Low Letting Fees - Too good to be true
With the huge slow down in house sales the property market is seeing an increase in demand for rental property. Some letting agents are starting to cut their commission charges hoping to increase their property stock of which they can immediately offer to registered tenants. A high turnover of properties will result in much needed revenue flowing into your agency. Such a de-crease in charges will suit some landlords or investors amidst the credit crunch but long term this could not only damage your reputation as an agent but could put considerable strain on your agency. Landlords are well aware that a letting agent offering low fees will be cutting operational cost else where which could result in their property not being advertised properly or tenancy agreement not being executed correctly due to a junior member of staff with little experience dealing with the set up. Most agents will agree that there is a lot more to letting property than simply advertising it in the local paper. A lot of time is spent preparing brochures, conducting viewings, vetting prospective tenants, setting up agreements, conducting inventories and checking in tenants. All this of course costs money to do properly and takes a considerable amount of time & resources. Landlords will naturally want to keep their costs down and you will always find customers wanting a competitive rate. However, agents offering landlords exceptionally low fees face the risk of lower profit margins, which will make it hard if not impossible to survive the credit crunch.Generally fee cutting tends to prove unprofitable, unsustainable and even costly, which could cause your agency to fold. When landlords choose an agent they do not base their decision on price alone, but also consider experience, reputation, professionalism, qualifications, marketing budget, to ensure your agency attracts a large number of tenants through its doors and overall service. If you feel your agency needs a competitive edge try to focus on other areas of service rather than simply price. For example you could consider a sliding fee for landlords that place more than one property with your agency, or you could add value to your charges by offering a service or product that costs your agency little or nothing to set up or provide. You could even consider offering a bundle of useful information to new landlords explaining everything a landlord should know before letting their property. In the current climate with a number of non experienced home owners renting out single rooms to full houses there is no better time to create a helpful first impression of your agency; in the long run the home owner should return to you to let their property. To sum up, there is nothing wrong with healthy competition and being competitively priced, if your agency is able to offer a service towards the cheaper end of the market then do so. Bear in mind there are many companies that target high end consumers and make substantial profits. If you’re going to cut your prices then do so in moderation and avoid cutting your throat.Benjamin Perry CEO of online-lettings.co.uk The Specialist lettings website where you can find a local <a href="http://www.online-lettings.co.uk" >letting agent</a> and view <a href="http://www.online-lettings.co.uk" >flats to rent.</a>
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Selling Your Own Home In A Tough Real Estate Market - Five Tips
If you are in a tough real estate market and are looking to sell your home quickly, you might want to consider doing a For Sale By Owner. My wife and I recently bought a new house and after trying unsuccessfully to sell our existing house through a real estate agent for several months decided to try For Sale by Owner. We found a buyer within four days and closed on the house three weeks later. However, through our experience we discovered a few things. Here are a few tips if you are considering a FSBO in a less than ideal real estate market. 1. Consider paying to have your home placed in the MLS. There are several companies out there that will do this for a few hundred dollars. With sales down, real estate agents are desperate to earn a commission. By putting the house in the MLS you are agreeing that if an agent brings a buyer to you that you will pay the agent their part of the commission (you still save the listing agents commission). If you can sell the house on your own with no agent then you won’t have to pay an agent. However, in a tough market you want as many possible eyes on your property as possible. 2. Get the word out to as many places as possible about your house. One of the best places to do this is on the internet. There are dozens of free websites that will allow you to post your house for free. Consider starting with craigslist since it has so much traffic and then spread out to the other sites on the net. It will probably take you an entire evening to get the house posted on all the sites and you will want to keep a spreadsheet with your usernames and passwords so that you can go back later and remove the listing once the house sells. 3. Design a professional looking flyer and put out for sale by owner signs and a flyer box. If you aren’t the artistic type and don’t know that much about designing things like flyers consider a site like vflyer which will give you templates for designing a flyer. Take some good pictures of the house with your digital camera and put them on the flyer. If you use Vflyer or a program like it you can probably use the same template to post the house to craigslist and ebay (if you decide to pay for a listing). 4. Be creative. When we put our house on the market we ordered an eight foot full color printed banner to put on our fence. Our house backed to a major street and we were able to get some major exposure from the banner. I have heard of people offering free vacations, big screen tvs, cash bonus’ to the listing agent and even a free car. I have also heard of people giving away a cool prize at their open house. These things can help get your house noticed which is the first step to getting it sold. 5. Make sure that your price is competitive. Consider using the money that you are saving on real estate commissions to cut the price of your house so that it is more competitive. In tough markets it is going to be very important that your house isn’t priced too high or people will find another option. In our area there were a ton of houses on the market and most of the houses that were selling were 5% or more undervalued. If that is what it takes you might need to swallow hard and cut the price of your house. Of course all of these things are just suggestions. Still, when things get tough and you need to sell your house these could be an option for you. They worked for us.Jeff McRitchie is the director of marketing for MyBinding.com and lives in Hillsboro, Oregon. He writes extensively on topics related to Binding Machines, Binding Supplies, Report Covers, Binders, Index Tabs, Laminators, Laminating Pouches, Roll Film, Shredders, and Paper Handling Equipment.
