New "How To" section on this website. Editing video, retouching photos, creating a website of your property for sale

How do I know?

Because I've done it, along with many others. Our property (top right) reached a large audience online and half a dozen potential buyers passing by. Several buyers finding the property online and through the street sign, got very close to buying and it was finally sold to one of them. If we had let a real estate agent erect their company sign on our property, we would have had to spend $40.000 for a few phone calls they would have had to make. I'm very glad we followed our instinct and the experience we gained as vendors. More about me

Why am I sharing this?

Because I want people to benefit from my research, mistakes, experience and success. I truly believe marketing and selling a property this way is absolutely cost effective and rewarding. I'm offering to help those who can't or don't want to do it themselves but it is not my primary focus. This site is informational and I will tell you below how to do what I have done for ourselves and others who asked for my help.

3 simple steps

Online listing

WHY?

In today's online environment it has become very easy and inexpensive to market your property. All you need is to be found by buyers out there looking for properties.

A good website is easy to use, features a large variety of properties for sale and has good ranking on search engines in order to attract not only browsers from the country the property is located in but also international buyers.

HOW?

If you're selling a property, you will also probably look for one. How would you go about finding it?

If you are reading this, chances are the first place you will look is on the net. You will either go directly to a well known local property listing website featuring thousands of properties or you will type some relevant keywords in a search engine and pick a couple of websites appearing on the first page.

You can be sure that millions of other people are doing just the same. Therefore, as a vendor, your property will need to feature in a few well chosen Property listing websites. Just make sure you display great pictures, they are worth a thousand words.

Dedicated website

WHY?

Although it is absolutely essential to be present on listing websites for people who browse and find you this way, it is not in your advantage to refer those who found your property through another channel (such as a street sign or newspaper advertisement) to a site full of all your competition.

Having your own website allows your property for sale to stand out and capture an attentive audience. The viewers of your website will not be distracted by all the other homes advertised in the same site.

Browsers interested in your property will bookmark and remember your website until they're ready to purchase.

A property is possibly the most expensive item you will ever sell or buy. It deserves a dedicated website featuring all it has to offer with a suitable domain name that people will easily remember.

Not yet convinced?

As you know the main function of a website is to let people know you exist and market your products and services. You wouldn't tell a potential client to look for your business in the yellow pages where all your competitors also are, so why would you tell potential buyers to look for your property on a listing website where all the other properties in your area also are? Give them your own website as you do for your business, display the address on all advertising and people will be exclusively directed to your property.

Should you have a video on your website?

A video is the dynamic version of still photography. Viewers will appreciate to see the layout and angles that only movement provides. The bigger and more interesting the property is, the more necessary it is to display a video on your website.

It is particularly suited to overseas viewers who cannot easily visit the property. Some buyers will even buy a property without visiting if the information on the website is comprehensive. You can also display on popular video sites such as Youtube.

HOW?

All you need are some great pictures and description of your property for sale. You can say as much as you want to describe your property.

You will need a number of good photos with good light exposure and a semi wide angle enough which enables you to display either otherwise restrictive areas. Professional photographers will show your property in the best possible way.

If you are confident you can take good pictures yourself and optimise them for the internet, the most important part of your work is done as photos are the main draw for promoting a property.

To make your websites, you have different options available. First you need to choose a domain name for your property. It could be brighthousesydney.co.au or aucklandcottage.co.nz or clifftopforsale.com.

Then it's time to build a simple yet effective webpage featuring all the bright photos and description of the property.

If you don't know how to do this, you can get some tuition, research the internet or follow E courses such as Web Mastery Design or a Site management system which could be a good alternative to more complicated software such as Dreamweaver

A lot of people use the very popular Joomla with its numerous templates and tutorials.

If this seems too complicated or time consuming, you can enlist the services of a web designer. It doesn't matter who does it as long as it's done.

Although video is optional, it can help having a dynamic display of your property. You can learn how to add video to your website with Video web wizard software


Useful Links

Domain names:

Web design:
Web Mastery Design
Site management system
Dreamweaver
View
Joomla

Graphics and video:
Photos manipulation program in a single operation
Video web wizard software
Excellent value Video software AVS

More tips

Sale by owner Street sign

WHY?

Some buyers visit the area they like first and check what's for sale. They will drive past your house and notice your sign, others may notice your house when they were not even looking for a property in the first place. Therefore you need to let them know IT IS FOR SALE.

There is no commercial sense in having a real estate sign in front of your home. It’s like having a car for sale and driving around with the name of a dealer on it, so people call the dealer who will show them plenty of other cars and if they buy yours, you'll have to pay them a commission !!!

If the buyer found your property this way, you deserve to sell yourself and save the thousand of dollars a real estate contract will cost you.

HOW?


The sign must be attractive with one to four pictures depending on the size and some basic information for people to remember easily in case they don't write it down.

If your level of computer expertise is quite good, designing a sign should be quite easy. You may need to use a software such as Photoshop to create graphics, retouch and optimise photos. If you don't know how to do this, you can find what you need to know on the Internet.

Design an attractive 90x60mm or 1200x80mm 300 dpi sign with a couple of well chosen pictures, some basic information, your contact number and a website, preferably your own website because www.myhouse.com is easier for people to remember than a long listing number.

Get your local printer to print it on Corflute material which is cheap, nice, light weight and resistant.

Now did you reach everyone?

You can rest assured you are reaching a huge audience.

There will only be a tiny portion of the population you will not reach this way.

People with no computer and no car !!!

For those, see What else could you do?

More about me and my mistakes and sucesses

Keywords chosen on search engines told me a great deal about the confusion people were feeling when it comes to selling their property.

How to privately sell a house - I want to stop selling my property through an agent - sell your own home - private sale traps - dangers selling house with agent - exclusive versus general agreement - can you sell privately after contract with agent - effective marketing property - can I sell direct to someone introduced by an agent - help selling house.

I used to be confused too. The 1st time I sold a house was a long time ago, back in my home country, France, before the internet. I found my private buyer back then by simply erecting the most simple sign on the garage door stating: FOR SALE (A VENDRE should I say)

I therefore had no experience when it was time to sell my 2nd house located on the other side of the planet where I emigrated 14 years ago.

We first turned to professional real estate agents who charged us a lot of money for advertising but didn't sell the property. One of them charged us $25.000 for a campaign in the middle of winter for an auction that led to nothing. We progressively realised that the professionals didn't do anything more that what we could do ourselves but were charging a lot, lot more. If the agent who charged us $25k advertising had sold the property, we would have spent $65k all together. In this case, he didn't sell it, so it cost us $25k for... a souvenir in the newspaper. Doing it ourselves and selling privately cost us a few hours of work and less than $1000 if that.

A word about auctions: you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising and on the auctioneer. If you feel like an auction could be something for you, why not trying a Private silent auction?

My real estate experience has taken place in New Zealand but my suggestions may very well apply to most countries and it's why I'm sharing my story with you. I wish you all the best for your upcoming sale.