Listing of the Day - Advertising Critique - Boston MA

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.


2360 Centre St., (West Roxbury) Boston MA $249,997 3 + 1


http://realestate.boston.com/homes/listing/2205-71066925/Boston-MA-USA/2-beds/200000-250000-price/142-71072605--431-71072664--2190-71026759--2190-71026758--13699-136006--1049-71072671--2190-71026751--3195-71068710--2205-71066925--1745-71058035-ls/159-t/Price_Sales,1-ns


This one is typical of listing advertisements I like to use when meeting with a realty agent or group of agents who are potential clients. Here is an example of a home that has challenges but could be presented much better than this agent is.

The primary photo provides little more than an example of why agents need to ride herd over the photos of their listings. There is absolutely no reason for this to be such a wide shot from further back. All that does is show what a dreary weather day it was and the bare trees. (I found this ad in mid-May, so it is obviously an older photo, which is another negative.) We see a vehicle parked in the drive way on the right, and a poorly landscaped open stretch on the left. Both of those, plus some of the bare trees, would not have been in the photo had it been taken from closer in.

There is only one other exterior photo in the photo spread. While I understasd they want to show the "large yard", the photo that shows it with a clearly temporary fence not even completely upright and what looks like mud taking up much of the space. It is poorly landscaped. This photo does more harm than good, which is also the case on a couple of the interior photos shown.

Overall, the photo spread does more harm than good. Especially when it is obvious by the bare trees that it was taken weeks ago. Frankly, there is no excuse for these photos to be in a Boston Globe advertisement weeks after the fact.

Those who stick around long enough to read the copy read a careless description. It is then that we find out it is only the 2nd floor unit that is for sale. Because the primary photo is so far removed, it appears to be the entire house for sale. Nothing about this being a duplex or two-flat.

How about the copy reading "newer replacement windows"? One would think that an agent from a nationally known firm would know not to have "newer" and "replacement" together like that. Another red flag to a potential buyer. The "private driveway for 1+ parking" is not a plus when it tells us there is no garage while the exterior photos were taken on a rainy day.

At the end, the last sentence is "Walk to T, commuter rail....." and names a school. Besides "walk to" being an outdated term for Realtors in recent years, naming the school without telling a potential buyer whether it is a grammar school or high school does not help very much.

Based on a couple of the (good) interior photos, and with an exterior one taken to show this home properly, combined with description copy written by someone with expertise, this could be presented as an attractive property. This seller should be extremely disappointed in how their home is being presented.

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!

Listing of the Day advertising critique - Annapolis MD

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 infomation about the property.


2572 Riva Rd. #7B Annapolis MD, 2 + 1 $194,000

http://www.homesinannapolis.com/homedetails.html?lid=11655


This is another example of the carelessness of realty agents and how much it adds to the challenges of today’s marketplace. The seller should be livid over this.

After the good primary photo, it is all downhill from there. The remainder of the photo spread is of the interior, which normally is a solid strategy. However, in this instance it shows that the unit is empty, which does not allow a potential buyer to get a feel for the depth and scope of a room. In addition, there are 2 photos of the bathroom, which does not appear as having been upgraded or anything spectacular.

The agent is also hurt by the headline key facts which show this 2-bedroom unit as reportedly being under 1,000 square feet. The description copy starts out reasonably well even if it only highlights exterior features such as the view and the location. It goes totally downhill from there. We learn that the “condo fee includes pool, gas heat, cooking, water……” and more, yet are not given any indication as to whether or not the fee is a large amount or not. But we need to back up. The condo fee includes “cooking”??? Not to be a wise guy, but does this mean that someone cooks your meals for you? That if the buyer doesn’t cook their own food, they are still charged?

Somehow, the copy gets even worse. I found this advertisement on April 14th. Yet, the last 2 sentences of the description refer to the tax credit, with the last line reading “Must settle by November 30, 2009 for credit!”. The photos were clearly not updated, since even this agent wouldn’t replace furnished rooms with shots of empty rooms. Therefore, this unit must have been empty for at least 7 months by now. With no indication of a price reduction (after all this time!), and zero urgency communicated anywhere in this advertisement.

It is more than just the poorly composed advertisement. How does copy outdated by nearly 5 full months continue running? Here is proof positive that this agent does not do a thorough job. This is a poor reflection on the property, her, and the (large) firm she represents.

