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Open Home has done rather well as a procedure that draws prospective buyers towards residential listed properties. However, the fun component begins when you turn the open homes into a kind of an event, may be a complete carnival. Steven Cross for the Real Estate Business writes that top agents have found open homes to be quite a show.

Virtual styling or property styling is the new phenomenon of the real estate market, quite a shrewd piece of thinking by the sellers really, but a little unethical if you look into it. An article on the Australian Property News describes how stylists help vendors beautify their homes with “virtual furniture” for showcasing them to prospective buyers.

A real estate agent or a realtor is nobody’s friend. In virtually any case, barring an exception, he acts in his own interest. Though we may be influenced to think otherwise, the above statement happens to be a fact. Rob Balanda for the Property Update asserts that there is no guilt involved in acting in one’s own interest and the entire globe runs on the same philosophy of “me first and then the world”. The agents can certainly help many buyers and sellers in the way despite following the Me-First philosophy.

In a recent article for the Property Observer, Terry Ryder talks about print media advertising for real estate agencies. He cites the example of a Melbourne based agency that decided to stop all printed newspaper advertising. In their words, advertising in newspapers is somewhat “Jurassic” in nature.  Have you tried looking for a 4 bedroom apartment in Double Bay using a printed newspaper recently?

The question of many is that why has it taken so long for such agencies to actually realise the importance of online marketing for real estates as opposed to newspaper ads. There are a few real estate agencies that have been doing their advertising online for around 10 years now. These days, clients are becoming outraged that some agencies still charge them a huge amount of money for advertising.

Real Estate Agencies’ Ulterior Motives for Print Media Real Estate Ads

There are speculations that some agents get a commission for every ad that they refer to a newspaper company. If you also notice, it is usually the real estate agency’s own logo that is most prominent, rather than your home that they are trying to sell. So the agency really gets free advertising using your money.

The Convenience of Online Marketing for Real Estate

By doing online marketing, it is easy for buyers to filter the property that they are interested in. They can filter location, price and type of property. Not only that, most people these days would like to browse through pictures of the property first and save a lot of time and energy. No longer will they have to visit each property to have a good look.

So, if a real estate agent advises you to spend tons of money for newspaper advertising, I agree with Terry Ryder: kick this agent out and hire a new one.

Read the full article here.

Real estate agents seeking newspaper ads to display their clients’ properties may not be your best bet, claims Terry Ryder in an article for the Property Observer.