You’ve generated leads, networked with potential sellers, and found a prospective client. Now you need to position yourself as the ideal agent to represent your prospective client’s home. To do that, you’ll need a real estate listing presentation.
A real estate listing presentation is a powerful business tool that demonstrates your expertise, impresses sellers, and increases your close rates. We understand the impact a powerful presentation can have on your business––so much so that we’ve built a tool into our platform to help you craft a standout presentation.
Our experts have also compiled a list of everything you need to create a great listing presentation. By following this guide, you’ll be able to create lasting impressions that will turn prospective sellers into clients.
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1. Introduce yourself
This section is simple, yet vital––you want to establish your expertise and experience, build familiarity with your client, and then bring the focus back to them. You may be introducing yourself and your brokerage, but this experience is really about your client.
Focus on how your experience is of service to your client, what you and your brokerage can do for them, and any common ground you may have that can build trust and rapport.
Your introduction should be composed primarily of statements of value––no fluff. Here are three steps to make sure you’re highlighting the most important information in your introduction:
Share your relevant experience
Your relevant experience consists of things that your clients will both understand and care about.
Good things to mention are:
- How many years you’ve worked as a listing agent
- How many homes you’ve sold (especially those that are similar to your client’s property)
- A brief anecdote about how you’ve sold a similar home with a unique level of success, if applicable
Be aware that sellers might be unusually stressed or optimistic about the current market. Your introduction is your chance to set expectations by preemptively correcting assumptions about the market in your area. If the market is indeed rocky, you can demonstrate confidence in your ability to navigate expertly through the current turbulence.
Explain what your brokerage can offer them
Your clients get to choose which brokerage they work with, so establish your brokerage as the best option. While a client might recognize the names of big brokerages, they likely don’t know the competitive advantages of each one. This is your opportunity to give an overview of the unique selling proposition that you, your team, or your brokerage can provide.
Consider things like:
- Do you work with the top brokerage in the area?
- Do you have a ready and responsive network of professionals that can streamline the marketing and selling process?
- Are there any brokerage-specific metrics or statistics that set your brokerage apart from the rest?
Pro tip: Try to describe what makes your services so special without using too many “I” statements. Aim for a confident-yet-humble approach.
Demonstrate that your expertise will create a smooth and professional process
After the introduction, switch the focus back to the client and their property. Take a moment to re-articulate what this meeting is about:
- The process of putting a house on the market
- Your pricing and negotiation strategies
- Information you need from them to get started
This process can be overwhelming for clients, but your expertise and composure during the listing presentation can help put them at ease.
2. Go over the local housing market data
Make sure everyone is on the same page about the potential in your local housing market. Sellers may have heard about houses doubling in value, bidding wars, or how a neighbor recently sold their home for significantly over the listing price. While you don’t want to dampen your seller’s excitement, you do want to set reasonable expectations.
Topics to discuss:
- Local inventory (and what that means)
- Both listing and selling prices for comparable homes in their neighborhood
- Average time on the market
- What improvements to homes are considered typical in your area: are homes being sold as-is, move-in ready, or both?
Remember that while you see these numbers on a daily basis, home sellers don’t. Make sure everything you share with them is clear, understandable, and relevant to their situation.
Pro tip: Your sellers are walking into the meeting with a listing price already in mind, and there’s a good chance they’ve gone high. Provide realistic generalizations at this stage just in case their number is a little inflated. This can help temper disagreement or disappointment when you get to the pricing strategy.
3. Explain the home selling process
The home selling process is familiar to you, but your clients may be selling their first home or perhaps haven’t sold a home in several years. Outline the process to help them understand what to expect. It also helps showcase the value of working with you––selling a home is not as simple as listing it on Zillow and immediately getting an offer over the listing price.
Explain these stages of the process:
- Pre-Sale Activities: This includes filling out paperwork like the Seller’s Disclosure, arranging a home inspection, having marketing photographs taken, making any repairs to the home, and arriving at an agreed-upon price before the home goes on the market.
