Infotube.net: Homes for Sale - For Sale By Owner (FSBO) - Real Estate Listings

As home shoppers search through listings of homes for sale, nothing screams STALE LISTING, like seeing a photo of your home that was taken during another season. 

If the season’s have changed while your home is on the market, freshen up your listing with new seasonal photo’s.   It’s Free and Easy to Do.

1. For extra appeal, stage the photo with seasonal color or add a pumpkin or two before you snap the picture.   The bonus, pumpkins and seasonal decor can be enjoyed through Thanksgiving. 
2. If your home has features that are more appealing during certain times of the year, such as swimming pools, waterfronts, flower beds and landscape, leave the photo’s, but change the captions to reflect the height of the season.  (ie:  Fun in the Sun 2009, for example).
3. Highlight and rephotograph the area’s of your home that are appealing when the weather is crisp.  Photograph a fire in the indoor or outdoor fireplace.  Decorate the dining room for fall entertaining, then shoot.   Snap a picture of your media room right before the big game.  The goal is to Showoff the features of your home that you enjoy during this time of year.
4. A home/neighborhood video tour is another great way to freshen up your listing and reach a whole new audience, too.  InfoTube.net uploads video tours on its homepage and to youtube.com, bringing your home to the attention of a whole new crowd.

It takes only a few minutes to edit your ad and replace old, dated photo’s.  Freshen up your listing and celebrate the season.  Buyer’s will notice.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  Please feel free to post your comments or questions by clicking the link below.

Property auction

Real estate auctions are a fast and efficient method for selling property.   They work on the principle of competitive bidding and provide an ideal situation for buyer and seller, alike.

The Benefits for Sellers Include:

• Speed- The auction selling process is swift and accelerated. 
• No Negotiations- Auctions eliminate haggling, counteroffers and remove the seller from the pain of negotiating.
• No Home Showings- Buyers are given specific dates and times that the property will be Open to the Public for viewing, before bidding begins.  The process eliminates the hassle’s of showing the home to numerous people, one person at a time.
• Certainty -The seller knows exactly when the property will sell, decreasing long-term carrying costs, such as mortgage payments, taxes, maintenance and insurance.
• Qualification- Potential Buyers are required to Pre-Qualify for financing before they can bid on the property.
• Exposure- Auction exposes property to a wide range of qualified buyers and the aggressive timeline to sale increases interest and urgency.
• Competition-Auctions create competition among buyers.  Due to the competitive nature of auctions, it is not unusual for the auction price to exceed the price the seller would have gotten through negotiations. 
• Real Value- Auction sales are live, real time events.  The auction process assures that the seller that the property was sold at its real market value.
• Serious-Buyers who attend auctions arrive ready and willing to buy.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  Please feel free to post anonymously by clicking the comment link below.

Winner of the Best Sign Award

The first thing buyer’s ask is “How much is your asking price?”   If the price is too high, the buyer will quickly lose interest.  If the price is too low, you will quickly lose money.

In order to price a home correctly, you must understand your local real estate market and your competition.   The goal is to set an asking price that successfully competes with homes that are comparable to yours.   Setting the correct price is easy to do, if you follow these 6 simple steps.

Step 1.   Get to Know Your Competition:  Drive through your neighborhood, and other area’s that compete with yours.  Identify the homes on the market that are similar to the one you are selling, with approximately the same size and age as yours, with the same number of bedrooms, baths and lot size.   Visit local real estate websites, infotube.net, realtor.com, zillow and trulia to verify property details, square footages, asking prices, etc.  These website can also help you find a complete listing of all homes that you may not have found on your drive by search.

Step 2:   Tour Open Houses:  Visit as many open houses as you can to see for yourself how your home compares.  Learn as much as you can about the condition of these homes, such as upgrades done to the kitchens, baths and bedrooms.

Step 3:   Find Recently Sold Properties:   To correctly price your home, you need to know what others like it have actually sold for.   To find out this information, you can visit your local tax assessors office, as housing data is public information.  The internet can also cut down on your homework.  Many tax assessor offices provide housing data online.  You can also educate yourself by reviewing the “Recently Sold” feature at Zillow and Trulia.  While these technology websites don’t have data for every location, they do cover most of the country.

