Attention to Detail Will Get Your Montecito Home Sold For More
When markets are hot, it might seem like selling a house is very simple. You simply list it and buyers line up for showings and make offers, right? Not exactly. Even in the hottest real estate markets, details matter to buyers. Luxury markets, like Montecito, are no exception. You might get offers for your home, but are they going to be what you're asking for? Will the buyers look elsewhere? We're going to break down what goes into a successful listing in Montecito.
Staging Your Montecito Home is Essential to Selling it for Top Dollar
One of the most important things to do is professionally stage your home. Staging is more than simply putting pretty furniture in rooms. You can learn more about staging in our blog about the topic. However, we will stress some of the more important points about staging.
Staging your home gets it ready to be professionally photographed. With a full 90% of home buyers beginning their search online, beautiful photography is a must. To ensure your photos capture the essence of your home in its best light, staging is a must. It is a proven fact that staged homes sell for 7-12% more than those that are not staged.
One of the points about staging that bears repeating is that staging is more about what you remove from the home than what goes into it. Decluttering and taking a minimalist approach to the process will help prospective Montecito home buyers envision how THEY will use the space in the home, rather than simply seeing how you may have been using it. It also helps with showcasing the home's natural light and spaciousness.
Professional Photos are a Must When Selling Your Home in Montecito
After staging, professional photography is key. Simply having an agent snap pictures on their iPhone won't do the job. In fact, it would be best to discuss photography with your Realtor. A great Realtor will have an architectural photographer on standby to shoot your home. The coordination between staging and photography will be taken care of by a top selling Montecito Realtor.
It is best to have at least 35 photos of the property. Be sure to have every room photographed, as well as the home's exterior and the grounds. You want to give buyers very little reason to have questions about the bedrooms, kitchen and other important spaces within the home. In fact, well-photographed homes have been sold sight unseen, simply from their online presence.
Why 35 photos? Listings on Zillow and Realtor.com get preference when they have a minimum of 35 photos. Your home will show up ahead of others with this amount of coverage, which is important in the competitive buyer market. This is a detail overlooked by many agents.
Video Marketing Will Help Sell Your Montecito Home
Videography is a tool many Realtors will not use when listing a home. However, it is a fact that the preference for consuming content online is via video. Real estate works no differently. Buyers would prefer to look at a video of your home rather than flip through photos and read a description. You can see an example of a real estate listing video below.
As a rule of thumb, a real estate agent should be investing in the marketing of your home in order to get it sold. Which brings us to the next point...
Digitally Marketing Your Home is the Key To Getting it Sold For More
Using the power of social media is essential to getting buyers interested in your home. For years, agents have simply posted listings on Facebook and hoped that potential buyers would see the posts. Social media algorithms are different now, and your Realtor should understand that.
Investing money in paid advertising for your home is something all good Realtors should be doing. They should be doing more than simply using Zillow or Realtor.com also. Their professional Facebook and Instagram accounts should be utilized with paid ads to get your home in front of the right buyers. The most savvy agents are now using YouTube and Google Ads to market properties, as these provide more detailed targeting options.
Property Descriptions...Do They Matter?
Absolutely these matter. A well-written description will give a buyer the ability to understand what the photos are telling them, but also discuss some things that can't be captured by photos. For example, is your neighborhood extremely walkable? Are you close to a great dog park? These details aren't going to be available via photos or videos, so putting them in your description can make all of the difference.
Knowing what buyers are looking for is the job of a Realtor. Buyers in recent years have been making decisions based on their needs to work from home, their need for more outdoor space for their dog to roam, and other perks. Being sure to highlight these and other features is going to make the difference in selling your home in Montecito.
