Latest / Living in Tahlequah with Edna Kimble / Importance of Social Media When Selling Home | Why your Facebook matters...

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Importance of Social Media When Selling Home | Why your Facebook matters... · Living in Tahlequah with Edna Kimble

• 0:08
  Hi everyone, welcome to today's episode where
• 0:10
  we're going to talk about why social media is
• 0:14
  one of my favorite things when it comes to trying
• 0:16
  to sell your property. And then we're also going
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  to talk about why social media is one of the
• 0:22
  most hateful things. when it comes to trying
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  to sell your property, the dos and don'ts of
• 0:27
  social media. So let's kind of jump in. So we've
• 0:31
  talked before about things that you want to be
• 0:34
  cautious of, of having in your home, but something
• 0:37
  that we are seeing a growing trend of is that
• 0:41
  homeowners are posting things on social media
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  that really has no place to be on there. So we're
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  going to kind of go through those. So one of
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  the first things is personal information. When
• 0:53
  you share your Realtors videos or photos that
• 0:59
  they've taken, that's amazing and that's fantastic.
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  But I do want to caution you on that is a lot
• 1:06
  of times what will happen then is potential buyers
• 1:10
  potential scammers or trolls will then reach
• 1:13
  out to you directly and it sounds amazing. They're
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  like, hey, I really love your home. Can I come
• 1:21
  by Sunday after church? This is really not a
• 1:25
  great plan for you because are you capable of
• 1:29
  asking your church friend Do you have any money?
• 1:32
  Do you qualify for purchasing this home? And
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  then it becomes very, very awkward for you. So
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  in our listing agreement when I list, I do point
• 1:42
  out the fact that you are giving me complete
• 1:44
  control over marketing and that you're agreeing
• 1:47
  to not show your own. property. Now that it is
• 1:52
  your own property and you can absolutely do what
• 1:54
  you choose to do, but in our agreement you're
• 1:57
  saying that you won't. And the reason we have
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  that in there is to protect you in this situation.
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  So when someone from church or from work or a
• 2:06
  family member says, hey, I would like to come
• 2:09
  and look at the home, then you can reply, oh,
• 2:13
  I'm so sorry, our realtor doesn't let us do that.
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  You have to contact her directly. but take it
• 2:19
  up one notch and say, let me call her and have
• 2:22
  her call you. Because unfortunately, guys, when
• 2:25
  they are going through you directly, there is
• 2:28
  usually a big ask, would you consider owner financing?
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  Would you consider lease purchase? Would you
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  consider... Let's move in. Or do you want to
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  give it to us? It is the weirdest thing how people
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  think because you know them and you like them
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  that you're going to completely trust them and
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  turn your home over to them. So just be very,
• 2:53
  very mindful of that and think about when you
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  are looking at a really large ticket item, are
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  you going to just blindly go in and do that?
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  with someone just simply because you know them
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  or you're gonna get the financing part and all
• 3:08
  of that out of the way prior to locking it down.
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  So be mindful that when you repost or reshare
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  or put your own spin on the marketing that when
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  people contact you directly, you want to have
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  a ready answer for it so you don't get caught
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  bringing people home after church or after work
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  to look at your home and not knowing if they
• 3:30
  actually can't afford it. Okay. The second one
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  is financial documents, leaving checkbooks laying
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  around, leaving your mail laying around while
• 3:41
  people are walking through your home, or if you're
• 3:44
  taking photos and videos and posting them online
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  and having that stuff laying around. That's why
• 3:51
  we do professional photos on our team is we are
• 3:54
  going to kind of vet the area and make sure that
• 3:58
  your passwords are not on the fridge and in the
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  shot that you're or mail is not laying out and
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  somebody can zoom in, you know, the photos are
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  really high quality and leaving things around
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  that can end up in a photo or on a video and
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  hurt you later, not a good thing to do. Obviously
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  when people are in your home, you're a little
• 4:21
  bit more aware of it, but I do find it's shocking
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  at the things that I see people post online.
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  So be mindful of not putting all of that out
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  there on social. The next is negative comments
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  or details This is probably really what the video
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  is about and here's what I'm talking about I
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  have had I'm a storyteller So if I have like
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  a funny little trip by the time I get to get
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  through telling the story You would think I'd
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  fallen down a flight of stairs, right? And I
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  see that some of my We'll do that on social media
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  and it's all fun and games until it backfires.
