If a picture is worth 1000 words, then a virtual tour is worth ten million. In a competitive real estate market it is important to ensure that set your property apart from other homes on the market, something I call competitive advantage. Weather you are selling your home through a Real Estate Professional or doing it on your own, the investment of a virtual will not only give you this competitive advantage, it will give potential buyers a better feel of your property.

You can do a virtual tour with your current digital camera or hire a service to perform this for you. A recommendation that I have for taking pictures of a home is to use a wide angle lens. If you have a point and shoot digital camera you can purchase a 0.45 magnetic wide angle lens for about $ 45. Wide angle lenses give you about 60% more of a room when you are taking pictures.

 You could take the pictures of your home yourself and have a third party stitch the pictures together to give a panoramic tour of your home. Stitching pictures is a process where you take a series of pictures throughout a room that overlap each other. These pictures are then “stitched” together and when the done right, looks like a panoramic of that room.

One key tip is to capture the best images of the home and the best attributes and amenities. The number one tip I can provide is make sure that you prepare for the virtual tour. Know what key highlights you want to capture and what vantage points you will use. There are three things that potential buyers typically look for in a virtual tour.

The first is the front of the home and street. Using a panoramic 360 degree tour starting with the left side of the property for sale and rotating right so that the neighborhood can be seen is important. It is important that your driveway is free of any vehicles and your lawn is freshly manicured. You should also ensure that trees don’t have any dead leaves and any plants are alive and vibrant.

The second area that is of interest to potential buyers is the kitchen. Highlighting your counters, appliances and cabinets will satisfy the curiosity of potential buyers. While taking photos of your kitchen make sure you remove portable appliances like toasters from the counter tops and remove anything from the refrigerators, like your kid’s report cards and drawings.

The final area that will be of interest is the master suite, this includes the bathroom. Make sure that all beds are made, the room is organized and there is nothing on dressers or nightstands that should not be. Make sure your bathroom counters are clutter free and your toilet seat is closed.

Another tip that I can provide that is also very important is safety and security of your property. I have seen many virtual tours where the 65” Plasma television, Blue Ray DVD players, Rolex watch boxes and expensive art are part of the virtual tour. Never allow this to happen. Putting your prized possessions and valuables on the internet may result in potential risk to these assets. Think about how would be burglars find there ‘targets’. It is just not a good idea. In rooms that have these I would recommend that a vantage point in the corner is used where these valuables will not be part of the pictures taken. As a side note, that is why I recommend that there are no vehicles in the driveway.

From a marketing perspective these virtual tours should be uploaded to as many online websites as possible. This would include your Real Estate Professionals website or a For Sale by Owner website if you are selling on your own. You should also have your virtual tour linked to Realtor.com, Zillow.com and the local MLS. You can also use free sites like YouTube.com where people can search by key words. When you are putting these on the internet make sure you also include text and a voice over describing what each of the tour segments are. If you are taking a panoramic tour of the pool for example make sure that people know what kind of pool it is, if it is heated, depth of the pool and any other features it has like a water fall for example. People absorb information in three ways, they have to see it, hear it and read it and by having a virtual tour with audio voice over and text you will cover each of these.

As a seller, you should demand that a virtual tour of your property is completed and marketed throughout the internet. According to the National Association of Realtors nearly 84% of potential buyers use the internet to initiate their property search. By leveraging the technology of virtual tours, you will be able to walk potential buyers through your home and give them a personal tour from the comfort of their home. From a showing perspective, we found that potential buyers that want to preview the actual property are much more serious about making a purchase when you have a virtual tour for that property because they have already “previewed” it once.

If you live in a house in a neighborhood that has a lot of foreclosures you will appreciate this. As I have been showing homes to clients in the Southwest Florida market I have become more embarrassed by what I am seeing. Where is the Home Owners Association management in this process? I am seeing lawns and driveways overcome by weeds and un kept landscaping. Not only is this a severe eye sore for potential buyers it becomes a natural habitat for critters like snakes and even the occasion gator.

If you are a home owner and you are paying your HOA dues you need to get involved. Just the comments my potential home buyers are making, not only on the property that I am showing but also the neighborhood in general puts a pit in my stomach. You have all of these hardworking home owners (and renters) taking care of their lawns and then you have sporadic patches of overgrown jungles with homes that have broken windows.

I was talking to a couple a few days ago and I think the wise man who happens to teach high school here in Lee County said it best. He told me that he mows his neighbor’s yard, which has been foreclosed on, just so that he does not have to look at the overgrown jungle.

