garage, a backyard or a bathroom with a shower. If your home does not have a garage, look into the costs of building one, if not for your own knowledge for the buyers’. If you have two bathrooms and both bathrooms have a bathtub but no showerhead or shower curtain look into having one plumbed and attached. On the other hand if you have an asset or lack one such as a backyard the best way to go about managing this item is to market around it. In other words, market a nearby school yard or park if one exists or simply market the fact that it has an easy care yard and focus on those who seek such an asset.

I sold a town home for $20,000.00 more than a unit almost exactly the same sold for 2 months prior.  Did the listing agent for the town home sold prior to my listing under price it, under market it or list it at the wrong time? Any of these things could be the case, my point is know your market, know the things including past sales or current listings in your neighborhood and market with them or around them, you may be losing thousands of dollars otherwise. A good real estate agent will do their homework on everything related to your home, including its assets and the market activity related to it.

Marketing Tools and Resources

The first tool I bring is experience.  I practice full time and I do what I do because I do it well.  After several years of developing and marketing some of the most important tools and products related to the internet I decided to take those skills and experience to Real Estate. Applying creative and conventional marketing principles to selling a home is imperative to bringing my clients the most money for their largest asset.

The following list includes some of the components of the marketing campaign I create and produce for my clients:

From the time of the initial release in 2003, aportlandhome.com, now PDXHOMES.COM was receiving in excess of 100,000 hits a month. 
Today I am seeing almost 200,000 with hundreds of page views on each of my listings.
Part of the effectiveness of the site has come from the aliases that also direct traffic to the site, sometimes through specific marketing initiatives associated with a particular alias.

Some Examples of Neighborhood Aliases are MultnomahHomes.com, RaleighHillsHomes.com, WestSlopeHomes.com, DunthorpeHomes.com, SEPortlandHomes.com, NEPortlandHomes.com and NWPortlandHomes.com.  Others like MovingToOregon.com, MovingToPortlandOregon.com, RoseCityRealEstate.com and PortlandHomeGuide.com has also served to draw traffic and buyers to the main site. 

PDXHOMES.COM is the product of 6 months of initial work, plus approximately 2 years of additional work for the second phase release.  PDXHOMES.COM now serves as a daily project which I continue to contribute content and new services to in an effort to ensure the site continues to set the bar for Portland Real Estate resources online.

Outbound Marketing

• PDXHOMES.COM Home Page ~ Featured Listing!
• Exposure on 30 local and state wide Web Sites
• MLS.com (Multiple Listing Service)
• Windermere.com exposure
• Virtual Tour (PDXVTOURS.com)
• Multiple Web Photos (Online Photo Tour)
• Portland Newspaper Advertising of your Home (The Oregonian)
• Tour of Homes (Westside or Eastside Tour of Homes)
• Multiple Open Houses
• Client-Agent Follow Up Program for Buyer Tracking
• Monthly Internet Newsletter with your Home Featured
• Immediate Outbound Email and U.S. Mail campaign directed at lenders, other brokers and family, friend and past client base.
• Professional Color Flyers
• Color Postcard Campaign to local and surrounding neighborhood
• Professionally sketched floor plan on every flyer
• Architectural Renderings/Sketch of particular homes
• Advertising with relocation companies, local institutions and businesses
• Other Marketing Services include:
• Advertising in Portland Business Journal, Winged M (MAC Club Pub.)
• Catered Open Houses and Broker’s Tour Openings
• Floral Arrangements
• Staging Consultations

*Note: Not all homes receive all the marketing efforts noted above. 
*Each Home’s Marketing Campaign is catered to the target market of that home.

INBOUND MARKETING

• In-office Presentation and Advertising of Home.
• West, East or Lake Oswego Tour of Homes (All Agencies)
• Windermere Tour of Homes
• Premier Advertising within Windermere’s Premier Catalog

CUSTOMER SERVICE

• Put simply I treat each client as I would wish to be treated.
• My expectations are high and yours should be as well.
• I am available 7 days a week, via email and phone.
• I don’t maintain 20 listings at a time because I can’t provide the level of service both my clients and I expect to deliver.
• I maintain a Service Commitment of 5 buyer side and seller side clients at one time. 
• I am always, always thinking about new and creative ways to sell my listings.
• I donate a considerable portion of my commission from each sale to a local charity or not for profit institution of my clients’ choosing.
• I am in constant communication with my clients regarding any activity on their home, the market or issues related to their neighborhood.
• I am grateful for the business I am given and that gratuitous feeling drives my work ethic.
• I am conscious and considerate of the emotional investments people have in their homes and the reasons which encourage them to sell.