2. What Sellers Most Wanted in Their
Real Estate Agent in 2012
These are our primary
goals when a seller enlists
us to sell their home.
Which ones are the most
important to you?
3. Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate
Gary Greene
Our Company began in Houston in 1963 with one
office and was started by Gary Greene. We blossomed
into 20 offices across Houston under the ownership of
partners Marilyn Eiland and Mark Woodroof. They are
actively engaged in day-to-day operations.
Years in Operation: 50
Number of Agents: 850
Accomplishments: Placed first in 2012 Houston
Business Journal Book of Lists for total transactions and
dollar volume sold.
4. Understanding Your Expectations
What questions do you
have about working with
a real estate agent?
What are your
expectations of your real
estate agent?
5. Strategies for Selling Your Home
Our target marketing strategies are designed to attract the “right” buyers to
your home.
Step one: Identify the unique features and lifestyle
benefits of your property and neighborhood. We use
these to highlight your homes specific features and benefits.
Step two: Incorporate these unique lifestyle benefits and features into all
of the online and offline marketing and promotional media
Step three: Determine where the “right/best buyers” are and direct
property promotions and advertising towards the identified target
market.
6. Your insights will help to direct our
targeted messages………
What was the single most important feature when you first saw your home?
After living in the home, what features have you come to love most?
What impressed you most about your home and this neighborhood when buying?
What did your children enjoy most about the home and neighborhood?
What other neighborhoods did you consider before buying?
Where did you live before you moved here?
What will you miss the most?
7. Information Sources Buyers Used to Find
the Home They Purchased in 2012 – from research
conducted by the National Association of Realtors®
8. Online Promotion
Where The Consumers Are!
With 9 out of 10 homebuyers
on the Internet it is
important that we have an
online strategy to promote
your home
9.
10. BHG and Gary Greene.com Drive
Traffic to Your Home
Once a home search is conducted on bhgrealestate.com,
buyers are directed to www.GaryGreene.com
providing all MLS listings available in the area…
11. Driving More Traffic to Your Home
www.bhg.com
7 million visitors each
month have the ability to
get to your listing in just
two clicks when they visit
this site
12. Mobilizing Local Agents
In 2012, 87% of all buyers used a real estate agent as a source of
information in the purchase of their home. We will mobilize the local
agents to show your home:
Entering it in the MLS
Holding Broker Open Houses
Mailing Just Listed notices
Posting on social media sites
Distributing flyers
Office Tours
We will also target agents who are known to work
this area in case they have buyers ready to go!
13. The Power of Yard Signs
The 3rd
most commonly used
information source.
In 2012, we consistently
displayed 36% more yard
signs across Houston than
the next highest broker.
The benefit to you is more
buyer inquiries via the
phone and the web.
14. The Power of Open Houses
Open Houses
advertised online & offline
16. Target Marketing through
Exclusive Access to
Meredith Customers
Finding out about you when you
first bought your home enables
me to target buyers in the same
life stage as you were then. I
use PinPoint.
17. The Power of a Brand
Consumers associate
quality and trust
with the brand
18. Networking & Reach
We have a large sphere of
influence and a worldwide
network of agents behind us.
We are a primary broker for
Cartus Relocation and Referral
Network, the worlds’ largest.
Your buyer could be anywhere
in the world. Make sure you list
with a broker that covers it.
19. Negotiation & Closing
When we have an
interested buyer who
makes an offer, we put our
market expertise to work.
Our agents will negotiate
on your behalf in order to
reach a final agreement
that is favorable to you in
terms and dollars net to
you at closing.
20. Negotiation & Closing
When we have negotiated and executed a contract with all terms and
conditions agreed upon, then our agents become responsible for making sure
every detail is handled correctly and in the necessary time frame.
They will interact with others to manage the
process including:
Other agents involved
Title company
Property inspectors
Insurance agents
Mortgage representatives
21. As your advocate
It will be our responsibility to protect your best interest as we proceed
through the process of selling your home.
Introducing your home to the While your home is on the market
marketplace Carry out scheduled marketing activities
Design target messages and select Monitor and report all showing activity
photo marketing
Communicate with you on a consistent basis
Place home in MLS and confirm Modify Marketing plan and pricing strategies as
accuracy of all information necessary
Create web presentation Provide information and encouragement to
buyers and their agents who are considering
Develop e-flyers for both the buyers making an offer.
and real estate community
Schedule print ads with marketing When an offer to purchase is received
department Explain the offer to you and answer your
questions
Determine dates for Realtor and public
open houses Point out potential advantages and
disadvantages of the offer and clarify choices
Introduce your home to my office with available to you.
a property tour Prepare an Estimate of Net Proceeds based on
the proposed price and terms.
