Lake Martin Voice Realty
A Secret Weapon for Lake Martin FSBOs
Are you selling your Lake Martin waterfront home “For Sale by Owner” (aka FSBO)?
Then let me tell you about a secret weapon.
Posterous.com is the best way right now to market your Lake Martin home, condo, or lot on the internet. I agree with its legions of fans that use it because it is SO easy. Once you set up your free account, it’s like having your own blog. It’s simple to add new info and update pages about your property, and it’s also easy to get that valuable information in front of potential buyers.
I use Posterous myself as a way to distribute pictures and quick videos. I’m such a big believer in Posterous, I’ve actually taught a couple of classes to Lake Martin area small business owners on how to use it to help their marketing. Lake Martin FSBOs can also use Posterous to help them sell their homes.
Surveys by Realtor.com prove what common sense tells us – internet marketing is a huge part of the real estate industry. 90% of home buyers use the web before they ever call a Realtor. So if you choose to sell your lakeside home yourself – you need to tap into this marketing engine.
4 cool things about Posterous.com:
1. FREE – it’s free to get an account. Once you have an account, it’s like having your own blog.
2. Easy to add info – if you can send an email, you can add web pages to your Posterous blog. Take a few pictures of each room. Attach them to an email, let the subject be “kitchen” or “lake view” or whatever. Type description in the body of the email. Send the email to [email protected] Do this for every room or vista of your lakefront property. Each email will create a new blog post, and thus go a long way to describing your property.
3. It cuts down on a lot of curious types and can also serve to qualify your buyers. When those tire kickers, or even legitimate buyers, call you for a showing, refer them to your Posterous blog first, so they can check it out before they come physically.
4. Email a video, too! Shoot a clip and email it to your Posterous blog. Posterous will embed the video. So easy.
Granted, a free blog like this will not gain the instant attention from the search engines and social media that an established site like Lake Martin Voice will. Years of work and hundreds of posts have built up credibility for Lake Martin Voice.com and my related pages on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. I don’t blog for vanity, I do it to sell homes, lots, and condos.
Obviously, I would love to help anyone on Lake Martin. But hey, if you choose to sell your Lake Martin home yourself, Posterous is a great tool. So great, in fact, that I rank it as a secret weapon.
If you think you might need some help selling your Lake Martin property, we would love to hep. Contact us here or call at 334 221 5862.
Real Estate Tours: When Video is NOT a Video
I love to use full motion video tours to market Lake Martin homes. I think it’s a cool use of today’s technology, but mostly I love video because buyers and sellers love it.
I know buyers love it, because they constantly tell me. I have been blessed with many people calling me and choosing me to help them find a home around the lake.
Sellers like it, too. When I show them how much a full motion video tour helps spotlight selling points, give context (how do you get to the lake from the kitchen?), and keep buyers’ attention, it’s a no-brainer. They want a video.
When a video is not a video..
Again, I realize all of this is pretty obvious. People want video of homes on Lake Martin or any other real estate market for that matter. Realtors everywhere are interested in doing more video, hence the (very flattering) invitation that ReTechSouth gave me to teach this class on real estate video at their conference in Atlanta.
With so many agents now trying to provide video, sometimes you encounter a slide show that is put in the “Video Tours” link on the Lake Martin MLS. These photo slide shows are also known as “Virtual Tours.” Not the same thing.
Don’t get me wrong, Virtual Tours aren’t bad per se. They are better than nothing. But most of the time when you click on it and watch, you are seeing a photo slide show of the pictures you just viewed, only set to Yanni /John Teshian muzak.
Why would you want to watch a slide show of pictures that you just saw on the MLS, only set to muzak? I don’t know. Like I said, it’s better than nothing and I certainly don’t fault other agents for using them. Just don’t call it a video.
That’s why I take pains (often) to point out that I do FULL MOTION video tours. I shoot them, walking through and around the lake homes WITH A VIDEO CAMERA.
Can you tell the difference?
I have long desired take the same property and to put a full motion video against a cheesy virtual tour, just to show the difference. But the problem is, I don’t do virtual tours. I would have to use someone else’s Virtual Tour as a comparison to my video. I’ve never done it because I don’t want to appear to be negative about another agent. Nor would another agent allow me to post their virtual tour on my blog. So I’ve never had a side-by-side comparison. Again, my goal here is not to criticize but to explain why I go to so much trouble to (attempt to) do a nice video.
Now we can.
