You, on the other hand, are neither (unless you own an interest in the property). Although, with it being your parents, you could be said to be working for them and by association as a contractor and you might get in trouble too. This is one of those sticky issues - being very un-PC to violate it and therefore potentially open to lawsuits. I’d avoid.

Here are the protected classes in Massachusetts (some vary from state to state).

Race, religion, creed, national origin, gender, familial status, sexual orientation, and handicap status. I may have forgotten one in there too - perhaps marital status(it’s been a while since I had to list these off). I’m sure if you google Fair Housing and Massachusetts, you could find a comprehensive list. It’s a real hot button topic.

A broker’s open house is not designed to bring buyers in on that day - it is a day to showcase the house for local agents. Why? Because agents tend to show the houses they know first, since they know what to expect. This is actually a MUCH more effective marketing tool than a regular open house (only 1-2% of houses nationally sell on an open house).

As for agents’ write-ups being less than stellar, there’s a challenge that agents face that no one is aware of. It’s called Fair Housing legislation. It’s designed to keep agents from discriminating against certain protected classes, but in practice, it is the cause for all of the lackluster marketing. We can’t say “great for family get-togethers” since that would be discrimination on the basis of familial status. We can’t even say “walk to th local orthodox synagogue” (even though that would be a major selling point for a certain population of people) because it is a violation of both religion and handicap status (if you’re in a wheelchair, you can’t walk). It’s insane.

When it comes to effectively presenting some of the most marketable items (great schools, local religious facilities, etc.) or stating the obvious (great for a single person (because it’s too small for two), our hands are tied.

I agree that it is a frustrating thing. Agents have complained about it for years. Some are even disregarding the most ridiculous aspects, but they do so at their own peril. It’s an $11,000 fine per occurance if they get caught.

My suggestion for the best use of today’s technology? I’d say have the agent do an interview with the sellers and podcast it out on their website and put it on their “Talking House” broadcaster. If the agent is smart, they’ll create a regular podcast - perhaps even for their whole office. (This would be a great service for Brokers to offer for their agents.) That way it gets regular hits.

The fact is, that the more you can make buyers feel good about a home and the sellers, the greater is the likelihood that they will buy it. Real estate is ultimately an emotional decision rationalized by logic. Get the emotion on your side and (barring any other major problems), you’ve likely got a sale.

Kelle Sparta is a Speaker, Author and Coach for the real estate industry. She is the author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent. For more information, you can find her on the web at http://www.spartasuccess.com.

I’m an agent out in Berkeley, Ca, and a social web nut myself. You make a few great points in your post. The average realtor does do an average job marketing a property, but now there’s the capability to do so much more.

With some many new media tools at our disposal and new ones constantly being developed, it’s about time that those in the profession start embracing them in order to both provide a superior level of service to our clients and to grow our business as well.

By the way, Realivent offers a product that might interest you. It’s a combo website/blog/virtual tour that we’re probably going to try out with our next listing.

–Andy (http://twitter.com/andykaufman)

Regarding search traffic - we’ll see what happens with 15CambridgeDrive.com as well. As for my parents, I think I’ll probably end up linking the single property web site to Zillow myself.

Now if only there were a Zillowcast where I could send an audio file…

Great post. You’re right; social media gives sellers the ability to showcase their home online and to also meet and discuss the home with potential buyers.

The URL=address idea is taking off in online real estate. It’s commonly called a “single property website” and a few Realtors are experimenting with various versions of this approach, mostly using blogs. The only valid criticism of these sites is that they’re typically too new to attract search traffic; so marketing the site is essential. A good way to do that is to use the RE portals to drive links and visitors to the single property site. On Zillow, for example, your parents should post their home for sale (it’s free) and then link to the blog from the posting.

But, at the same time do I want to leverage it fully in order to sell my house and thus disclose some things that I’m not sure I want to?

I’m a really open and transparent but but I don’t know. I did tell the realator that I’ll be more then happy to shoot the photos. I laugh at some of the HORRIBLE shots I see.

Nice write up on the house. I like it.