Happy New Year! Celebrating A Big 20 Years
By Stefan Walther | Jan. 1, 2023
As the sun rises over the Sleeping Giant, as a new day dawns, and as another new year welcomes us, ThunderBayHouses.com’s begins its milestone 20th year of successfully connecting buyers and sellers, helping each of them save tens of thousands of dollars in potential realtor commission.
It was on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2004 when ThunderBayHouses.com first launched to the world, a new online private-sale marketplace with just eight listings. The concept took off quickly, an overnight success really, as those in Thunder Bay, northwestern Ontario and even from abroad, other provinces and other countries, embraced this “New Way To Buy And Sell.”
Home owners very much appreciated this new and cost-effective alternative to sell and it wasn’t long before new listings were pouring in every week. Buyers also enthusiastically endorsed it, as evidenced by the soaring website traffic and numerous fast sales.
Today ThunderBayHouses.com lists between 285 and 385 homes every year, the website attracts over 30,000 visitors every week (sometimes higher, sometimes a bit lower, depending on the season), and an incredible over 21,750 follow us on social media (Facebook and Instagram).
ThunderBayHouses.com’s concept was then what our concept still is now, nearly two decades later — to showcase homes in the best possible way, with many high-quality photos and detailed information, and to the largest buyer audience, to attract the best offer and the top price for the seller.
As such, from day one, we have strived to appeal to not only sellers, who are at the core of our business as they are the ones who pay the small fee to list their properties, but also to the buyers, who we require to be always checking the website for new listings, always keeping ThunderBayHouses.com in any search for a possible new property purchase.
For any marketplace to be successful, it must attract both plenty of buyers and plenty of sellers.
This has meant that ThunderBayHouses.com has always invested in advertising to keep the business “top of mind” among both buyers and sellers. Twenty years ago this took the form of daily display advertising on TBSource.com (now TBnewswatch.com) and in The Chronicle-Journal, plus radio ads. This helped really establish the company quickly. Today, in this new age of social media, we spend hundreds of dollars each and every month to boost our posts, including our clients’ houses, on Facebook and Instagram — so ThunderBayHouses.com doesn’t just reach our over 21,750 followers but we constantly reach new followers, growing and attracting more. Progress is paramount.
After ThunderBayHouses.com had been around for 10 years, back in 2014, we updated our tag line to better reflect the nature of the business — and the nature of our fabulous customers — changing “A New Way” to “The Smart Way To Buy And Sell.” After all, it is not very smart to spend tens of thousands of dollars on salesperson commission.
What a home truly needs to sell fast, and for the best offer and the top price, is marketing. Not sales, which is more what a realtor provides. ThunderBayHouses.com’s founder, owner and still our current day-to-day operator is Stefan Walther, a successful marketer, who was born and raised in Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario, who was educated in business and marketing at Lakehead University, who has a wealth of experience and knowledge.
Which brings us to the new ThunderBayHouses.com Market Insider blog, which just launched today, Jan. 1, 2023, designed with our loyal buyers and loyal sellers in mind. We know that many of you have used our service multiple times over the past 20 years and we sincerely appreciate it.
The ThunderBayHouses.com Market Insider is designed to bring some of our vast real estate experience and knowledge, exceptional insights and info, to our extraordinary online community. Bookmark us, follow our Facebook and Instagram, check back for frequent new fascinating and thought-provoking articles.
Want to chat? You can reach Stefan Walther and the ThunderBayHouses.com team at any time at 807-344-9393 or via E-mail at info@ThunderBayHouses.com. As always, we’re here to help.
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