Does this happen to you?

The seller signs on the line for you to list their home and off you go to enter the property into the MLS and wait for the phone to ring. Six months goes by and the house never sells, the seller pulls the listing and gives it to another agent to basically do the same thing.

There's more to selling a home than placing a sign in the yard and listing it with the MLS. Selling a property is ALL about marketing that achieves results. And, in today's competitive marketplace real estate agents need a competitive edge - a new way of thinking about selling homes.

Today, the Internet is being used more frequently to promote, advertise, and view commercial and residential real estate for lease or purchase. Many real estate agents promote their properties on the Internet just to remain competitive in the marketplace. And, consumers find the Internet to be a great tool to research properties. With this explosive growth of Internet usage, traditional open houses are becoming more of an option rather than a requirement for selling a home.Many real estate agents say that open houses are just one part of a marketing plan. Others say they’re pretty much a dead end for all but the agents themselves, who use them to “mine” for future buyers or sellers.

While I won’t suggest the Internet will ever totally replace personal contact, the Internet has made available a host of communication channels not practical face-to-face. As a result, today’s real estate professional needs to utilize hi-tech tools that will allow them to better share their services both within their own local market and beyond.

Your potential clients are more likely to utilize your services, including listing their property with you or buying their home from you when they know, like, and trust you. It should be, therefore, one of your main objectives to build that relationship.

For many homebuyers, the first contact with a real estate agent will be through their website. For that reason, you want that first impression to be a good one where you present yourself as a professional worthy of their trust.

Having a website is important, if not necessary today if one wants to remain competitive. One of the biggest complaints people have about many websites, however, is that they can't find the information readily or get an answer immediately to a question.

Websites are also very impersonal. They are generally a one-way flow of communication. Some of the Web 2.0 web properties and social networking websites are doing some about breaking down those barriers, but they are still obstacles to be overcome.

So what is the solution?
One solution is the Virtual Open House where you are able to pro-actively interact and assist your potential clients and customers. Your client gets to make judgments about you and your product based on actual contact with you – you’re not just words on a website.

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