eMarketSouth Central

The real estate market is starting to pick up in our area and I believe it is the season for relocating. Typically spring and summer are the best times of year to plan a relocation or house purchase. Spring lends itself to cleaning out and starting over while summer schedules lend themselves to the flexibility you require for such an arduous undertaking as moving. Listed below are some reasons these seasons are the top choice for relocation adventures.

• Spring Cleaning: no better time of year to clean out old clutter and clean up gutters … make fresh the old house you are putting up for sale and hop around for spring time open houses with gardens in bloom and lawns green with spring. For some reason homes for sale look fresh and new in the spring. Along with a good deep spring cleaning, flowering plants on a front stoop offer nice curb appeal. Everything looks brighter in Spring.
• Summer scheduling: the kids are out of school so transitions to a new school are much easier on them when the year isn’t disrupted. They can have ample time for send offs with old friends and play dates with new friends. A move during the school year is more likely to cause children anxiety about their school work and social structure. Summer is a more relaxed time of year so they can take their time learning about their new neighbors. This also applies to adult work schedules. Often times in business with tax season over and vacations being planned, business slows to a more manageable pace for a move.
• Fiscal Calendar: many government agencies work on a fiscal year that ends in June so being able to tie up a fiscal year at work before you leave a position allows you to exit on a good footing with your current employer. Moving during this time might add some work to your plate to wrap up the old and discover the new but the long term benefits are worth the extra work at the front end. Your employer will appreciate your effort to make their transition easier too.
• Holiday Season: I don’t know anyone who would recommend a move during the holiday season because of the added chaos we all experience. Between gift buying, holiday greetings to send and family to visit … this is not the time to add house hunting and house showing to your list. I have a friend who has a tendency to move during the holidays that past two moves their family has made (all across state lines) and I would swear her hair is grayer for it!

Moving is stressful for every member of your family but there are better times of the year than others. To avoid additional stress of the big change, consider these reasons for choosing spring or summer to buy and sell your home. Plan in advance and make sure there is some flexibility built in for your family.  Whether you are moving to another home in the same area or to a completely new area of the country, spring and summer are your best bets for making the change!

Tags: Savannah Home Finder, USA Homes by Suzy Buelvas
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The following is the full transcript that was to be presented at the April Buy Local Savannah luncheon, however, due to time constraints, was cut to bare bones when presented. 

Your website is your greatest selling tool and should be an investment that you commit to more than just one time. The “if you build it, they will come” does not work for online marketing. You can’t just build a website and wait for business. So how do you get people to you?

You have to advertise. I can’t count the number of clients that don’t bother to put their website address in their marketing materials, such as print collateral, business cards, TV, radio and even billboard ads. You should also consider purchasing banner ad space on websites that share your target demographic but do not compete with you directly.

Once you get people to your website, you have to capture their interest to keep them there. You have 10 seconds to capture your visitor’s interest. So take a fresh look at your website. Is it attractive to you? Is the information your potential client most wants to know on the home page or easy to find? Suggest to your employees and current clients to provide feedback on your current website. If they have comments or concerns, take note of them. This website is not for you, it is for your potential customers. Make sure you create a design that is inviting and your content is easy to read and find. A big problem I notice is a change of text fonts, styles and colors from one page to another and even one paragraph to another. Please be kind to those reading your site, especially if you have a lot of information to digest. Keeping font styles consistent allows for a user’s eyes to flow easily through your information and increases their retention. Consult with a professional firm that has experience in designing business sites. They will be able to help guide you with regards to color schemes, content development, navigation, and layout. And please, have people other than yourself read through your content for spelling and grammar. This is a glaring problem I see when clients submit content. Your customers will notice, too.

Once you’ve caught their interest, you need to be available to them for contact. Make sure to have your physical location, directions or map, hours of operation, phone and fax numbers, and of course, a way for them to contact you via email. I have seen too many sites where a business says you may only contact them by phone during certain hours. People are online because they want to conduct business online. If you aren’t providing them that access, you are missing your chance to sell.

Your business should never be over after the sell. Use your website as a tool to keep your clients informed and sell them on other services and products as you make them available. Consider adding a blog to your site that covers topics related to your business that will be of value to your clients as well. The tone can vary, such as upgrade information, new hire, community partnership or case study.

So if you build it, will they come? And if they come, will they stay? The only way to get a strong return on investment for your website is to take the time to plan through your website development and stay open to periodic changes to enhance the user’s experience.

Tags: Design, Search Engine Optimization, eMarketSouth by Lisa Scarbrough
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