Mediaboss Marketing

The depressed housing market has many home sellers acting as their own real estate agent to try and keep more money in their pockets.

With home prices falling 4.7% last year, according to CoreLogic, sellers are looking to side step the 5% to 6% commission real estate agents typically take from sales.

But selling a home yourself isn’t as easy as posting a for sale sign on your front lawn. From setting the right price to attracting buyers, there’s a lot you need to know if you want to successfully sell your home.

“Selling a home without the help of a real estate professional is no easy task, and it isn’t the right decision for everyone,” says Jill Simmons of Zillow, a real estate website. “Most sellers hire agents especially for their expertise in setting a competitive price and for their negotiation experience.”

Setting the Right Price

How you price your home could be the difference between selling it in a couple of months or it languishing on the market for several months to a year.  “Price is the most important decision you can make in the entire process,” says Matt Brown, director of business at ForSaleByOwner.com. “We recommend that home sellers get a full blown appraisal.”

A full appraisal typically costs $300 to $500, but according to Brown, the process will provide an unbiased opinion of how much the home is worth on the open market.  Brown says to build some negotiating room into your asking price because buyers like to perceive they are a getting deal.

But don’t price it too aggressively; you risk turning off potential buyers by setting the price too high. “You want to price your home to sell and avoid pricing high thinking you can come down on price later,” says Simmons. “This is especially true in today’s market where there is a lot of housing inventory and not a lot of buyer demand.”

If you don’t want to pay for an appraisal, Simmons says to use online tools and real estate websites to learn the selling prices of comparable homes in your neighborhood. You can also visit local open houses to see how your house compares.

Take emotion out of the equation when determining a selling price. Realistically look at your house and how it will sell against others on the market in your vicinity.

Make a Listing

One a price has been determine, it’s time to list the home. Experts say it can to pay for an ad in the local paper, but warns buyers are increasingly using the Internet to do their initial search. According to Brown, 93% of home buyers start their home search online. For around $80 a month you can list your home on ForSaleByOwner.com. The website offers other packages that give you access to other real estate websites as well. You can list your home for free on Zillow, Yahoo! Real Estate and Craigslist .  

No matter what online marketplace you use to list the home, the post should include detailed information about the property along with numerous images of the inside and outside of the home. Brown suggests including any extra details like marble counter tops or recessed lighting.

Post high-quality photos that show your home in the best light possible.  “Take photos of everything people care about – the kitchen, the bathrooms, the closets and the yard. The more photos the better,” says Simmons. Before you embark on your photo shoot make sure to de-clutter your home and get rid of any knick knacks or family photos. Make it as easy as possible for buyers to envision their belongings in your house.

Showing the House

On top of having a good home profile, you need to be flexible and available to show the house at a moment’s notice. Keep the house is clean and the lawn well maintained at all times. “Start to detach from the house emotionally,” says Brown. “Think of this as a business transaction and start thinking of your next house.”

Once you get an offer, experts say it pays to have an attorney by your side during the process. Rules and regulations of the home-selling process vary by state—and some require an attorney. There are websites that allow you to download contracts and attorney referral services.

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How to Be Your Own Real Estate Agent

Redfin integrates IDology’s solutions

Atlanta and Seattle (PRWEB) February 14, 2012

Redfin, the real estate industry’s first online brokerage, and IDology, a leading identity verification provider, today announced a partnership to improve the process of buying and selling a home for Redfin clients and agents. IDology’s identity proofing solutions are now integrated with Redfin’s home-buying process to offer faster and easier service for their customers while protecting the safety of its real estate agents from individuals impersonating other people.

Redfin is the only major search site to feature listings direct from broker databases as well as for-sale-by-owner and foreclosure properties from across the Internet. Before using IDology, Redfin’s process of verifying the identity of potential customers was cumbersome both for clients and agents. Because Redfin agents handle every facet of a transaction, including tours, pricing analyses, negotiations, inspections and closings, the company wanted to find an easy way for customers to validate who they said they were that would help streamline the process for their agents while also eliminating fraud.

