Important Optional Marketing Components

If you have purchased the USRealty.com REALTOR.com® Showcase Listing, your property will be listed on our website and other partner real estate websites and on REALTOR.com®, the aggregated, national, public access website for all MLS listings. The REALTOR.com® Showcase plan gives you the added marketing advantage of exposure on the largest national real estate website, with over 6 million visitors every month. A Showcase listing allows you to display a slideshow of up to 25 photos and to upload a virtual tour if you have prepared or purchased one.

REALTOR.com® Showcase listings are activated and handled by an independent, non-local real estate broker/ agent outside your area who will contact you in order to contract with you separately from your USRealty.com listing.  The MLS listing will include a contact phone number of the broker/agent for buyers or buyer's agents to call.  The MLS listing agent will forward all inquiries to the Seller for.

Your home must be listed on a local MLS to appear on REALTOR.com®. but it is not necessary to list it in the MLS that is local to your home. The listing on REALTOR.com® involves an open, non-exclusive authorization with a licensed broker to list your home on an MLS outside your area. The terms of any agreement between you and any independent real estate broker/agent are not endorsed, recommended, or otherwise known to or by USRealty.com. You are solely responsible for reviewing, understanding, and complying with the terms and conditions of such agreement(s). MLS listings require that a buyer's agency commission be paid by the seller to a real estate broker who assists you in finding a buyer. Remember, it is unlikely that any local agent will see your listing on REALTOR.com® because agents search the local MLS for listings and yours will be listed in an MLS outside your area.

However, it is possible that a buyer who is represented by an agent will see your listing on REALTOR.com®, tell their agent about it, and have the agent contact you. When signing the open Listing Agreement, you must specify a commission that you are willing to pay to an agent who brings you a buyer. We recommend 1%, but remember that this is an open agreement and you may increase the commission if you choose to show your home to a buyer with an agent who requires a higher commission. Please consult the listing real estate broker/agent for further details about the REALTOR.com® Showcase Listing.

If you have purchased the USRealty.com Flat-Fee MLS listing plan, your property will be listed not only on our website and other partner real estate websites, but also on your local Multiple Listing Service (MLS), where it will be seen by real estate agents and brokers.  Your listing will also be automatically placed on REALTOR.com®, the national public access website for the MLS where potential buyers will be able to see you property. The MLS Flat-Fee listing plan gives your property listing the widest online marketing exposure possible.

You will not be required to pay the real estate agent any additional fees for the MLS listing. However, the real estate agent may offer you additional local options that might give your home additional exposure at additional expense.

The MLS listing agreement will permit an agent to place your home on the MLS where other agents will see it and be encouraged to bring potential buyers to your home.  The MLS listing will include the Seller's phone number so brokers/agents will contact the Seller directly with inquiries. The terms of any agreement between you and any independent real estate broker/agent are not endorsed, recommended, or otherwise known to or byUSRealty.com. You are solely responsible for reviewing, understanding, and complying with the terms and conditions of such agreement(s). All MLS Service listings require that a buyer's agency commission be paid by the seller to a real estate broker who, responding to your MLS listing, assists you in finding a buyer. When signing the MLS listing agreement, you may decide the amount or percentage of the buyer's commission. Typically it is between 1 and 3% of the sales price. Please consult the listing real estate broker/agent for further details about MLS rules and regulations in your area.

Once you have a good photo and have written a good description of your home, creating an ad for a local newspaper is easy and relatively inexpensive.

When considering the cost of local newspaper advertising, or any marketing, it is important to remember that even though you may spend some money on it, if you are successful you may save many thousands of dollars on the commission.

Remember, by using various methods to market your home, you'll attract more buyers and dramatically increase the amount of traffic to your home.

The biggest, most successful companies know that advertising is crucial to any product's success. When the product is as tangible as your home, it is imperative that a resource like local newspaper advertising be utilized.

In spite of the internet's reach, many potential buyers still primarily search local newspaper ads for their next home. This is a great way to attract more buyers to your house. Newspaper classifieds remain one of the most effective means for gaining information about homes for sale to consumers.

The Newspaper Association of America states that over 80% of consumers actively involved in buying a house had read a local daily newspaper in the past week, with five out of six having read a Sunday newspaper in the past month. After the internet and lawn signs, the next most valuable source for attracting buyers to your home is classified advertising. 