Unit 202C in Harbor Pointe is one of my current listings. Therefore I have a full motion tour of it. Coincidentally, I had the same unit listed back in 2006. So – for illustrative purposes only – I have gone back in time and grabbed my pics from the initial listing. Nobody should get their feelings hurt – these are my old pics taken with my old point and shoot. No wide angles, no nothing.
I have created a typical Virtual Tour, and will let you be the judge.
Which one do you like the best? If you were a buyer, which gives you more information? Context? Makes you want to take the next step?
If you were a seller on Lake Martin, which would you want to be used for your home, lot or condo?
Here’s the typical slide show. Now, PLEASE keep in mind – I DON’T DO THESE! It’s for illustrative purposes only! You may want to turn your speakers down a bit – Yanni doesn’t allow any voice overs to mar his sultry Virtual Tours’ insomnia fighting tunes.
What did you think?
Next, here’s the full motion video tour that I did for this condo, and also one I did a few years ago about Harbor Pointe in general. Turn your speakers back up - you can hear a narration description.
How about it? Can you please vote below?
You won’t have to give any personal info. It’s completely anonymous.
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
Lake Martin Homes for Fifty Cents on the Dollar?
A Lake Martin Foreclosure Update
If a cliche gets repeated enough, it becomes empty and loses all meaning. Every male whitetail that we see on the side of the road – especially during hunting season – is an 8 point buck. I’ve never heard different – “Dude, I was driving home last night and I saw this huge 8 point.” Never a 6. Or “I’m not sure.”
Almost every police briefing I’ve ever seen opens with “At this time” and repeats it several times. “At this time we are searching,” or “At this time we are asking,” or “At this time we have in custody.” Of course it is at this time.
“(So and so is) here for the right reasons” – you hear this a lot during recruiting season. Coaches are always so happy because every single player that committed did so “for the right reasons.” All their coaching staff is there “for the right reasons.” Consider the opposite – how helpful would it be to announce that you plan to NOT recruit kids who want to be there for the WRONG reasons. You also hear it a lot on these silly reality shows like the Bachelor. I am sure that you, dear intellectual reader, do not stoop to watch such drivel, so I will let you know that I have heard that every single bachelor since Season One is in earnest search for ladies who are “here for the right reasons.”
That’s a long intro to get to Lake Martin foreclosures.
I bring in these cliches at this time for the right reasons.
Twice this week I have heard a Lake Martin foreclosure cliche. Buyers often ask:
Aren’t Lake Martin foreclosures selling for fifty cents on the dollar?”
(I could riff on the minutiae of this forever. It’s never expressed as fifty percent of anything. Or half of anything. It’s always fifty cents on the dollar. And never 53 cents. Never 47 cents.)
So can you buy a Lake Martin waterfront home for half price? My answer is: “Yes and no.” It depends on what you are calculating. Fifty percent of current listing price? Fifty percent of the original listing price? Or fifty percent of what the builder hoped it would sell for in 2007?”
I hear, “Well, I know for a fact my cousin bought a home in Tallahassee last year, and he told me it sold for fifty cents on the dollar.”
Pause the conversation – let me say here that I cannot blame a buyer one bit for wanting an extremely good deal. If my cousin told me this, or if I saw it on the Today show, I would get my hopes up too.
My job as a responsible Lake Martin real estate agent is to help buyers gather accurate information. I don’t ask these questions to cross examine or doubt them, but to examine the information from which they are making assumptions. Once I start asking questions, if they are working with a real world example of their cousin (instead of just the Today show), the more questions I ask, the more realistic it gets. “Well, he bought his foreclosure in Mediumburg for 150,000 and I know that’s different than Lake Martin. Well, yes, the listing price from the bank was only $200,000. But three years before that, the builder was asking $300,000.”
OK – I see. In a certain manner, I can see the fifty cents on the dollar with that example. Furthermore, I can point to many examples like that with Lake Martin foreclosures on waterfront homes. But, if a waterfront home has already been foreclosed upon, it is pretty rare to sell for fifty percent of the current listing price.
I suppose I could, if I wanted, advertise similar deals going on in the Lake Martin real estate: Lake homes for 50% off! I would have to put in real tiny print “As compared to the wishful thinking listing price of 2007.”
(I can think of several bank stocks that I used to own that I wish still would sell for what they did in 2007.)
That’s why, whether I am helping buyers or sellers, I try to help them concentrate on today’s prices. Today’s situation. Forget yesterday. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to buy a foreclosure, or competing to sell against one. It’s all the same.
Buyers want a good deal. Same as always. Sellers want the best deal for their home. Same as always.
