Marketing & Tech Report Q1 2014

MARKETING & TECH QUARTER ONE | 2014

ABOUT

SCHUYLKILL SCHUYLKILL HAVEN

DAUPHIN

HOMESALE

HARRISBURG

LEBANON WYOMISSING

HERSHEY

CAMP HILL CARLISLE

CHAMBERSBURG

FRANKLIN

EPHRATA

MONTGOMERY

ELIZABETHTOWN

CUMBERLAND

Homesale serves the real estate needs of South Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Greater Baltimore metropolitan region. Whether you are looking for a property for sale, want to list your own home for sale, or are in need of any other real estate service, we are here to help you every step of the way.

BERKS

LEBANON

PERRY

LANCASTER

YORK

CINEMA DRIVE

WEST YORK EAST YORK

ADAMS GETTYSBURG

CHESTER

MT JOY

NORTH POINTE PARK CITY

CENTERVILLE

DALLASTOWN

QUARRYVILLE

HANOVER SHREWSBURY

PHOENIX

WESTMINSTER

CARROLL FREDERICK

BALTIMORE

HARFORD

TIMONIUM CLARKVIEW

HOWARD

BALTIMORE

HARBOR EAST FEDERAL HILL

ANNE ARUNDEL

In addition to helping you find Pennsylvania and Maryland houses for sale that meet your needs, Homesale offers a complete menu of real estate services including realty, mortgage, settlement, title insurance, homeowners insurance, warranty, and relocation services.

PRINCE GEORGE’S

Bob Yost Homesale Services

Landis Homesale Services

S N APSEED Make your photos stand out from the crowd If you’re taking photographs with your iPhone, Tablet, or Android device, Snapseed can help you do a quick edit to fine tune your image before sharing it. This app includes all the best photo editing options and contains a simple interface with thousands of photo filter combinations. Agents can use Snapseed to differentiate photos of your home and make them stand out from the crowd.

Download Snapseed on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. With an average rating of 4.5 out of 5, Snapseed will help you gain a tech savvy reputation and enhance your marketing.

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HOMESALE MARKETING & TECH REPORT | QUARTER ONE

66%

15%

9%

70%

RECENT HOME BUYERS THAT ARE MARRIED COUPLES

RECENT HOME BUYERS THAT ARE SINGLE WOMEN

RECENT HOME BUYERS THAT ARE SINGLE MEN

FEMALE PERCENTAGE OF HOMESALE'S FACEBOOK FANS

42

31

52

69%

TYPICAL AGE OF HOME BUYER

TYPICAL AGE OF FIRST-TIME BUYER

TYPICAL AGE OF REPEAT BUYER

HOMESALE'S FACEBOOK FANS BETWEEN THE AGE OF 25-54

SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES IT EASY TO STAY CONNECTED Chart Information courtesy of the National Association of Realtors

GET THE INFO YOU WANT The real estate process can be very stressful. Like any quality conversation, social media is about sharing valuable information. You will have access to tips on buying, selling, home improvements, preparing your home seasonal changes, industry updates and more.

ON YOUR TERMS Allows you to research information and reach out with questions on your own terms. Even when you are not in the market for a new home you can take advantage of the tips for home owners.

FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME As more homes are put on the market, you have the advantage to turn to Facebook and create buzz about your listings from the comfort of your home. While many of your friends may not be in the market for a home, they'll often forward the listing to friends who are. Without even leaving your home, your listing gets passed from one Facebook page to another, generating a lot of exposure.

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HOMESALE MARKETING & TECH REPORT | QUARTER ONE

SEO STRATEGIE Without a well-designed Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, followed by consistent execution, it would be very difficult for us to compete with the national real estate portals in regards to localized search traffic. With that being said, our team has put tremendous time and effort into doing real estate SEO the right way. In fact, our website, Homesale.com, was the #1 lead generating source for our agents in 2013.

Any property specific web leads are emailed directly to the listing agent, since they are able to best answer your questions. Phone calls are answered by a live operator from our Lead Center, who contacts the appropriate agent immediately.