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  And these are some of the things that I've seen
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  people put online before. We had a beautiful
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  home listed. This was several years ago when
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  we had the flood of the century and seriously
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  it was a 500 year flood that happened and the
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  family had just installed a raised flower bed
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  just about 15 feet off their back porch. Now
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  they had lived in this home for a few years.
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  never had any water issues or anything, but when
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  they put in that raised flower bed, when we had
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  the 500 year flood, the amount of rain that came,
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  that the way they had positioned the raised flower
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  bed it made all of the water off their heel come
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  right onto their back patio and it looked like
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  a river flowing across their back patio and they
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  proceeded to take video of it and post it online.
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  And then a year later when they contacted me
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  and asked me to sell the property we immediately
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  went into contract on the hum because it was
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  gorgeous and beautiful. I do want to point out
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  that in between that flood and me listing it,
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  they had removed the flower bed. because it was
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  causing the water to do that. But that video
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  didn't show the flower bed, it just showed the
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  river running across their back porch. And we
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  were in contract and on the 10th day of the inspection
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  period, the buyer had done some deep dive on
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  their social media account and found that video
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  and basically canceled the contract and wanted
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  the seller to pay for the buyer's home inspection
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  cost because the seller had not disclosed the
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  water issue. It was somewhat of a gray area because
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  that water issue only happened because of the
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  raised flowerbed in a 500 year flood and it had
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  been corrected, but I could see both sides of
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  it. So if that seller had not posted the video,
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  that probably would have never happened, it would
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  have closed, the new owner would have never had
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  that happen again unless they put in a raised
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  flower bed. The second thing that was horrific
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  that I had a property owner do, I actually had
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  the buyer so I was kind of thrilled that they
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  did it. the next 500 year flood, yes, we had
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  two within a eight year period of each other.
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  A homeowner had their home for sale. My buyer
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  had decided that that was gonna be the home that
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  they really wanted to pursue, but they also did
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  a deep dive on their social media account and
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  the homeowner was in a kayak in their backyard.
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  kayaking up and down the fence line. Now again,
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  what the video had not shown is that the homeowner
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  had blocked off the water so that it couldn't
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  escape underneath the fence. And when they would
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  pull this plastic container up, the water would
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  flow out. Yes, there was like a little creek
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  area, but the water went from deep enough to
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  kayak to, I don't know, six or seven inches.
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  So my buyer was like, no, no, thank you. I don't
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  want a river in my backyard. We've had homeowners
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  post huge rattlesnake photos of this is what
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  I killed in my backyard chill. We've had homeowners
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  post squirrel nest in the attic and say that
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  they've eaten all of the wiring when it really
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  wasn't all of the wiring. We've had a homeowner
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  state that my home has been hit by a tornado
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  now four times guys in our market. true tornadoes
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  are different than straight line winds or heavy
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  winds and that kind of thing. So just be mindful,
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  if you're a storyteller and you kind of lean
• 8:48
  into that, maybe do it with anything except for
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  your property if you're trying to sell your property.
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  Now please listen, this is not telling you how
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  to not disclose things. This is telling you to
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  be cautious of overtelling a story just for the
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  viral hit or for the views online. If these things
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  are really happening, yes, we want you to be
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  mindful that you do need to disclose and you
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  do need to put it out there, but you also need
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  to be aware that buyers will almost always go
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  to your social media page and look at everything
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  that you have ever posted when it comes to your
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  home. So just be aware and be mindful. Pets Evidence
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  of pets when I first got into real estate it
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  was kind of the norm to hide all pet related
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  items and we don't really Think that that's a
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  great idea now. We do think it's important to
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  put large crates in the garage and large dog
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  beds in the garage. These are things that take
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  up space and make a room feel smaller. Leaving
• 9:57
  dog bowls and water bowls out, totally acceptable,
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  but I will give you a little personal tip on
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  that. If you are leaving the food bowl and the
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  water bowl out, empty the water bowl. I cannot
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  tell you how many times clients have stepped
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  on them. backed into them, turned them over,
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  left with wet shoes, left feeling bad because
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  they had made a mess. It is a very, very common
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  thing. We are not used to having things in the
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  floor when we're walking through a home. Yes,
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  it makes sense to you on where you have the dog
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  bowls, but for the average buyer and realtor
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  walking through, It is something that's somewhat
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  of a tripping hazard and it's usually kind of
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  people backing into them and knocking them over.
