Strategies to Sell a Property Fast

[Katrina Cabral]

Been racking my brain trying to think of all the ways to get my place sold. A few things that I have come up with - not sure if they would have any effect at all - are:

Offer a higher commission than the traditional 3% to a buyers agent with the hopes that buyers agents would steer their clients to my place.

Do a 3D/Virtual walk through to increase odds of out of state buyers who might be willing to buy sight unseen. I'm frustrated that my agent has not done this.

Do a YouTube video. Ive seen these on YouTube featuring houses - mine isn't spectacular but seems like it could help. 

Since this feels like a numbers game and all I need is the for the 'right' person to see my property - does it matter if my place is listed with a small agency vs a large agency. I'm currently listed with a small agency and spoke with an agent from Compass realty, he said that they sell more properties than any other agency in the nation. And said that listing with a large agency gets more visibility. Is there any truth to this?

My agent said that they advertise on social media - but he did not and it seems they do not. Another agent contacted me and offered to the same - I asked him to send me a link to an example of a Facebook or Instagram ad of one of his properties and got crickets. Seems like social media advertising is just lip service in the industry?

Any other strategies that I should consider employing? Please don't say lower your price. I'm looking for strategies that I can employ besides lowering the price. 

My property is unique. Address is 2500 Kalakaua Ave #201 & 206 combined, Honolulu HI. Asking $450K. I AirBnb it while I try to sell it. I'm new to Airbnb so  trying to figure out how best to get it booked up. Every other unit in the building is booked out months in advance. This is the largest unit in the building at 1,544 sq ft interior and a lanai that's almost 1,200 sf. It is smack dab on the beach in Waikiki with awesome views and the sound of the waves. It has so much potential - a large primary residence, split it back up and live in one and rent the other, or sell one and keep the other, or sell both, or rent both, or rent the entire combined unit. If any one is interested in buying it off market then I would love to discuss. 

[Mason Hickman]

@Katrina Cabral

There's usually two major reasons something isn't selling: ineffective marketing or bad pricing. 

I would go back to your original listing and review the photographs and ask yourself the following questions: are there enough photos, are they professional quality or taken by your agent with their smart phone, are they staged well, were the photos taken at the best time of day, are they recent and current to the season you are in, have you included any photos to showcase the lifestyle and community, are the photos representative of reality?

Go back and read your property description. Will the listing make the buyer want to move right in or is it a cold and uninspired description of the house specs? The purpose of the writeup is to help the prospective buyers imagine themselves living in the space, not explain information that is already captured elsewhere in the listing.

Have your agent gather honest feedback. Assuming you had buyers tour the property or your Realtor held open houses, you should review the agent feedback you received from each prospective buyer. Oftentimes in the written agent feedback, buyer agents will not want to be negative, so it is worth having your Realtor call the buyer agents in order to gather more candid feedback. Your Realtor should ask what the buyers liked and did not like about the property and why they decided against putting in an offer.

The other items I would be asking or insisting on are:

• - Plan an open house and invite all the neighbors. They may know someone that wants to move into the area. Confirm all the major real estate search tools advertise your open house.
• - Have your agent email your new listing to all contacts in their database to drive additional interest.
• - Canvas the neighborhood with “Just Listed” postcards and advertise in community publications.
• - Have your agent create an email marketing campaign to send to all agents who are actively working with buyers in the area.
• - Submit the house to the broker housing tour.
• - Launch a targeted advertising campaign on Facebook, Instagram and other social media outlets.
• - Create a video walk-through and post it to the MLS, Youtube, and social media sites.
• - Ensure your agent posted the property to your multiple listing service ("MLS") and it has syndicated to all other real estate affiliated websites.

AND price it competitively.....