In the previous post, Sell Your Pasadena Home in 30 Days or Less, we discussed the basic formula for selling your home. There are three parts to your selling success:

1. Preparing your Pasadena home for sale.
2. Determining a price for your home.
3. Deciding how to market your Pasadena home.

Today, I wanted to go into a bit more detail on the type of marketing and advertisement methods that are available in today’s Pasadena real estate market.

We talked about the importance of bringing “eye balls” to see your home. Exposure is of utmost importance in getting the highest possible price for your home and selling it in record time. The more people that see your home, the more opportunity you have in selling it well.

To fully market your home today, it is imperative that you put the power of the internet to work for you. Internet, not only, exposes your home to the immediate real estate market consumers, but it also is an extemely powerful tool which will bring buyers that are thinking of relocating to Pasadena.

We already know that we need to have your home listed in the local Multiple Listing Service. Please note, that in Pasadena there are several Multiple Listing Services (MLS). We have ITEC which is part of Pasadena Foothill Association. And, there is IMRMLS, which is part of Arcadia Realtors Association. Please make sure that your Pasadena home is listed in one of these MLS services. If it’s listed in one, it’s listed in both through the magic of new computer programming that was recently implemented.

If you have a realtor friend who is working out of the area, who will be listing your home for you. Not the best idea, but that’s a different post. Please ensure that your real estate agent contacts one of these MLS services and enters your home there.

MLS Listings are very different. How do you make your Pasadena home stand out?

• Make sure that you have a wonderful, detailed and honest description of your home. You want people to read the description and want to visit your home to see if it’s the right home for them. You need to create the emotion of really, really wanting to see your home.

READ ALSO: Words that Sell Your Home

• Use lots of photos. Now… when I say lots of photos, let me clarify. Use GOOD photos. Please do not place photos that are out of focus, or show messy rooms, or are crooked, or show a ton of ceiling, or showcase your furniture. Remember, you are trying to sell your home. MLS services allow anywhere from 25 to 30 photos per listing. Put up as many photos as the service allows. Buyers love to be able to see photos of homes, especially buyers that are thinking of relocating to Pasadena.

Photography Tip: Use a wide-angle camera! It’s very difficult to photograph a house without one.

• • Front of the house photo
  • Back yard
  • Entry
  • Bedrooms
  • Living Room (preferably several views)
  • Kitchen (preferably several shots from different angles)
  • Bathrooms
  • Pool & Spa (if you have one)
  • Garden
  • View of the surrounding area (street, etc)
  • Special features of the house (think what made you buy this house, photograph it and put it up on the MLS)

READ ALSO: Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words

• Videotape your home. Yes… you heard me, video your house. Not only should you video the home, you should narrate the video and talk about what made you buy your house, what you loved about living in your home, what did you love about living in Pasadena, why the buyers would want to purchase your Pasadena home, etc. Trust me on this… it works!

Place your video on www.YouTube.com . I video tape my clients’ homes all the time. Out of town buyers love that! Even the buyer down the street will love it. There are other services that I use to upload your video to. The more the merrier.

• Create a Flash Presentation or a Virtual Tour. Companies like www.RealEstateShows.com do a wonderful job of hosting these presentations and distributing them to additional search engines.

In my next post, we’ll talk about creating a real estate home brochure and other ideas to help you in selling your house. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions. I can be reached at 626-629-8439 or via email.