Step 4:  Add and Subtract:  You now have information about property currently on the market and data for recently sold homes.   Evaluate the asking and sales prices, property details, neighborhood ammenities and ask yourself how your home measures up?  

Step 5:  Be Honest and Impartial:   This is the hardest step for anyone attempting to value their own property.   Even Realtors, who price homes for a living, are notorious for overpricing their own homes.  Forget about what houses sold for in the past.  In most area’s, prices have decreased 15-20 percent in the past year alone.   Price your property inline with your competition or it will simply sit on the market.   Only competitively priced homes are selling in this market and buyers will only purchase what they perceive to be a good deal.

Step 6:  Set Your Price:   You have a complete picture of all the homes that compete with yours in the marketplace.   Price your property aggressively from Day One on the Market.   Pay attention to the effect subliminal pricing has on buyers and play to it.  If your competition is priced at $250,000, price your home at $249,000, for example.   Use your knowledge to to set a price that buyer’s can’t afford to pass up.

Congratulate yourself on a job well done!!!  Not only have you determined an asking price for your property, you’ve become an experienced expert in your local scene.  With your knowledge and sense of the competition, you will be able to honestly communicate about your homes’ advantages and disadvantages, when comparing it to other houses in the area.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.

InfoTube homes for sale

InfoTube.net showcases Featured Home Video Tours on its Homepage. 

The user submitted Video Tours rotate on the home page in random order, with a new video appearing upon each visit.   Video’s are also uploaded to YouTube, one of the most heavily trafficked sites on the web, automatically.

“Thousands of visitors begin their search on the InfoTube home page,” said Tommi Crow, President, “this is an ideal time for home sellers to showcase their property in a high traffic location.”  Because the service is new, only a few video’s are in the space right now.   “The timing couldn’t be better for seller’s to enhance their listing with video, and spotlight it on our home page” said Crow.

Video is the future of real estate marketing, so grab your digital camera and show us what you Love about your house.  You have nothing to lose and a lot of additional exposure to gain.

Thank you visiting InfoTube.net and good luck on the sale of your home.

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.

This video done by a home owner in Tybee Island, GA is a great example of using video to sell a home.   This video has been viewed more than 950 times.

The owner did a great job of giving the local flavor and outdoor activites in the area.   He also did a good job of showcasing his home and all it has to offer.

InfoTube.net invites you to upload a video of your home and neighborhood, today.   We will upload it to YouTube for you.

Thanks for visiting InfoTube.net and upload those video home tours today.  Buyers are waiting.

Real Estate

Asheville, NC - (August 5, 2008) –Crow Erickson Inc, the leading manufacturer of outdoor marketing materials for real estate agents, home builders and individual home sellers announced today that www.infotube.net has been enhanced to include “do-it-yourself” video tours of homes for sale. 

Today’s announcement is the latest example of how InfoTube.net is investing in new technology to assist home sellers in today’s market place. 

“Our new video service, with free uploads to YouTube.com, creates a fantastic opportunity for home sellers, real estate agents and home builders to expose their property to a world wide audience,” said Tommi Crow, Founder and President of Crow Erickson, Inc.   “Our technology, combined with the power of Youtube.com, makes it easier than ever to create a video home tour that is accessible from anywhere.”

While it is not news that 80% of would-be homebuyers start their search for a home on the internet, the practice of using video to view real estate is just beginning to boom.  Unlike still photographs or 360-degree tours, video clips add a personal touch that helps home shoppers decide which home might be right for them.  “Our videos are an actual walk-through of the property, just like you were walking through the home yourself,” said Crow.  “The content is user generated and often features scenes from the neighborhood and town, too.  Each video is unique and has a personality all its own, which can really make the task of home screening a lot quicker and more fun.”

Only a small fraction of home sellers and real estate agents take advantage of the marketing potential that video brings to an entirely new audience.   As Crow explained: “While video tours won’t replace seeing a home in person, they certainly provide an exciting opportunity to capture the attention of an elusive creature…today’s homebuyer.  InfoTube is excited to be a part of this powerful, new trend in marketing homes.”

