We’ve been in the process of buying a house and over the past few months I’ve realized that many agents don’t really know how to use MLS (Canadian home listings) to it’s best. When your target buyers are becoming more computer and tech savvy, you must make sure the listings are up to par.
So here is a list of a few tips that I came up with while browsing the listings:
1. Communication is key. If your phone number and email are on the listing, then answer your phone and respond to emails fast! And better yet, make sure those emails/numbers actually work!
(True story: I once had to do some googling to find the owner of a house we wanted to see and contacted them directly after numerous attempts
to call the agent failed because they didn’t respond to emails and the phone number listed was actually a fax number.)
2. If you’re listing a house online, include photos! And I don’t mean just the outside shot, but every room. And get all those images before it goes online otherwise it looks like you’re hiding something. It’s not that hard to delay a day or two to just get a photographer there!
3. Find and invest in a good photographer. With the amount of quality media available to people online, and the very high definition screens, we expect photos to look good.
4. Don’t BS the listing description. We know that ‘cozy’ means small, ‘unique’ means odd layout, etc. I know it has to sound good, but keep it honest.
5. LEARN WHAT CAPS MEAN TO COMPUTER USERS!
6. List all the rooms and proper dimensions. We can’t always visualize the size of rooms from photos and we can’t read your mind about what rooms exist but aren’t listed.
7. Realize that automated mapping systems are not perfect. Check your map placement after adding. I’ve found homes that were a good kilometer off of where they actually were.
Have you had your own thoughts on listings? I’d love to hear them!