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  So I personally think that your dog bowls should
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  be set outside the door or in the garage just
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  so they're not a tripping hazard, but we don't
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  recommend that you hide all evidence of pets.
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  And here's why. If you have a client that is
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  looking at a home and they have a pet allergy
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  such as a cat allergy and you've hidden all evidence
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  of it. That can be an issue later on that we
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  don't want to run into. Yes, disclosing if there
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  is a pet in the home is not on our Oklahoma State
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  disclosure documents. However, I personally feel
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  it's the buyer's job in writing to ask if they
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  have an allergy. Has there been any pets in the
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  home? But what we don't want to do is get into
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  that kind of discussion or disagreement just
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  before closing. So don't hide all of the evidence
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  but make sure that it's not a tripping hazard
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  and that you don't have large pet crates that
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  are taking up half the size of a bedroom and
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  making the bedroom feel much, much smaller, okay?
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  valuables. Again, this is also for social media.
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  I think the majority of you are pretty good at
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  putting your valuables away for a showing. And
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  what I mean is you didn't just take your rings
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  and watch off and leave them laying on the kitchen
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  counter. You don't have the checkbook laying
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  out and then your medication where it's completely
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  visible. But what we do see is that sometimes
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  when you are trying to market your own home,
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  these items are in those videos or in those photos.
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  So just be super mindful of that. Again as realtors
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  we typically do good professional photos and
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  we're going to vet and take those items out of
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  the photos. But if you are someone who likes
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  to share stuff on social media make sure that
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  none of that is in the background or you know
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  out on the counters because it can draw the wrong
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  kind of attention. Um excessive clutter you know
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  Again, when you're posting family photos, your
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  home is for sale and the house just kind of looks
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  like a wreck, those are things that... buyers
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  will see when they go on and yes it does feel
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  like they're judging you but at the end of the
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  day they kind of are because they're going to
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  be spending a lot of money and they want to see
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  how you're living in the home and how you're
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  maintaining it. So it's not just the the professional
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  photos that they're going to see but they're
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  going to see anything that you've put on social
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  media. and you gotta think about what's in the
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  background and what are they seeing. Signs of
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  distress of the home avoid anything that suggests
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  the sellers are in a hurry or desperate to sell.
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  We just recently had a situation where there
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  was a listing online and it was 325 ,000 but
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  we had a young couple that was pre -approved
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  for 275. They contacted their buyer's agent and
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  said hey I'd like to see this home and the buyer's
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  agent said well it's 325 it's really not in your
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  budget and you had asked to stay under you know
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  the the 275 marker in that range and what they
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  told us then was well we have a mutual friend
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  that has told us that the seller is desperate
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  to sell now has already moved into the new home
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  and will take any offer so our clients who were
• 14:09
  pre -approved at 275 went in with an offer of
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  265. Obviously it did not go anywhere. The listing
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  agent was very bright and said hey we're just
• 14:20
  curious why did you come in with that number
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  and at that time the buyer did give us permission
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  to share that a mutual friend or acquaintance
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  had shared that they were desperate. And they
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  realized that, yes, they had been telling people
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  at work and some of their social circles that
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  they were really ready and motivated, but this
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  mutual friend took it to a whole other level.
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  And so just being aware that the story that you're
• 14:47
  sharing with co -workers and in your social circle
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  can sometimes come back and bite you in the butt.
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  Yes, they really wanted to but they weren't going
• 14:56
  to give their home away for 265 when they were
• 15:00
  listed at 325. Details about showings, this is
• 15:05
  something that is kind of controversial. I personally
• 15:09
  do not believe in leaving all of the business
• 15:11
  cards of everyone who's ever looked at the home
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  on the kitchen counter. I think that the average
• 15:17
  buyer from my 21 years experience comes in and
• 15:20
  goes, wow, all these people have looked at the
• 15:22
  home and no one has ever bought it. Now what
• 15:26
  happens in a lot of cases is our team we do a
• 15:29
  brokers tour so we bring out as many realtors
• 15:32
  as we can and on any given Tuesday we might have
• 15:35
  13 realtors walk through the home. If the homeowner
• 15:39
  leaves those 13 business cards out and a buyer
• 15:42
  walks in and goes, wow, 13 people looked at this
• 15:45
  home and didn't buy it. That's kind of the mentality.