The Lake Martin real estate market is still seeing some new foreclosures on waterfront homes, condos, and lots. There hasn’t been a flood, or a second wave, or anything like that. Taken as a percent of market, we still don’t have as many foreclosures as compared to the rest of the nation.
The foreclosures, short sales, and conventional sellers that we do have on Lake Martin are enough to effect the market, though. Supply and demand.
Would You Like Our List Of Lake Martin Foreclosures?
Click here and fill out the form.
Do you own a waterfront home, lot, or condo on Lake Martin, and are wondering what it might be worth? Contact us here or at 334 221 5862 and we can work you up a free, no hassle, no obligation Comparable Market Analysis.
Buyers From Bogota
Lake Martin truly has international appeal.
I just got off the phone today with a potential buyer in Bogota, Columbia. If I knew how to put the accent on the last a in Bogota, I would. Please forgive my lack of WordPress skills.
I continue to be amazed at the reach of Lake Martin, and the ability of buyers to research from afar. These particular folks are contemplating retiring in the next couple of years, so they are doing their homework now. They have been using my Lake Martin home search tool and also perusing my Best Buy Lists.
They stressed that they are just in the “thinking and dreaming” stage, but that is OK with me. It is not uncommon for buyers to look and research with me for a year before deciding to make an offer on a waterfront home or condo. We chatted a bit, I offered to talk to them anytime, even via Skype, to help them along.
Once I think about it, they are no different that other Lake Martin buyers, or real estate buyers in general. Do you realize that:
90% of home buyers research on the internet BEFORE THEY EVER CALL AN AGENT
Lake Martin Sellers:
You CANNOT miss out on 90% of buyers. You need an agent that dominates internet marketing, not only for Lake Martin, but for YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, YOUR SLOUGH, YOUR AREA. I can’t stress this enough. This is how your home gets found. Period. Call us or contact us here and we will tell you exactly how it will work for you.
Lake Martin Buyers:
Firstly, THANKS for your reading, interacting, and talking to us about your needs. You have made this site far and away the #1 most popular resource on the web for Lake Martin real estate info. We are only 2 agents, but we have a big marketing presence thanks to you. You have kept us focused on giving you content, Lake Martin info, and the best advice we can muster. You remind us to focus on that instead of tooting our own horn about our own sales “records,” our team, our self appointed accolades, or whatever else. Call us or contact us to help you.
We promise to keep the conversation about you and Lake Martin.
Nothing else matters.
I Clean Lake Martin Homes For Free
The other day a person called me about selling their waterfront home on Lake Martin. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to sell or not, and wanted my realtor’s opinion on the price, how to market it, and if any improvements need to be made.
I told her I would head on over to her house and check it out. While I was there I told her I would go ahead and take about 75 pictures and shoot some video for a home tour, just in case she decided to sell.
“Wait!” she said. “It’s not clean! My sister was there last weekend. Let me call a cleaning service.”
I told her that unless there was a fraternity party there, I would be glad to straighten up before I do the pictures and video. She couldn’t believe it. I insisted, for two main reasons:
1. Full motion video tours of homes (not those cheesy “Virtual Tours”), in combination with many nice big photos of lake homes, sell. The video and pictures are some of my most potent marketing weapons, so I want the home to look nice.
2. Lake Martin is big. It sometimes takes 45 minutes to drive from one spot to the other. I owe it to my buyers and sellers to be efficient with my time. There is no need to burn another half day to come back over there and take video and pictures after I have already been there once, especially if all it takes is a little elbow grease on my part.
So I went ahead and cleaned her home for free. It took about an hour. Really, it turned out to be not that bad at all. A little vacuuming, rearranging, and hiding the toys in the closet.
In other words, it was stuff that my wife wishes I did at home.
And for me, it was worth it. If she decides to sell, I already have my media work done. If not – well, hopefully I have made a friend!
Real Estate Mythbuster: Only 3% Of Closings Come From Referrals
Occasionally I am asked, (mostly by potential sellers here at Lake Martin) “Why aren’t you with ReMax, Century 21, ERA, Keller Williams, RealtySouth, (fill in the blank with a franchise).”
Really, it is another way of asking, “How can a little local operation like you sell my Lake Martin real estate as effectively as the big national guys?”
My answer – “National brands don’t sell real estate. People do.”
This is no knock against my many, many friends here at Lake Martin and abroad that work at franchise brokerages. But- if you ask any one of them, I guarantee they will agree – the engine to sales is the agent, not the logo on their business card.
Think about it… we all are members of the same MLS. We all have access to the same internet. We all advertise in the same magazines, road signs, and restaurants.
