OUR HISTORY:
AN EXTRAORDINARY COLLABORATION
About Gibson Sotheby's International Realty
Gibson Sotheby's International Realty is Boston's largest independent real estate
company. Founded in 1962 by Betty Gibson in Boston's South End, the company
has grown to 8 offices. The international network of more than 580 offices in 42
countries and territories, and the relationship with Sotheby's auction house, as
well as comprehensive online and print advertising in high profile venues, provides
remarkable exposure for each of our homes. The success led to our firm
being the top-ranked Boston firm in the state (source: MLS).
About Sotheby's
Sotheby's auction house was founded in 1744 and has sold the world's most
valuable possessions?from treasured antiquities to fine art pieces. In 1976, the
Sotheby's International Realty® network was founded and designed to connect
the finest independent real estate companies to the most prestigious clientele in
the world and to provide independent brokerages with a powerful marketing
and referral program for luxury listings.
 |
Sotheby's Clients Include:
- 71 of the Forbes' 100 World's Richest People
- 253 of the Forbes' 400 Richest Americans
- 78 of the Forbes' 100 Richest Americans
- All 12 of the Forbes' Top 12 Billionaire Art Collectors
- 60 of the Worth Magazine's Benefactor 100
- 12 of the Fortune's "40 under 40"
- 199 of the Art News' Top 200 collectors
|
|
Sotheby's Demographic
- Average household income: $474,000
- Average value of real estate: $10.5 million
- Average number of residences: 55% own 2+
- 33% redecorate their home at least every 3 years.
- 58% have used the services of an interior designer.
- 49% are in the market for new technology.
- 62% retain the services of a private banker.
- 76% spend $5000+ per person on an international leisure trip.
- 50% have more than half their portfolio actively managed by a financial consultant.
|
Photos, top to bottom:
Our Tremont Street
office, Sotheby's auction
in May 2007 of recordsetting
Rothko painting,
an auction bidder, the
auction house at New
Bond Street, London. |
 |
Combine this industry knowledge with our passion for this city's neighborhoods and the results are clear: we have a highly
educated and knowledgeable team of real estate agents strategically placed throughout the Boston area.
OUR PLAN TO MARKET
Below is a summary of activities that we will undertake with our in-house Marketing Department to market your home:
- Create a Special Features Profile of the property and make any suggestions to help better market the property.
- Have mortgage companies provide Financial Information Sheets on the property.
- Establish a private showing schedule that is convenient for you.
- Marketing Department will tour the property, take digital photos and/or virtual tours for use in marketing materials.
- Marketing Department will design individualized showsheet with photographs and information about the property.
- Inform all Gibson Sotheby's International Realty sales associates of the new listing and organize a tour of the property
following the weekly sales meeting.
- Place the property in LINK (Listing Information Network) and MLS (Multiple Listing Service), exposing your home
to sales agents throughout the Greater Boston area.
- Feature property on top lead generating real estate websites including, but not limited to, gibsonsothebysrealty.com, sothebysrealty.com, realtor.com, boston.com, wallstreetjournal.com, newyorktimes.com, iht.com,
trulia.com, zillow.com and more.
- Place FOR SALE signage in front of your property, if desired.
- Post property ads on display in appropriate office windows.
- Schedule a public Open House, held on a Sunday afternoon, if you desire.
- Schedule a Broker Open House with lunch, as required.
- Place your home in select printed publications.
- Promote property information and price changes through the real estate brokerage community via LINK, MLS and/
or broadcast fax and mass emails.
- Send INTRODUCING cards to neighbors and/or other potential buyers, if appropriate.
- Follow-up showings for feedback, recommend action based upon consistent remarks, rectify issues where practical.
- Review activity weekly with seller by phone, fax or email, including competing listings new to the market and those
just sold.
- Recommend new sales strategies as necessary.
Our Team
With over 160 agents in eight offices across the city, we are proud of our track record
and our top-ranking offices in Boston's neighborhoods. Our northeast affiliates include
36 offices in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. In 2009, we all
faced the challenges posed by our difficult economic conditions and conquered them.
Here are a few of our success stories:
- Represented approximately 2500 transactions
?averaging more than 7 per day!
Sold over $1 billion in total dollar volume
Sold the most expensive home in Massachusetts for
over $9 million
(All statistics from MLS, from January 1-November)
Gibson Sotheby's International Realty® has created a comprehensive educational package
for our agents. Our specially designed seminars cover the latest industry standards
and technological advancements ? led by our General Manager, Sales Director and a
select group of keynote speakers. Our training and professional development programs
supplement statutory and regulatory requirements for real estate brokers and salespersons.