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New real estate online marketing platform revolutionizes internet property search
There’s no question that real estate marketing has definitely shifted ground. In years past, the primary choice for selling property was overwhelmingly traditional advertising. Online advertising, however, has supplanted the printed media in a big way. It’s estimated that at least four out of five of those searching property listings are now beginning their search on the internet. As a matter of fact, it’s projected that three billion dollars will be spent on online real estate marketing by the year 2010. At the same time, it’s also essential to differentiate yourself in this incredibly competitive market and industry. The financial turmoil, facing us today has created many challenges— and those marketing property of any kind must find new, cost-efficient ways that deliver recognizable results to successfully market real estate With all that in mind, Locally Located.com has created an entirely new online business model for posting any type of real estate listing — at a price anyone could live with free. Locally Located.com’s revolutionary new online marketing platform applies the popular online Pay-Per-Click (PPC) business model to selling real estate. That means anyone is welcome to post real estate listings at no cost — the advertiser only gets charged when a potential online buyer clicks on their listing to open it and examine it in detail. The end result? The advertiser only has to pay for serious customers interested in looking over a specific property listing. And that’s well worth the minor PPC fees to those who want to most effectively use their marketing dollars. The ground-breaking PPC marketing concept was introduced in 1998 and was mostly utilized by businesses looking to gain the maximum amount of customers in the most cost effective way —while obtaining the greatest possible ROI (Return On Investment). With Locally Located.com’s innovative new use of PPC, real estate advertisers can finally take part in the most popular online selling practice in existence today — which is expected to gross over 3.7 billion dollars in revenue by the end of 2009. Just like most PPC advertising systems, Locally Located.com gives the advertiser complete control over the number of clicks they want to pay for, the length of time they want the listing posted for, and the budget they want to spend. All of these parameters, of course, can be adjusted as need be, after the listing is posted. Advertisers will also be able to control how often they would like to receive account updates, which will allow the user to thoroughly test their marketing efforts. Unlike most traditional PPC systems, however, Locally Located.com does NOT force the real estate advertiser to bid against other advertisers worldwide for the best placements. The playing field is level — and the PPC charge is equal for everyone, not driven up by big business wanting to squeeze the most money out of the small advertiser. Another overwhelming advantage to LocallyLocated.com is that the site will post any type of real estate listing — making it a hub or “one-stop shop” for any potential property prospects, and anyone seeking information on a specific geographic area of interest to them . LocallyLocated.com is also committed to being more than a traditional real estate search site. To attract a steady stream of traffic consisting of potential property buyers, the site will be filled with enhanced targeted real estate content — including news article’s, blogs and forums. This content will utilize the latest Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, ensuring the site high search engine result rankings, which will bring about exposure to the greatest amount of online users interested in real estate and all the supplemental information they would need to make an informed decision . Local Search will also be an important and integral part of Locally Located.com. Local search is now a close second to email as the most utilized function of the internet. By enabling specific geographic guidelines, Locally Located.com will be able to further target buyers on the lookout for property in specific areas with the assistance of satellite and map views, and many more free tools to assist its users in making the most informed decisions. Local Searches are growing three times as fast as other kinds of online searches, as more and more people use the internet instead of print and other traditional media to find and research information on nearby neighborhoods. Obviously, this category includes real estate — a category that Locally Located.com is strategically positioned to heavily influence with its innovative new approach to real estate marketing. Internet marketing has come of age — and Locally Located.com is determined to bring online real estate advertising up to speed in the most cutting-edge and cost-effective way possible. For our residential Real Estate agent advertisers, we go the extra mile. When you list a residence with Locally Located.com we will in turn list the home on many of the nations largest Real Estate search engines, giving your property unparalleled exposure and the attention it deserves. Instead of just listing your home you are now utilizing a professional, and testable, marketing vehicle for the most minimal cost possible.<a href="http://www.locallylocated.com/">Locally Located.com</a> is determined to bring online real estate advertising up to speed in the most cutting-edge and cost-effective way possible. For more information, please visit the website online at <a href="http://www.locallylocated.com/">www.locallylocated.com</a>.<br />
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