Why spend big dollars trying to get people to drive a long way to see your house, when your best prospects are already driving right by your door?

It's a fact that the people who are intending to buy property in an area go driving around to look. Why wouldn't they - when this is one of the biggest purchases of their lives, and they're actually going to live there?

And that's why so many people list their properties with the most local of real estate agents, and why the greatest number of properties are sold by local agents. After all, where do you go looking when you're searching for a new place to live?

It's tempting to go advertising a property in the national papers to reach a wide audience, or even in the regional paper that has a 'property section', but these are both dominated by real estate groups that make part of their income from persuading clients to spend advertising dollars in this manner.

(Ironic, isn't it, that the very people who should already have buyers waiting, actually want you to spend your own money to attract buyers that you then pay them to bring to you. Uh?)

Ok, so you know that the person most likely to buy your property is going to drive right past it - at least once . . .

How do you get them?

You need to stop them right there in their car, and get them to either come and view your property right now, or call you. In the case of either, all you're seeking to achieve is to find out their contact details.

If you're still living in the property, invite them in to view. Do you really want them to go away and maybe find some other home?

And if there's not always someone home, then get them to call you so you can take their contact details and invite them to walk around the garden for a look.

The little real estate sign stuck at the front gate won't do the job - it's there to advertise the real estate down the road, using your property as a draw card so he can gain a new customer.

What you need is your own way to 'flag down' potential buyers, and a nice big, bright, flapping 'outdoor banner' draped across your property is the way to really get attention.

One of the quickest, easiest and cheapest ways to get an 'Outdoor Banner' is to design and order it online.

A group of websites catering for buyers in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and USA has an easy interactive 'custom outdoor banner' design page - with banners from 3 to 8 metres length starting from far less than $100 delivered free. The websites are www.NZbanners.co.nz for NZ buyers, www.Printshop.com.au for Australian buyers, www.BritishBannerCompany.co.uk for UK buyers, and www.AmericanBannerCompany.com for USA buyers.

Successful real estate advertising is all about 'location location location', and there's no better location for an advertisement than the very place where potential buyers are looking.