Beyond Title – Social Listening
Welcome back friends, for the second edition of Beyond Title®: The Blog. I’m glad you came back. Please do put your feet up for a few moments as we take a spin back into the wonderful world of Real Estate! For this entry I’d like to share a couple of articles I’ve been reading this week that have grabbed my attention.
Social Listening
First up let’s turn our attention to social media… that most awe-inspiring of mediums that can turn from glorious to super-annoying in the space of three cute dog videos and the fifteenth generic meme of the day! (Just to be clear, I’m pro cute dog videos… If you’re asking how many ‘doggo’ and ‘pupper’ videos are too many, then you’re presenting me with a trick question! There could never be too many of them… FACT!)
Like it or loathe it though, there’s no denying how powerful social media can be. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 68% of US adults use Facebook alone.
The difference between social monitoring and social listening was very interestingly discussed in a realtor.org article.
Social monitoring can be boiled down to actively responding to incoming engagements – messages, tags and comments etc.
Social listening meanwhile is the act of observing the patterns of behavior of your target audience.
Once you can understand these patterns (what kind of posts home buyers and sellers like, comment upon, repost etc.) you’ll be able to use this to your advantage by adapting your social media presence accordingly.
If for instance, you’re finding buyers liking and commenting on light-hearted posts involving dogs posing in Star Wars costumes, then you know exactly how to grab their attention! (You’ve also identified some really great human beings!)
Avoiding Low Home Appraisals
Another article that caught my eye on Bankrate.com discussed “How to avoid a low home appraisal”. According to the Realtors Confidence Index, appraisal issues made up 19% of delayed closings in March.
When an appraisal comes in lower than the agreed price, it could present an issue. The lender might not be willing to offer a mortgage above the appraisal figure. Similarly the seller and buyer might not be able to agree on a reduced price or access extra funding.
In the article, Jay Macdonald explains that “Short appraisals are common in declining housing markets because the lack of recent comparable home sales in the area, or “comps,” make it hard for appraisers to determine the current market value of a property.” Jay then goes on to nicely summarize some tips for how to protect against this issue.
For the buyer’s side he suggests asking the lender to use a local appraiser who will have a better understanding of the area and meeting them during the inspection to “share your knowledge of recent short sales and foreclosures that could skew the comps.”
For the seller’s side he again suggests using a local appraiser but with the added step of getting an appraisal before the home is listed. From this appraisal you can then set a realistic listing price for the home and provide a copy to the buyer’s appraiser.
While these may not be steps you need to follow in every case, they certainly provide some helpful guidance if you’re finding low appraisals affecting your success!
…and with that we’ll draw this week’s entry to a close. I hope you found this information to be helpful and succinct enough that it can be easily digested. If you’d like to discuss these topics or have any suggestions for other subjects you’d be interested in hearing about, please drop me a line at – dhollamby@theclosingagent.com
Until next time, remember, whenever arranging a closing, always look Beyond Title®!
-David
