Three Websites Where You Should Post Your Real Estate Listings

You’ve put together a great listing with amazing photos (with our help, hopefully!). Now you’re ready to post the listing… but where are you likely to get the best response?

Obviously, you’ll upload your properties to your brokerage home site, which will enable you to include your listings in every digital marketing opportunity that coincides with it. You’re also likely taking full advantage of your agency’s MLS access and enjoying the way those listings automatically feed into key public sites like Realtor, Trulia, and Zillow. (We look forward to hearing Redfin has hit the Alaska market sooner rather than later, too!)

That’s a great start. But are there other websites out there that can help you get an edge over your competitors here in Alaska? If they’re pay sites, is it worth it?

From our experience, the answer is yes. But you don’t just have to take our word for it...

AK Real Estate Consumer Trends Say More Digital Presence Is Better

As you are likely well aware, Alaska’s real estate market is unique compared to the Lower 48. This is largely due to the greater likelihood of working with homebuyers who are willing to purchase sight unseen. 

How do you get someone to buy homes without ever seeing them in person? Make sure they can find them online. About half of homebuyers now find the home they ultimately purchase on the internet, so you need to make sure that your listings are ubiquitous online.

It starts with the major players we mentioned above, obviously, but once you’ve got that covered, we believe there are three other “must-have” digital real estate listing locations for Alaskan realtors.

Here’s a little about each:

HomeFinder.com

Cost: Memberships start at $39/month

Features: Unlimited photos, direct client contact, easy social sharing, advertising options, mortgage calculator

DMD Opinion: This network seems to be a no-nonsense kind of listing tool. It appears you can list at no charge, but the paid memberships with HomeFinder.com include priority placement - something which can be key to getting noticed in a cluttered market. 

We especially like the idea of being able to include as many photos as you need to tell the property’s story. Here in Alaska, it can often be a grand one!

Homes.com

Cost: Free to Claim Your Profile

Features: Unlimited photos, direct client contact, easy social sharing, advertising options, mortgage calculator

DMD Opinion: We look at including this site into your marketing mix as a matter of housekeeping. Some have compared the user experience to online dating. Buyers key in property criteria, and each search result listing is assigned a unique match rating. 

There are currently close to 5,000 Alaska properties listed, and creating your professional profile allows you to claim both listings and consumer leads. It also provides its own conversion tools - which can possibly incorporate into your overall conversion calculations.

Facebook.com (and Instagram)

Cost: Free | Set Your Own Budget

Features: Unlimited albums, Built-in Personal Audience, Geo- and Demo-targeted ad placement, easy crossover between platforms.

DMD Opinion: For those Alaska realtors already utilizing Facebook and Instagram to enhance your real estate business, consider adding paid, targeted ad placement to drive more users (ahem, leads) to your broker site listings. 

This kind of placement is great because you can invest as little - or as much - as you want, and you can double down and run multiple campaigns separately targeting local buyers’ agents and potential clients at the same time.

Even better? DMD can help you tailor your ad images and album galleries to appeal to the specific audience you are trying to reach for a given property!

In sum, we believe you can further increase your visibility by tapping into these three key online opportunities. Additionally, we suggest maximizing your exposure through photo add-on and enhanced placement packages for proven channels.

If you have questions about developing listings for your Alaska properties on these sites or are ready to work on some amazing expanded galleries together, we’re here for you. Call DMD Real Estate Photography anytime!

Real Estate Photography: First Image, First Impression

We all know that photos are crucial to creating a real estate listing that sells. This is especially true in Alaska, where so many out-of-state buyers are purchasing homes without ever setting foot in them.

But recent studies show just how important those photos are — and which photo is most important for buyers. 

Specifically, a low-quality or missing photo of the exterior of your home could make the difference between whether a buyer is interested in your property or if they move on to the house next door. 

You Have 20 Seconds to Make a First Impression 

When homebuyers look at a real estate listing, they spend 60% of their time looking at photos. Property descriptions can certainly have an impact on whether a buyer is interested in attending an open house or making an offer, but photos show buyers what it will feel like to look at their new home. 

