Flat Fee MLS Blog

Given the slowdown in home sales, it often takes more than 130 days or 4 months to sell a property.   If your home has been on the market, as the season’s have changed, now is time to update your marketing material.  Good news is it is free, quick and easy to do.

First, if you are using photo’s of your home that were taken during spring or summer, you should immediately replace them with a current picture.   As we are all aware, little compares to the marketing power of a picture to attract or turn off a home shopper.  And, nothing screams STALE listing like an old photo taken out of season.

You can leave the summer photograph of a swimming pool, flower beds or other feature’s about your home that show off the beauty or quality of life in other seasons.   But, change the captions to reflect the fact that the pictures remain to fully illustrate all ammenities your home offers.  For a swimming pool caption example, consider changing your caption to read something like “Summer fun and Poolside entertaining 2009″.

Changing photographs in your InfoTube.net home listing is quick and easy.  Just log in to the homepage with your user name and password.  Edit your ad and upload the new photo’s.  Then, Save and you are done.

To update your MLS listing photo’s, send the new pictures, along with your request, in an email to your listing broker.  They will handle the changes for you.

Don’t sell yourself short with an old photo that sticks out like a sore thumb.  Out of season photo’s simply mean that your house has been on the market for months and you don’t care who knows.

Update those photograph’s today and make your listing look brand new. 

InfoTube.net  is now providing a Free Featured Home listing with video tours and 20 photo slideshow to all Why 6 Percent MLS customers.

The InfoTube.net homes for sale website, combined with a flat fee MLS listing places your property in front of millions of home shoppers each month.    But, in a difficult housing market with far to few buyers and far too many sellers, there is another way to reach millions of new buyers per month…Video.

Making a Video about the benefits of living in your home is easy and fun to do.   Dust off that digital camera you don’t often use, and put it to work selling your home to a whole new audience.

Tips for Shooting a Good Video Home Tour without Editing:

1. Plan Your Tour and Your Shots:   Decide what property features are important and how you will highlight them visually.   Make sure you clean and stage the area’s that will be on video so your house looks its best.   Plan the order of the shot in the same sequence as someone would tour the home.  Start with the front walk up, entry, etc. to make your video easy for the viewer to follow.
2. Get familiar with your camera. The on-off switch, zoom and record buttons.   You can pause between scenes by touching the “shoot” button and resume filming by touching it again.  (Practice a little to see how the camera works inside your home.)
3. Use the video camera like a still camera.  You can walk with a camera, but the video will be shaky. Keep the camera as still as possible.  A tripod is an excellant tool used to steady the shot.
4. Shoot 3 Basic Shots of each Feature:  Start with a Wide Shot to establish the location.  Zoom slightly to use a Medium Shot to follow action or frame a view or scene.  Use a Close Up shot to show off a detail or something special.
5. Watch how much you zoom.  The camera registers better if you move closer to the subject, versus just zooming in.  Also, avoid using the zoom if you are hand holding the camera.   You won’t be able to keep a steady shot.
6. Try to shoot at least 10 seconds for each shot.   If you are panning the scene, 10 seconds will produce a nice flow and the viewer won’t get sick trying to watch while the room spins.
7. Lighting is a must.   Do not shoot toward a bright window.  Lower the blinds and turn on all the lights, if you can’t get another angle.  Lamps or drop lights aimed at the subject and positioned behind the camera are an ideal way to light your space.  If shooting outdoors, try a cloudy day, early morning or late afternoon when harsh sun won’t wash out color and details.  Also when shooting outdoors, make sure the subject is facing the sun.
8. Plan to bring emotion and life into your presentation.   Include historical facts, neighborhood shots, nearby attractions, special views, street scene’s, neighborhood schools and parks, splashing hot tubs and roaring fires.   Add fresh flowers in the kitchen and dining room.  Set the dining room table.  Place candles around tubs and fireplaces.  Add color outdoors with inexpensive hanging baskets or pots of flowers.   You don’t need to plant them unless you want to.  You can hide the pots in the dirt or behind shorter plants.
9. Time the Video.   The majority of viewers will not sit through a video longer than 3 minutes, unless it is really compelling.
10. If can have a lot of fun Editing, if you have a newer computer.  Movie Maker is Free on Microsoft software.  IMovie is free on Apple.  While you don’t have to edit to make a great video, editing is great for adding captions, music or voice overs, or selecting the best scene.  We will discuss editing and special effects later next week.

Video’s don’t sell a home all by themselves, but they certainly attract serious buyers.  Do yourself a huge favor and upload your home video tour to InfoTube.net today…we will put it on Youtube for you.

Thank you for visiting why6percent.com.  Please feel free to post questions or comments anonymously by clicking the “comment” link below this article.

Your property’s photos “pix appeal” or attractiveness in photos posted in online listings is as equally important as “curb appeal” is from the street. Over eighty percent of home buyers used the Internet last year to search for a home, and nearly 25% reported that they first found the property they purchased on the Internet, according to a National Association of Realtors survey.

Without pictures buyers are much less likely to go see a house. In most cases-85% of the time-online photos are the first  view of a home. Photographs are powerful bait. Good ones can lure buyers; poor ones can turn them away.

Follow these tips to create flattering photos of your property:

1. Lighten up-shoot exterior shots in the middle of the day when the sun is shining and the sky is blue is your best bet. Interior shots are best with all the lights on and using a flash. The flash adds color correction and eliminates the shadows, making the room look brighter.

2. More is better-Buyers want to see more than just the front of the house. They want to see all the rooms and the backyard. Include your home’s best features, such as a home theatre/media room or an exercise room. For condos include shots of your unit’s interior, as well as photos of amenities such as a pool, tennis court or gym. If you have spectacular views, by all means, include them.

3. Get clear shots-remove clutter before photographing it. Remove all distractions, fridge magnets, children’s toys, dirty dishes and clear all counters. Spend some time moving things around. Outside shots-remove garbage cans and take the car out of the driveway. Try not to include utility poles, wires and other homes in the scene.

4.Go Pro- If you are selling without a real estate agent or aren’t handy with a camera, hiring a professional photographer may be the way to go. Examine samples of their photos before you make your choice. You can use Microsoft Live Search Maps at no cost to show buyers a bird’s eye view of your community.

5. Give it your best shot-Quality counts when taking photos, a camera with wide angle lens is ideal, but point and shoot digital cameras can also do the job.

For a clear photo, place digital cameras on a tripod or something solid so the camera doesn’t shake when the shutter goes off. Set the camera on its highest resolution. Never use less than 72 dots per inch for online photos.

6. Edit-If you didn’t get a good shot, you can fix it with basic photo editing software. Crop out ceilings or unnecessary background and adjust the brightness and contrast or edit in a sunny day.

There are a number of free Web sites that can make editing a snap. Some to try are www.Snipshot.com, www.picnik.com and www.Pixenate.com.

Remember, clear out the clutter and then snap the shutter!

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