Home Sellers- How Does YOUR Home Look On The Internet?!?

Selling a home?  You’d better check out what your listing Realtor has done with your house on the Internet.

A huge pet peeve of mine are homes that are listed for sale and either have no photos, or only 1 photo online.  I’m not alone– many buyers I work with tell me they will pass over homes like this, with the reasoning that ‘something must be wrong, or there would be inside photos.”  I helped a couple buy a home that actually was in fabulous condition, but had been on the market 182 days with no offers.  I know if there had been photos online, this home would have sold in the first 30 days (a good thing for my clients that it was still hanging out there!).

Sooo….. Why do realtors DO THIS?  There are several reasons:
1. the home really IS that bad… and photos would only scare buyers away
2. the realtor is too lazy to take the photos
3. the realtor does not know how to use a digital camera and upload to the Internet
4. the realtor is too busy and doesn’t think it’s necessary
5. the seller is adamant they do not want photos of their home online
6. the realtor just didn’t ‘get around to it’ and put the home online…. and maybe, one day, will add the photos

I’m taking the gloves off here….. if you want to sell your home, and you don’t have multiple photos online the day your home is listed, you’re not getting your money’s worth in marketing and it’s hampering the sale of your home. Period.

Those active, motivated buyers are going to glance at your listing when they get their ‘new home for sale’ notice and move on to the next one… they are not going to remember you and come back to see photos have been added.

I just looked at a 1.5 million dollar listing that’s been on the market for 7 days…. there is only 1 photo.  I’m sorry, but the owner of a 1.5 million dollar home has the right to expect decent marketing. 

Heck, the owner of a $150,000.00 home has the right to expect proper marketing.

I also saw 4 condos in Westerville that were listed at the same in 110 days ago… with only the outside photo.  I’d say that realtor had time in the last 110 days to get additional photos online…..

And don’t even get me started on the homes that have NO photos… like the one I showed south of town that was beautiful, had been expertly updated, was on the market 57 days… and not a photo online in sight.

Sellers– before you select a realtor, ask them to send you ALL their active listings to you via email to review. Look at what is being done online. Ask that realtor what their average days on market are– for the past year, for the past six months. (Tip– if you can’t get this answer, that agent is not business-oriented enough to track this). Ask them how that compares to the Columbus Board of Realtors average.