- Marketing: During this stage, you’ll create the listing and add all the details, prepare digital marketing content, stage the home, and get everything lined up for the day it goes on the market.
- Active Listing Period: This period will be especially busy for the seller. There will be open houses, agents will show the home to prospective buyers, and you’ll hopefully receive some offers.
- Accepting Offers: Walk your client through different strategies for this stage, such as accepting an offer they like or arranging for “last and best”—the day when all offers are due. Explain how you’ll present every offer and assure them that you’ll help them understand the pros and cons of each.
- Closing period: Sellers might not know what happens after an offer is accepted. Explain the option period, which has the potential for renegotiations, what happens in the month or so between accepting an offer and closing on the deal, and options for leasebacks.
Pro tip: Go over all of this information in person, but also prepare printed materials that explain everything. This allows your clients to engage with what you’re telling them without worrying about having to remember everything.
4. Explain how to prepare a home to go on the market
If you’ve already seen the property, speak as specifically as possible.
If you haven’t seen the property, ask your seller questions about their property, including:
- Is it move-in ready?
- When was the last time it was painted?
- Will they be living in the home while it’s on the market? (This impacts potential staging.)
- Are there any repairs or updates they can make that will significantly alter the potential selling price?
Emphasize the value of having a home that looks beautiful and is in excellent condition. Make sure they understand that professional cleaning and decluttering can significantly affect buyers’ perception of a home even if the seller isn’t willing to make repairs or renovations. Also, explain depersonalization—it’s not a matter of the seller’s taste, but rather about creating a generically stylish interior that any buyer can imagine making their own.
5. Outline your pricing strategy
This can often feel like the make-or-break point in your real estate listing presentation. Sellers are often emotionally attached to their home and what it means to them… and sometimes sentimental value and a market price don’t match up. Emphasize the importance of starting with an accurate listing price and explain that a home can linger without offers if the asking price is too high.
Ask the sellers about their priorities with the sale. Some sellers need to sell quickly while others can wait around for the highest possible number. Ask if they’re looking for a lease back or any other strategic elements that could affect their asking price. These factors will influence the total offer strategy.
Explain what a comparative market analysis (CMA) is and how you can provide one for their home. While you’ll need to see their home in person to provide a specific number, you can explain the factors that guide your approach: the age and size of the home, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms it has, specific features like a pool, etc.
6. Walk through your marketing plan
Explain the extent to which your services include marketing efforts, as well as who will pay for the different marketing costs. Some listing agents cover photography and staging, while others present options to sellers and allow them to decide what costs they want to incur.
It’s up to you, but it’s important to know which services you do and don’t provide in advance. It’s better to confidently state that you do not provide a service (but have a network of referrals) than to find yourself agreeing to a service that you aren’t equipped to offer.
Make sure to discuss the benefits and steps of these four basic marketing strategies:
Direct marketing
Direct marketing includes:
- Hosting open houses
- Listing the home on MLS and real estate sites
- Sending out mailers
Home staging
Discuss the particulars of staging, including your network of staging professionals, their price ranges, and the degree of quality they offer.
HD photography and videography
It is standard practice for a luxury listing to include professional photography, virtual tours, and videos of the home. Emphasize to buyers that grainy footage or images taken on a phone camera can significantly reduce buyer interest and even their offer prices.
Speak confidently about your network of professional photographers, and perhaps show them a few samples from listings you’ve made in the past.
Social media posts
Discuss your social media strategy for home sales, including what platforms you use, posts you’ll create about the home itself, how you’ll promote open houses, and how this strategy has succeeded in past home sales.
7. Advertise the listing
Present your plan for where the property will be listed. If you have any promising statistics or metrics to detail here, you can add them in––but don’t bog the listing presentation down with numbers.
The local MLS
This is a great way to differentiate yourself from home sellers who may be considering an FSBO. Only licensed agents have access to the MLS.
Website and landing page
If you create property websites and landing pages for your properties, provide examples and discuss the benefits.