We are also members of the National Association of REALTORS®, which strives to be
the collective force influencing and shaping the real estate industry. Working on behalf of
America's property owners, this organization provides a facility for professional development, research and exchange of
information among its members and to the public and government. The association has at its core, a Code of Ethics ? a
set of essential values that guide REALTORS through every transaction. Founded in 1908, the National Association of
REALTORS® now has over 1,000,000 members.
556 Tremont St
Boston's South End
617.426.6900 |
597A Tremont St
Boston's South End
617.426.6901 |
69 Newbury St
Boston's Back Bay
617.375.6900 |
220 Commercial St
Boston's Waterfront
617.725.1981 |
One Thompson Sq
Charlestown
617.242.4222 |
119 Savin Hill Ave
Savin Hill
617.825.0800 |
378 Washington St
Westwood
781.329.8008 |
544 Boston Post Road
Weston
781.899.1650 |
REGIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
The Sotheby's International Realty affiliation is
not just international. There are 37
Sotheby's International Realty offices in
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire
and Rhode Island. We work closely with
each member of our network to garner the
best possible exposure for our properties.
There is a vital relocation and second home
market between the city, the suburbs and the
islands.
Internationally, there are more than 9,500
sales associates in over 580 Sotheby's International
Realty offices in 42 countries
and territories. With international cities, like
Boston, people are likely to move here from
other countries. In fact, Boston is the 8th busiest
city in the country for relocation.
In addition to the realty offices, Sotheby's has a
host of auction houses. There are auction
houses in North America, Europe, Asia, the
Middle East and Australia. At each location
there is a real estate desk with property brochures
and a referral specialist.
MARKETING STRATEGY
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, nearly 90% of people looking for homes now use the internet in
their search, while print media usage has declined to 41%. It is critical to have property data on the industry's leading web
sites to reach that audience as they begin their search. In addition to our gibsonsothebysrealty.com and the sothebysrealty.
com site (one of the world's most visited online destinations for high-quality real estate), we will list your property
on more than 40 proven websites. We enhance our interactive marketing with the exclusive EGallery system to
highlight our global selection of upper tier properties on flat screen wall and window displays in our offices and auction houses.
The leads generated from this comprehensive datafeed are sent to our agents through LeadRouter. This program converts
online leads to cell phone calls?so that our buyers are sure to reach an agent quickly; no matter where they are.
ONLINE MARKETING
|
|
Here are descriptions for a few of the more than 40 sites:
- Boston.com estimates more than 3 million unique users per month.
- Realtor.com reports more than 5.7 million visits per month and is the
#1 feed of data for a dozen other popular online sites, including AOL and
MSN.
- NewYorkTimes.com is proclaimed to be the best address in real estate
and logs over 27 million page views per year.
- WSJ.com (Wall Street Journal) is an award-winning website receiving over
2 million page views per month.
- IHT.com (International Herald Tribune) draws 5.1 million unique users
per month worldwide.
- Trulia.com is the fastest growing real estate website in the US with nearly
3 million monthly visitors and growing.
- Zillow.com is on online property search site that offers property value
estimates amongst other tools. 5.2 million unique users visited ZiIlow in
May of 2008. This is a 23% increase year-over-year.
|
PARTNERSHIP
"The Business of Extraordinary Living"
The Sotheby's International Realty brand has recently created a unique, private partnership with The Wall Street
Journal with the introduction of The Business of Extraordinary Living microsite. The microsite positions our brand front
and center to more than 40 million visitors of The Wall Street Journal's digital network each month. And with an 89%
increase of international traffic to their website, our relationship with WSJ provides yet another matchless opportunity to
market your home globally.
Delivering a highly loyal and engaged global audience of influencers
Our partnership with The New York Times provides the ability to develop custom and dominant opportunities to create
brand awareness and drive qualified leads to the listings represented by our network. This strategic partnership represents
several unprecedented and exclusive online opportunities position the homes our network represents front and
center to an audience of nearly 30 million monthly unique users worldwide.
SOTHEBYSREALTY.COM
The Sotheby's International Realty® web site provides spectacular exposure for your property with approximately 3.5
million page views. Our exclusive association with the auction house includes a direct link from the Sotheby's homepage
to our web site ? generating more qualified interest in your property listing.
The features of SothebysRealty.com include:
- Enhanced property photography?up to 20 full-screen photos powering a distinctive property slideshow.
- Search by lifestyle?because your home is more than the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
- Unique Amenities?highlight what makes your home different and unique.
- Guided search and navigation?best of breed search technology guides the consumers to your home via type
ahead search, guided navigation techniques and property postcard viewing.
