Sound Off: How can I get my property trending?

A: According to a 2018 survey from the California Association of Realtors, 93% of home buyers go to the internet as part of their home search and 50% find the home they purchased online. So working with a brokerage firm/agent that can give your property a strong online presence is imperative.

As the listing agent, I assure that the property has that strong online presence. Homes I have listed for sale appear on more than 700 websites, including the most visited real estate websites in the world, like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com and many more.

This includes displaying the home with a detailed description, multiple professional photos and a link to a virtual tour/single property website.

Additionally, Coldwell Banker was ranked as the most-visited residential real estate brand online (145.6 million visits, per Comscore 2018 Media Trends).

A strong social media presence is designed to engage and connect with buyers with more than 500,000 followers across all the major social media platforms.

A professionally produced spot on ABC on Sunday afternoon is also part of the marketing plan. This also gets posted to Coldwell Banker’s and my own YouTube channel.

Jeff LaMont, Coldwell Banker,

650-343-3892, jeff@jefflamont.com. A: Enhancing residential marketing and the potential sales price starts with knowing the fundamental attractions and benefits of your home and its downsides.

First establish your home’s story: Accentuating the positive is the lead-in, but also be ready to position the negatives or to put them in context.

Realtors and consultants often have their marketing strategy that works for them, but there are some constants across the board. Establish a dedicated website with great photos, home features, neighborhood attractions and easy contact info. Maximize your social media channels with a newsy approach to the listing and a great image.

Publishing as a blog with your market insights can build a strong, search- and SEO-worthy network. Scan other properties in the area or in competing neighborhoods where your buyers are looking to see what’s resonating and play off of or borrow what’s working.

Email lists, blog postings and even snail-mail fliers have been core marketing tools but be sure to optimize them to enable more trending, such as including easyclick tools to share the information on social media. And make sure the property website you create and all your social media posts have toptrending keywords.

Ron Heckmann, Heckmann Communications,

510-652-5800 ron@heckmanncomms.com A: In a place like San Francisco, the word “affordable” is a relative term. With a median single-family home currently more than $1.6 million, buyers come to the table with an elevated level of expectations. Stack that with a massive uptick in social media, and simply put, if a home is not Instagramable, it may not receive the attention it well deserves.

Making a home trend for a sale is most often referred to as staging. While this seems like it only refers to furniture, the scope of service provided covers exponentially more. The best approach is to look at this process of trending holistically.

For a quick fix trend solution, most will rattle off something like repaint the walls, change out the fixtures or something basic like that. If the strategy is to get the home to trend for a sale, it may be best to start with a budget.

A simple calculation is to start with 3% of the expected sale price. This budget is then used to freshen up landscaping, paint walls, update flooring, change hardware, upgrade lighting fixtures, freshen up cabinets, swap countertops and, of course, furniture.

Shawn Kunkler, Compass, 415-516-3302,

shawn@shawnkunkler.com.