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!

Listing of the Day - St. Augustine FL

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.


1323 Powis Rd. St. Augustine FL 4 + 4 $275,000

http://homes.jacksonville.com/realestate?tp=homes2.jacksonville.com&classification=mdRealEstate&temp_type=detail&listing_id=43830433


This advertisement is actually quite interesting. The potential buyer is not told this is really for a Short Sale until the very last part of the description copy, appearing at a point by which they have been well 'sold' on the appeal of this property.

It will be interesting to check the reaction of my clients as well as agents who always read these critiques about the ethics of burying the fact that this is for a Short Sale. From a marketing standpoint, I'm somewhat impressed at how the agent does her job of "selling" the property first. Well, almost first.

The primary photo is an impressive view, showing the scope of the home with the photo taken at the best possible angle to show the large driveway and 3-car attached garage. However, there are no interior photos at all on the spread, and that is a big waste of opportunity. A family (or investor) looking at a 4-bedroom home, especially one that shows as well as this one does from the exterior, is bound to be curious to see how the inside looks. In addition, the side and back exterior photos appear to be taken in different light and make the house look to be in a different color than the front. While I can understand showing a home in relation to a pond or lake, we don't know whether this photo was taken looking from the home for sale, or from across the pond looking toward it. At least two of these photos should have been interior shots.

Although the description copy highlights several prime sales points, the "Realtor fluff" that starts it out should be eliminated and it would make the copy much more effective. The "Look no further" bit explains absolutely nothing about the property.

I like how the description copy (after the first line) provides an excellent balance of interior and exterior selling points. It furthers the point about the need for interior photos to appear within the picture spread and what a tremendous reinforcement opportunity is lost.

Holding off revealing this is a Short Sale until the end could entice investors to pursue it, but might lose a family looking for a home for the immediate future. Personally, I prefer this approach, since it reflects better on the listing agent. Far too many agents listing short sales make it obvious they spent about 10 seconds on the advertisement and make an investor skeptical that the agent is capable of getting a deal done.

GRADE: B-




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!

Listing of the Day - Dearborn MI

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.




711 Meridian St., Dearborn MI 4 + 1.5 $299,900


http://www.homefinder.com/MI/Dearborn/60187617d_711_Meridan_St


This advertisement is another example of why the primary photo is so important toward attracting potential buyers on first impression. The angle is not favorable at all. The eyes are drawn to the left side of the home, which has what is either an enclosed patio or an add-on. (The description copy doesn't even clarify.) We don't get to see whether or not there is a driveway and/or garage from this photo. This is Dearborn, home to a lot of auto company executives, and yet the parking situation is not dealt with at all in the exterior photo or the description.

In addition, this advertisement is still running in April, and the only exterior photo shows snow all over the property. Put these factors together, and the initial impression is that this home has been on the market for weeks, looks smaller because of the emphasis of the add-on or patio in the photo, and may not have any form of covered parking, despite an asking price touching $300,000.

As for the remainder of the photo spread, the majority of the interior photos are well done, but with one exception. Most of the time, including a photo of a bathroom is a positive, showing a nice design, plenty of room, new or modern fixtures, and the like. The bathroom photo on this spread is nothing but a negative. This enables us to see how narrow the room is, how "basic" its contents are, and how people can see into the room from the outside. (You can see the house next door looking out through the bathroom window in this photograph.) How on earth is that a selling point?

For those that stay on this property long enough to read the description copy, we have a case of too many abbreviations. I would like to think that for a nearly $300,000 property the agent would spend a few more dollars to have enough lines in the ad to actually indicate the selling points. What likely really happened is that the agent (or whoever handles the advertising) merely took the already written copy for the MLS and stuck it in the ad. As if that isn't bad enough, the opening line of copy refers to the "$150,000 in updates". Hopefully the view of the neighbor's house from the bathroom isn't one of those updates, but it's hard to say what they are.

It's the very end of the ad copy that tells a lot, "fam rm w/heatilator f/place, and sep kitchen eating". I'll admit that I don't know what a "heatilator" fireplace is, so I'm not sure if that's good or bad. (And if I don't know after seeing thousands of property descriptions, it likely isn't good for the occasional home shopper either.) The "sep kitchen eating" (without a period to punctuate the end of the copy) makes no sense. Do people have to eat in a separate kitchen? Or did they intend to say "eat-in kitchen". Guess we'll never know.

