6 ways technology has changed home buying in N.J.

​Don't forget your phone

These days, those sales signs planted in front yards are your gateway to loads of information. If you see a home you like, text the number on the sign and you'll receive an instant brochure sent to your phone providing details aplenty, said Felicia Dragone, a Mullica Hill-based Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway.

Her company also offers a branded app that allows you to identify properties Berkshire has listed for sale in your area. If you're driving through a community you like, consult the app and information on nearby homes is in the palm of your hand.

These fancy house hunting features are key to the modern home-buying market and younger tech-savvy buyers and sellers have come to expect them.

"You have to stay one step ahead," Dragone said. "This is what they expect. They want everything at their fingertips."

Sellers should keep in mind that the home must be priced wisely, given that buyers have easy access to information on what sellers paid when they bought the house, Dragone added.

Your home needs a webpage

Many homes are marketed via individual web pages, where a particular property doesn't have to compete with a screen full of other offerings. It's one home, front and center.

Take 36windingway.go2frr.com for example.

That page features all of the vital stats on the property, along with plenty of photos.

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Great photos are key to showcasing a property, Dragone said.

"Don't go cheap on photography," she advised. "That's the single most important part of marketing your property ... make that investment."

For a Realtor, selling a home isn't a "set-it-and-forget-it" process. The extra effort to market really matters.

"You always have to keep your product fresh," said Realtor Judith Fini, with Century 21 in Sewell. "The seller appreciates the effort."

That drone is shooting to sell

Sure, we know drones as weapons of war and Amazon tells us it will one day use them to drop packages on our doorsteps, but real estate agents are utilizing them now to grab sky-high images of homes.

To give buyers the full experience, some agents contract with professional drone operators to grab video all around the property.

During the open house, Dragone displayed drone video of 36 Winding Way on a flatscreen TV in the home's basement entertainment area.

Marketing tech worth the cost

All of these bells and whistles are part of marketing a home.

Sellers need to think about how the house looks when it's opened to potential buyers and they need someone to market it properly, Dragone said.

Web pages, drones, professional photos, open houses and advertising doesn't come cheap.

Real estate agencies provide agents with some of the resources. "Any agency gives you a select marketing piece, but it's not enough," explained Realtor Joanna Papadaniil, Dragone's partner at Berkshire Hathaway in Mullica Hill.

To give clients what they really need, Papadaniil said, requires a financial outlay by the agent. She spends a significant sum to market homes "the way I choose to market them," Papadaniil said. "The seller will see that we are doing everything humanly possible to put the property out there. Whatever we can do, we don't look at the cost. We just do it."

From: myinforms.com