Get Social in Your Search to Buy or Sell a Home
Whether you are the buyer or the seller, have you ever considered using social media when it comes to home sales?
For those who haven’t used social networking, they could very well be left on the outside looking in when it comes to selling or buying a home, as social media can be a great vehicle for such transactions.
According to a 2012 report from NAR Social Media Statistics, 90 percent of all licensed real estate agents have turned to using one or more social media venues to market and increase their business. Meantime, more than 70 percent of consumers turn to social tools from start to finish in the home buying and selling process.
In order to best break it down, let’s look at it from the different perspectives, first from the buyer’s view:
For those looking for a new home, using social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and more can be very beneficial.
Look to real estate social media pages, including those that have substantial details and images.
Some real estate agents will use their Facebook and other social media pages to post information on the home, images (see below), even videos. The posts can include a wealth of information about the home, including how many bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, if it has a washer and dryer, the size of the outside property, whether or not it has new carpeting and tiling, how it handles major weather events (including the roof, if it has gutter guards, whether the residence is prone to flooding etc.), and its location in proximity to schools, stores, and more.
Pinterest has become a valuable tool in the last year or so, as the popular site allows those buying a new residence to view photos of their desired homes. Unlike when viewing such pictures in a real estate magazine or the real estate section of the newspaper, you can check out photos in real-time, along with conversing with a real estate agent.
Another advantage to using social media when looking to purchase a home, the buyer can share and tweet photos and descriptions of the home with family and friends, getting their take on the property.
Putting a Home Up for Sale?
When it comes to those selling homes (seller and real estate agent), social media also offers useful tools to speed up the potential sale.
First, the agent and the seller do not have to wait for the daily or weekly newspaper’s real estate section to reach potential buyers. Social media allows for 24/7 access, meaning both the agent and seller can promote the home for sale. One word of caution, do not over promote the home so as to end up spamming numerous people.
Secondly, real estate agents can use social media as an advertising and marketing tool, therefore saving money on traditional advertising venues such as newspapers and magazines. Now, that does not mean they should altogether skip those mediums, but social media can help them scale back a bit, allowing them to save money.
With all that social media can offer real estate agents and consumers buying and selling homes, the time has arrived to come home to a more social approach.
Photo credit: beingbobblog.com
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