The Myth of the Nationwide Network
The only thing the franchisers can lay claim to, and they all do it, is this mysterious “nationwide network of agents.” They are talking about their fellow franchisees, all over the country. They infer that, one and all, from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam, they are searching high and low for buyers of your specific Lake Martin home, ready to refer them in an instant to your agent. Really? Ask the same agent when the last time they worked on selling a home in Albuquerque or Albany.
Think about if from the buyer’s end. Let’s say you live in Birmingham, Alabama, and are thinking about retiring to Folsom Lake, California. You heard about it from a friend, or saw it on the news or something.
Now I want you to think very hard about this next question, because it is so critical. It is where sales are gained or lost….
What is your VERY first step?
Will you look in Birmingham’s yellow pages book under “real estate” – then call the most recognizable franchise logo, then ask whatever lucky person that answers the phone to help you with Folsom Lake? Of course not.
Will you be driving down the road, clueless of how to get information, but you see an ad of a big balloon, and decide that is your best source of Folsom Lake info? Not likely.
Will you be watching TV, aimlessly flipping channels on the hopes that you will randomly stumble across a show about Folsom Lake, but you see a Century 21 ad touting their national website, and pin your hopes on that? Silly, right?
I can tell you what your first step will be. You will go to the web and search something like “folsom lake california real estate.” That will be your VERY FIRST step. The internet has changed real estate referrals forever. Pretty much eliminated them.
You say, “Yeah, but I’m special. The average person won’t do that.”
Incorrect. According to the latest National Association of Realtors survey, 90% of home buyers research on the internet before ever talking to a Realtor.
Also, the same survey tells us that only 5% of closings happen through agent to agent referrals.
Only 5%.
There you go. Franchisers don’t dispute these numbers. In fact, they publish many other parts of this survey in their ads. But they don’t talk about the lack of success of referrals as a sales plan because it doesn’t play well with the “nationwide network of agents” part of their pitch to you.
More Mythbusting
I think we can break that 5% down even more. I would be willing to bet, if everyone would lay their cards on the table, that about half of those 5% referred to an agent that they already knew.
You can’t count that as a pure “network” referral.
Also, what about “network leakage?” What about when a franchise member from another town refers a buyer to someone like me, even though they have a fellow agent at the same franchise in my market? If the nationwide network is so great and so efficient, then why break ranks and refer to me?
Simple answer: they didn’t personally know anyone but me and they didn’t want to trust their friend and client to someone they didn’t know, just because they’re a member of the same franchise.
The Numbers Don’t Add Up
Looking back over the years, about 10% of my sales (or DOUBLE the national average) are referrals. Why? Because agents that I don’t know can find me more easily on the web than other agents. Agents that I do know can be assured that I will treat their friends fairly, they won’t be embarrassed to refer to some yokel that they don’t know (as opposed to me, a yokel that they do know 
).
OK, then. I hear your next question: why are some agents at franchises, and paying (in some cases) 7% of their commissions to get referral leads that only account for 2.5% of their sales? I can’t tell you. I have no clue. I think the franchisers do a good job glossing over the myth and selling them on other “technologies” and training. Again, look out on the web for 10 seconds and you can find plenty of awesome free training and also the best real estate conferences cost about $150.
Back To The Seller
But as a someone who might be selling their Lake Martin waterfront property, do you really care about all of this? No. The only thing you care about is lead generation – getting A person to buy your ONE property, here at Lake Martin.
There are other great agents here at Lake Martin that work at franchises. I can think of reasons why you might choose them, instead of a private company like me.
Just don’t choose them based on the myth of the referral, because you’re betting on a long, long long shot.
Other Agents Please Read This Before You React
Most of the agents (at Lake Martin and abroad) that I admire, follow, and receive advice from are members of franchise brokerages, so don’t say I am a hater.
Don’t think for one second that I am downing the whole business model, because I am not. I can think of plenty of reasons why you might join a franchise: work with people you trust, great location, great mentors, just to name a few. But all of these reasons are locally based, not nationwide.
I recently referred a seller to a Century 21 agent in Tallahassee, not because of his affiliation with the national brand, but because I read his blog obsessively. I believe him to be a knowledgeable, high energy, high protein Realtor in the residential side of that market. (Here’s the best commercial real estate broker in Tallahassee, also a member of a franchise.)
I am a firm believer that this little thing called the internet has changed the way we shop for real estate forever. It has underscored the concept that all real estate is local. That is why I cannot justify paying for leads and training that don’t make economic sense.