“Our previous identity verification method required customers to upload, email or fax their driver’s license, passport, or military ID. This caused many people to bail out and not go through the next step of meeting with an agent. We were looking for a more efficient and less time-consuming way for our customers to verify their identity,” said Bryan Selner, Vice President of Products at Redfin.

Now, instead of submitting proof of identity via email or fax when scheduling a home tour, clients are presented with a brief multiple-choice quiz that is dynamically generated in real-time by IDology’s ExpectID IQ product. IDology’s ExpectID IQ solution delivers out-of-wallet questions based on a person’s history which are designed so that only the actual person of the claimed identity will know the answer. This new process protects Redfin agents and ensures home tours are being scheduled with real, legitimate people.

“An important aspect of our business is when our agents meet with clients in-person and onsite to tour a home. It was really important for us to find an authentication solution like IDology’s. To help keep our agents safe, we need to know that they are meeting with people who are who they say they are. Automating this process needed to happen in a way that wasn’t difficult for our clients, or off-putting.”

Automating the identity verification process has also streamlined the transition from someone being an online prospect to becoming an in-person client. Selner describes an important feature benefit he likes most about IDology:

“Through IDology’s IDCenter, it is easy to change rules and settings whenever we want. This allows us to customize questions that are being presented to our customers, like how many questions and answers to present and what topics to cover. We knew IDology was our best choice because they have high rates of finding people and were able to generate questions for more people, putting their solution above the rest.”

Using IDology’s on-demand change management tool, Redfin is able to customize and change several system features without involving its internal IT teams or contacting IDology. This helps improve the customer experience while achieving the goal of ensuring its agents’ safety.

“We are very happy with IDology. Integrating their system was very easy and their team is always available when needed, which is rare for us because their solution is simple to navigate and control,” said Selner.

“Redfin’s use of our identity verification solutions before scheduling an offline appointment is a great example of how identity is important to many different industries for different reasons,” said John Dancu, CEO of IDology. “Any business that wants assurance that they are dealing with real, legitimate people can benefit from automating their identity verification process.”

About Redfin

Redfin (http://www.redfin.com) is the real estate industry's first online brokerage, combining a customer-focused team of real estate agents with online tools for making the process of buying or selling a home easy. Redfin's agents handle every facet of a transaction, including tours, pricing analyses, negotiations, inspections and closings. Redfin is the only major search site to feature listings direct from broker databases as well as for-sale-by-owner and foreclosure properties from across the Internet. The company pays its agents customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions, and surveys every client, publishing each survey alongside the agent's complete deal history. Redfin's service is available in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, OR, Seattle, Washington DC, New York's Long Islandand Westchester County as well as most of California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. To keep track of our daring exploits, subscribe to blog.redfin.com or our Twitter feed @redfin.

About IDology, Inc.

IDology, Inc. provides real-time technology solutions that verify an individual's identity and age for anyone conducting business in consumer-not-present environments to help drive revenue, decrease costs, prevent fraud. Founded in 2003, IDology is the only provider to offer an on-demand change management tool that allows client business-unit managers to control the entire proofing process, including within an integrated solution, without having to rely on internal IT resources or contact IDology's customer service. For more information, visit http://www.idology.com or call 866-520-1234.

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Lindsey Legacki
IDology
(678) 324-3794
Email Information

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IDology Improves Online Home-Buying Process for Real Estate Industry

Cheri Tindall, one of the leading lights of the Islamorada real estate market, recently launched a new website showcasing Islamorada real estate for sale as well as properties in other areas in the Florida Keys.

Islamorada, Florida (PRWEB) February 14, 2012

Aiming to provide homebuyers and sellers with easy access to the real estate market in the Florida Keys, leading Islamorada real estate broker Cheri Tindall has just launched a new website, http://www.floridakeysbestbuys.com. The site also serves to enhance Tindall’s already extensive array of real estate services.