HOMESALE.COM WAS THE #1 LEAD GENERATING SOURCE FOR OUR AGENTS IN 2013

64, 284

2013 TOTAL HOMESALE LEADS FROM ALL SOURCES

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HOMESALE MARKETING & TECH REPORT | QUARTER ONE

ES THAT WE USE HOW HOMESALE DOES IT CREATE UNIQUE AND ACCURATE PAGE TITLES We make sure to define our target market with the use of title tags, which effectively communicates the topic of our page’s content. The titles are short and informative so the entire title will appear in the search result on Google.

URL STRUCTURE By making sure that the right words are chosen for the URL, this makes it easier for our visitors to remember what they were viewing, without having to bookmark it.

MAKE THE SITE EASY TO NAVIGATE The navigation of our site is very important because we want to make sure that you quickly find the content you want. When a visitor goes to our site, they can access the sitemap, at the bottom of the site, to find any pages that they are interested in viewing.

OFFER QUALITY CONTENT AND SERVICES With the use of blog posts, social media, email, and forums, we create compelling and useful content that influences userengagement.

ENCOURAGE MOBILE USAGE We have designed our website for all devices from small phones screens, to tablet screens, and laptops. To display well on mobile, we make sure to have simple page designs, large font sizes and icons, and place critical information at the top of the page to eliminate excessive scrolling.

HOMESALE MARKETING & TECH REPORT | QUARTER ONE

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WHO IS BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY? Berkshire Hathaway by definition is an American conglomerate holding company owned by Warren Buffet and according to Barron’s Magazine, Berkshire Hathaway is the most respected company in the world.

This monster holding company wholly owns large corporations that you may have heard of: GEICO, Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen, Heinz, Mars and Helzberg Diamonds. In addition, they also partially own companies such as Coca-Cola Company, IBM and American Express. You can tell by these names that Berkshire Hathaway invests only in the best; you might just say anything they touch turns to gold.

Until now, Berkshire Hathaway has not used their holding company name on any product or service they own. However, the policy was changed when BHHS purchased the Prudential Real Estate brand. Part of the deal was that BHHS needed to create their own brand and drop the use of Prudential. The decision was made to extend the use of the Berkshire Hathaway brand to the top Prudential real estate affiliates.

Since September 23, 2013, the BHHS real estate brand has grown to over 700 offices with over 26,000 real estate agents.

We are excited to join forces with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. Our Homesale team will be part of a network comprised of the top real estate brokers in the country.

HOMESALE MARKETING & TECH REPORT | QUARTER ONE

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ONLINE SELLER ADVANTAGE

ONLINE SELLER ADVANTAGE The Prudential brand brings exclusive tools to Homesale agents. Online Seller Advantage is among the Homesale agents’ favorites. They use OSA to market your home, keep you updated on your home's status once it's listed, and to provide you with updates on your local market.

Over 90% of Home Buyers Start Their Home Search Online PrudentialRealEstate.com and PrudentialProperties.com make it easy for home buyers to easily view your home online. OSA provides Prudential agents the tools to showcase your home so it stands out from the rest.

These national websites bring motivated buyers, who are invested in finding the right house, and because your home will be added without delay, it will help to speed up the selling process.

Keeping You Updated Once you've put your home on the market, our agents use OSA to keep you updated on your competition. This report will show you similar homes for sale and their asking price. If new homes enter the market or competing sellers reduce their price, this report will let you know, allowing you to act and remain competitive.

The report will also keep you updated on your home's online activity providing: • How many times your home has been returned in search results • How many times a consumer clicked through to view your home's Property Details • How many times a buyer has saved your home in their portfolio (as a favorite) Market Reports will keep you updated on the local market, even after your home has sold. Your agent can send you monthly emails including a summary of overall activity (price reductions, sales, properties pending a sale, etc.) in your specified market area. Down the road, if you're considering upsizing or downsizing, you'll know when the time is right to sell.

As we transition to Berkshire Hathaway, Online Seller Advantage will get even better! By June, the reports will have an enhanced look and more detailed content, making it even easier to read and more valuable for you.

HOMESALE MARKETING & TECH REPORT | QUARTER ONE

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