During boom times in real estate, agents don't have to work very hard at marketing in order to make a living. Those who do a good job of marketing themselves and their listings do make the most money, but almost everyone can get by.
But now that the boom times have ended (for the time being, at least), if you want to stay in the business you have to do a good job of marketing. If you don't, you won't be in business long. If you are looking for Northwest Bend Oregon homes for sale services, then you can browse the web.
If you want to be a listing agent, the first step is to market yourself to homeowners. You have to create a message that makes you stand out from the rest as the agent who will get those homes sold.
Part of that is proving that you have the ability to market their home effectively.
So before you can present yourself as the agent to choose, you have to learn how to get your listings spread around the Internet in all the right places. Since over 80% of all home buyers now begin their search online, that's an important first step.
Next is learning to take spectacular photos, or putting money in your budget to hire someone who can. Then, along with the photos, you need words that put your readers in the house. You need to make people feel how wonderful it will be to live in that house and create an urgency for them to get there first before someone else snaps it up.
How do you do that? By describing the benefits as well as the features. It's no simple task because the ADA and the Fair Housing laws put restrictions on what you can say. So stick with verbs that don't discriminate. I think you can still use words like "enjoy," "relax," and "appreciate." Just stay away from words like "see, hear, and walk."
Of course, marketing is not the only benefit you bring to your listing clients, so you need to market your other skills as well. One of the most important is the ability to help them determine the correct selling price in today's market. So you have to emphasize your market knowledge while you're offering that free market analysis.