As careless as this advertisement is, it doesn't take that much time and effort to turn it around and make it effective. A more recent exterior photo from a better angle, one less interior photo, and copy written to show the true selling points would make all the difference.

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!

Listing of the Day - New Haven CT

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.

Fountain St., New Haven CT $216,900 3 + 2

http://homes.localhomesinct.com/sales/detail/203-N297656

Listing advertisements such as this one are the reason I first got involved with the advertising and marketing of properties more than 20 years ago. The people have a right to know.

This home was built in 1937. This advertisement comes off as if it was designed when the house was brand new. There is no address given. I even checked on the company web site and didn't find one there either. The map feature shows the arrow on Fountain Street, but that isn't confirmed. Thus, no one could possibly drive by this property.

There is no description copy either. No selling points. Not even fluff copy. Other than being told 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and the square footage, we get only one other "fact". As of press time, this so-called advertisement shows "Monthly tax: $4,961". Say what? If I read that right the owner of this property pays $59,532 per year in taxes alone. No wonder the address is a secret.

All of this "information" comes after the primary photo, which I couldn't even identify when I first clicked on the ad to review it. Turns out it is a photo looking down on top of a fireplace. Unless this is the only fireplace in a house within miles, this is hardly a big deal. In more than 20 years of looking at property ads, I have never seen a single fireplace given such priority.

Out of 8 photos in the photo spread (the only redeeming part of this "ad"), only 3 have any merit toward a potential buyer. One of the exterior shots shows 2 cars in the driveway. Besides being a security concern, it reminds us that we don't know if the garage appearing in one of the photos is for this property or not. If it is only single lane parking for 2 cars, it means that a home owner with more than 1 car has to be concerned with the order of the cars being parked and struggle getting in and out on a daily basis.

Two photos show the back yard. Normally that would be fine, except that the lawn is in poor shape. Even if due to the season, these photos do not show the property in a good light. One of the living room photos reveals a poor quality table covered with a cheap looking table cloth. Not flattering for a home asking more than $200,000.

After all this, there is no agent name listed (which is almost understanable given the presentation), and the "Contact Information" link goes to the office web site and not a specific name or anything further about this property.

How a seller would allow this as a representation of their property is beyond me. How an agent from a name brand real estate office can, in 2010, put an advertisement online with no selling points and a possible serious financial error (not sure what to think about the "tax" line) is even further beyond me. The only way this agent would get a commission is to sell others a list of anyone who would actually inquire about this home based on this advertisement.

That there are a couple of decent photos raises the grade from F- to a straight F.

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!

Listing of the Day - West Chester PA

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.



330 St. James Rd., West Chester PA 3 + 1 $297,500


http://dailylocal.localre247.com/homes/listing/223-5476160/West-Chester-PA-USA/2-beds/1-baths/SINGLE-FAMILY-HOME-type/200000-300000-price/261-2492505--223-5476160--261-5623524--326-5669536--261-5604939--261-5488494--261-5580547--223-5478740--261-5558314--261-5597694-ls/13-t/Price_Sales,1-ns


Overall this advertisement is well done. The photo spread is prominent and includes numerous interior shots to give the potential buyer a fast but thorough overview. More importantly, it gives reason to continue along to the description, which gets right into the selling points without fluff copy. All of this combines to lend credibility to the agent, who clearly worked on presenting this advertisement.

If I was a potential buyer looking at this property, I would be satisfied with this advertisement, probably enough to want to follow up. If I was the seller, I would be pleased with how the home is presented and feel as though the key selling facts are included.

Yet, I see the need for some touching up that would take this ad up another notch.

The primary exterior photo does not do all that it can and should to present this home. This photo needs to be re-shot from a side angle over the left (from our current view) and extending the shot out to the right. Even though this shot gives a good perspective on the house, my feeling is that a potential buyer over the age of 50 would not go any further.

From this angle, we do not see a sidewalk or walkway leading toward the front steps. We do not see the garage or its proximity. But we do see a huge front lawn. These are concerns for many middle-aged and seniors who prefer a single level home but are more concerned about easy access. This house may have easy access, but it doesn't show on this photo. Granted, a young family needing a 3-bedroom home is probably enticed by the big and roomy front lawn, but in this market properties need to be well presented to all age groups.