Do your photos show off your clients’ home? 

Eye-gazing studies took these statistics even further to see which photos are most important to buyers. Out of the 56 seconds that buyers typically spend looking at the photos, they spend 20 seconds - more than a third of the time - looking at the exterior. 

In contrast, buyers usually speed through photos of the interior, spending no more than nine seconds on each subsequent photo. Moreover, they are most likely to remember the photo of the exterior when making their decision about a house. 

For this reason, an excellent exterior shot should be the first photo that buyers see. 

Do you have a photo that properly shows off the property’s curb appeal and size?

If you don’t, the buyer is likely to move on within two seconds. Two seconds! Most buyers won’t get through reading a whole sentence of your property description before they decide to click away.

However, if you have photos that show off the quality of the listing, the property will sell 32% faster and with a 47% higher asking price per square foot on average. 

The stats don’t lie. Investing in a real estate photographer will pay off when you sign your home over for a higher price. 

Sell Your Home Faster with Alaska Professional Real Estate Photography

At DMD, we know how important high-quality photos are to your listing. Moreover, we know how to help you create a cohesive “story” of sorts with those images, taking prospective buyers on the journey of the home you want.

We offer a full range of photos and videos to sellers and their agents throughout Alaska, and our team consistently delivers effective images that work to sell homes in Anchorage, Eagle River, Palmer, Wasilla, and Fairbanks.

Reach out to our team for more information on our packages and how we can help you sell your home for a higher price. 

What Should Real Estate Agents Invest in Marketing a Home?

Actually listing a home is easier than ever. With just a few clicks, you can upload photos and a property description to multiple popular listing sites. 

Seems like something that would save you a few pennies, right? 

Sure. If that was all you had to do. Here at DMD, we know better.

While listing sites do help to get the word out about open houses, yours is not the only listing up there. Competition is fierce, if you want your listing to stand out, you need the pictures to make that happen… but is it really worth investing in them?

Why Should Real Estate Agents Invest in Marketing a Home? 

Potential homebuyers move fast when they’re scrolling through listing sites. When they land on a listing’s photos, they will decide whether or not they are interested within 20 seconds. (Without photos, that number drops significantly - to two seconds!) 

Will the photos you’re using catch their attention? Will they capture the true size of the house and the potential for it to be someone’s home? 

Or will they just scroll on past? 

If you are looking to sell a home over $200,000, high-quality real estate photography can help you do so for up to an additional $11,000. That’s an extra $330 in your pocket and another happy client. 

Is Marketing Worth It? Let’s Crunch Numbers

There are two ways to approach your marketing budget, but they all fall within the same ballpark range. The number will depend on the value of the home that you are trying to sell. 

How Much Commission Are You Getting? 

One approach is to allocate 10% of the commission you expect to get from the home. Buyer’s agents and seller’s agents don’t always split commission, but traditionally, both parties get 3% of the home. So you would allocate .03% of the home’s value to marketing. 

Let’s say you are selling a home that is valued at $200,000. You expect to get $6,000 in commission, so your marketing budget would be $600. 

This doesn’t seem like much, but it can get you some high-quality photos that make a fantastic impression on potential buyers who are looking at your listing online. At DMD, $600 could get you a full photo package with leftover room for Facebook ads or other forms of marketing. 

An Easy 1%. 

Another general rule is to allocate .5%-1% of the home’s value. If the home is valued at $200,000, your marketing budget is between $1,000 to $2,000. 

That extra $400 to $1,400 can get you very far. You can invest in larger photo and video packages that include interactive or 3D tours. The extra cash could go to marketing events or creating a social media campaign. Get creative - you have the budget!

Get Started With DMD Real Estate Photography

Real estate photography is a marketing tool that pays off. A beautiful photo of your client’s home will get more buyers interested faster. 

Reach out to DMD today to learn more about package options, prices, and how to get started marketing your homes with high-quality photos.