It doesn’t make sense for me, right now, in this market. For other people, in different times, or in different markets, I can totally see why they would work for a franchise.
Who knows, maybe one day that will change for me, too. But if I make that decision, it will be based on the question:
Will this help me help more people, more than it will cost me to do it?
2 Ways Creative Marketing Sells Specialized Real Estate
Are you selling “specialized property” on Lake Martin?
If so, you need to 1) lead with creativity, then 2) knock ‘em out with information.
Let me explain . . .
In mid 2009, a regional bank foreclosed on a waterfront home on Lake Martin.
I was honored to be selected as the listing agent. But as soon as I walked through it the first time, I knew it would be a special property that would take some ingenuity to find the right buyer.
Let’s face it – vacation homes on Lake Martin, or anywhere for that matter, are pretty specialized properties. Each one is unique, with its own set of selling points and challenges.
But the home on Castaway Island road was doubly so. First, it was a leased lot home. Secondly, its location in the Castaway Island community might seem awkward at first glance.
1. The Lead – Creativity
I knew I had to get some attention to the property fast, so I turned to video. I love video as a medium to highlight the Lake Martin area and my listings in particular.
Normally my listing videos are pretty formal. I move slowly through the property, with narration and soothing music playing in the background. But I felt this wouldn’t do for the Castaway home. Check it out:
As you can see, I went with a more avant-garde, home movie feel. I offered to buy someone flip flops. I felt this captured the feel of the community. That’s what is so fun about having a home there: being able to walk to the marina, the restaurant, everywhere, with your family. I knew this from growing up nearby, and visiting friends there now. I knew that the eventual buyer would be someone that would appreciate this.
Hey, I’m selling lake homes! Can’t I just let loose and have fun sometimes? Now that I had the market’s attention, I went for the:
2. The Knock Out Punch – Great Information
Let’s face it, fun might get you to splurge for a pair of goofy flip flops, but creativity alone won’t spur you to make the investment of a lake home for your family.
Especially this one. It’s affordable price was explained by the fact that it is a leased lot home. This means that you own the bricks and sticks, but pay a modest monthly lease amount to Alabama Power for the lot.
For people that are new to Lake Martin, the concept of leasing dirt, and buying the home that sits on it, can be puzzling. Let me be plain, I have talked to many long term lakers that have no clue about it either.
Solution? Information. I wrote and researched about leased lots on this blog. I talked to Alabama Power leasing representatives. I reviewed the current lease, and proposed lease renewals. I talked to lawyers. I interviewed people that have been leasing for years and years.
The result was I was able to help the buyer get educated on the process, thus removing the uncertainty of the unknown. Voila.
What about you?
Do you own a waterfront home, lot, or condo at Lake Martin that is highly specialized? Concerned that you can’t find an agent with sufficient creativity to market it properly? Contact us, we would love to take a swipe at it.
Or are you a buyer, and have you been told you are too picky? Can’t find what you want? Have you made offers, but have been told you’re crazy? Call us, we may be just crazy enough to take on the challenge.
Call Me a Lake Martin Real Estate “Interventionist”
Need a Lake Martin real estate intervention?
I really like idea behind the HGTV show, Real Estate Intervention. It’s real. It’s practical. And like a lot of these real life intervention shows, if I had any sense I would buy copies to make my kids watch when they become teenagers.
My wife and I were joking that we could make a show about Lake Martin waterfront home sellers - The Lake Interventionist: Helping Sellers Get Rid of Their Unsold Properties By Any Means Necessary. I could be the interventionist, the one that sits down with the sellers, holds their hands lovingly, with dewy eye, and tells them that they need some help.
We could sit around the living room of their Lake Martin house, and instead of friends and family, I could bring with me some local “experts” to address the holy trinity of real estate:
1) Staging. Bee Little could pat them on the back and encourage them to de-clutter and remove their yard gnomes.
2) Pricing. My dad (Walter Coley) or Ron Morgan (Lake Dog Appraisal) as appraiser could give them the hard news: “It ain’t worth what it was in ’06.” If they’re a spec builder, this might include a (loving) slap and a stern “I don’t care what you’ve got in it.”
3) Marketing. Pan back to me and I’ll explain that no matter the bad news, there is a way out! There is a path to success. Market hard – with first class videos and online marketing. Forget billboards and newspapers. (Print advertising is as dead as the Boston Globe.)
Sure – I’m farming out the tough love and I get to be Mr. Cool. But what’s the point of having your own show if you’re not the hero of every episode?
