Dedicated real estate investors are always looking for new technologies that can help them get more work done, make more profits, and run their operations more conveniently.
One of the biggest technological breakthroughs in this area of the past couple of decades has been the rise of online listing platforms, which allow real estate agents and amateur individuals to buy, sell, and rent properties as they see fit.
Collectively, these platforms have streamlined the process of looking for real estate or listing real estate, and they have functionally democratized much of the real estate industry.
But how exactly do online listing platforms make your life easier as a real estate investor? and are there any limitations to these high-tech listings?
Real estate investing isn’t for the faint of heart. Real estate transactions are typically big, economically impactful ones, and the stress of running even a simple single-family home as a rental property can be significant.
If you want to be successful in this field, you need to be able to discern good deals from bad deals, mitigate the threat of competition, and keep an eye on your profitability at all times.
There are many ways to fix and improve your rental unit to make it more attractive to prospective tenants. But none of these will be particularly effective unless you have a reliable way of advertising and promoting your unit.
Advertising and promoting your unit can be expensive and time-consuming, but without these strategies, you’ll be prone to taking on the costs associated with vacancies.
On top of that, managing listings for multiple properties can be a headache. If you don’t have much marketing expertise, or if you don’t have much manpower supporting your operation, you may quickly find yourself overwhelmed by the pressures of listing.
Fortunately, online listing platforms mitigate many of these problems.
Online real estate listings can be used in many ways. You can use them to buy a property, sell a property, list a property for rent, or even look for a property to rent.
The advantages of online listings are incredible.
Wide reach. Most people looking for a place to buy or rent are searching online these days.
By making your property available in online listings, you’ll stand to reach a majority of people searching for similar properties.
Obviously, you’ll still be limited to people who are searching for properties like yours and your geographic area, but many online listing platforms have user bases with millions of people.
If you want to reach as many people as possible with your listing, online listing platforms are great places to start.
Accessibility. Many real estate investors also appreciate the accessibility angle of online listing platforms. You don’t need to be a technical expert. You don’t need any marketing or advertising experience. You don’t even need much money.
If you have some information about your property and you want to list it for sale or rent, you can get started in a matter of minutes. If you’re totally new to this world, you can learn most of the basics with free online resources and tutorial videos.
Inexpensiveness. Most online listing platforms are associated with fees, but they tend to be quite reasonable. There are also some public listing platforms that are totally free.
Because of this, you can market most of your properties without cutting into your budget or interfering with your overall profitability.
Remote viewings. Visiting a property in person is often the best way to get a sense of its quality and characteristics, but people don’t always have this option.
Online listing platforms make it easy to facilitate remote viewings, whether you conduct full virtual tours or simply guide people through the house via photographs and videos.
Apples to apples comparisons. Property listings on a given platform typically follow the same structure and formatting. As we’ll see, this can be a bit of a limitation, but there’s also an advantage associated with it.
When people browse through platforms like these, they have the opportunity to make direct, apples-to-apples comparisons. They can see exactly how two similar properties stack up against each other and compare individual variables to make a more effective decision.
Peripheral research. Most people want to look beyond the unit itself before deciding to move; they want to research and properly vet the entire neighborhood.
For example, they may want to know about crime rates, school quality, walkability, and historical prices. When using online listing platforms, people usually have the opportunity to review these pieces of information without ever leaving the listing page.
Listing options. Finally, there are typically many types of listing options available. You can make a listing for almost any real estate goal, whether you’re interested in buying, selling, renting, or something else entirely.
It’s also your choice how you fill out the available fields and you choose which pictures you want to upload. For the most part, your listing is totally within your control.
There are some limitations associated with online listing platforms, of course. In many cases, you’ll be restricted to only one type of formatting, and you may not be able to list all the photos and videos you’d like.
Additionally, not everyone peruses online listings, so you won’t have an unlimited audience. Most real estate investors benefit from taking advantage of online listing platforms, but it’s also a good idea to supplement these listings with marketing and advertising through other sources.
Flyers, billboards, and more conventional forms of advertising offer complementary advantages that are worth reaping.
Still, the benefits of online listing platforms far eclipse their limitations. If you want to be more successful and efficient in your real estate investing strategy, it’s important for you to be able to take advantage of them.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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