I was fortunate enough to hear John Tuccillo speak this week. John was formerly the chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS and I always appreciate his candor.

John's remarks along with some statistics I heard yesterday reinforce yet again how insane it is for real estate agents to continue to pour tons of money into print advertising.

Yesterday I heard a statistic from a national marketing group that only 4% of all newspaper readers ever look at the classified ads, including real estate ads. Today John Tuccillo talked about how the younger generation, basically most people under 40, never, ever pick up a newspaper. Think about that! What is the population most likely to be buying the typical suburban family home? It's the 20 and thirty somethings! And they're not looking for those homes in print, they're looking at the internet.

I'd add another factor in here locally. Buyers got trained during the booming sellers market that there was no point in looking in print, even in they were so inclined. The houses in the newspaper were under contract before that newspaper ever hit the stands.

So, it makes no sense to advertise in print from a seller's perspective because that's not where buyers look. It makes no sense to advertise in print from a real estate agent's perspective because they're throwing away enormous sums of money. Why, then, are there still so very many print ads?

One reason is habit! Real estate agents can be a slow bunch to adjust to change! Advertising in the newspaper and putting up signs is how real estate has been sold for generations!

One reason is sellers who don't yet get it either. But it's our job as their agent to educate them. If an agent is spending all their advertising money to get the client's home in the newspaper, that leaves next to nothing for the online advertising that can truly make a difference!

And, just putting it in the MLS is not an internet marketing strategy!

Bottom line is, both agents and sellers need to adjust to the new reality of today's marketplace!

I've had a couple of discussions with sellers recently about pricing their homes. You're all immediately thinking I'm talking about trying to get them to price their homes lower, but that's not what I'm talking about here today!

People are still thinking they should be pricing their homes at say, $399,000 rather than $400,000. And, there was, once upon a time, a case to be made for that.

But the world has changed and how people look for homes have changed.

With most buyers beginning their search for a home on the internet, they search for homes in a pre-defined price range, generally in $25,000 or $50,000 increments. So, if you price your home at $399,000 people looking at homes between $375,000 and $400,000 will see your home. But those looking at homes from $400,000 to $425,000 will not. By changing the price to $400,000 you've now exposed it to a whole extra group of buyers. Plus, rather than being at the top end of one price range, you're actually on the bottom of that second range, making it more attractive to many buyers.

So, my pricing advice is to do away with the "9s" strategy. That idea is a remnant from another time and another way of doing business!