- Microsoft's Virtual Earth Mapping?map your property and relevant amenities and points of interest close to your home using satellite and "bird's eye" technology.
- Worldwide property inventory?we receive significant international traffic because SothebysRealty.com houses
all our international properties, offices and sales associates.
- Currency conversion?international buyers can view and search for your property in their own currency.
- Language translation?launched in 2008, our Language Translation project will enable consumers to view SothebysRealty.com in multiple languages including French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Cyrillic (Russian) and
German.
MOBILE SOLUTIONS
60 % of today's
buyers were born
after 1964
(i.e. are members of
Gen X & Gen Y)
Source: Inman News, 02/16/2010,
Gen X, Gen Y buyers rule market |
As the profile of the average homebuyer changes, Gibson Sotheby's International
Realty finds exciting new ways to reach them. Our most recent addition is
Kwkly?with three different mobile solutions that provide instant information for
the buyer on-the-go. Get instant information to your cell phone anytime you pass
by a for sale sign.
- For text-to-MLS access, the user texts the word "Gibson" to 59559. They are
then prompted to give an address of a property that is for sale. The MLS info
will be texted back to them in a matter of seconds.
- They also receive a link to Kwkly's GPS search service. If their cell phone has
GPS abilities (as in Google Maps), they will be able to find the five nearest
properties that are for sale and comparable recent sales.
- Lastly, iTunes App Store has two applications MA Homes and Boston Homes
that users may download for use on their iPhone.
|
LOCAL AND REGIONAL ADVERTISING
INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING
Even though the internet is surging in its performance, there is still some power in print media. Our Marketing Department
utilizes advertising in several local print venues in order to compliment our internet presence. These print venues
include Boston Magazine, New England Home, Boston Homes, The Boston Globe, The South End News, The Boston
Courant, South Boston Tribune, Hometown Weekly and Dorchester Reporter. Our approach is to generate leads by
displaying properties that represent a variety of styles and price points. We also place ads in other local print media based
on the needs of a specific property. Other venues include the Boston Herald, the Airport Journal, Community Newspapers
(includes 103 statewide publications), Jamaica Plain Gazette, Mission Hill Gazette, Patriot Ledger, Bay Windows and
more.
More than 60 opportunities to reach an international audience
 |
The Sotheby's International Realty co-op advertising program was developed to
help associates market their listings to an international audience. This program
provides us with the opportunity to expand the exposure of your property by advertising
it in Sotheby's at Auction, Sotheby's International Realty's RESIDE, The Wall
Street Journal, The Robb Report, International Herald Tribune and other highly targeted
publications. Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates Inc. is subsidizing the program
by paying 40% of the cost for The Wall Street Journal and New York Times Sunday
Magazine and 25% for all other publications.
- RESIDE?Circulation of 135,000 distributed to members of Sotheby's auction
house, as well as subscribers of Architectural Digest, Gourmet, Condé
Nast Traveler, Western Interiors and Design and more.
- Sotheby's at Auction?Distributed to the 80,000 members of Sotheby's
auction house with a median income of $474,000.
International Herald Tribune?Distributed to 240,000+ with a median
income of $286,743.
- Wall Street Journal?Circulation of 1,889,146 with a median income of
$241,662.
- Robb Report?Distributed to 200,000+ with a median income of
$1,375,000.
|
LOCAL OUTREACH
 |
Brokerage Community
A critical part of market outreach is making connections
within the real estate community. This is a proven way to
expose your property to the greatest number of buyers.
There are several ways that this can be done:
- Brokers Open Houses are typically held during the
week and provide an opportunity for other agencies to view
the property.
- Mass faxes or emails are an excellent tool to announce
new or reduced-price listings to our colleagues.
- Sales meetings allow us to get in front of our peers to
describe the property and to entice them to show it to clients.
This enhances the power of our services to you by
employing the skills and exposure of our entire sales force.
- Caravans or group tours allow us to bring our colleagues
through the home to provide feedback on pricing,
staging and other important considerations. This also gives
agents first hand knowledge of your home.
- Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and LINK are fabulous
tools that allows the entire real estate industry to share listing
information, pictures, virtual tours and updates.
|
WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION
A unique home deserves special attention.
The new Worldwide Property Brochure Distribution Program allows you to
share your property brochures with each office in the Sotheby's International
Realty® network ? totaling more than 480 locations. For properties listed at
a price of $1,500,000 or more, your associate is given an option to select
Worldwide Property Brochure distribution. One copy of the brochure will be
inserted into a custom envelope and mailed via first class mail to each of the
addresses on the current distribution lists. This program exposes your property
to potential homebuyers who seek properties of distinctive character.
