I'm a big Seth Godin fan. I think he's one of the smartest marketing minds around.

His latest blog talks about agents in general and real estate agents in particular.

He says anonymous agents are "interchangable and virtually worthless."

He also says that agents need to say "No, I won't sell this house, it's overpriced. List it yourself."

I think I'm a bit more diplomatic, but I've said no to an awful lot of listings this year. Hopefully I'm on my way to being the "great real estate broker" that Seth talks about.

It's a changing industry. I believe the business models continue to evolve and I look forward to figuring out what's next and how my clients need me to work with them in this new environment.

The status quo was boring anyway!

The question is, what will replace the models we see today?

There's a new trend among local real estate agents. It's the sign that says simply:  

JULIE

There is, of course, a company name and phone number on this sign. But only a first name. Clearly, the agents using these signs are either convinced they're so famous that they're a household name or they're hoping to be.

If Cher ever decides to go into real estate, she can get by with putting just "Cher" on the sign. Same with Prince.

For the rest of you...

There are about 770 real estate agents in the local REALTOR association. I'm not the only Julie. You're probably not the only Bob or Carol or Ted or Alice. Get over yourself and put your whole name on the sign!

And, by the way, have you filed that "Doing Business As" form with DPOR allowing you to use just your first name in advertising?

I've been wrestling with the question lately about how to use the visual tools available to advertise listings.

First of all, there's absolutely no question that high quality photographs are essential to marketing a listing. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) own numbers show that listings with six or more photos are viewed 299% more often than those with fewer. That's a very significant number! Which makes you wonder why another study by NAR shows that only 23% of its members own a digital camera! But I digress!

And, don't underestimate the importance of the quality of those photographs. I'm always amazed when I see photos of cluttered countertops and piles of dirty clothes in the middle of the floor! Most of us have heard for years about the importance of curb appeal. It's been important because it was the first impression the potential buyer had of your home. But now that first impression is online. Curb appeal now applies to the whole house!

Virtual tours have become important, although I suspect that, like me, most buyers find it easier to just look at a large number of photos without all the pretty music and panning back and forth!

Now we're starting to see some videos incorporated into some listings. To be honest, what passes for videos is, for the most part, nothing more than a slide show narrated by the agent with maybe a few seconds showing the agent talking. Again, really what you're getting are just photographs of the home but in a format suitable for putting on YouTube.

It's too early for there to be any hard numbers on the effectiveness of this form of advertising. But I am wondering if buyers find it any more useful than a large number of high quality still photographs.

So...I'm asking for your input. What's your preference? Do you want a YouTube movie with a series of narrated slides? Are still photographs just as effective? More effective? If you're a buyer, what works for you?

Thanks for helping me figure this out!

I've written recently about changing thoughts about marketing properties. But I'm also rethinking how I market myself and my services. Obviously, if you've read that previous blog you know I'm not marketing myself in local print advertising! But I'm also rethinking the mailings I send out.

For years I've sent out post cards as well as other assorted mailings on a regular basis. I track where my business comes from each year and a very, very small percentage is directly trackable to mailings. Now I do get a lot of referral business from people who I mail things to. But these people also hear from me by telephone, in person and by e-mail. It's hard to believe that the most anonymous of these methods of communication, the generic postcard or letter, was responsible for the referral.

So, effectiveness is one reason to question whether to continue with physical mailings. Another is the ecological cost. I am an environmentalist and believe each of us personally is responsible for taking care of our world. I know that 99.9% of everything I mail is immediately thrown in the trash. And that's even if you really, really like me! (I don't include personal, hand-written notes in this!) The way that direct mail marketing is supposed to work is that even as you throw that card in the trash can each month, somewhere in the back of your mind you've registered that, "Yup! Julie is still a real estate agent!" Is that a good enough reason to fill up landfills? More and more, the physical mailings seem inconsistent with what I believe to be the right thing to do.

There's also a case to be made that in a market that's tough for my sellers, investing that money in marketing their properties and drawing in more buyers is better for them and thus, ultimately better for me since most of my business comes from referrals.

And, in this digital age, there are plenty of other ways to market myself. This blog is one of them. Hopefully it both markets who I am and my expertise, but also provides valuable information for the consumer. There's also my web site, drip e-mail campaigns with useful real estate information e-mailed on a monthly basis and new possibilities such as pod casts,etc.

So, give me your input on this. If you've been on my mailing list over the years, would you miss it if there were no more postcards? Would you remember me when the time came to refer a friend or neighbor even without the monthly reminders?

If you're an agent, have you wrestled with this problem? Do you worry about the spam issue? What answers have you arrived at?

I look forward to hearing your responses!

Buyers are always interested in how many days a property has been on the market. Buyers assume that the longer a property has been on the market, the more negotiating leverage they have.  And, generally speaking, that's probably true. That assumes, of course, that the seller really does need and/or want to sell!

Sellers, in this market, are very sensitive to days on market as well, and are worried about the perception buyers have as they see that Days on Market number increase.  Again, this is perfectly reasonable. They don't want to give buyers the impression they have more leverage, even if it might be true! No one wants to give away information that might hurt their negotiating position.

Sellers are asking more frequently how they reset the counter to show their property as newly on the market.  Many times they believe that if they withdraw their house from the market for a few days and then put it back on, that will reset the counter. Some believe that if they relist with a new agent the counter will go back to zero. Generally, what I tell them is that this doesn't work. But the full answer is a little more complex than that and this seems like a good place to go into a little more detail.

The Multiple Listing Service that we use in this area actually carries to Days on Market numbers for every listing.  They are shown as DOM-M and DOM-P. They stand for Days on Market-MLS and Days on Market-Property. The first one, DOM-M, does reset when you relist your home with a new agent. Or, if your listing expires and then is put back on the market a week or two later. But the second category, DOM-P does not reset unless your home is off the market for at least 180 days. Since both of these fields are available to both agents and consumers in the data they see, it's pretty hard to fool anyone about how long your home has been for sale.

As with almost everything in life, prevention is the way to go here! Price it properly, make sure it shows well and odds are most homes will sell within the average days on market for this area.