Demonstrating Your Value

By Kayla O’Brien

RISMEDIA, Dec. 11, 2008-”This is not a market where you can be pennywise and a pound foolish,” says Kelly Taylor, director of sales for New York’s Prudential Douglas Elliman. “People are trusting their investment with us and in return, they have to be receiving value for that.”

No circumstance better illustrates that point than on Dec. 24, 2007, Christmas Eve, when Taylor went out on a listing appointment for a home worth more than $1 million. As she tells it, the homeowner wasn’t interested in selling until spring, but still had invited her over to the house-along with some unexpected guests.

“The entire family was there,” she says, “including her son, a lawyer. He said he wouldn’t pay more than 3% commission, so I was immediately battling for this listing, trying to differentiate myself and explain why there was value to my service.”

The best way to demonstrate her point of differentiation, according to Taylor, was by working with Obeo, a real estate technology and marketing company that brings her listings to life, providing easy-to-use tools such as virtual tours, floor plans, the ability to click and drag furniture, detailed photography and cinematic 360-degree panoramas.

“I immediately picked up the phone and called Obeo, asking how quickly I could have a photographer come out to the property,” she says. “They said, ‘Today,’ and I got the listing as a result.”

What’s more, Taylor says that the home sold in just 13 days after a buyer viewed the virtual tour online.

“She saw the tour, called me, and we met at the house,” Taylor says. “Before leaving, she left a deposit on the home so that I would not show it to anyone else. I am convinced it was all because I was able to demonstrate the value.”

Because more than 87% of home buyers begin their search online, “we want to make sure that when those visitors come to our website, they’re seeing our listings displayed in the very best light possible,” she says. “The goal is to get them to schedule an appointment and see the home in person.”

By teaming up with Obeo, Taylor is able to give her clients’ homes a lot more exposure through quality, professional photography and virtual tours-which also translate into a time-management tool.

“It saves buyers a lot of time because they can search homes online to decide if it’s worth their time to make an appointment to see it in person,” she explains. “Then, that saves sellers time from having uninterested buyers coming through the home-saving the agents’ time all together.”

In addition to professional virtual tours, Obeo offers several options for home buyers to better understand their potential future home: seeing if their lifestyle will fit in with the home. With virtual floor plans and Obeo’s proprietary tools-SpaceDesigner, StyleDesigner and HomeSite-buyers can click and drag their furniture, repaint, add new floor coverings and remodel the kitchen-while sitting at their computer.

“People who come to our website think it’s incredible, and they’re staying on our site longer,” Taylor says. “We receive 71,000 hits daily on prudentialelliman.com.”

The only problem, Taylor says, is when her clients who have listed their home with her expect the same treatment during their search for a home.

“For some of the home sellers, once they see their listing and virtual tour up on the site, they say, ‘Why am I moving?’”

Whether Taylor uses the virtual tours for her website, brochures or even as a closing gift, she believes that in this challenging marketplace, Obeo’s technology is keeping her ahead of the competition, hands down.

“Everyone is value-conscious and wants the most for their money, and this is the one thing that really gives the home the best exposure,” she says. “There is nothing that will ever replace seeing the house in person, but this is surely the next best thing.”

For more information, please visit www.obeo.com.

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