Real Estate Investing Articles

It’s a statistical fact that almost 90% of potential home buyers start their search for their “dream home” on the Internet, and 72% of those Internet users drive past a home that they first saw online. According to Realtor.com, virtual tour listings get “hit” 40% more than ordinary listings. All of that leads to one conclusion, and the savvy real estate investor understands that they need to move beyond the traditional still (ho hum) photographs of the house and property, and create dynamic video that really conveys a property’s potential. These “virtual tours” are an ideal medium to draw that buyer to you, from anywhere in the world. Though still a rarity, it is not unheard of for a home to be bought entirely over the Internet, (physically) sight unseen, usually by individuals or families relocating from another area of the country, or even from another country.

Selling property the old fashioned way, via print media and weekend scheduled “Open Houses,” were fine in their day. But newspaper classified advertisements, and listings in the “Take One Free” brochures invariably found at bus and train stations, as well as 24- hour convenience store magazine racks, had a very limited (i.e. local) reach. Even in seller-favorable market environments, the period from listing to closing could take several weeks and even months.

The real estate investor, as the property seller, can benefit tremendously from virtual tours. The primary advantage is exposure — your property is available for viewing all day, every day, to people in your neighborhood as well as half way across the globe. For the vast majority of home buyers, the time factor, coupled with the ever rising cost of gas, is enough to keep them home sitting behind a desk and exploring the available real estate listings online. The virtual tour eliminates those buyers who aren’t serious – you’ve probably heard of them, they’re “professional” Open House visitors, who do it just for sport (and the cookies), and who relish the opportunity to inspect every nook and cranny (and kitchen junk drawer) of a potential new home.

Another advantage, arguably more important than exposure, is that listed homes with virtual tours sell for more money than comparable properties with only static pictures, sometimes by as much as ten percent.

Having access to a video camera, video editing software and a You Tube account doesn’t necessarily give you license to create your own virtual tour. Nor should you attempt to create your own virtual tour just to save a few bucks. That’s not to suggest you couldn’t do this, but any attempt to do so should be objectively judged, by you – because it will be, and perhaps harshly, by the visitors who view it and immediately click out of it. There are several do-it-yourself kits and packages that will help you create a successful virtual tour.

Some individuals have no picture taking skills whatsoever; they are generally the ones who tend to decapitate their subject, and wouldn’t know an F-stop from an O-spot. For those people, the answer is a professionally created virtual tour. Prices vary, but generally the package is well worth the investment. A professionally created virtual tour should also provide you with the ability to link to external sites, such as search engines, blogs, real estate portals, etc. Furthermore, your virtual tour should offer tracking options and site meters, so that you can see which room or features appears to be most relevant to your site visitors.

At a bare minimum, a virtual tour should have these components:

• Simple navigation – is it easy for your visitors to “walk around” the property, find a specific room or zoom in on something special?

• 360º Images – Some rooms and exteriors warrant a panoramic view, just to capture its innate beauty; you don’t want this for every room, just for the ones that you feel can best “sell” the property, perhaps because of their size or their unique qualities.

• Narration, Audio and Sound Track – You don’t need hokey background music, but you should have compelling voice-over dialogue written, so that you can walk your visitor through the rooms, and point out features and modifications that might otherwise be missed. A word about voice-over, if you’re creating your own virtual tour, listen to yourself on audio tape before you take on the role of narrator; the voice you hear is the voice everyone else does, and it may not be as melodic as you think.

• Load time – Internet users love speed, and if your virtual tour takes forever to load, you’ve lost a potential home buyer.

The virtual tour is a win-win situation for both the real estate investor and the home buyer. Think of it as a “Cyber Open House,” minus the refreshments, of course.

Barb Zigah is a freelance writer covering real estate and business topics.

If you are interested in reprinting this article on your website, newsletter, forum, printed publication or other communication medium, please consult our article licensing policy.

Posted by Barb Zigah under real estate agents & real estate marketing | 1 Comment »

When buying a home, a review of real estate agent credentials rarely occurs. Yet, buying a home is likely the most expensive purchase decision that you will make in your life.

