I have a lot of folks ask me if I think advertising a home for sale in the classifieds is effective. With some rare exceptions, I would say no.

A real estate classified ad placed in the Orlando Sentinel costs about 110 bucks last time I checked. The response it will generate is typically not much of one in my experience. For about free, I can target a very specific type of buyer through the internet, not to mention post it for millions of folks out there to look at on some of the more generic search sites like Realtor.com, yahoo.com, etc.

Newspapers that are re-working their business model in such a way that the print edition complements the online presence (instead of the other way around) are probably going to have a better chance of being relevant ten years from now. It will be interesting to watch it all play out.

Most realtors find that an investment in newspaper print advertising is best made in a manner that features the realtor or brokerage first, with the specifics on the listings themselves as secondary. This is about marketing the agent moreso than the listings themselves, and in this sense I think newspaper classifieds can remain relevant. But does an investment of a hundred bucks help you get your house sold? Usually not.

Here's an excerpt from a recent UPI article on the topic I thought was interesting.

REAL ESTATE AD BUBBLE COULD BURST

The real estate advertising bubble is about to burst for U.S. newspapers, several newspaper analysts say. Even as the real estate market has cooled during the past two years, newspapers’ 2006 real estate ad sales grew to $4.6 billion, or about 8 percent of total newspaper revenue, from $2.6 billion a decade earlier, Advertising Age reported. But the cycle appears to have peaked as major publishers – including Tribune Co., McClatchy Co. and Lee Enterprises – reported real estate ad declines in the high single digits starting in January, the magazine said. “Economic reports projecting steep falloff in new housing sales and starts make further ad declines all but inevitable,” Ad Age said. While Newspaper Association of America Vice President Charlie Diederich said he expected the ad growth to return by the end of this year, classified-industry experts and real estate agents said online players could dominate the category by the time the sector revives.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International