One of the main costs in selling your home is advertising and marketing. A successful advertising campaign can make or break your chances of success, which is why it’s important to use as many channels at your disposal as possible. If you plan on selling your home at an auction, advertising and marketing are even more important, because you will have only a limited amount of time to reach out to potential buyers before auction day.
Most real estate agent fees will include a specific budget for the cost of an advertising campaign. When you are comparing potential agents, you’ll want to ask about these marketing fees as well as what type of strategy the agent plans to use to sell your home.
Advertising Types and Fees
There are many different types of advertising that can help sell your home. This will depend on your marketing strategy, but could include:
Online websites
Printed flyers and brochures
Newspaper listings
Signage to be placed outside of your home
Social Media
As you start advertising your property, you should expect to pay somewhere in the neighbourhood of 0.5 to 1% of the total value of your property. For example, if you are selling a $500,000 home, you could expect to pay around $5,000 in advertising. This may seem a reasonably large amount, but targeted advertising is an extremely useful tool when it comes to attracting the right kinds of buyers to your home.
Tips for Calculating Advertising Costs
Before you start discussing costs, it’s best to have a discussion with your agent about what your marketing and advertising campaign is actually going to look like. This should include what the plan will actually entail and the time frame.
Unlike other real estate fees, advertising costs are not a set fee. These are usually open for negotiation between you and the agent of your choice. You’ll want to agree to a budget in advance. Your agent will need to be reimbursed for the costs of advertising after the sale, but you can ask to have these costs itemised in a written format that must be pre-approved by both parties.
In most cases, you’ll need to pay for the cost of advertising and marketing whether or not your property ends up selling.
Remember that an advertising campaign’s sole purpose should be to highlight and sell your property and shouldn’t highlight the services of your agent. A good agent who manages a successful marketing campaign can expect to attract clients in the future, and an agency’s reputation can often help sell a house, but you don’t want to make their services the primary focus of the campaign.
Beware of agents who offer everything for free, sometimes this comes down to no experience and you may not achieve the highest price for your home. You may save $1,000 on advertising costs, but you could lose thousands on your sale price.
A good marketing campaign can be well worth the money that you spend. But remember that some of today’s most effective advertising costs very little. Experienced real estate agents usually have client lists or databases that they can use to contact potential buyers that they know will be interested in your area or type of property. They will keep these contacts on hand and follow up when necessary.