 About Crow

InfoTube.net launches “Do-It-Yourself” Home Video Tours starting Monday, August 4, 2008, as a part of our Featured Home Ad program.

Our goal with video is to drive buyer traffic and provide another avenue for seller’s to reach the largest audience possible.   We will also automatically distributed all video’s to YouTube.com, as a part of our service.

Grab your digital camera or phone this weekend and create a movie about your property, neighborhood and home town.   Video’s are easy to make and a lot of fun to watch.   Best of all, today’s tech savvy home shoppers love video’s!! 

Lights, camera, action, InfoTube.  Let’s Show and Sell.

Thanks for visiting www.infotube.net and best of luck on your home sale.

5 Tips that Home Sellers Can Not Ignore about Marketing to Home Buyers:

1. When you create your InfoTube home ad, remember that the “Headline” is the most important part.   If the headline grabs attention, the person will read your ad, which is what motivates them to call you for a showing.
2. When you write an ad, take the most powerful, effective selling point you can say about your property and move it to the beginning of your home ad.  
3. It’s all about the reader.  Tailor your ad “copy” to your customer by avoiding “I”, “me” and “we”.  Use “You” or “Your” Instead and speak to your audience.
4. Appeal to the Heart.  Buying a home is an emotional experience, which means your marketing should be benefit focused versus property or feature focused.   Try to provide a sense of what it is like to live in the property and stress the emotional benefits the buyer of the property will experience. 
5. Use Verbs, Not Adjectives when describing a property feature.   Instead of saying “large, custom deck,” the emotional approach would be to say “relax on your spacious deck and take in the view at the end of a long day”.

Review the copy in your InfoTube.net home ad and if it doesn’t “speak” to the heart of a buyer, rewrite until it does.   A powerful, well-written ad converts “hits” to “showings” in a buyer’s choice market.

Breaking News:  In order to provide our customers with the most exposure for their home listings, we have hot new feature that will bring your home ad to life, for real.   We are finalizing the testing now, so please check back for the details later this week.  It is really exciting and a lot of fun.

Thank you for visiting www.infotube.net and best of luck on the sale of your home!!!

     When you create an advertisement about your house, use only good photo’s.   Because 90% of all home shoppers begin their home search on the internet, buyers rely heavily on photographs to get a feel for the property.  This means the pictures you post of your home will likely be a buyers first impression. 

When selling a home, the time it takes to get a proper camera angle and lighting of the property will be well rewarded.  Home ad’s with good photographs receive 50% more hits and traffic than those with poor photo’s, or worse case, no photo’s.

In looking through the hundreds of homes for sale on InfoTube.Net, I find that most sellers do an excellent job of photographing their property.    I decided to showcase a few examples of “good and could be better” ad’s that I saw today for your review.  I hope these examples encourage you to look at your home ad and to make changes, if your ad doesn’t present your home in the best light.

Exceptional ad’s opt for a closeup angle of the property exterior, emphasize the entry and show off ammenities that buyers are interested in.   They  make sure that cars, toys, overgrown landscape or other distractions do not block the view of the house and emphasize close up details of tile, fixtures, etc. versus taking a shot of a blank wall or half a toilet.

Some ad’s are simply too dark .  In this example, the seller did an excellent job of photographing and describing the interior room views, but unfortuately the internet shopper may never see the inside photo’s.  The seller placed the dark photo of the front exterior in the first position, which is the only photo that appears in the home search screen.  This seller would benefit from retaking their picture with the sunshining on the front.  They can also edit it in a photo shop program to bring up the light and show off the house details and landscape.  A good example of how a seller can use the sun to highlight the exterior can be seen here.

A frequent problem I see is the photo is taken from too far away.   This often results in views of city sidewalks, streets, vacant lots or other details that distract the viewer from actually seeing the property.   This seller would benefit from moving the mini-van blocking the drive and focusing in on a close up of their home.

In conclusion, take a look at your InfoTube Home Ad from the view of a home shopper.   Does your ad emphasize the house, the neighborhood and the ammenties?  Have you used close ups to showcase detail work?  Have you removed all obstacles that distract from the views?  If not, you may want to take a new picture and present your home in way that will better attract a buyers interest.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net and Best Of Luck on the Sale of Your Home.   We are here to help.