“The internet has made it much easier for homebuyers to access listings of Florida Keys vacation homes and to get more information about particular areas,” says Tindall, “but you’d be hard-pressed to find what you need all under one roof, so to speak. With this website, my goal is to make it easier for anyone interested in real estate in our area to not only find listings, but also to find out what the best deals are and to learn more about the different communities in the Florida Keys.”

Floridakeysbestbuys.com features varied listings of some of the area’s finest properties, from Islamorada real estate for sale to homes in Key Largo and the Lower Keys. It also has a custom MLS search tool that allows the user to search for properties within user-defined parameters such as price, property type, location, and more. There are also comprehensive community profiles that serve as a useful introduction to those who are new to the area.

Tindall’s new site reflects her own expertise in real estate in the area. “These islands are small and I have sold these homes not only once, but sometimes twice and even thrice,” she says. “I am very familiar with the local planning, building and zoning laws and I use what I know to help my clients make the best possible decisions.”

Tindall has specialized in real estate in the Florida Keys since 1983 and is known for her in-depth market and area knowledge and consistently high level of customer service. To learn more about her services and the real estate market in Islamorada and the Florida Keys, visit http://www.floridakeysbestbuys.com or get in touch with her directly.

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Cheri Tindall

305.664.7661
Email Information

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Leading Islamorada Real Estate Broker Launches New Website

MA Interactive Group, a Chicago web design firm with a strong focus in real estate marketing and website design continues its growth in the this sector with the launch of new website design for downtown Chicago luxury apartment locator service, Tricap Preferred.

Northfield, IL (PRWEB) February 13, 2012

Chicago web design firm, MA Interactive Group has launched a new website design for their fellow Chicagoland company Tricap Preferred. With loads of prior experience in real estate web design, choosing MA Interactive Group for the development of their new website design was a no-brainer for Tricap Preferred. Located in the heart of downtown Chicago, Tricap Preferred is, by design, the city’s most exclusive professional apartment locator service – exclusive in both the properties they represent and the clients they serve. That is, Tricap Preferred limits their business to luxury apartment listings in a select group of neighborhoods, and the people who wish to lease them.

Tricap Preferred’s exclusivity is not only limited to their clientele and the neighborhoods in which they operate. When it came to searching for the best digital agency in Chicago to develop their website, they would not settle for just anyone. Tricap sought the best and that is exactly what they got with MA Interactive. In comparison to any other Chicago digital agency, MA’s knowledge and understanding of the real estate market stands unrivaled. With majority of their clientele falling into this space, they know exactly what a real estate website design needs in order to excel amongst its competitors. Tricap Preferred’s new website design has been developed using a Drupal content management system. This CMS provides the developers at MA with the freedom they need to design and develop the site without certain restrictions imposed by other content management systems. It also offers the client an effortless way to actively manage certain aspects of their new website.

This is not the first time MA Interactive Group and Tricap have worked with each other, nor will it mark the end of the relationship between these two companies. Along with real estate web design, MA Interactive is also extremely well versed in the real estate marketing space and because of this, Tricap has also called upon MA to implement an Internet marketing program for the new website. “We are extremely confident in our marketing tactics for Tricap Preferred”, says Mike Templeton, principal at MA Interactive Group. “Today, new products or companies can be launched almost exclusively in the digital space”. MA will optimize all of the content on the Tricap Preferred website for optimal search visibility, they will also develop an entire SEO program, as well as create and manage social media pages for Tricap Preferred.

MA Interactive Group, is located in Northfield, IL. Its partners, Mike Templeton and Allan Yalowitz have been serving the Internet Marketing needs of Chicago and the nation since 1995. Mike Templeton as Vice-President and Area President for several Real Estate companies and Allan Yalowitz as a Director of Interactive Media and Design for several agencies and now collective as MA Interactive Group. MA provides Internet marketing services including branding and strategy, web design and development, mobile marketing, social networking, and search engine marketing.

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Mike Templeton
MA Interactive Group
847.716.2260
Email Information

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Chicago Digital Agency, MA Interactive Group, Launches New Website Design for Chicago Real Estate Company Tricap ...