Advertising Costs When Selling a House

Depending on your choice of agent, your location and the marketing channels you and your agent choose to use to promote your property, the cost of advertising when selling can vary significantly depending on the value of your property among other factors. You can expect to pay the following costs for advertising your property:

If marketing costs are promoted as ‘free’, then it’s likely the agent is including them in your real estate commission fee. A successful advertising campaign can make or break your chances of success, which is why it’s important to use as many channels at your disposal as possible. If you plan on selling your home at an auction; advertising and marketing are even more important, because you will have only a limited amount of time to reach out to potential buyers before auction day. Most real estate agent fees will include a specific budget for the cost of an advertising campaign. When you are comparing potential agents, you’ll want to ask about these marketing fees as well as what type of strategy the agent plans to use to sell your home. You can do this by registering now at LocalAgentFinder.

(The best place to start in terms of understanding advertising costs is comparing real estate fees online. You can compare commission rates and real estate advertising fees, along with sales history and homeowner reviews at LocalAgentFinder. Here, you can connect with real estate agents and get a further breakdown of real estate agent costs.)

Advertising Types and Fees

There are many different types of advertising that can help sell your home. This will depend on your marketing strategy. Real estate advertising costs could include:

• Real estate magazines
• Printed flyers and brochures
• Newspaper listings
• Online listings
• Signage to be placed outside of your home
• Social media advertising

As you start advertising your property, you should expect to pay somewhere in the neighbourhood of 0.5 to 1% of the total value of your property. For example, if you are selling a $500,000 home, you could expect to pay around $5,000 in advertising. This may seem a reasonably large amount, but targeted advertising is an extremely useful tool when it comes to attracting the right kinds of buyers to your home. A common adage is that throwing money at marketing will not do anything to sell your property. This is true, in the sense that more people knowing about the property will not necessarily mean that any of those people will be qualified or interested in your home. However, if no one knows about your home, you will be even less likely to receive an offer.

Tips for Calculating Advertising Costs

Before you start discussing costs, it’s best to have a discussion with your real estate agent about what your marketing and advertising campaign is actually going to look like. This should include what the plan will actually entail and the time frame. Unlike other real estate fees, advertising costs are not a set fee. These are usually open for negotiation between you and the agent of your choice. You’ll want to agree to a budget in advance. Your agent will need to be reimbursed for the costs of advertising after the sale, but you can ask to have these costs itemised in a written format that must be pre-approved by both parties – Don’t give your agent any money for advertising upfront, unless this is included in a signed agreement that states just how and when the money will be used. You should keep this money in a trust account. There are sellers who choose to have all of their marketing costs built into the agent’s commission or fee, which doesn’t need to be paid until the property is successfully sold. In most cases, you’ll need to pay for the cost of advertising and marketing whether or not your property ends up selling. However, before you sign any other documents, it’s worth asking for a ‘no sale, no fee’ agreement. You can do this as you compare your options using the LocalAgentFinder free comparison tool. Remember that an advertising campaign’s sole purpose should be to highlight and sell your property, and shouldn’t highlight the services of your agent. A good agent who manages a successful marketing campaign can expect to attract clients in the future, and an agency’s reputation can often help sell a house, but you don’t want to make their services the primary focus of the campaign. A good marketing campaign can be well worth the money that you spend. But remember that some of today’s most effective advertising costs very little. Experienced real estate agents usually have client lists or databases that they can use to contact potential buyers that they know will be interested in your area or type of property. They will keep these contacts on hand and follow up when necessary. The key to any costs associated with selling your property is the value for money. As you analyse the costs of advertising, ask yourself whether or not you will get a significant return. Can you get a higher sale price as a result, or can you sell your home faster? Will this campaign help endear your property to the right audience? When working with a good real estate agent, the answer will be yes.

To get an estimate of the final cost of selling, including real estate marketing costs, you can use our Selling Costs Calculator.

Paying the right real estate agent fee

You can find the right real estate agent to help you with your advertising campaign by comparing agents at LocalAgentFinder. Compare agent commission rates, advertising fees and strategies, sales history and independent homeowner reviews.