Your property brochure can also be displayed at Sotheby's auction houses
and sales rooms in New York, London and other worldwide locations. These
are among the world's most popular places to see and experience exceptional
art, jewelry and collectibles.
Only your Sotheby's International Realty® associate can offer such exclusive
access to so many of the world's most qualified buyers.
E GALLERY
Offices Around
the World
Auction House
Locations |
Sotheby's International Realty eGallery program utilizes flat screen televisions
in each of our real estate offices and auction house locations. eGallery is a
customizable property slide show capable of displaying properties from each
company on large screen displays in Sotheby's International Realty® offices
and Sotheby's Auction House locations around the world.
As part of our affiliation, our top-tier listings are displayed in the auction
houses and realty offices from Boston to Tokyo. |
MARKETING RESEARCH
Inviting. Discreet. Savvy. Refined.
A strong brand delivers a promise that meets the real needs or desires of its
constituents at every point of contact. The Sotheby's International Realty®
brand strategy establishes the basis for this.
We strive to deliver our brand promise at every point of contact with our
constituents, whether someone interacts with the Sotheby's International
Realty brand as a buyer, seller, affiliate or investor ? by phone, through an
agent or online.
But fundamentally, our brand promise begins with ourselves and the promise
we intend to keep to the home buyers and sellers who give the affiliate network
a reason to exist. It is critical that each of us understand the nature of
our brand promise and how our individual performances deliver that promise.
RELOCATION SERVICES
Another city.
Another state.
Another part of the world.
Gibson Sotheby's International Realty has assembled the most experienced,
well-respected and highly credentialed relocation staff of any real estate
company in Boston, and this team stands ready to assist you locally, nationally
and internationally.
In addition to providing a full portfolio of relocation services, we have
established relationships with major corporations and real estate companies in
Boston, New England and around the world. Our membership in the
Sotheby's International Realty network provides exclusive opportunities to
work with clients and vendors referred by our fellow Sotheby's affiliates.
These relationships create a strong stream of business and represent multiple
sources of potential buyers for properties listed with Gibson Sotheby's International
Realty.
Our relocation services include:
Relocation Guides
Home Marketing Assistance
Home Finding Assistance
Mortgage Pre-Approval Assistance
Temporary Living Coordination
Move Management Service Assistance
Group Move Management
Rental Assistance
Candidate/Community Area Tours
MOVING SERVICES
Gibson Sotheby's International Realty®, in the tradition of Sotheby's white
glove service, now assists in offering you a portfolio of moving services that
helps to alleviate the stress of relocating your home and your belongings. As
an international firm assisting with thousands of moves every year, we have
the experience and ability to offer move coordination services through our
relationships with reputable service providers from around the globe. We
have created a network of the highest quality packing and moving companies,
storage facilities and transportation providers. Because of our international
network of agencies, we are able to provide corporate level service to all of
our clientele.
Whether your move is across town or to the other side of the world, Gibson
Sotheby's International Realty® brings a 260 year reputation for high quality
service to your next relocation. We are your relocation experts.
Featured services include:
- Complimentary price estimates
- Licensed and insured moving companies who have passed our extensive
screening process
- Companies experienced with local, national and international moves
Moving coordination guidance
- Competitive pricing
- Enhanced insurance protection
- Complete storage, auto transportation, professional packing and crating
services.
MARKET PRICE
Our mutual objective
is to achieve the
highest selling price
for your property. |
In preparing a Competitive Market Analysis, our agents call upon their professional
experience, knowledge of the inventory and in-depth analysis of current
market conditions. In addition, agents routinely tour available properties as
they come onto the market. This provides them with a first hand experience
that is similar to that of buyers seeking a new home.
Market data, both historic and present, can be gathered from several services,
including MLS, LINK and tax records. An experienced agent can cull through
the pertinent data to create a concise landscape of the competition.
The agent then advises the homeowner with a pricing strategy, as well as a
specific price or price range that are consistent with the actual market data.
Part of that advisement is to explain the market conditions that impact pricing
and how buyer demand will determine the actual market price. |
SALE OF YOUR PROPERTY
Your property will need
to be uniquely
positioned to create
maximum interest and
help produce the
highest possible
financial return. |
Although the listing price you place on your property will influence its sale,
there are many other factors that come into place. Some of these factors are
within your control, others are not. Examples include:
Factors not within your control:
- Your property's location
- Recent property market values
- Current economic conditions.
Factors within your control:
- Your property's distinctive and compelling attributes
- The physical condition of your property (home and grounds)
- The market price and preferred terms
- The ready access to your property for showing
- The selection of the real estate sales professional you choose to represent
you.
|
