In a world that spends so much time on Google, Facebook, and YouTube, marketing a home online is one of the smartest way to sell a home. Here are some tips and tricks for listing your FSBO Home online.
Listing Your FSBO Home Online
Use a Listing Platform
FSBO.com
FSBO.com is a website where you can post your house listing and have it feed into several other listing sites. There is a catch. There’s a flat fee and broker fee included to gain that access. Reading through the FAQ’s, you’ll find additional fees. Still, you may determine the investment is worth the return and could be substantially cheaper than working with a Realtor.
Zillow & Trulia
Zillow, and its subsidiary Trulia, is a virtual marketplace boasting a living database of over 110 million homes. The listing is free and allows you to post a listing of your home including video and unlimited photos to increase the appeal of your listing at no additional charge. Your listing is shown on their website and shows up in emails sent to home shoppers who have requested market updates.
MLS Listings
MLS or multiple listing service is an online marketing database used by Realtors. Most buyers work through a Realtor and use MLS to look for houses. Unfortunately, listing on this site is reserved for licensed brokers. It is possible to gain a listing, however, you will need to work through a flat rate company like FSBO.com or a local Realtor who does flat rate listings.
Take advantage of Email and Social Media
E-Fliers
E-fliers are eye-catching full color digital fliers sent via email to Realtors in the area of your choosing. Unless you have access to a list of emails for agents in the area, you’ll need to use a service provider for, you guessed it, a fee.
Social Media
Facebook Ads are a great way to get more eyes on your property. Using their audience features you can create criteria that makes sure the right audience sees your ad. There is a cost to use Facebook ads. However, with over 1.4 billion people logging in daily, the cost may be well worth the investment. Be sure to do research prior to placing your ad or hire an expert to create and manage your ads.
Things to Make Sure You Have For Online Viewers
Once you have made a decision about the online resources you want to take advantage of, you’ll want to determine the content of your promotions.
Virtual Tour– Home buyers are interested in seeing everything about a home. They want to see the front entryway, the closets, the bedrooms, the kitchen cabinets, the laundry room. They want to see it all. A virtual tour is a great way to help them walk through the home without having stepped through the front door. This is how many houses receive offers sight unseen because they’ve not stepped foot on the property. They’ve seen enough to be convinced that the house is right for them.
Pictures– Quality photographs can make a difference in whether or not you book showings. Home buyers are looking through hundreds of listings hoping to find their next home. Home buyers will skip over poor quality images. You want to show your home in the best light possible. This is an area where a financial investment makes sense. Professional photographers know how to capture a room in a way that highlights all its best features. If hiring a professional is not in your budget, taking the pictures yourself is an option. Check out this tutorial on how to take quality real estate images with an iPhone.
Video– According to the marketing blog, “85% of the US Internet Audience watches videos online”. From this same article we learn that there are over 500 million hours of video consumed daily on YouTube. These are staggering statistics. Using video footage of your home is definitely a sound investment.
Drone Footage– Initially a technology reserved for military use, civilian drones are now popping up everywhere. They range in cost from $30 to several thousand dollars. Most drones are equipped with a camera which makes for beautiful and unique aerial views.
Sell Your Home to Us
Listing your FSBO home online can increase the amount of money you make at the end of the day but it is also a lot of work to market and may require a significant investment up front to make sure the right people see your home. If you’d rather skip that part, Ben Buys Indy Houses would love to take a look at your home. We don’t require fancy pictures to walk through your door. We’ll assess your property, offer you a fair price, and if you accept, the money will be in the bank in no time!