I think that the HOA needs to take some ownership and even charge the bank back for lawn maintenance. Unkempt properties not only invite critters into the yards but also squatters which I know I have written about in the past. Until we are able to sell through these foreclosed and short sale properties we need to ensure our neighborhoods don’t look like Somalia. We will never be able to sell this look to a potential client. In fact, if a client is looking at a property that is overgrown with weeds the client sees dollar signs.

I know that it is unfair to the “good” folks out there that do take care of their own property and lawns. However, until ownership is taken by someone that property will continue to sit vacant and when the offer does come in, it will drag your property value down even further. Take the 20 minutes; it is an investment in your property value.

In all the years as a real estate expert, investor and sales agent I never noticed “squatting” like I do today. Squatting is where people reside illegally in a vacant dwelling.

On several occasions now I have shown homes that were vacant according to the listing agent and when I arrived it was not. At first I thought it was tenant occupied since many of the short sales are occurring today when the primary owner moves out of the residence and allows a tenant to rent short term until the house gets sold or goes foreclosure and collects on the money while not paying the mortgage with it or paying very little to the mortgage. In essence, the owner is getting out while they can get into another situation and then renting out there home where they are delinquent on the mortgage and trying to sell it through short sale and they are profiting from renting that unit out.

Anyway, I found that this townhouse had an air mattress and a few things inside the home like clothes baskets, large 50 gallon bags of stuff and a few odds and ends. At first I thought must be moving in or just moving out, but as I began to show more homes in that area, it was obvious to me that these people were living in these homes illegally. This was even more apparent after I called the listing agent and said that the house was not vacant and that he must have made a mistake. He affirmed that the place is empty and on a key box.

I have shown that same unit several times and more people have moved in and out of it. There is more evidence of squatting in my local area than people probably want to admit. I think having them shack up in some vacant home gives the illusion that we don’t have a homeless problem like other medium size towns. This certainly is not true.

I will leave you with a thought. What are these “squatters” doing? They are trespassing. They are breaking and entering to a residence that does not belong to them. They are not paying rent and in some cases I have seen there has been evidence of drug use like hypodermic needles. The good paying neighbors in this area I don’t think have a clue. But if it is not addressed, what will happen to the neighborhood, the resale value of the homes and the safety of the other neighbors?

Tell me what you think and how you would handle this.

One of the toughest things in any sales position is gaining the customer’s confidence. There are really two elements to this process, one is perception and the second is execution. I find a mixture of where some fall short in mending these two into one.

A customer can be indecisive, skeptical or confused at times and all of these are the top sales killers. It is up to the sales person to project a positive image of experience, dependability and “World Class” customer service. A sales person must show that they add value over the next sales person. This in return will win the customers confidence and overcome sales objections. If you have not precisely communicated the advantages and solid reasons for them to do business with you, then they will be hesitant to commit and the sale will go to your competition.

The second key element for sales is execution. A customer will get more frustrated by being over promised something and under delivered. A customer needs to get the level of service from you that you have communicated to them or else they will leave and go to your competition. Never commit to anything that you can not deliver on. This will not only cause you to lose your current customer but also tarnish your reputation in your industry.

Customers who have been serviced at a higher level than expected are the customers who will recommend and refer your services consistently. Many sales professionals will agree that it is the customers who got everything that they expected and more that give them the most referrals. Remember that you need to treat every customer as they are the only customer you have. Executing on your promise of service is what builds the foundation for long term success.

I had the privilege to take a few customers out to look at some of the newly listed foreclosure properties in Cape Coral last weekend. Although there were plenty of them that I call “projects” I was amazed to find two specific properties that were in excellent condition. Not only were they in excellent condition, someone has spent money on new counter tops, carpeting, painting and cabinets. The entire inside was completely redone and still had that new house smell.

With Gulf front and Golf course properties being my primary focus, the second home real estate market has also seen a slight decrease in transactions and an increase in properties for sale. It shows that no matter what social economic class people are in, everyone appears to be tightening the belt even if just a little. With hope and optimism I foresee that a shift in the second home market will occur soon.

Many owners of secondary homes are finding that their properties have also taken hit on their equity. Some people who own gulf front properties have listing prices that would compare to 2005 prices. With the other great ownership opportunities these properties may be taking a back seat to the “Equity Buys”. Those that would be interested in and potential buyers may not be comfortable to act at this point in time.

Although I may be more optimistic then those pulling out their check books, or in this case not pulling them out, I do believe that we will see a visible shift come at the end of summer. There has been significant momentum in the stock market over the past three months, the unemployment rate appears to be leveling out and consumer confidence has once again been gained. If you look at the recent earnings releases from some retailers, not only are they reporting better than expected earnings and profits, they are also reporting sales increases over the same period last year.