• 15:48
  And sometimes you don't really realize that and
• 15:52
  you don't get the opportunity to explain that
• 15:54
  no, it's only been on the market for two days
• 15:57
  and we haven't had 13 showings and no offers.
• 16:00
  So being mindful of how much information you're
• 16:03
  sharing by not even realizing you're sharing
• 16:05
  it, I personally believe the business card is
• 16:08
  left on the counter simply for the home owner.
• 16:11
  to know who was in the home, not to make other
• 16:15
  buyers think, wow, I've got a lot of competition.
• 16:19
  That's not actually usually where their brain
• 16:20
  goes, so be mindful. The next is anything that
• 16:24
  makes the house feel like someone else's. We
• 16:27
  recently had a situation where the homeowner
• 16:31
  had done this really cool mural of their family
• 16:34
  and the entire wall was just of the family. Now
• 16:38
  the good thing it was like a contact paper that
• 16:41
  just peeled off. She'd spent a lot of money on
• 16:45
  this mural if you will, but we did have them
• 16:50
  remove it because it would never feel like the
• 16:53
  buyer would feel comfortable walking into the
• 16:55
  home and seeing themselves living there when
• 16:58
  there were like full -size people on the wall.
• 17:02
  It was really cute. It was a very fun, you know,
• 17:07
  display for their family, but putting their home
• 17:09
  on the market, you have to neutralize and let
• 17:13
  people see themselves living there rather than
• 17:15
  how you specifically live there. Excessive personalization,
• 17:21
  prepacking as much items as you can, taking off
• 17:26
  all of your stickers, whether it's even if it's
• 17:28
  something really like Eat, Pray, Love, you know,
• 17:32
  anything that is specific to you, I think that
• 17:36
  you just go ahead and take it off and good neutralization
• 17:39
  of the walls way to go. negative comments about
• 17:43
  the neighborhood. This is the other thing that
• 17:46
  just blows my mind, guys. When you have your
• 17:49
  home for sale and you are posting online negative
• 17:53
  things about your neighborhood, it's just not
• 17:57
  going to be helpful to you. It's not going to
• 18:00
  help you get the property sold. And this also
• 18:03
  goes for what you think are private community
• 18:06
  Facebook pages. So let's say that your community
• 18:11
  name is Taylor Ferry and all of the homeowners
• 18:16
  in that. Neighborhood have this private site
• 18:19
  that you share information with guys. Nothing
• 18:22
  is really private Someone at some point is going
• 18:25
  to get access to that and see what you've been
• 18:28
  sharing now again if it's actual true and factual
• 18:31
  Then yes, it's probably a disclosure item But
• 18:36
  if it's just simply that you think that you know
• 18:39
  There's neighbors in there that are trashy and
• 18:42
  redneck and play music all all night all you
• 18:46
  know super loud, those are things that buyers
• 18:48
  are going to see later on and can keep you from
• 18:52
  being able to sell the home. So just be mindful
• 18:54
  of that. Inaccurate information, this kind of
• 18:59
  goes the opposite direction. When you're posting
• 19:02
  online and you're overstating factual details
• 19:07
  about your home that are simply not true, that
• 19:10
  could be used against you later. be very aware
• 19:14
  of that if your home is not 3 ,000 square feet
• 19:17
  then don't say that it is online because that
• 19:19
  can hurt you later. And then contact information
• 19:23
  which is kind of where we started just in your
• 19:26
  initial post while you need to provide accurate
• 19:30
  information, you know, the address, that type
• 19:32
  of thing, making sure that you don't make it
• 19:35
  too easy, don't put your phone number on any
• 19:37
  repost that the realtor has done, put the realtor's
• 19:40
  information on there. You're paying them either
• 19:42
  way, so let them handle the inquiries and that
• 19:46
  way you're not in an awkward situation asking
• 19:48
  a co -worker if they actually can afford your
• 19:51
  home before bringing them through. Okay, so that
• 19:55
  is some social media do's and don'ts when you
• 19:58
  are thinking about selling your home in the future
• 20:00
  or you currently have your home on the market.
• 20:03
  Thanks again, guys, for sharing this post or
• 20:07
  this episode. I appreciate that. And for all
• 20:11
  of our followers, our friends, family and our
• 20:14
  trolls, we do appreciate you because it all helps.
• 20:18
  Okay, guys, keep the questions coming. Thank
• 20:20
  you.