While the description copy hits upon selling point after selling point (which is a big plus), a few simple changes would take this from a good advertisement to a great one.

One of those changes, however, is to fix the typo which appears as this is being written. The term "double oven" shows as "double overn". Yes, mistakes happen, but for the agent to take the time he did to formulate this advertisement, a few minutes to check and double-check upon publication would have saved him the embarassment. (I have had several agents and consumers tell me it is a red flag when another agent leaves any type of error in a listing, especially one in the $300,000 range.)

The other part to fix is the last part of the copy, which reads "outside entrance to attached 1 car garage". The idea of having the last few words be a selling point instead of the "must see!" type of fluff is excellent. However, this choice of words sends potential buyers out on a lesser note, right at the point where he/she is deciding whether or not to contact the agent and pursue this listing.

I'm confused. Is there a SEPARATE outside entrance? Is there ONLY an outside entrance? I don't know that I could go from inside the house right into the garage or if I would need to go outside, which partially defeats the purpose of an "attached" garage.

Since there is a 1-car garage for a 3-bedroom home, there are 2 better ways to handle presenting this. If, for example, there is a driveway with room for more parking (and we don't know based on what we see here), this would be a better way to go. Better choices to present this would be "parking for 3 cars" or "attached garage".

Overall, this advertisement is a few minor changes away from excellence.

GRADE: B


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!

Listing of the Day - Anchorage AK

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.



3051 Brookview Dr. Anchorage AK $250,000 3 + 3


http://www.homefinder.com/AK/Anchorage/60203813d_3051_Brookview_Dr


The expression "one picture is worth 1,000 words" was obviously not in the mind of whoever decided to use the only photo for this property advertisement. What a horrible injustice to the seller!

When the only photo is of what could be the front door area of a home with a snow covered bench in front, there is no reason for a potential buyer to want to look any further. If there is nothing more positive to show, it can't be good.

Yet, the description of this home is reasonably well written. Frankly, this ad would be better off without that photo at all. We read on and on about how much of the home has been remodeled and how much "new" there is. How can there not be photos?

In addition, we are not told anything about the community other than the nearby schools.

Those amenities which are included in the description, such as marble fireplace, master bedroom with attached bath, and granite counters, make this home seem appealing. There is only a minimal amount of "Realtor fluff" in the copy, and that is at the very end with "Top-of-the-line remodel".

This listing agent would argue with me that when a potential buyer clicks on the "Click here for listing details" link it brings them to an extended group of interior photos which do highlight the remodeled parts of the home.

However, this home is one of several in this area and price range. Potential buyers have a choice and can easily click to the next listing. The first thing they see is that photo, and the early description about a remodeled home. Neither will entice a potential buyer to click to the next link before clicking out to look at the next listing.

Unlike many other listing ads I see and review, this one is among the easiest to fix quickly by putting up one of the other interior photos. Until or unless that happens, this will remain a struggle.

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!

Listing of the Day - Midland TX

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.


3115 W. Louisiana Ave, Midland TX 3 + 3 $154,900


http://www.homeswesttexas.com/property.php?id=80986


Could this agent be any more careless about this listing? Two of the photos in the photo spread are sideways. As much as I like interior photos in a property ad, this one lacks even one exterior shot. Makes me think it must look like a dump from the outside.

Yet, the agent has topped that. There is one item under "Amenities" on the left column. That is "Auto Garage Opener". We find this out before we are told there is a garage. Right under "Not Listed" shown for "Window Treatments".

There is no paragraph description at all. The photos show this house is empty. There is nothing about the community. We can see that this home is now 60 years old.

This is not the only home available in this area and price range. If the agent puts this little effort into getting the home sold, how is it ever going to happen?

An embarassment to the industry.

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!

Listing of the Day - Tucson AZ

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.


3460 E. Nugget Canyon Place, Tuscon AZ, 3 + 2 $275,000


http://www.tucson.com/homes/resalehomes/index.php?action=view&ml_number=20926912


This is a terrible photo spread. From what I can see of the house through the trees and broken shrubbery in the photo, I cannot tell if this is the front or the back or tell where an entrance is.

Only 1 of the 6 photos in the spread does an acceptable job of presenting this property (the one with the front entrance and part of the driveway). One of the photos looks like 2 chairs that were thrown out into the forest. (And I doubt those chairs would be a bargaining point for a potential buyer.)

