😯How I sold my first home during the middle of a crisis
📲With all of the social distancing restrictions in place, it’s more important than ever to have a tech-savvy Realtor
💪Every market provides challenges & opportunities, and now is no exception
📊 Current supply in Brookfield, La Grange, Burr Ridge, La Grange Park, & Westchester
Transcript:
With all the craziness going on in the world today, it’s more important than ever to stay informed, and what we can and can’t do is changing from day to day. Hi, I’m Eric with Eric Andersen Homes, and with all this change, one thing that remains the same is the need to buy and sell homes. Children grow up, get married, and need a place of their own. Workers are relocated. Maybe you need a bigger house. Maybe you’re ready to downsize or move into maintenance-free living. And the estates of departed loved ones don’t sell themselves. Every market provides both challenges and opportunities, and this is no exception. If you’re selling, it’s more important than ever to have an agent who understands digital marketing, video, and social media. And not someone who’s just starting to figure it out now or posting to their Facebook page. Having an agent who really knows digital marketing vs. someone who’s just getting started or dabbles could be the difference between 50 people seeing your home or 100,000 seeing it. This isn’t the time to hire an agent who’s been relying on open houses their entire career and is just now figuring out how to use the internet. Anybody can post to a Facebook page, but that doesn’t reach anybody. Facebook is a business, and they need advertising dollars to stay in business. But they also offer an unprecedented way to reach consumers, which is why I’ve invested heavily in becoming an expert in digital marketing for real estate. I’ve invested over $20,000 into mastering the technology and have gone to California twice to learn from the best in the business. I specialize in digital marketing and getting your home in front of hundreds of thousands of engaged homebuyers, both in the greater Chicagoland area and those relocating from other states. Here are the stats from one of my recent listings. We reached 106,918 engaged homebuyers, and the property video has been watched 120,381 times for over 100,000 hours. Now think about how that compares to a traditional open house. Even if we could do those right now in the middle of this pandemic, if the average open house is 2 hours long, I’d have to host 50,000 open houses to get your home that much exposure, and that assumes people are constantly in the home while it’s open, which is almost never the case. Most open houses usually have lots of down time. But if I did an open house for you every weekend, at that rate, I would have your home sold in a mere 961.5 years. As awesome as it would be to set a world record for the world’s longest open house, I’m guessing you’re more interested in selling your home than in tying up your equity for the next millennium. Even before this pandemic hit, Forbes reported that 90% of homebuyers said video helped them decide which home to buy. 64% said they’re more likely to buy a home that has video. Consider just how powerful that is, to have over 100,000 people watching the video I will produce on your home for over 100,000 hours, or the fact that they can take a 24/7 open house from the comfort of their own home. Watch times and clicks are imperative, especially at a time like this when in-person showings are limited and open houses aren’t happening at all. You might be thinking that’s great, but if I put my home on the market now, I’m not going to get as much traffic as I would have had at this time last year. And that’s true, but it’s not a bad thing. Think about it: anyone who goes out to see a home in the middle of a pandemic is serious. The person who bought our first home in Colorado first came to see it when our town was 3 feet under water in the middle of a statewide emergency. Traffic may be down, but that’s just the looky-loos staying at home. All of this is to say you absolutely need an agent who knows how to use digital marketing and social media correctly to make sure your home gets massive exposure in this unique environment. Not being able to go out means people are spending an unprecedented amount of time on their phones, and I can get your home in front of them. It’s not enough to just make the virtual open house available, you need someone who can reach the engaged buyers, target, and retarget to them and capture their information so we can follow up and get offers. Inventory in Brookfield is low, just below 3 months, which makes it a seller’s market. La Grange is a little more balanced a close to a 5 month’s supply, and at 10.4 months, Burr Ridge is definitely a buyer’s market. We also need more inventory in Westchester and La Grange Park, so if you’re thinking of selling and live there, now’s a great time. And there’s plenty of opportunity for buyers in this market, too. Only the most serious buyers are looking, which means you’re competing with fewer buyers. Plus, interest rates are outstanding, which can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. So if you situation allows, take advantage of this opportunity to avoid some of the bidding wars and get a great interest rate. I’m always here to help, so reach out to me anytime and I’ll walk you through your options and give you honest feedback about what’s right for you. I’m Eric with Eric Andersen Homes. Be safe, stay informed, and contact me for a smarter approach to real estate.