I have exhausted all my marketing ideas with my listings. Any bright ideas out there?

I have tried this a few times and depending on the listing it may help.

I have a mortgage associate who will create a sign that says "Own this home for $xxxx per month!" It would go along with my sign. The idea behind it is to capture buyers with the monthly payment rather than the purchase price.

Okay.. That Sounds Great..A local company here in MS just ran a special for two weeks offering 5% off their listings, I thought that was very creative and eye catching..I will soon do the same thing once their special ends, but just looking for any good ideas. I will contact my mortgage guy tomorrow and have him do me a few flyers.. Thanks for the tip

Lameshia Edwards
www.lameshiaslistings.com

Lower the price on the MLS. Talk to the seller and have a realistic heart to heart. Dropping the price could send this out to buyers other agents have on "auto email alerts" when/if it falls within their price range criteria.

All the marketing in the world is not going to sell an overpriced listing.

Your website is not buyer friendly.... I clicked on Featured Listings and found - something requiring my information, no listings. Bzzt. Sorry, I'm moving on to another website.

Are you blogging your listings? If buyers can't find them.....how will they know about them?

^^^^^^^^^^^Diplomacy is DEAD!

I always just put Fred Flinstone in those sign in things anyways.:)

I don't think Diploacy is dead, she tells it as it is.

I'm not going to register to see a listing either or almost anything. My attention span is to short. There are to many sites I can go go to look.

I have generated alot of calls with this as well. The only problem is you get alot of calls from people wanting to rent it, not buy it. I have captured people that were unable to finance today though, who worked with the lender and are in a situation to buy now. One of those situations when the seed is planted. They were not a client but they grew into a client.

was just kidding....i saw the reason for the edit and laughed and wondered what was written:-)

Im sure the pre-edit version was a good one. She likely unleashed! Maybe she will give us the scoop.

tee hee - let's just say that I re-read it and thought...now, Perky, that was uncalled for. LOL

If you visit my website, you'll see my listings when you click Featured Listings. Additionally, on some pages you will see my listings in the spotlight - i.e., on my page about Wild Acres Community, my listing in that community is featured with a link to the flyer/virtual tour. My listings are on my blogs, my listings are easy to find online....ESPECIALLY on my website.

Im a fan of you Perky, on here and on Active Rain. Sometimes I even lick to misuse words to see how long it takes you to catch it HAHA!!!!

Lick, huh?

I took your advice regarding registering to view featured listings and removed it. However, it has worked for me a few times in capturing buyers. I am trying to move these listings; and originally made post to get ideas on new ways of marketing aside of MLS, Website, Brochures, Magazines.

Since more than 80% of the buyers are looking online, I would think that would be the most important place to concentrate.

I know that you're not looking for a critique, but you are asking about effective marketing. Personally, I think rather than spending more money on some gimmick that may or may not work, I am going to suggest you take a look at what you've done so far and see how you can improve it.

Looking at the first few of your listings - I think if I were you I'd step up the photography BIG time. Your pictures are kind of dark, some are underexposed, and you only average about 4-5 small, dark pictures per house.

Photography is VERY important because buyers will make judgments based on pictures - be it fairly or not, if the pictures they see are not nice, they will most likely pass on the listing without ever considering seeing it in person.

All of my house listings, with the exception of a really tiny house with no running water and an outhouse, have a minimum of 25 pictures. Every single one. I take multiple shots of each room and I make sure that they are properly exposed, wide angle, and appealing.

I sold my listing myself because of the pictures - the buyers found the house online on Realtor.com (enhanced listing.) The thing was, this house was on the market for 18 months previous with two other realtors. The previous listing agent's pictures were uninspired at best. One listing had six pictures, another had 8 (and one picture was a very boring tax map.)

When I put the listing on I had over 30 pictures. Several taken from outside at different angles, each room inside (except the bathrooms and unfinished basement) had at least two shots from different angles.

The buyers told me that they were calling this house "their house" long before they even saw it in person.

Most of my house listings have sold or are currently under contract, with the exception of my newest one. One that is not sold has actually had two accepted offers on it but buyer financing prevented the sale. The other one that has not sold is in a tough area but the seller told me that since I took over the listing (two months ago) the house has seen more action and had more showings than it has in the past year when it was listed with another agency.

That's my opinion, for what it's worth.