Internet platforms
Discuss how real estate sites such as Zillow and Realtor.com can help garner interest, leads, and showings.
Social media
Social media is polarizing, and real estate is no exception. Some clients may not want their listings announced on social media. Find out how your sellers feel about social media and give them the option of whether or not you use it.
8. Set expectations about open houses
- Explain what services you will provide when it comes to advertising, managing, and hosting the open houses.
- Discuss potential weekends that work best for your client’s schedule.
- Discuss whether or not the client will live at the residence during the showing.
If the client is going to live at the residence throughout the showing, there will be more logistical details to discuss, such as their presence (or absence) during open houses, how to secure their belongings, and whether or not to hire a professional cleaner beforehand.
Your clients may feel uneasy thinking of strangers walking through their home even though it’s for sale. Assure them that you or a team member will always be present during an open house, and that any private showings will always be conducted by a licensed agent.
9. Set expectations regarding negotiations and offers
- Give an overview of how the offer and negotiation process works.
- Assure sellers that you will present every offer that comes in and you’ll walk through the particulars with them.
- Provide examples of different offer details they may see and the most common areas for negotiation beyond the offer price.
- Reassure the clients that you will always act in their best interests.
- If you’re a licensed real estate agent, explain the obligations of being a fiduciary.
10. Answer any questions about the closing process
Provide a broad overview of the closing process and ask if they have any questions about it. Your clients may be using the money to fund another home purchase, so walk through the details of that timeline and any options they may have. (You can also use this opportunity to recommend a team member as their agent for buying a home.)
11. Go over the next steps
At this point, the meeting is coming to a close. Ensure your clients’ trust by covering a clear list of action items at the end of the meeting. Answer any remaining questions and discuss what needs to happen before you can start with the pre-sale activities. Primarily, this will involve the clients signing paperwork agreeing to have you as their agent and finalizing your pricing strategy.
If they want more time to think things over, give them a deadline by which you will call them––and do call them on that date.
Pro tip: Always set the expectation for the next step, and make sure you’re the one to make it. This provides clarity and doesn’t allow clients to linger too long in an in-between stage.
Additional real estate listing presentation tips
Creating the best real estate listing presentation isn’t easy, but having the right outline and strategy certainly helps.
Here are a few more things to keep in mind as you craft the strongest possible listing presentation:
Focus on the client’s needs
Every piece of information should be designed to serve the client’s needs. Cut away anything extraneous––everything should provide clear value.
Be flexible
Every client has different needs. Build enough time into your listing presentation to answer their questions and explore specific aspects in more detail.
It’s just as possible that your client will be a veteran home seller who doesn’t need a detailed explanation of each step of the process. In this case, you can gloss over certain aspects if the client is less interested.
Pro tip: If you do gloss over certain material, don’t let it be the unique value you have to offer.
Provide extra TLC to the client
Selling a home is a stressful process. It might not seem that way to you––it’s literally your job. Even though you’re used to the process, always be mindful of your client’s perspective and be ready to respond with empathy to their nerves and uncertainty.
Practice often
Nailing a listing presentation takes practice. To polish your performance, practice in front of team members or family.
As you gain experience, you’ll be able to anticipate questions and concerns. Still, don’t become complacent in your approach. Even seasoned professionals need to reevaluate their listing presentations from time to time.
Focus on emotion more than logic
While selling a home is ultimately a business transaction, it also changes the trajectory of your clients’ lives. Be attuned to their stress, how emotions may be impacting their attachment to a selling price, and how they respond to different suggestions for improving or marketing their home.
Be authentic
Above all else, be authentic. Your clients need to feel like they can trust you. Always be transparent and honest.
Create a standout real estate listing presentation with Luxury Presence
Luxury Presence’s listing presentation tool is designed to help you increase your close rates by creating stunning professional presentations. We make the design process as simple as possible so you can focus on what really matters––your clients.
Looking for even more advice and resources about succeeding as a listing agent? Our platform can help you develop business strategies and strengthen your network. To learn more about how we can help you grow your real estate business, reach out to our team today.
