They claim a journalist is the one that coined the phrase, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’  As a photographer, I couldn’t agree more.

Something that we absolutely stress at Duffy Realty is showcasing your home to really jump out at your buyer. Buyers are sitting on their couch, watching American Idol and aren’t paying 100% attention as they scroll through listing after listing of houses. They want that Wow factor, that “this is your dream home!” feeling to hit them in the face. Having looked myself for 9 months for my current house, searching can be exhausting and you start to mentally detach from the process.

Pictures are the grabbing feature. Sure, people start their search with City and Price perimeters but then the scrolling through pictures begins. You don’t get second chances often in life and the same holds true for real estate. Great looking pictures, showcasing the highlights of your home, is your way to make that first and lasting impression.

Thomas Kinkade is an artist well known for painting cityscapes with the lights on. Streetlights, house lights, car lights; the point is there is light! Carrying this over into photography is magic to a house. Taking pictures with interior lights on PLUS the sunlight pouring into every window shows just how bright, open, spacious and airy. You can’t buy that feeling. It’s a small investment to have a professional photographer come out to your property and photograph its highlights, what makes it stand out, the community amenities with proper angles and white balance. Grabbing a buyer faster might mean one or two months less on the mortgage. Try weiging $210 with 2 months of $1500 mortgage payments.

Why we love to market with virtual tours is that it’s a clickable link. You can post that baby anywhere! Facebook, bottom of your email signatures, post it in your Craigslist ad, shoot it out to your friends and family. These links are attached on your FMLS and MLS listing, they boost your standing with Realtor.com as the more pictures you have-the higher up on their list you are, they attach to your listing on all the other websites you are listed.

More pictures, more chances of being seen! Click here to see mine.

Weekdays from 9-6 I’m a Customer Support/Office Manager Extradionarie at Duffy Realty and all other times, I’m a Buyer’s Agent helping people purchase their homes. During the day I talk to our listing clients all day every day encouraging them to take action with the sale of their home and to utilize the tools that we have given them. As part of the $500 Flat Fee Listing program, our clients have access to 74 Points of Marketing that Rhonda and Frank have learned over the past eight years. Tried and true tips that transform anyone from being a passive house on the market to an aggressive sold home.

A few weeks ago I had a Duffy Client call and indicate that she wanted to withdraw her listing and go with a ‘traditional’ agent. Mentioning our Points of Marketing that she had access to, she explained that due to her husband’s declining health, she needed more hands on help from an agent. Noting that her property was not too far from where I lived and being familiar with the area, I took it on as a full listing.

A few forms signed a bit later and I was officially in charge. Marketing was a bit delayed due to the homeowner employing a cleaning crew, painters to freshen up the entire interior and bad weather in the mountains; but we were finally off to get started.

This particular property, like all properties has its challenges. 120 Fairway is located within a gated community and they limit the size of their For Sale signs. Don’t even think about flyers, not allowed in this community. Off the beaten path, there is no way to point traffic to drive through. These hurdles got me thinking one night on my drive home. Not every house has the white picket fence, the charming shutters and is perfectly priced with a buyer sitting at the edge waiting to jump. How was I going to market this house? This lifestyle?

Having just worked a busy day at the office and conversations of the day fresh on my mind, it didn’t take me but a second to remember Duffy’s 74 Points of Marketing. I talk about them all day and refer our clients to its pages time and time again, why not use them myself?

My Challenge Is : Over these next 74 days I am going to take these same Points of Marketing that I point our clients to use and sell this house. Each day I will take a different tip and incorporate it to sell this house.

My goal is to be one more example of the solid program Duffy Realty strongly believes and employs every day. 8,000+ houses sold in the past 8 years, someone is doing something right.

~C