Every homeowner is curious about the value of his or her most prized investment. It often pops up in conversation at dinner parties and, as personal finance experts will advise, it will play a big part in giving people options in life.
Recognizing this, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, which sells homes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, has added a new “What’s Your Home Worth” tool to the home page of its website, www.foxroach.com. It is hoping the tool will generate a flow of new listing leads in a low-inventory market.
Fox & Roach has made sure it is more valuable than other free services out there by offering three property appraisals — from RPR (Realtors Property Resource), Zillow and Collateral Analytics.
As a next step, homeowners will be able to sign up for an e-property watch, which will give them monthly updates on the value of their home, recent sales in their area and how many people are in the market for a home like theirs based on MLS data, plus recent buyer activity, showings by price range, public record information and recent sales.
Agent value, seller leads
The report will target consumers who are thinking of listing their home and will emphasize that only an agent can know the true value of a home, with up-to-date information on any remodeling that has been done, for instance.
After a soft launch a month and a half ago, the tool has been well-received by consumers, and it will be introduced to its agents for use as a lead generator on March 1, said Steve Storti, chief marketing officer at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach.
The company has developed an animated video explaining the system to agents.
“We are running a contest through an online gaming company to encourage adoption of the program,” said Storti.
“The intent is for the agent to take their entire contact list of homeowners whose homes are not on the market and use this as a long term lead gathering system,” he said.
“Sales associates can offer this to everyone in their sphere of influence, geographical farm and other contacts. Each sales associate will have a personalized version of all tools, so if anyone uses anything, it will be permanently identified with them.”
Not only will the initiative generate listing leads, it will also lead to greater success in selling more listings, said the company.
If a prospective seller starts with a genuine understanding of their home’s value, there is a higher likelihood that the initial listing price will reflect that and thus result in more success in marketing the property, said Storti.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach ranks no. 1 in residential units and no. 2 in gross commission income (GCI) throughout the entire Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Network.
