There are many, many ways to market a property for sale. I will cover the top five that have worked for us. Best of all… they are CHEAP!
1. Flat Fee MLS Listing
2. Offline Marketing
3. Online Marketing
4. Virtual Tour
5. Word Of Mouth
1. Flat Fee MLS Listing
This is an easy and effective way to get your property listed without having to pay both sides of the commission for selling your house. Flat fee listings in the past had a bad rap from Realtors! Realtors would steer clients away from the listings or avoid showing the listings at all. Times have changed and Realtors will gladly show your flat fee listing now. Generally you will pay anywhere from $99 to $499 for a flat fee listing on the MLS. If you sell your house with a flat fee listing you are only responsible for paying the buyer’s Realtor commission. Generally we offer 3% to the buyer’s agent. You will be responsible for filling out the paperwork, taking pictures and negotiating your own contract with the buyer when listing your house with a flat fee company. The buyer’s Realtor will contact you to set up a showing. Flat fee listing is a great way to get your property on the MLS and save you at least 2% in Realtor commission.
2. Offline Marketing
There are many ways to market a property offline. Offline typically consists of bandit signs, info tubes/boxes, tear off flyers in a grocery store and newspaper ads. We are going to discuss the tried and true way to get your phone ringing off the hook… BANDIT SIGNS! We have found that handwritten 18x24 white bandit signs work the best. You should put at least 20 bandit signs around your house, preferably at busy intersections. You want a lot of people to see your signs when they are stopped waiting for the lights to turn green. Below is an example of what could be written on a bandit sign:
MUST SELL
Losing To Foreclosure!
3 bed 2 bath
(555)555-5555
We had over 60 phone calls in 4 days while using this ad on bandit signs, if we do not find a buyer we will lose the home to foreclosure.
**A Word Of Caution**
They are called bandit signs for a reason! Check for local sign ordinances.
3. Online Marketing
There are a lot of real estate websites available. I am going to focus on three sites: craigslist.com, backpage.com and kijiji.com. I refer to them as the big three! You should be posting your house for sale at least 3 times a week. You want maximum exposure and to get your house in front of as many people as possible.
4. Virtual Tour
You can make an easy inexpensive virtual tour of your house using a video camera or Flip Video. You can pick up a Flip Video camera from Best buy for about $100. There are a couple things to keep in mind when filming your video virtual tour! Always start with filming the outside front of the house while saying the address and a little description about the property. DO NOT film every step you take! Talk about the specific area/room that you are filming then stop filming before moving on to the next area/room. Post your video on Tube Mogul, online marketing sites (craigslist.com, backpage.com, etc.) and your blog.
5. Word of Mouth
The cheapest and easiest way to get the word out about your house is to tell EVERYONE that it’s for sale.
I hope you find these top five ways to market a property for sale helpful!
Matthew Lohse is the manager of Today's Real Estate Solutions LLC. Today’s Real Estate Solutions is a real estate company that specializes in finding below market value homes throughout the Chicagoland area. To gain access to our properties please visit:
http://www.BuyHomeIllinois.com Check out more on
The Top Five Ways Of Marketing To Sell A Property! 
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