Advertise your property-NOT the agent! Don't be duped into Unnecessary Advertising!
Some Real Estate advertising is an example of dishonesty in the real estate industry with home sellers duped into spending thousands of dollars of unnecessary real estate advertising through a system known as vendor paid advertising(VPA).
Real Estate Advertising went through a revolutionary change in mid 1980s when VPA was introduced, and allowed agents to transfer most of their marketing costs to the seller, the end user. Sound reasonable and fair? Well like many good ideas this has now become open to abuse, in two ways:
Firstly – agents starting using the VPA to PROMOTE THEMSELVES AND THEIR COMPANIES with significant portion dedicated to themselves and less focus on your property.
Secondly – shifting the cost away from business owner allowed the local and major daily newspapers to convince new clientele, the property seller, that bigger, glossier and more expensive advertising was needed to increase the chance of a sale.
Enter the early 2000s with yet another revolutionary change in real estate property advertising -the internet. The two dominant real estate websites, Realestate.com (Newscorp) and Domain.com (Fairfax) are owned by major media companies. When it began, the standard model involved agencies paying a set fee to the website provider for the right to market every property they had. This was an excellent cost effective model because costs weren’t passed on the sellers. Potential buyers simply enter their search criteria, find suitable properties and contact the agent. As you would expect, and as print advertising began to slow, internet advertising has now become so abused by the companies by duping agencies & sellers into believing that to appear at the top of any search, and have any chance of selling their properties, the sellers must purchase the most expensive upgrades, which can run into thousands of dollars. Make NO mistake, whilst the online advert may look impressive, and your agent will try to convince you that its the only way your property will be noticed, upgraded online property advertisements are a win for the agency only – NOT for the seller paying for the advertising through VPA.
We at Higgins Real Estate don’t believe you should have to pay us to promote your property or entice buyers. WE pay all the advertising costs, the old fashioned way and the way it SHOULD be. Why pay thousands of dollars in the hope that in return you find the right buyer? The right buyer is already looking!
Most buyers begin their property search online. And nothing has changed in that a buyer enters a search criteria, now they can register for updates on all properties in their price bracket, and receive a daily email, whether the seller paid for upgraded advertisement or not! Why would you waste the $$$.
We still advertise on the major portals, but we pay. Before you consider an agency who will EXPECT you to hand over thousands of dollars on unnecessary advertising fees, contact the Higgins Real Estate Lismore sales team, who can show you how we can achieve the highest possible price for your property without you having to empty out your pockets!
