As I’ve been writing more, I’ve started looking into situations where it seemed like I could write forever versus times where it was seemingly hard to fill a paragraph.  I had a lot of fun with a blog post I wrote.  I’ve always wondered what the best real estate agent should look like.

Real Estate Focus

When you are in the business of real estate sales, your mind is always focused on real estate.  For instance, when you see a for sale sign at a home, you probably don’t even notice.  I see every one, and not only that, I look at who it is selling the home, what brokerage has the listing, what the sign looks like, and how they have chosen to attach riders.  The same thing is true of real estate advertising.  There’s an intense focus when I encounter real estate advertising on three levels.  The first level is “to whom is the advertising directed?”  Basically, is it for people who are looking buy a home or is it for people to choose an agent?  The second level is “is this real estate advertising effective or persuasive?”  The third level I take into consideration is, “Is the cost of the advertising that this other agent is doing moving their business of selling or buying homes in St. Louis in any way?”

Advertising Examples

In an example, take a hyper local newspaper.  Are there any real estate brokerages in there?  Are there any real estate agents?  Does the real estate advertisement work?  I’ve seen some in neighborhood newspapers from time to time, but I don’t see any in the county wide papers.  Is this an opportunity for Deerwood Realty?  I’m not sure.  In my opinion, there are only two reasons why a real estate agent in St. Louis isn’t advertising in a particular location.

  1. They have in the past and it hasn’t worked out. I would say this is the overwhelming likelihood.  Advertising dollars for agents and brokerages are scarce, and if something isn’t working out, they can’t continue to be in that space forever.
  2. They haven’t seen it. There are more than 8,000 agents in St. Louis.  The likelihood that an agent hasn’t seen an advertising opportunity is not great.

It’s my belief that as real estate agents in the field, we can lose perspective from what the client wants.  Here are some questionable marketing phrases and I’ll just put my thoughts below.  This is just stuff I’ve seen on paid google advertising

  • Sell your home fast! Ok, who wants you to sell their house slowly over the course of months? What happens if it takes months?
  • #1 best agents. Best in what?
  • #1 trusted real estate agents By whom?  Who trusts these agents?  I don’t even trust some agents. Why would you?
  • Closing deals every x days on average It’s nice that you close deals every so and so days.  What are you going to do with me?  Close my deal?  We haven’t even met.
  • Luxury homes listings and sales What if my home is not a luxury home? Are you going to say no to listing my home for sale?

The Best Real Estate Agents

At Deerwood Realty, we look at the transaction as the most important part of the process, and work our way backwards.  We do this because we’ve seen that it’s not in the best interest of the client to start a working relationship on false pretense.  We want to list your house, but we can’t list your home successfully unless we know and understand you and what you are looking for in the transaction.  Some of our clients want to know how they can get a premium price for their home.  Some of our clients don’t want to be sold on anything.  They look forward to and value the collaborative process.  As you begin your search for an agent, keep this in mind; you are the most important person in the transaction.  It’s not about the agent.

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