How to Generate Viable Offers and Start a Bidding War

RISMedia
Published: 07/25/2012
Posted by: RET Staff

Instinctively, I know those of us listing and selling properties will benefit from the encouraging news in the media about the recovering housing market because it reassures potential buyers that the time to buy is now. But as Oprah Winfrey often asks her guests: What do you know for sure? What I know for sure is that converting a recovering market into individual home sales has far more to do with how we market ourselves as real estate professionals and the creative ways we generate positive attention to our listings than it does with good news in the media. Consider these techniques to generate viable offers and start a bidding war on your properties:

Develop a Solid Market Strategy for Each Property: Identify the target market for each property and create a plan for catching the eye of the most likely buyer. If it is an investor, include in the marketing information the capitalization rate, average market rents and vacancy rates in the area, so the investor can quickly determine if it meets their criteria. If owner occupants are the target, determine how to uniquely distinguish the property from others in the market – such as exemplary schools in the area, appliances that can remain with the house or other value-added characteristics that will generate offers.

Capture the Advantages of an Electronic Marketplace: Choosing the best online real estate market for your listings may appear complicated since some 700,000 electronic markets are available for real estate sales. Rather than automatically using one of the industry standards, choose sites that meet these four key criteria: update data daily so buyers know the availability of a property; allow you to brand your listings by placing your photo and contact information in a highly visible location on the property posting; prominently promote "featured" properties; and offer online transaction functionality to communicate in real time with buyers and their agents.