Place sign in yard
Require proof of buyers’ financial capability to
Complete the showing enhancements close.
Negotiate through the buyers’ agent and
handle any counteroffers.
22. Our Commitment to You
Our commitment is to provide a real estate
experience that will achieve the highest possible
price for your home, in a time frame that meets your
needs and with the least inconvenience to you.
If, during the listing period, you feel that our agents
do not perform to this standard, you may talk with
their manager and if your concerns cannot be
satisfied, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate
Gary Greene will release you from the listing.
This page should be customized for each listing proposal. Give it an extra added touch by adding the picture of the sellers’ home in the top right hand corner. If you cannot get a picture – be sure and delete the text placeholder above before presenting. .
NOTE TO SALES ASSOCIATE: Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene has a rich history. No other broker has sold more homes and no other broker has withstood the test of time – 50 years like BHGRE Gary Greene.Founded in 1963 by Gary Greene, owners Marilyn Eiland and Mark Woodroof are actively engaged in the day-to-day operations. With 20 offices across the Houston Metropolitan area and over 850 agents, we have you covered on the local home front. We were proud to be named the #1 broker in Houston by the Houston Business Journal for total transactions and dollar volume sold in 2011.
Hiring a real estate agent to find a buyer for your home is serious business and I’m sure you’ve given it much thought and it’s very important that we are on the same page throughout the process. So, it would be very helpful to me, in moving forward, if you would share a few of your thoughts with me. NOTE TO SALES ASSOCIATE: The key to all engagement is empathy. Acknowledge their concerns, make sure you understand their expectations and then deliver! Next, I’d like to discuss with you strategies that I use when marketing a home.
Let’s start with the online consumer. And no doubt, you have already been online looking what is listed in this area – and also where you are thinking of moving to. So it is important that we give your home as much exposure as possible. I am just wondering, what sites have you already visited? NOTE TO SALES ASSOCIATE: Remember to include the sellers throughout. This keeps them engaged and creates opportunities for trial closes as well as helping to establish buy-in.
Mr. and Mrs. Seller – this schematic shows you the difference between our internet marketing and all others. We are the only broker in Houston that uses a listing distribution platform known as List Hub. We send a special data feed to List Hub and they in turn, distribute your listing to over 900 sites, the largest distribution in the nation. Many of these sites, as you can see from the callouts below them distribute your listing to major newspaper and media channels to give you even more exposure on a local level nationally!Most brokers distribute their listings only through har.com and we do too. We feel that internet exposure is so important that we provide exponentially more exposure. We don’t want to miss one buyer for your home, no matter where they are looking. In addition, online searchers tend to visit multiple websites so that’s why I’ll also ensure your property is displayed on all of these. These are all powerful sites to have in your corner. Mr. & Mrs. ____, are you beginning to see the value of the internet and the impact it has on buyers? We do too. And we do everything to leverage online promotion in our merchandising plan.
One way that our brand recognition can help, is through our national website – driving traffic to your listingHave you had a chance to take a look at our website? [Wait for their answer and respond accordingly] [If they have]– Great ! What did you think? Did you have any questions? [If they have not and they have internet access, you can log onto our site and demonstrate how easy it is to find properties.] – [If time does not allow]– Please do when you have a moment and be sure to give me a call if you have any questions. It really is very easy for people to search for properties at our site. We employ numerous strategies to drive traffic to our site. Any of these visitors could be the potential buyer for your home. Any potential buyer that searches on the national site for a home in our area will be seamlessly directed to our local company’s site. Meaning they won’t just see BHGRE listings, they will see all listings available through the local MLS – which is exactly what they are looking for.
Are you familiar with BHG magazine’s website, bhg.com? This is the site 7 million visitors go each month to locate recipes, learn home decorating ideas and more. We again leverage our relationship with Better Homes and Gardens, for part of our national advertising campaign to build brand recognition.Another plus for you here is that the 7 million visitors each month have the ability to get to your listing in just two clicks when they visit this site. That’s a lot of opportunity, isn’t it?
