Well, Kris threw down the gauntlet, so to speak, and invited a sharing of our own ideas and intrepid adventures in home marketing. I know that many have been very open in their sharing of marketing ideas, especially our host, and I thought I would also share some ideas that I use.
First, I can absolutely see the benfits of a professional photographer, and while I is one, I know that there are better people than me, and I probably ought to delegate some of this (a gratuitous nod to Russell). But darn it! I like doing it. I am an endless tinkerer, and nothing thrills me more that playing with photos. Here are a few examples:
So, I’m not totally thrilled with my work, but who ever is? The point is that I’m always trying to get better.
Next, I tried a new flyer idea: a largish tri-fold flyer:
So, I print these off myself on heavy stock on my Phaser printer, and they come out looking pretty good (despite the 380 dollars a month for ink!) I then create my own virtual tours:
One thing that I do with my tours that I haven’t seen many agents do is photograph the entire neightborhood and surrounding city. Depending on what’s around the property, I’ll photograph houses of worship, restaurants, cultural attractions, shopping, mountains, ball parks, zoos, etc. I think this is particularly helpful to out-of-town buyers who may not be that familiar with our local scenery.
Finally, I’ll take the virtual tour and burn it to a miniature, business card cd, with a picture of the home on the front and some contact information. This card, along with one of the flyers for the home, and an additional page extolling the virtues of listing with yours truly, will be sent to the homes in the surrounding area. I’ll leave a stack of these in a presentation holder inside the home for the buyer to take with them. I also give a stack to the owners, so they can give them to family, friends, co-workers, and curch-goers. I also keep a pocket-full of these things with me Read more
Four hundred families a year do. Believe it or not, that’s our own Russell Shaw in his salad days as a radio comedian in Phoenix in the mid-seventies.
Cathy and I watched The Path to 9/11 on television tonight. I had forgotten that we were in Metro New York for the Turn of the Millennium. My father lives in Connecticut, and we went there that year for New Year’s Day. The photo you see is my son crawling all over a bronze statue of a stock broker in Liberty Park, directly across from what was then the Merrill Lynch Building — on December 30, 1999.
This week’s Odysseus Medal goes to Kris Berg for 
This is my 30th year in the real estate business. I started with John Hall & Associates early in the year in 1978. Now for the far more important question, has your lot investor suffered a real loss. It depends on how you look at it. Is the “loss” real to her? I think that answer is yes. Is it real to me? Not so much.