| Why
Search for a Realtor, Anyway?
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two
Why Listing Agents
Advertise - Is it What You Think?
Listing agents
place ads for several reasons. First, they need to show
the seller that they are doing something to sell their
home. Second, by showing how much they advertise, they
can also attract other individuals who are thinking of
selling their homes.
They point
to their ads to show their clients that they are aggressively
marketing the property. When other home sellers
constantly see ads from a particular Realtor, they are
inclined to want to list with that Realtor, too.
So even though the ads look like they are directed toward
home buyers, they often have another purpose.
To attract home sellers.
What sellers
don’t realize is that a listing agent’s true marketing
emphasis is directed toward other Realtors, not the general
public. Their main goal is to convince the selling agents
(buyer's agents) to find buyers and make offers.
This is a good thing because if you are selling
a home, you want as many Realtors as possible bringing
buyers around to take a look. Most of a listing
agent's marketing efforts toward other Realtors are invisible
to the general public, but it is where an effective listing
agent does a home seller the most good.
Selling
agents (buyer's agents) do advertise homes for sale in
order to attract buyers. Although the ads do market a
specific property, they are mostly intended to attract
buyers in general -- not a buyer for that specific property.
The agent would be happy if you did buy the property you
called on, but it happens so rarely that they do not expect
it.
What happens
when you call on a real estate ad is that you often schedule
an appointment to go look at the advertised home. While
you are out looking at that home, you will probably want
to look at others -- so the agent will show you a few
other homes, too. Eventually, you and the Realtor
will zero in on what you need and like in the proper price
range and you will make an offer.
That is how
most buyers find their Realtor -- by "accident."
copyright
1999 by Terry Light and RealEstate ABC, revised 2002
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