The Single Most Important Thing in an Agent

Published in The New Press / Homefinder  May 7, 2010 by Michael Burke; Bonita Springs, Estero and Naples leading real estate expert

Sellers: The Single Most Important Thing in an Agent

How much do you know about how people shop for homes? For many sellers, the answer is, "I don’t have to – that’s my agent’s job." Nothing could be farther from the truth.

There can be a lot of variation between agents. Some agents have a strong online presence, for instance, whereas others are more traditional. How do you weigh these differences unless you have some frame of reference for understanding what skills are more valuable than others? My point is, without knowing how buyers find their homes; you could easily be making a mistake in your choice of a selling agent.

The 2009 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers demonstrates the growing importance of an online presence in the housing market. The report states that a whopping 90 percent of homebuyers started looking for their future home online. Following an online search, about 77 percent of people drove by the homes that they were interested in, and 61 percent arranged a showing so that they could see the inside.

Although a majority of buyers do not find their homes online, more than a third – 36 percent – do. If this doesn’t seem like a lot to you, compare it to the number of buyers who find their homes in a newspaper ad: only 2 percent. So where are the other 62 percent of buyers finding their homes? Agent recommendations probably account for most of them, but how do you think most of those buyers found their agents?

Online, of course.

What does all of this mean? Well, picture this: A potential homebuyer decides to start shopping for homes. Only, it is in the middle of the night, so what does he do? He gets on Realtor.com, of course. He finds quite a few homes that appeal to him, and from there explores the individual agents’ websites. After only a couple of hours, he has made a list of homes he is interested in driving by, which he does at the first opportunity. He narrows down the list some more, and then arranges to walk through the homes.

The chances that our buyer will like one of those homes he found online isn’t guaranteed – only 36 percent, remember. But when he walked through the homes he liked the best, he also made a lot of contacts – agents who are likely to suggest other properties he might be interested in. And since he passed over the poorer listings, those contacts are likely to be agents who know how to use the Internet to their best advantage.

Now imagine that your selling agent doesn’t have a website, or doesn’t spend a lot of time on online listings. The Realtor.com listing features a single picture of the front of the house, and there is either no link to the selling agent’s website, or the listing there isn’t any better. No pictures of the interior, no virtual tour, and only a quick description of the property. Most likely your home won’t even make his drive-by list, let alone the even shorter list of homes that he likes enough to walk through. Therefore, he’ll only be meeting with agents who do have a strong online presence, which eliminates your agent, and thereby dramatically reduces the chances that he’ll ever even consider your property.

There are a lot of houses for sale online, many of which have impressive listings with lots of pictures, virtual tours, and helpful agent websites. In other words, a listing without these things isn’t going to stand a chance with the 90 percent of buyers who start their searches online. "Out of sight, out of mind" – your home is going to get overlooked. Limiting yourself to the 10 percent of buyers who don’t search online simply isn’t a viable option for anyone who genuinely wants to sell their home.

This is why it is important to carefully vet selling agents before making your choice. There are many important skills an agent can bring to the table, but none more important than being able to skillfully market a home online. Without this, your home won’t even get seen by 9 out of 10 buyers, which is virtually a death sentence for any listing.

As an agent with a strong sense of how to effectively market myself and my listings in an increasingly technological market, I have a number of tools at my disposal. These include a sophisticated website, buyer and seller resources such as online market reports, and e-newsletters and other mailings. To discuss in more detail how these and other online tools help to sell your home, please feel free to give me a call.

Michael@CoconutPointRealEstate.com / www.CoconutPointRealEstate.com

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