Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well I disagree, I know several people including myself that have inquired first in the paper and then if interested looked online. Alot of my friends don't use computers...they simply have no time to go onine. Also I bought my last 2 house from adds in the paper. So not sure were your stats are from.
Then you fall into the 5% that still uses print. That's a national number. .01% of sales came from open houses. Also a national number. They can fluctuate depending on local markets, particularly smaller rural locations.
I'm curious, how does going online take more time than perusing the Sunday real estate section? Not to mention you get pics and more info.
Then you fall into the 5% that still uses print. That's a national number. .01% of sales came from open houses. Also a national number. They can fluctuate depending on local markets, particularly smaller rural locations.
I'm curious, how does going online take more time than perusing the Sunday real estate section? Not to mention you get pics and more info.
I'm curious to know whether that 5% figure includes all the FSBOs that don't involve a realtor on either end. Since the numbers come from NAR, I assume they don't.
The NAR figures would still be helpful to show a trend, but I think all the NAR data have a baked-in margin of error based on how the data are collected and the transactions that are excluded. Not to mention the issue of relying on an organization that has an interest in how the numbers come out (not vis a vis newspaper ads necessarily, but generally with their numbers)...
One of our local megastar agents, doing about $90 million a year, pulled the plug on her print advertising, cold turkey.
Reports that she saved $18,000/month, and saw no repercussions in business. Not even a blip.
Our print ads, FSBO magazines, local newspapers, Home books have become increasingly thinner over the last 3 or 4 years.
I am talking to fellow agents who are pulling the plug after years, since there is little perceived return for the advertising investment.
Print ads are used to appeal to Sellers in the sales pitch to get the listing. You can hold out the ads and say, "I can get YOUR house here." The real function then is to get listings, not to sell houses.
No one ever contacts me about a home they have seen in print. It is always from a referral, or from something they found on line.
One exception is land. I might advertise land in print.
But, print is nearly dead, IMO, as some news companies are going digital only. And real estate advertising is only a small part of that evolution.
I'm curious to know whether that 5% figure includes all the FSBOs that don't involve a realtor on either end. Since the numbers come from NAR, I assume they don't.
The NAR figures would still be helpful to show a trend, but I think all the NAR data have a baked-in margin of error based on how the data are collected and the transactions that are excluded. Not to mention the issue of relying on an organization that has an interest in how the numbers come out (not vis a vis newspaper ads necessarily, but generally with their numbers)...
The NAR does a FSBO portion to their Home Buyers and Sellers survey. The NAR hires a research company to conduct the study. I can't find my 2008 copy, but if I remember correctly the methodology is to pull records and send out surveys from title company records of closings. That way they can get the FSBO element in there as well. They are not sent off of MLS closings.
I have many issues with the NAR, but I think this is a good solid survey. I buy it every year. The NAR does do somethings well. It's important to give credit when credit is due.
Palor you also need to decide if you want to be "agent friendly" or not. I work with a lot of buyers and most elect to have me search FSBO's for them. It's nice when FSBO's put right on the ad if they are willing to offer a commission and what that is. That way my clients know if they need to make up any differences or pay me directly.
So while 5% of people found their home in a newspaper, 1% in a magazine, (open houses don't even make the list since the percentage is so small), 8% via a friend, 14% from the for sale sign, then the internet, buyers agents, and direct from builder make up the rest.
84% of FSBO's were sold via a buyer agent. So 16% of FSBO's were non-agent involved transactions. Because of that stat, I think all FSBO's need to decide if they want to be agent friendly or not.
I'm a data geek in case you can't tell...
Marketing a home costs a lot of money. You'll find that out with newspaper ads. Whatever you do, be as effective and as efficient as possible. You'll have the best chance of selling your home with the greatest profit.
[SIZE=3]
Well, I must have struck a nerve with the Realtors. This is my bad taste. My last house was on the market for 29 days before it sold. My realtor at the time told me and my husband on the 15th day, he thought our house was over price and that it would not sell. He wanted us to drop the price by 25,000.00 (this was 6 years ago and the market was great for sellers). We were so insulted. On the 29th day we sold our house for 5,000.00 less than asking. And by the way...our house was over priced by 13,000.00 just to pay the realtor.
Selling the house that fast caused us to scramble to find a house to buy. We did most of the looking ourselves because our realtor wasted our time on the weekend showing us houses that were not at all what we were looking for.
Once we found a house we liked I contacted the realtor and we offered full price on the house because we wanted it. Well....it turns out that our realtor worked for the agency that was selling the house and he was fired and there was bad feeling when he left. We could not by this house because the agency dragged their feet and kept changing things on the contract, or another words correcting our agent. We had our realtor’s boss call the owner and tell him that we wanted to give him full price and still we were not able to by this house. To this day we drive past that house and say there is the house we couldn't buy... how sad.
Today my 73 year old mother asked me “why there are no homes for sale in the weekly home finder is no one selling their homes”. Now granted, she is not going to buy any homes soon, but she has 5 children that she is always looking to move closer to her.
I don't think you struck a nerve with we agents. This is what we do on a daily basis. We're just trying to help you make good choices for yourself. If you think newspaper ads are the way to go by all means do them.
All we are saying is don't be surprised if you spend a lot of money there with little results. In order for newspaper to be effective you have to be in there every week. Maybe it's cheaper there, but it is $100 for a weekend ad here. Our average days on the market are 121, which is 28 weeks. $2800 for a 5% shot at selling a home...It doesn't make sense out here.
Me...I spend $200 on double sided color flyers for the 14% of drive-bys.
While you and your family may be avid newspaper readers for homes, statistically most other people are not. That's all we are saying...
We're just trying to be helpful. I'd hate to see you try to save money in real estate fees and spend them on ineffective advertising.
What Silverfall said. I'm not going on NAR studies exclusively, by the way - the NAR study just confirmed what we'd already discovered in our office, that while we have a big ad with homes in it in the Sunday paper every week (color), NONE of our sales of our listings have come from that paper. But a lot of our sellers want their homes in the paper, so we do it for them. We did drop the Very Expensive Ad in the Sunday paper of the large nearby city, because it was throwing good money after bad.
But if the newspaper advertising works in your area, by all means, go for it. We're just trying to provide the help that you asked for, after all.
Anecdotal - I haven't run a newspaper ad since Jan '07. After spending thousands on print and getting very few leads I dropped it. I spend roughly the same on internet and pull in about 30-45 leads per month.
Out of curiousity I ran a mag. ad on the front inside page with 15 properties for sale on it this summer (May/June I think). I didn't get a single phone call from the and spent $250 for the ad. During that same time, I probably got close to 100 int. leads and 5,000 clicks on Realtor.com per listing.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