The description picks up on "several patio areas and a screened-in patio!", along with the 2-car garage. That is fine and dandy for someone that wants to spend the maximum amount of time outside. However, this is a house listed for more than 1/4 of a million dollars, and a potential buyer needs more than "large master suite with separate reading area and a big walk-in closet" and "fireplace" as the entire description of the interior portion.

There are at least 10 other homes in the area at the exact same price as of press time. That translates to at least 10 other reasons to click on the next property.

While the description itself has only a small amount of "Realtor fluff", the web page has a larger profile of the husband and wife agent team than it has a description of the property itself. Granted, it is the format of the advertisement and not the fault of the listing agents, but because of that situation these agents need to work a lot harder to market this listing. They fail to present enough reasons to contact them about this or any other listing.

If I were a betting man, I would bet that these agents are the first to tell colleagues that "we're not getting any calls and there is no business out there". Not if they keep driving it away.

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!

Listing of the Day - El Paso TX

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.


7937 Khouri Circle El Paso TX 4 + 4 $249,900


http://www.homefinder.com/TX/El_Paso/59187911d_7937_Khouri_Cir


The photos do not do justice for this listing. In the link shown above, there is only one photo. Upon first glance, there is no way one would ever guess this is a 4 bedroom 4 bath house. Frankly, the primary photo, showing two vehicles parked in the driveway, should never have been allowed. It is not only a security threat to show specific vehicles, but they also block part of the view of the home, and make a skeptical potential buyer wonder why those vehicles are parked outside and not in the garage.

There is a link to another web page for this listing with a group of interior photos. However, these photos do not take up the entire photo block and continue to make this house appear way smaller than it is reported to be. This is especially significant when you read the start of the description copy and learn this is on a 9,800+ square foot lot.

While the description copy hits several good selling points (basement theatre room, fireplace, large bedroom, upstairs loft), there is also too much space taken up with lesser amenities. Being told that "refrigerator stays with property" and "breakfast area, dining room and living room w/fireplace sit on the main level" are taking up space that should be used to promote the size of the property, the area, and exactly what is meant by "1 full and 3 3/4 baths".

The left column adds that the house itself is approximately 3,300+ square feet and that it was built in 2008. Again, this is not at all reinforced by the exterior photo. A potential buyer who proceeds by clicking on the link to another web page about this property will see some additional selling points, such as this house being on a cul-de-sac.

However, this ad is presented as going from "small to large" in scope. The listing agent doesn't get it. This listing is among several in the same area and price range. You have to hit potential buyers with your best selling points early on, or they will be on to the next listing before getting to the selling points that could have kept their attention and grown their interest.

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!

Listing of the Day - Columbus GA

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.



2 Rimrock Ct. Columbus GA 3 + 2 $176,500


http://www.homefinder.com/GA/Columbus/53434353d_2_Rimrock_Ct


http://www.coldwellbanker.com/servlet/PropertyListing?action=detail&ComColdwellbankerDataProperty_id=71758252&page=property


The only thing I can gather from this advertisement is that neither the seller nor the agent cares if this home ever sells. I found the first ad linked via the Columbus newspaper's web site, listed among several others listed within that same price range.

At first I thought that this listing agent must not have known that this listing was even appearing to the public when I clicked on the Coldwell Banker office link for the ad of this same property (shown here as the 2nd link). I very rarely show a 2nd link, figuring that a potential buyer wouldn't go that far. To my amazement, the office site has the same lack of information.

Incredibly, both "advertisements" to the public refer only to showing the home and to not let the pets out of the gate. I was going to give some credit to the ad on the Coldwell Banker office site showing several photos. However, there are problems with those. One of them is with the garage door open and shows 2 vehicles parked inside. This creates a security risk for the property by enabling the public to see the cars by the people who live there. It is wrong to publish those.

One of the interior photos shows only an excercise machine on a wood floor (I couldn't even see a mat) with no other furniture. Of course, we have no idea whether or not the excercise machine comes with the house. Others are taken at poor angles.

Combine this with absolutely no description, no "sizzle" to bring out selling points, and nothing about the neighborhood or unique amenities, and you have a total disaster of an advertisement.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to follow up about this home. Sorry, but the only viewers who could benefit from this ad are criminals.

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!