And just as you have probably driven around the area you are considering moving to, so are the prospective buyers for your home! Did you know that over half of all buyers use yard signs in the home search? The most popular age group for those to actually find a home through yard sign is between 45 and 64. Not to mention that these beautiful yard signs are another way of leveraging the Better Homes and Gardens brand.
And just as you have probably driven around the area you are considering moving to, so are the prospective buyers for your home! What we are most proud about is that Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Gary Greene has more yard signs than any other company in Houston. The benefit to you is buyers contact us via e-mail, text or phone – and if your homes features match their search criteria – we’ll show them YOUR home. Did you know that over half of all buyers use yard signs in the home search? The most popular age group for those to actually find a home through yard sign is between 45 and 64. Not to mention that these beautiful yard signs are another way of leveraging the Better Homes and Gardens brand.Open Houses are a way to increase your exposure and reach out to those who might not otherwise know about it. The ability to advertise Open Houses online instead of just in the Sunday paper, has certainly made them a successful part of today’s marketing strategy.
We advertise our listings locally in the Houston Chronicle Neighborhood News. It’s hard to believe but most buyers that purchase a home live within a 15 mile radius. That’s why local newspaper advertising is far more effective than say, a full page ad in the Houston Chronicle. It has larger circulation but a lower eligible audience. That’s why we believe in local market print advertising and national internet exposure. We want to capture the local buyer and the incoming buyer.Just Listed post cards are sent to the neighborhood because many people that love living in their neighborhood want their friends and relatives to live there too – neighbors are a great resource for helping us find the right buyer for your home. We’ll also send flyers to prospective move-up buyers as well as co-op agents that are more likely to sell your home.Or alternatively, you may say:When you home first hits the market, I will use an arsenal of materials to promote your property. I will create Just Listed marketing materials to reach my database of influencers and prospects. I will also use the latest digital tools to highlight and promote the important attributes of your home to generate buyer interest.NOTE TO SALES ASSOCIATE: If you are online, you can play a sample “Just Listed eCard” or Slideshow.
A lot of agents use direct mail to promote a new listing. Most of the time these mailings are sent to surrounding properties around the listing - which I will do as well. But because of our relationship with Meredith, we have access to a database of over 100 million people where I can determine more likely prospects for your home. This kind of target marketing increases the odds of us finding the right buyer for your home. Through our relationship with Meredith publishing, we have access to a database of over 100 million consumers that we can target by:1. Location2. Lifestyle (first time buyer, etc.)3. And even income levelsUsing this tool, we can determine likely prospects for your property based on their match to our search.NOTE TO SALES ASSOCIATE: At this point, it would be nice to present them with a printout of a search you have already done for their address.Through our relationship with Meredith publishing, we have access to a database of over 100 million consumers that we can target by:1. Location2. Lifestyle (first time buyer, etc.)3. And even income levelsUsing this tool, we can determine likely prospects for your property based on their match to our search.NOTE TO SALES ASSOCIATE: At this point, it would be nice to present them with a printout of a search you have already done for their address.
The Better Homes and Gardens brand name is so powerful to consumers that real estate agents have been using it for years in their ads for properties that they are marketing. Consumers associate quality and desirability with the brand. Exactly what we want potential buyers to think when they learn about your home. Can you see how the Better Homes and Gardens brand will help in marketing your home to potential buyers?
Over the years, I have built a large sphere that consists of past buyers and sellers, friends, professional acquaintances, etc. Each time I add a property to my personal inventory, I let them know about it. Everyone knows someone who is moving and you never know if they would be interested in your home.And since your buyer could be in any part of the world, it makes it even better that Better Homes and Gardens is part of the Cartus Network.The Cartus Broker Network is made up of the best-performing brokers from across the United States and commands market share dominance in major metropolitan areas as well as secondary rural markets.The benefit for you is that we have just increased your buyer pool!Link for Cartus info: http://www.cartus.com/AboutCM/OurSuppliers.aspx?cid=772&sID=86&regID=2&mID=12 The benefit for you is that we have just increased your buyer pool!Link for Cartus info: http://www.cartus.com/AboutCM/OurSuppliers.aspx?cid=772&sID=86&regID=2&mID=12
One of the most important skills I can provide to you is the power of third party negotiation in your behalf.There are dozens of terms and conditions relating to a successful sale and my job is to make sure that all of those meet your needs.
Sales don’t automatically happen, they are meticulously executed at specific dates and times. We are proud to have an online system that sets up your contract on an execution schedule that enables me to timely process and communicate to all parties in the contract – the most important one, of course, is YOU.