Selling a home in todays market takes more marketing than ever before: fact is, in Orange County, over 90% of all homes will expire unsold: over 9 out of 10 homes currently on the market will not be sold, a staggering statistic. And 50% of the homes offered for sale in Orange County are in a distressed situation: pre-foreclosure (short sale), or bank-owned (REO) - and these homes compete with those that are not in a distress situation.

Studies show what home buyers look for when searching for a home:

• 98% of all consumers want multiple photos and virtual tours.
• 78% of home shoppers refuse to view a home if it doesn't have a photo or a virtual tour. See below for some eye-opening statistics regarding how important multiple pictures are.)
• Listings on the #1 Internet real estate site, Realtor.com, receive 40% more viewings if they have a virtual tour.

And still, knowing how important doing the above is, less than 2% of all Realtors actually take the time to do what is being demanded from home shoppers - and what is required by sellers to make their home stand-out from all others on the market.

What is different about how the Bruce Clark Group markets and sells a home?

We pay attention to the above statistics and make certain that all of the homes we are selling receive the best in marketing. Here are just a few of the things we do to sell a home that most other agents don't:

• We use a professional photographer and graphic artist: we know how critical first impressions are. (We spend more on our photos and flyers than most agents spend on their entire 'marketing' campaign.)
• We post the maximum # of pictures on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS): 20.
• We post the maximum # of pictures on the #1-trafficked Internet real estate site, Realtor.com: 25. (This is VERY important as Realtor.com allows the user to sort the homes by # of photos: those with the most are shown first, which results in a huge number of additional viewings.)
• All homes marketed for sale by the Bruce Clark Group receive a Virtual Tour that is available for millions to see on Realtor.com, and other leading real estate sites.
• All homes marketed for sale over $475,000 by the Bruce Clark Group receive a professionally-designed property brochure.
• All homes marketed for sale by the Bruce Clark Group receive benefit of being a Showcase Listing on Realtor.com which, according to Realtor.com, results in 116% more viewings. (Allows for such things are larger pictures, Open House Alerts, Property Traffic Reports, and more.)
• Most homes marketed for sale by the Bruce Clark Group receive benefit of being a Featured Home Listing on Realtor.com which, according to Realtor.com, results in 250% more viewings. (This allows your home the capability to show up on the first page of search results.)
• All open houses listed on multiple websites, including some of the most-trafficked sites on the Internet: FirstTeam.com, Realtor.com, Zillow.com and BruceClarkHomes.com.
• Toll-Free call sign (where allowed): allows for 24-hour marketing and property information, including fax-on-demand.
• The best in Internet marketing: Your home is promoted on the top-trafficked Internet sites, including premium placement on Realtor.com, and exposure on Yahoo! Real Estate, Zillow, FrontDoor, Trulia, Backpage, MSN, AOL, Homeseekers.com and many other leading Internet sites.
• The best in offline marketing: click to see how we aggressively market your home using the First Team Buyer Delivery System.
• #1 Relocation network: Member of RELO® Relocation, the largest relocation network in the U.S. Gives us truly national exposure. (First Team is an approved broker for many Fortune 500 companies.)
• Prominently located state-of-the-art offices. (Unlike our competitors, any First Team Realtor can use all facilities at any First Team office; we are not a franchise.)
• And much, much more. To find out more about the Bruce Clark Group and First Team Real Estate's proven Sellers Marketing System, click here

The Bruce Clark Group and First Team: #1 in Orange County. Fact is, we have almost 2 1/2-times the market share of our next competitor. Being #1 doesn't just happen by accident: The Bruce Clark Group and First Team spend more than $4,000,000 annually marketing homes for sale. No other broker in Orange County does that. In other words, we spend money marketing your home for sale, not just hoping it will sell. Not only is our Internet advertising unparalleled, but we advertise in over 42 local and regional newspapers and magazines, including a full page ad in Sundays Los Angeles Times that costs over $37,000 per issue (and which has readership of upwards of 1,000,000 viewers)! Why trust your most valuable financial asset to anyone else? Click here to schedule a private consultation with The Bruce Clark Group today, or call us at 949-285-1207.)

Multiple Property Picture Statistics

The California Association of Realtors findings show that "Multiple photographs/Slideshows" continue to be the online feature with the highest rating among all online features, followed by "Map/Directions." Because of the nature of the Internet, more photos can be posted with your MLS Web listing and on a home website than in any other medium and for a fraction of the cost.

Point2 (point2.com) conducted a study monitoring listings over a 30-day period which clearly showed that properties which feature just one photo generated approximately five views and 1.37 leads, while listings displaying 21 or more images received over 77 views and close to 11 leads. Clearly, the listings that added 20+ photos generated nearly 10 times the number of leads and over 15 times the number of views.

Another study relating to the number of photos a listing posts compares photos to the number of Days on Market (DOM). The findings show that listings with more photos sold faster. Below is the synopis on the average photos-to-DOM analysis.

• 6 photos = 40 DOM
• 16 - 19 photos = 36 DOM
• 20 photos max - 32 DOM

And listings with fewer photos sold for less. The closed sale NET Price as a percentage of the Original Price also showed a direct correlation. (These findings are based on 2006 numbers and are, again, estimates.)

• 1 Photo = 91.2% of Original Price
• 6 or more photos = 95% of Original Price

According to these findings, a $750,000 home, with only one photo, could potentially sell for as much as 3.8% LESS - or a loss of over $28,000 - just because there was only one photo accompanying the listing.

We believe that not doing doing the above to sell a home is simply not acceptable, which is why we use a professional photographer and graphic artist: we know how critical first impressions are, whether in person, on a flyer, or on the Internet.

For more information about the Bruce Clark Group and First Team Real Estate's proven Sellers Marketing System and how it can benefit you when selling your home, click here.

State Of Real Estate Brokers

Real estate brokers are not immune to the downturn in the market. Bloomberg recently ran an article about the financial straits Realogy Corp. (parent corporation of Coldwell Banker, ERA , Sotheby’s International Realty, and Century 21) finds itself in: they are at risk of violating the terms of its bank loans and is offering to exchange about $1.1 billion of bonds at a discount for new debt, and reported $209 million of losses in the last three quarters.

How does - and can - it affect you? There could be much less advertising dollars available to promote homes for sale listed for those real estate brokers that are having financil problems. Plus, they could be cutting their office support personnel and services, which includes Transaction Coordinators, etc. Yes, this is a tough time for those in real estate, but you, the seller and buyer, should not expect less than stellar service, support, and marketing.