When you find that you can’t sleep at night because of the incessant throb of a sore tooth, you know that a DDS is the person who can help ease your pain. And when you need someone to help you prepare your company’s year-end financial statements, you know that you have to schedule an appointment with a CPA. Most people recognize that a DDS is a dentist, and a CPA is an accountant; both of whom are certified and credentialed by their respective governing bodies.

For something as important as your teeth or your money, you don’t want to visit a guy who ties a string around your sore tooth and slams a door to yank it out, or isn’t aware of the newest IRS regulations that could result in your paying to Uncle Sam significantly more than you should have. Both scenarios are too painful to even consider.

Why then, do you not know more about the person who is going to help you buy or sell your real property, which could be the largest asset you own? You don’t want any Tom, Dick or Harriet to handle your transaction? You want Tom, GRI or Dick, CRE or Harriet, CRS. These are individuals certified and credentialed; who have proven, through theoretical and practical experience, that they are capable of rendering qualified assistance.

In order of their “exclusivity” or importance, let’s take a look at some of the acronyms related to real estate credentials (the letters that follow a real estate agent’s name) in order to better understand who they may best serve.

CRE or Counselor of Real Estate
A realtor with this designation is an individual recognized as a professional, who provides excellence, knowledge, integrity, and judgment in all real estate related matters, as well as having a minimum of ten years of experience in real estate. The designation, through the Counselors of Real Estate Organization, is the rarest in its field, with only about 1,100 practitioners world-wide. Membership in the organization is awarded by invitation only through peer, employer and client review.

GRI or Graduate Realtor Institute
The GRI designation is nationally recognized, and certifies that a real estate agent has completed specialized coursework, which includes such topics as home inspection, real estate law, cost basis & appreciation valuation methods, negotiation and bargaining techniques. In general, real estate agents with the GRI designation have a minimum of 5 years of practical experience, plus 95 hours of “live” course work. The GRI designation is only available to members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

CRS or Certified Residential Specialist
The real estate agent who earns this designation is considered an agent that has met demanding theoretical and transactional requirements, as well as holding either a bachelor degree or some other real-estate designation (i.e., GRI, ABR, etc.). Less than four to five percent of real estate agents have this designation.

ABR or Accredited Buyer Representative and its counterpart, the ASR or Accredited Seller Representative
The ABR/ASR designation indicates that the real estate agent has been trained to represent a buyer or seller in a real estate transaction. The awarding of the designation includes successful completion, with 80% passing rate, of a 2-day seminar. In addition, the agent must provide evidence of completing five or more transactions wherein they solely represented the buyer or seller. The designation is available to members of the NAR. The ABR designation is designed for buyer’s agents and the ASR designed for listing agents.

SHS or Senior Housing Specialist and SRES® or Senior Real Estate Specialist
The real estate agent who earns either of these certifications (awarded by different organizations) has proven theoretical and practical training in serving the special needs of home buyers and sellers who are aged 50 and over.

AHS or Accredited Home-Staging Specialist, CSS or Certified Staging Specialist and HSR or Home Staging Resource
The real estate agent who successfully completes these courses and earns either of these certifications has proven that they have a basic knowledge of the most important elements involving the staging of a property and home for sale. This is most beneficial for sellers looking for additional marketing expertise from their real estate agent.

CFS or Certified Financial Specialist
The real estate agent who has earned this designation has completed thorough theoretical training in residential financing principles, techniques and programs. This can be beneficial for both buyers and sellers.

This list only represents a few of the myriad of acronyms used to quantify real estate agent credentials. Though the absence of an acronym behind a real estate agent’s name doesn’t imply incompetence as regards specific aspects of a real estate transaction, it does ensure that an agent has a certain level of training and/or experience.

Barb Zigah is a freelance writer covering real estate and business topics.

If you are interested in reprinting this article on your website, newsletter, forum, printed publication or other communication medium, please consult our article licensing policy.

Posted by Barb Zigah under real estate agents | No Comments »