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In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.
18th St. South, Fargo ND 2 + 1 1/2 $125,000http://www.harmonhomes.com/real-estate/homes-for-sale/North-Dakota/Fargo/detail/41234326
The first impression of this listing advertisement is not positive at all. Some of the advertising copy appears to bleed into the photo making it hard to tell whether or not that is planned. The photo itself is not visually appealing. Frankly, it looks like a photo taken from the back of the unit featuring 3 separate garages. It is nearly impossible to tell whether a small tree at the lower right corner of the home is growing into the the upstairs overhang or was being thrown out at the time of the photo.Worse yet, this advertisement does not show an address. (I got the "18th Street South" location from the map link.) People looking on this site (and other advertising web sites) have plenty of other properties to choose from that give the exact address. Not showing this probably eliminates potential buyers seeking a particular neighborhood and/or school district. In this case, this is one of the higher priced listings for a 2 bedroom home.Adding to the confusion is that the beginning of the description tell us this is a "twinhome". Then, the remainder of the description fails to clarify whether or not this is a shared property and whether or not the land and entire building are included within the price. This is not sufficient information to entice a potential investor either.The first line of the description copy refers to the $4,000 price reduction. However, the price reduction shows as being from November 16, and I found this advertisement 40 days later. Sorry, but more than 10 days later it tells people who were aware of the price reduction that there still hasn't been activity on the listing, and it tells those "new" to this listing that this property has been sitting on the market.Next, the first reference to what is inside the home tells us that it includes "windows, light fixtures, and floor covering - carpet and vinyl". To put it mildly, that description doesn't exactly make this home seem like the greatest listing ever. Especially when this listing is among the higher priced ones in the market for 2 bedroom homes!In the next sentence we learn of the "large deck with a restive view of the backyard". Restive? Then, we learn that "Plan includes living room, kitchen/dining area with access to deck....".Finally, the last sentence of the description says "Get ahold of us for more details". There is no such word as "ahold", but I'm probably the only person to still be reading that far.All anybody learns from this advertisement is why this property has been on the market for so long.GRADE: FNote: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.
At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.
Your comments are most welcome!
You probably saw the statistics released today (Dec. 23) that "new home" sales are down for the month of November. From the first moment I learned of this and read the wire service announcement, I was already expecting and starting to read the negative references.
The first national story quotes the Chief Economist of the National Assn. of Home Builders about these "awful" numbers. The story infers that it is a reflection of the federal home buyer tax credit having been extended into April and how it means buyers don't have to "rush".
I'm feeling that by the time you are reading this, you have probably been bombarded with still more gloom and doom stories from the media about this. Hardly anybody will take the time and effort to point out these are "new home" figures. Not everybody is looking for new construction in this day and age. Yet, because of these figures, potentially millions of people will think that the real estate market is going back into the dumps.
Hours earlier, we had all kinds of positive indications. Home sales (or as we now have to say, resales) were acutally UP about 7% for that same month of November. That is a far more important statistic.
But a lot of people who are potential home buyers won't understand the difference. They will either go back to thinking that the real estate market doesn't favor them, or that they can wait until March or April to explore possibily taking advantage of the federal tax credit.
To me, this calls for crisis management. Realty agents can't have their client base thinking that right now is not a good time to buy or sell. If I were a licensed agent, I wouldn't care that this is Xmas week. I'd be calling, sending e-mail alerts, texts, or whatever I do to reach my client base, hopefully by the end of the day today. I'd be letting my database know that statistics released by the Home Builders Association are only for new construction and repeat the National Assn. of Realtors statistics about the increase in home sales for November. Followed by a reminder about the "limited time" left for the federal tax credit. The problem is that very very few of the agents will actually do this.
The key to buying or selling a property and getting the best possible deal is really based on how well (or poorly) you use statistics and information that is available. It's your call.
In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.
7009 Red Apple Rd. Nashville $249,900 3 + 2 1/2
http://www.homefinder.com/TN/Nashville/50033886d_7009_Red_Apple_Rd
Even though there is only one photo in support of this listing ad, the exterior photo is an excellent choice. It is easy to see the size, scope, and beauty of this home right along with the detailed landscaping.
This home appears even newer than having been built in 2003 (as shown early on the left column), and seeing that it has approximately 2,600 square feet reinforces the size we can see on the photo.
However, the description copy kills the momentum and the positive vibes for a potential buyer. The agent (or whomever wrote the description) overlooks that he is asking the buyer to invest 1/4 million dollars by giving us one sentence split apart by dashes.
The opening phrase of "Great buy in the cane ridge area" is supposed to read "Cane Ridge" (as it does further down the page). This is not a good reflection on the agent. Next it says "showings by owner". Red flag!
Do you mean to tell me that a home that photographs this well won't be shown to a potential buyer by the listing agent? As if the owner is going to be able to answer potential buyer questions about the community?
Next, the "description" copy tells us that the "mailbox is at 501 appleseed ct.". For one, it should read "Appleseed Ct." with proper use of capital letters. For another, that information has no place at the point where the copy is supposed to entice the buyer to want more information. Does this mean that the eventual buyer will have to walk to the corner every day just to get the mail?
Then, the end of the description copy, which reads "landscape lighting & irrigation- " Say what? Does that mean the ditch is lit up?
There is more. This is a large 3 bedroom home, and parking is always an important factor. Yet, further down in the facts column for Parking, all it says is "Concrete Driveway, Electric Door Opener". Besides the fact that NOW capital letters are used when not necessary (as opposed to street names), the writer of this ad has overlooked something very important.