Tips for Composing Your Newspaper Ad

• Know your competition. Before writing your ad, it always helps to read similar ads currently running in the newspaper. However, don't be misled that your ad must look exactly like theirs, which may not be well-written.

• Make your ad stand out. Choose templates featuring attention-getters such as icons, bolding, and larger headlines. Direct readers to your online USRealty.com listing where they can view all your photos and property details and immediately schedule a Home Visit.

• Frequency matters! The more days your ad appears, the more people will see it and the faster your home may sell. Sure, it's more money, but remember, your ad is an investment which represents a tiny cost relative to the gains to be made from saving the commission.

• Always include a price. Many general section readers won't respond to an ad that doesn't include a price.

The following points which we made above about preparing your Home Description pertain to your classified ad as well and are worth repeating:

• Description sells! Obviously you will need to list the basics about your home such as the number of bedrooms, baths, fireplace, two garages, etc. While keeping in mind that every word costs you, find a way to list the extras that caused you to buy your home in the first place. It may be the finished basement or the wonderful deck. It could also be the sunset in the western sky from your back porch. In this case, you only have to say “great sunset.” The reader will get the point. Also be sure to list the major upgrades you have made since you have lived in your home, especially those that were made recently. Remember, your ad needs to motivate the reader to go to the website or the phone to call for an appointment.
• Avoid cute abbreviations. While you will need to make basic abbreviations in order to save space and money, it is important that you don't make the ad too difficult to understand. You should use abbreviations for common terms, but be careful to spell out uncommon names and/or terms used in your ad. Real estate agents use abbreviations such a WBF (wood burning fireplace) or MB (master bedroom). We recommend being careful with abbreviations. If the reader of your ad is not familiar with real estate abbreviations, they may go completely over his or her head and cause the reader to move on to another ad, and that is not in your best interest. It may be better to spend a few more dollars on the ad and make it crystal clear what you are selling.

• Avoid ANY negative statements such as “the home needs some work” or “great buy as the neighborhood is coming back.” Sometimes a seller thinks that it helps to promote the home to people looking for a bargain and identify that the home might need “some work or repair” or that the location is not in the best area of town. We do not recommend this at all.

Most buyers are smart, and the price will tell a potential buyer the condition of the property or whether or not the location is desirable. We recommend that you always focus your advertising on the positive aspects of your property and use positive language. Words such as cozy, charming, comfortable, spacious, distinctive, and convenient go a long way toward promoting your home in a positive way. You don't want to use words that will turn someone off, even subconsciously, while they are reading the advertising. Remember, use words that will motivate them to want to see the property.

Mentioning that the property is being sold “privately” or “by owner” automatically sets up the thought that the buyer might save money by dealing direct. This gives you another advantage in the marketplace over homes listed with traditional real estate brokers.What should the content look like? To summarize, we suggest that the content of your newspaper ad be similar to the information contained in your flyer. It should include:

• A great photo of the home.
• Identification that the property is being sold privately.
• The exact location of the property.
• The price and any special financing available such as the owner taking back a second mortgage.
• The most important features and benefits of the property.
• The number of bedrooms and baths in the property.
• Your Open House times and dates, if you are holding one.
• Include your contact phone number and the USRealty.com website with your property ID listing number so potential buyers can easily find your property online or call you for more information.

Many homeowners have the skill and ability to produce a short video tour of their home and duplicate it on CDs. When a buyer comes along who shows real interest in the property, the homeowner can give the potential buyer a copy of the CD.

The obvious advantage to this marketing tool is that the potential buyer can view your home over and over again, even with friends and family at private showings. The more a potential buyer gets familiar with your home, the more likely he or she will return and possibly make you an offer.

However, unless you really know what you are doing, a video tour can be a risk. Remember, any marketing materials that are poorly produced will create a negative impression on a prospective buyer.

All our listing plans include a 'slide show' of the photos you provide when you create your listing so buyers can see all your photos.

There are many websites that will list you home for free. Each will have different terms and conditions for listing and may vary in the content you can provide, number of photos, etc. You should always review the Terms and Conditions for Use of any website and be knowledgeable about how the information you post will be used, but we encourage you to look into what online listing services might be available to you locally or nationally. Your listing plan includes a listing on Craigslist which is well-known as a site many people search for and list homes for sale. Look into what other sites are available to you by searching online for “free real estate listings.”