Is Your Agent Selling Buggy Whips or Real Estate ?

There are plenty of folks reading this in black and white print who dont use or enjoy computers. Ive had a few phone calls (and letters) from folks who remind me that not everybody has access to the internet.

As a consumer, you dont have to be a technological genius to buy or sell real estate.

Whats most important is to be able to hire someone who will use technology as a tool for you. At this stage in the game, if the real estate agent you are currently using or are planning to use to sell your home cant give you a technological edge youre at a distinct disadvantage. That agent is selling buggy whips in the day and age of electric cars.

Is this pick on real estate agent day? No. You can literally take any business built anywhere in the world and they should have evolved to be using the latest technology so why shouldnt your real estate agent? Those businesses and real estate agents who havent will eventually fade away no different than any other business that didnt evolve.

I run with a nerdy tribe of folks; mortgage brokers, contractors, financial planners, restaurateurs, advertising/public relations agencies. What they all have in common is the ability to promote, find and convert business on the internet as part of their marketing programs. Theres no reason why your real estate agent shouldnt be held to the same standard even if you dont get the internet.

Most home sellers dont understand how the internet works with regard to real estate and what they should expect and demand of the real estate agent they choose to market their real estate. So, for the sake of those who read the paper-paper offline here are a few things you should know and demand as a marketing service to sell your real estate.

These would be deal breakers if I was hiring a real estate agent or helping a family member hire an agent. At minimum an agent should have:

• Their own website, preferably a blog. Why? Because the Google search engine loves blogs and most buyers are searching for your real estate online and you need your home to be found online. The geeks shall inherit the Earth. You heard it here, first.
• Memberships to property listing syndication services where your home will be posted on the important consumer search sites like Realbird. Trulia. Zillow and a couple dozen others that would exceed my word count.
• An iPad or a laptop computer with internet access to actually show you these websites and their blog while theyre sitting at your kitchen table.
• A phone that does NOT flip closed. Perhaps some variation of a Droid or iPhone so they look way cool while theyre reading the email from buyers finding and asking questions about your home online.

If youre a consumer and youre not using computers and technology, you dont even know what you dont know. Those are just the basic four, deal breaker must-haves and yes, there are licensees running around out there fakin it until evolution catches up with them.

So, if you dont have a family member advocate who can help you, go forth and hire the kid down the street with a laptop or an iPad to sit down with you for an hour to check out your agent and their listings online. You should also Google your street address or the address of a property your chosen real estate agent currently has listed.

If you cant find your agents name or the street address of one of their listings cluttering up the first page of Google it means youre buying buggy whips instead of the modern real estate technology you deserve.

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Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. Youll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

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