Archive for September, 2008

A Simple Technique You Can Use on Free Real Estate Listing Sites

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Visualization is a powerful marketing tool that adds some interest and freshness to your listings. As long as you are careful to avoid exaggeration and discrimination, this technique is very powerful in moving properties.

 

If you are using free real estate listing sites — or any listings – to sell your property, you may want to use a very effective marketing technique known as “visualization.” Visualization simply means using words, pictures or other marketing methods in order to let your reader really “see” themselves living in your property. If you’ve watched any commercials or seen any ads in the past few years, you have already seen this marketing technique in action. Many ads invite you to imagine yourself in a particular way.

 

Visualization is especially effective for real estate because many property buyers use their emotions when buying real estate, and visualization plays nicely on emotion. Also, properties are usually somewhat dry assets to describe – “three bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom” isn’t exactly an enticing promise. Visualization takes your listing copy a little further and infuses it with some personality and life so that visitors to free real estate listing sites will sit up and pay attention.

 

There are several ways that you can use visualization in your listing copy:

 

1) Don’t just use words. Create images and even a virtual video tour from the perspective of the homebuyer viewing your house. Hire a staging company so that the property looks like a home that the homebuyer can picture themselves living in. Offer views that the homeowner may experience. For example, if you are including a video of the property, slowly swing open the back door and pan over the view of the sunset the homeowner could enjoy. This will make the viewer feel as though they are right there, taking in the sunset themselves.

 

2) Let your readers visualize a realistic picture. You can’t make references to lifestyle, choices so you cannot write “imagine your family…” or something similar. Go over your copy again and again to ensure that you don’t make any statements that could be construed as discriminatory or as misleading. Everything must be completely accurate as well – you have no poetic license to change facts.

 

3) Be sure to include specifics. Don’t just paint a pretty picture, but rather include specifics, such as number of bedrooms and details about amenities, in the listing. You want your readers to really picture the property, and in order to do this they need a great deal of sensory detail.

 

4) Use the word “imagine” but consider staying away from “you.” Using the word “imagine” prepares the reader of free real estate listing sites for visualization. However, avoid the word “you” since you can easily make statements that can be seen as discriminatory (for example, if you write “Imagine that you walk through the front door,” people on wheelchairs may feel left out). Instead, focus on the house. Something such as “Imagine this grand Georgian home, welcoming on a warm Savannah evening…” is appropriate and lets you use visualization without excluding any readers.

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How Private Real Estate Investors Are Setting Up Master Lease Deals

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Setting up a master lease deal lets you sublease a property at a profit. To successfully put together this sort of deal, choose your properties carefully, draw up good master leases, and work hard to ensure that the property owner is very happy with the arrangement you have made.

Some private real estate investors who are worried about property ownership in today’s market are arranging master leases that allow them to sublet a property on a room-by-room basis to students and to tenants with special needs. These investors furnish the properties, arrange utilities and rent by the month or week. After they have paid their own rent to the property owner, they are often able to realize a nice profit without having to worry about property taxes, mortgages, insurance, and the other hassles of owning a property.

Private real estate investors interested in finding such a real estate deal can be successful in getting great profits if they:

  • Find the right property. A vacant property is a great option, especially when the owner lives out of state. Such a vacant property is often a liability to the owner, who must pay for taxes, insurance and other costs on the real estate while worrying about vandals and other problems. By offering to sublease the property you ensure that the owner gets some money for the property and enjoys some peace of mind as well. Many municipalities and counties keep lists of vacant properties and these lists are a great place to start your search. Look for properties that are near universities – so that you can rent to students – or near amenities that would appeal to special needs tenants.

§ Contact owners and set up a master lease on a property you think you could sublease out. Consider getting purchase-options on at least one of these properties so that you can eventually become a property owner when the market changes or when you get more comfortable with the idea.

§ Try to set up the master lease for as long a period of time as possible. Try to create a contract that would allow you to renew the lease at specific annual increases in rents. This sort of property deal is for the long term.

§ Look for properties that don’t need much work. That way, you don’t have to start out in the red. If a property does need some clean-up consider covering the initial cost and then deduct it from what you owe the property owner. You can subtract a certain amount of the rents to cover costs. You can also offer to split the costs of the renovations.

§ Make sure that the master lease describes everyone’s duties. In most cases, you will want to make sure that the property owner is the one who is responsible for capital expenditures, taxes, and insurance. Minor repairs – such as paint jobs and cracked linoleum – would be your responsibility in many cases

§ Take care of the property carefully. Screen tenants and inspect the property once on a while to make sure that everything is in good repair. Your goal is to make the property owner happy, and that means no hassles and no damage to the property. This way, when you look for new master lease deals, the property owner will be happy to vouch for your professionalism over all other private real estate investors.

 

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How To Work With A Professional Copywriter To Polish Your Investment Real Estate Listings

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

If you have hired a copywriter to write your listings, provide a good salary and working conditions and work out your needs — using samples – before the writer starts work. Set good deadlines and offer specific feedback at once so that your writer can learn what you need from your copy.

 

If you have decided to outsource writing copy for your investment real estate listings to a professional writer, you may be patting yourself on the back. After all, you have hired someone who can write very well and you don’t have to worry about writing your listings again.

 

Not so fast. Even if you have hired a professional and are now ready to reap the rewards of professional copy, your job is not done. You still need to manage your relationship with the writer for best results. To do this:

 

1) Create an agreement that benefits you and the writer. A written agreement benefits both you and the writer by protecting both of you. In your agreement, be sure to write out everything – the rate you are willing to pay, delivery dates, when you will pay, the length of the listings, how many projects the writer is to complete for you, copyright, and more. If it’s not in writing, it’s negotiable, so do write up a good contract or have your attorney create one for you.

 

2) Set deadlines. Ideally, tell the writer you need your copy a few days before you need it. The extra padding will help you deal with copy that needs editing and with any delays.

 

3) Give your writer good working conditions. Paying a good wage and not demanding instantaneous turn-around times are two good ways to ensure a good working relationship with your writer. If the writer is paid well and is given enough time to complete assignments well, he or she will be happy to put forth their best effort and you will be a highly desirable client. Avoid sending too many emails or phoning too often. Once you have worked out what is needed and delivery dates, it is a good idea to largely sit back and let the writer do the work. An occasional email is fine, however. One caveat: make sure that you understand exactly what you want from your investment real estate listings so that you can communicate this with your writer upfront. No professional writer wants the client who always wants “just one more thing…” Adding an extra line here or there or having to rewrite a part of a listing because a client has changed his or her mind makes the writer’s job harder.

 

4) Offer examples. It is sometimes difficult for real estate investors to communicate exactly what they have in mind for copy. That’s why it’s a good idea to furnish your writer with some examples of copy that you like and listings you like.

 

5) Offer useful criticisms and praise. When you get the first few listings back, offer quick and specific praise. Something such as “I like the fact that these investment real estate listings start with the most unique aspects of each property and use bullet points for basic amenities and features” lets your writer know what he or she is doing right. If you need to offer criticism, be as kind and professional as you can be and ask the writer for a rewrite. Most professional writers are happy to do one edit, although you should establish this in your agreement. Avoid imposing on a writer’s patience and time by always asking for multiple rewrites and edits – it prevents the writer from starting new projects and if you are not paying for edits, it also cuts into a writer’s income. If you need multiple edits, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and establish once again what you are looking for in your copy.

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