As many people would admit, we were in a recession long before the experts called it this. Although we all understand that we will not snap back out of it, we are looking forward to the continued progress we have seen.

Second home sales will regain momentum slightly quicker than other existing home sale statistics. With the population of these buyers having more disposable income and typically in a better financial situation, they will start to invest in this lifestyle faster. If for no other reason than their recovery from the current economic status will take less time, they are typically still gainfully employed and they are starting to invest in other aspects like the stock market.

How do you feel the second home real estate market will fair in the next year?

Research has revealed that the housing market appears to be on the fringe of emerging from the worst real estate market in several years. There are several refreshing trends that substantiate this hypothesis.

There has been an influx of sales activity reported in many counties in the past three months which stems from tax incentives for first time home buyers, investors strategically buying income properties and buyers with good credit getting financed.

Great buys at reduced prices makes some markets a target for desired properties that otherwise would have been out of some buyers budgets. With some short sales and foreclosures netting a 30% reduction of the previous purchase price, many buyers are taking action and making offers.

In some markets the time a property is on the market is decreasing substantially. In some instances properties that are not foreclosures or short sales are getting offers within 30 – 60 days, where 9 months ago the average may have been 90 – 120 days.

The other bright spot on today’s housing market is the multiple offer situations that some buyers are facing when they are putting in offers on distressed properties or properties with built in equity. In some instances, there are multiple offers on foreclosures within a week of being put on the market.

For some short sale properties we are seeing prices go back up from the original listing price because banks have refused substantially lower offers and these properties are more in line with other properties on sale in the market. Price increases in the MLS is now a daily occurrence as the market begins it slow shift back up.

The first time home buyer $ 8,000 tax credit is being used by many Real Estate Agents as marketing tools for first time home buyers and they are being severely successful at doing this. First time home buyers are able to afford properties that were out of their budgets three years ago and they have a significant incentive to purchase it today, especially when they can use the credit to pay for some of the needed repairs.

Some investors are finally able to get into higher end properties like beach front rentals or golf course rentals that were previously out of their budgets. These investors are typically paying with other investment money and a vast majority of the deals are paid for with cash.

Another stimulus to the housing market is record low mortgage interest rates which are being taken advantage of by buyers with good credit. These interest rates are also making it more affordable for buyers to purchase homes that three years ago were both priced out of their budget and the interest rates made the payments unaffordable even with a substantial down payment.

Nationally, existing home sales in April increased 2.9% over March, according to the National Association of Realtors. Additionally since January 2009, the medium home prices are up 3.17% through April 2009.

I predict that we will continue to see sales increase month over month by 3% – 5% and the medium home prices will continue to go up at a rate of ½ of a percent per month throughout the remainder of 2009. The medium home price took a hit with the many foreclosures and short sales that have taken place. As this distressed inventory continues to be bought and we sell through these homes, the medium home price will continue to go up. Many economist state that the real estate market is a leading indicator of the total overall economic health while unemployment rates are a lagging indicator. When we start to see the unemployment rate start to disintegrate, the real estate market will be well on it’s way to recovery with steady continued growth.

Staging a home for a sale is as important as being priced ahead of the market. Staging is the art of preparing the house for sale. Staging is what you do after you've cleaned, decluttered, painted, made minor repairs; it's all about dressing the house for sale. Staging makes your house look bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more habitable and, best of all; it makes home buyers want to buy it!

The staging process starts when you search for a qualified listing agent by asking the questions regarding staging and preparing your home for sale. Some Real Estate Sales Professionals are had earned an ASP RE Certification which is an Accredited Staging Professional for Realtors designation. Other Real Estate Professionals will have a certified ASP Staging Professional on retainer or on staff.

According to statistics, 94.6% of ASP Staged homes sell within 35 days. Additionally, the cost of staging a home can have a 300% return on that investment during the sales process. Using a Realtor that has these resources for you will reduce the days your home is on the market and get you a much better price for your home.

The “Seven C’s Of Home Staging” include clean, clutter free, color, compromise, creativity, commitment and communicate. Remember that the investment of staging your home is far less expensive that the possible price reductions on your home may incur during it’s time on the market.

For more information on staging homes for sale visit my website at www.GreatSWFLHomes.com.

In today’s Real Estate marketplace it is important to set yourself up to sell your property quickly and for the most money. There are four basic ways to do this: Pricing ahead of the market, utilizing a world class REALTOR, Staging your home and Intense Marketing. One of the least expensive is home staging.