Experienced agents have more, pricier listings

Real estate agents with more than five years of experience tend to represent higher-priced listings and spend more money marketing them than less experienced agents, according to a survey by VHT Inc., which provides marketing services to real estate professionals.

The survey of 1,300 agents and brokers revealed that those with two to five years of experience had listings in the $490,000 range, while the average value of listings for those with more than 10 years of experience was $600,000.

Agents with more than five years experience spent $864 per listing marketing properties, while those with less experience spent an average of $675 per listing.

The survey found a direct correlation between the amount spent to market a property and its value. Agents spent an average of $682 per listing for properties in the $250,000 to $500,000 range, compared with $1,742 for properties in the $1 million to $2.5 million range.

Realtor.com, craigslist and Google were the top national Web sites used by agents, with 39 percent of agents reporting five to 10 different online destinations for their listing. About one in four agents said their listings average 10 to 20 different destinations.

Only 20 percent of agents said newspapers ads are an effective marketing tool, but 83 percent said they used them to advertise listings. While agents said online ads and signage were "more valuable" than newspaper ads for promoting a property, 92 percent said that their sellers mentioned newspaper ads as important.

Brochures were used by 90 percent of respondents, and 89 percent said they utilized postcards. Only 41 percent reported purchasing TV ads.

The survey also found that the longer an agent is in business, the more properties he or she is likely to represent. In the past year, 30 percent of agents managed five to 10 listings, 35 percent managed 10 to 20 listings, and 21 percent managed 20 or more listings.

VHT claims to provide visual marketing services, including photographs, video and multimedia tours, for 3,500 clients and 75,000 individual marketers of real estate, hospitality, locations and destinations.

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