After years of showing signs of recovery, the real estate market is again exhibiting signs of a downturn signaling what could be the effects of oversupply and a decline in demand. Increased days on the market, as well as stagnating prices, also give the clearest indication that the market is slowly shifting towards the buyer, in terms of market segmentation. This means that finding creative ways to market a listing is a must!
If you are a real estate agent who has had several listings for several months now without getting any calls from potential buyers, why hasn’t there been any inquiries? More importantly, what are you doing, or not doing, to creatively market the apartments and mobile home listings? Below are creative ways to market a listing that can help you sell, regardless of whether it would involve reviving a stale listing or creating a new one.
Unlock the Power of Social Media
You can harness the power of social media to market your apartment or mobile home listing. Today, the various social media platforms have proven to be valuable marketing tools.
Unlike in the past, where most listings would be made on print media, technological advances have seen a shift towards different social media platforms. This strategy involves periodic updates on different listings, possible renovations, as well as photos of the property. This way potential buyers have an actual analysis of the property, depending on how detailed you are in your description.
In your social media posts, remember to tag the location with a short description of the kind of property you are selling, such as mobile homes for sale. You would be surprised at just how effective this strategy is, and it has the potential of further boosting real estate sales based on the increasing number of social media users.
Let Your Fellow Agents Know
As a real estate agent, you should never ignore the power of networking with people in the same career space. If you have an apartment or a mobile home listing, but are not getting any calls, share a description of the property as well as the price and address for fellow realtors to see. Chances are that there could be some real estate agents working with potential buyers who are looking for a house that fits the description of your listing.
A fellow realtor will have no problem referring a buyer to you in the event that they do not have property that fits the description of what the buyer is looking for. With some brokerage firms offering intranet systems for agents, working closely with other realtors has the potential to reduce the amount of time that your listing will remain unoccupied.
Stage your Listing and Make it Stand Out
There are certain times when real estate properties are ‘flying-off-the-shelves.’ During such times, real estate agents are reluctant when it comes to staging their listings as it will cost them a significant amount of investment. However, staging the property, especially in a market characterized by fierce competition, is still one of the most creative ways to market a listing and keep it from sitting for a long period of time.
From the time that the buyer views your apartment or mobile home listing, to the time they show up to view the property, staging the listings helps in marketing the property in several ways. For starters, it helps in creating an excellent first impression. It also helps in highlighting the best features of the property and allows potential buyers to connect more deeply by imagining how it would be like living in it.
Hire a Professional Photographer When Taking Photos of the Property
This is perhaps one of the most ignored strategies to make your apartments for rent or mobile homes stand out. Many home buyers are attracted by what they see, which explains why listings with impressive photos are more likely to attract potential buyers, as opposed to those with no photos.
Whereas hiring a good photographer sounds like a straightforward process, this is far from the case. There are winnable photographers who promise quality pictures only to deliver poor quality. As a realtor, you need to understand that not everyone with a camera is a photographer. There are those who take pictures as a hobby while others are professionally trained and have the necessary experience to offer quality services. Considering that you are competing with hundreds, if not thousands, of other local listings, so you can never afford to go wrong on the quality of your photos.
Give the Listing as Much Visibility as Possible
Giving the listing as much visibility as possible is not the same as marketing the property on social media or staging the listing. Although the two are part of improving the visibility of the listing, this strategy means that you should never limit your marketing tools and options.
There are different platforms, including real estate apps, where you can post the listing. Posting on such apps ensures that the listings have a wider audience reach. There are other platforms that target a specific demographic group. For example, if you are targeting younger buyers, you can post the listings on Facebook Marketplace. You would be surprised at the number of inquiries you are likely to get once the listing goes live on such a platform.
Do not Dismiss the Power of the Good Old Real Estate Sign
Even with most real estate marketing activities going digital, you cannot ignore the power of a well-crafted real estate sign. Such signs should target the population group that is less tech-savvy.
A common mistake that realtors make when it comes to real estate signs is omitting some crucial details, such as their contact information, or including too many details, such that potential buyers cannot pick important information from the sign when driving by it. Prospective home buyers driving through the neighborhood should be able to know that there is property available and can see the contact information of the realtor prominently displayed on the sign.
Host Open Houses
Open houses are an amazing way of marketing your apartment or mobile home listing. One of the reasons why open houses are effective is because they give potential buyers an opportunity to experience the physical space of the property in person. Apart from that, properties that have hosted open houses tend to pop up on various social media platforms once the activity is over. This has a huge impact on who sees the property and your chances of getting a buyer.
Broadcast on Social Channels
Even after hosting open houses, there is no guarantee that everyone will be able to attend in person. For those unable to attend an open house, try and improvise by offering a livestream tour of the property. By offering the livestream, there is not much difference between those who attend the open house and those who cannot, for various reasons. Make the session as interactive as possible, since the whole session is more than just a virtual apartment tour of the property,(they are also getting to know you as their future realtor).
There are many different creative ways to market a listing. Whereas you can decide to use a combination of techniques to improve your visibility, always try and narrow down on the strategies that work best for you. Different methods appeal to different demographic groups. By identifying these methods and their respective target groups, you are able to tell where and how to market your apartment or mobile home listings to achieve maximum visibility.