What does the "Electric Door Opener" open? You see, I read over this entire page several times, and never did find any mention of a garage. And there is none in the photo. If there is a garage, does it hold 1 car? 2 cars? We are not given the slightest hint.
Based on this ad, if this property ever sells, the listing agent should give the "owner" the commission.
GRADE: D+
Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.
At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.
Your comments are most welcome!
In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.
14?? S. Quincy Tulsa OK 2 + 2 $250,000
http://tulsa.re.adicio.com/properties/search/detail.php?qBackToSearch=qAction%3Dsearch%26qCity%3Dtulsa%26qState%3DOK%26qBedrooms%3D2-%26qBathrooms%3D1-%26qMinPrice%3D150%252C000%26qMaxPrice%3D250%252C000%26pagesize%3D20%26view%3Ddetailed%26qtotal%3D374%26qSortBy%3DPrice%26qSortDirection%3DDESC&qAdid=tulsa_gtarmls_921173&propertyNumber=2
This advertisement is a disaster and an embarassment to realty professionals everywhere.
First, there is no street address for this property. The one I put at the top is a guess based on the street map, and one never knows for sure with Google maps. While it is true that some listings out there, even in this market, do not have a street address either, it is especially odd in this instance.
We can't even tell whether or not this property has been built or completed yet. I can sometimes understand not having an address when there are circumstances such as renters in the property, multi-unit, land value, or commercial or mixed. But there doesn't appear to be any reason why this address needs to be a secret.
Next, this ad boasts a photo spread. Fine, if there were ANY real photos. All we get are drawings. Those are not photos.
Thus, before we get to the description (for anyone still interested), we already do not know an exact location or have any idea of what the unit looks like. Hardly an enticement to read on.
And it doesn't get any better. Square footage for the unit is listed in the advertisement as "N/A". So we don't know the size of the unit either. Great.
The copy reveals this is an "ultra modern condo" yet is in the "Historic" Cherry Street District. The third sentence reads "Custom cabinets, granite, qual upscale appointments". Granite what? Exactly what is a "qual upscale appointment"? Over 20 years in real estate marketing, and I have zero idea what that means.
Then, we are told interior features include a security system and smoke detector. Whoopee doo. How does that make this property unique?
But there is more. Listed under "Exterior Features" are "gutters, sidewalk, sprinkler system". Boy, does this agent know how to impress?
Just to top it off, although the agent's name and listing office are shown, we would then have to click (an additional step) just to get her contact information.
Not only are there plenty of other listings in the same area, but this is not the most or least expensive 2-bedroom home or unit, and this one (whatever it is) is priced at $250,000.
Let me get this straight. They are asking one-quarter of a million dollars for a property based on no street address, no unique features, so square footage, and we aren't even sure if it has been completed or not.
I'll bet that while you are reading this, and hopefully sharing my disgust, the listing agent is probably telling a colleague about how bad the local real estate market is and that she hopes she gets some activity soon.
This agent should be glad about only one thing. That she doesn't have a listing appointment already scheduled with me. And after seeing this, that will never happen.
GRADE: F
Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.
At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.
Your comments are most welcome!
In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.
4605 Woodcreek Dr. SE, Grand Rapids MI $249,900 5 + 3
http://realestate.mlive.com/?classification=real+estate&temp_type=detail&tp=RE_mlive&property=mlive.com&finder=buy&ad_id=308517398
This listing advertisement is very much a mixed bag compared with most. The photo spread and primary photo do provide a solid first impression. Then again, the excellent landscaping and the trees filled with leaves mean that this photo was taken weeks if not months ago, and this ad appears at the start of December.
In addition, what looks like a spread with 7 different photos is really 5. The two exterior shots are really the same photo from a different angle. A closer review of the interior shots, done because 2 looked very similar, reveals that indeed the same room is featured in 2 of the photos from opposite corners of the room. For a 5 bedroom home with 2 levels, I would like to think there would be other impressive photo opportunities available instead of duplicating.
Putting all of the description copy in capital letters makes it a challenging read. Some would question the internet protocol of "yelling" by using all caps. All caps takes the 'personality' out of the copy/
Whoever wrote the description copy also assumes too much at the start of the description. While I appreciate and consider it a positive that mentioning the school district is a priority with a 5 bedroom home, the mention of "Kentwood taxes" in the very first sentence takes this down a notch. It is quite likely that home owners and home buyers in that region get the meaning of "Kentwood taxes". However, I am not from this area, so I have no idea of what the significance might be. Since this is a 5-bedroom home, there is a strong chance that the buyer of this home will come from out of the immediate area. Per my "first impression" theory of real estate marketing, the first sentence needs to contain selling points that present strong appeal to any and all potential buyers. Don't confuse even one. They can click away at any time.
Run-on sentences abound in this description as if there is so much information it won't all fit. Sometimes that is a good selling approach. However, there is fragment "with second set of stairs leading to the second floor". That fragment took up 10 words. If I were even going to include this fact as a major selling point (and that's up for debate), I could have said it as "dual staircases". Would have left me with space for 8 more words, and that would have been plenty to point out another selling point. And this comes before the "lots of closet for storage" sentence at the end of the description.
As if someone seriously looking for a 5-bedroom home needs to be told how to use the closets.
With all of the extra words instead of selling points, we, for example, are not told at any point in this advertisement how many cars fit in the attached garage. This is Michigan where it is about to be the snowy season, and one has to believe the residents of a 5-bedroom home own more than one vehicle.
Overall, this house just might sell itself. There aren't many 5-bedroom homes with 3.5 baths available in this area at this price range. Yet, the agent is NOT selling this listing due to reasons I have already mentioned. The seller should not be pleased with this advertisement.
GRADE: C-
Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.
At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.
Your comments are most welcome!
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