Why People Are Afraid to Buy from a FSBO
Getting the Full Value of Your House
How to Get Top Dollar in Any Market
How to Sell at the Highest Price
5 Steps to Your Home Sale
1. Choosing the Right Agent
When you consider your home is probably your largest financial asset, doesn't it make sense to list with someone that will maximize your profits? Your agent must be in tune with the market trends and fluctuations; he/she must be a marketing specialist (not just a salesperson), an expert negotiator, and have a solid understanding of financing options available to your buyers. And your agent should keep you informed as the marketing process unfolds and as expressions of interest are received.
2. Preparing Your Home for Sale
Studies show that properly staged homes sell faster and for about 8-9% more money. We will provide you with a Custom Market Preparation Guide to assist you in determining what items to clean, fix, or store away.
Click here for some quick Staging Tips.
Now that you've prepared the home for sale, don't forget you must keep it in showing condition. Try and keep your home clean and tidy at all times. Place dirty clothes in hampers or in the washing machine and place dirty dishes in the dishwasher each morning prior to leaving for work. Ask the kids to help out by keeping their rooms neat when they get home from school. Focus your cleaning efforts on the kitchen and bathrooms. Your buyer will be expecting a used home- but the brighter your home shines, the easier your buyers can 'see' themselves purchasing and moving into your property.
Practicing good seller's etiquette
3. Pricing Your Home
Improper pricing is the most common mistake that costs home sellers thousands of dollars. If the price is too high- your home will sit unsold and become stigmatized as "shop-worn." On the other hand, price it too low and you may give away thousands in profit to a total stranger. Either way you lose. Finding the appropriate price sets the right stage for the entire selling process. A great benefit to you is to get in the right frame of mind for the sale. Be objective and remember that selling your home is a business transaction, and you need to put your personal feelings and attachments to your home completely out of the equation. This is critical! Keep in mind that potential buyers are not looking to buy your home - they are looking to find a house that they can make into their home.
The value of a home is determined by supply and demand. If there are a lot of sellers and few buyers, prices tend to go down and homes take longer to sell. This is referred to as a "Buyers market". But when the opposite is true, and there are many buyers but few homes for sale, prices will rise and homes will sell very quickly- this is known as a "Seller's market." So how do you know which market you are currently in? It is best to access the knowledge of a professional - but don't spend money on a formal appraisal - we will provide a market analysis for you. We will determine which type of market you are closer to; then study your neighborhood to compare your home to others based on style, size, number of bedrooms, baths, garage, basement, view, and lot size.
We can also help you understand financing options that may make your home more attractive than the competition. Rather than reducing the price, structuring a seller buy-down can expand the market for your home while providing the highest net return.
How to price to sell and still make a profit
Click here for a free over-the-net home evaluation
4. Strategic Marketing Plan
There is more to selling a home than placing a sign in the yard, an ad in the paper, and a listing in the MLS (we do these things, too.) A good marketing plan goes beyond general exposure and identifies key market segments and conditions which could affect the sale of the home. Target marketing is where marketing specialists (like us) differentiate themselves from most other real estate agents. Will your home appeal to first-time buyers, repeat buyers, or investors? What factors influence the purchase decision of these groups? How do these buyers locate the homes they purchase? Questions like these provide the foundation in identifying the correct marketing tools to ensure YOUR sales objectives are met.
For example, did you know that 55% of repeat homebuyers purchase a larger home than the one they sold, and they typically spend 20% more on the new home? Did you also know that the typical seller lived in their home for 6 years and will generally move within the same area - usually within 7-10 mile radius? Did you know that almost 70% of home buyers use the Internet for home searches, and 90% of them also use an agent...or that Internet users tend to purchase more expensive homes - typically 20% more expensive? You don't have to know these things...we do! As marketing specialists, we take information like this and create targeted campaigns to bring you the most qualified buyers - more buyers equals a higher price and a faster sale. In this case, would it make sense to send information to "buyers" with homes currently listed (or recently sold) for 20% less than your list price? Or to target direct mail to homeowners that have been at their current residence for 5-7 years within a 10 mile radius with property values 20% less than your list price? Would eMail Marketing be an effective tool? Hopefully, you're getting an idea of what a marketing specialist can do for you that the typical agent cannot.
Here are some of the marketing tools we utilize:
Traditional Marketing Tools:
- We will post your home to the Multiple Listing Service and provide an MLS lockbox to ensure maximum convenience for you and potential buyers. All buyers will be prescreened and escorted by an agent, ensuring maximum security and that no time is wasted on unqualified buyers. The lockbox also provides showing agent information so that we can accurately track who has been to the home.
- We will provide a yard sign with full-color brochures
- We will assist you with all the required disclosure forms, and we will help you gather pertinent property information including a C.L.U.E. Personal Property Report, utility bills, community information, and HOA documents. This information will be compiled into a Home Book available for potential buyers at showings and open houses.
- We will provide you with Home Warranty options; homes with a warranty can sell faster and for a higher price, and can make negotiations easier. They can also protect the seller during the listing period.
- We will utilize local print media periodically
- We will send property postcards to neighbors and target market segments.
- We will conduct open houses as needed.
Internet Marketing Tools:
- Your home will be exposed to millions of buyers on the World Wide Web at Realtor.com (66% of Internet buyers use this site for searches), Homes.com, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and several other real estate search engines. You will also receive exposure on our local websites which gets approximately 1,000 unique visitors per month looking specifically for homes in this area.
- In addition to multiple photos (which will be posted immediately), we will provide a virtual tour and setup your listing as a featured property on select websites (including Realtor.com) to increase the traffic to your listing.
- We will also provide the ability for buyers to schedule showings from our website 24 hours a day.
- Buyers will also be able to pull up community info specific to your area.
- We will implement an eMail Campaign. This will include setting up your listing as a featured property in our e-Newsletter, and mailing e-Flyers to agents active in the area and to target market segments.
- We will utilize 3rd-party services such as the Multiple Buyer Service provided by HomeGain.
All of our listings are posted to major websites:
Other Technologies:
- We will provide a 1-800 Real Estate Hotline number for buyers to call for recorded information and fax-back flyers. This hotline also beeps us immediately after potential buyers call so that we can follow up with them and track ad performance. Buyers also have the option of dialing 0 to hot transfer to our mobile phones 24 hours a day. Buyers are 4-5 times more likely to call a recorded number than to call an agent directly, ensuring maximum benefit of print ads.
- We will provide a Talking House radio transmitter so that prospects can tune-in on their car radios to instantly hear all the features that make your home special. It's like having us standing on your curb 24 hours a day to speak to everyone that comes by. In a crowded market, your home will stand out and sell faster for top dollar.
5. Closing the Deal
Selling your home is a partnership and requires effort from both of us. As the seller, you will have to maintain the showing condition of your home at all times. It is our job to make the process as easy as possible and provide you with ongoing information so that you are never wondering what is going on with the sale of your home. There are several services we provide to reduce your hassle and stress.
During the sales process, we provide an online automated Home Feedback System. As agents show your home, they will receive email surveys to provide client feedback. You will have secure access to view this feedback 24x7 at your convenience. You will also receive weekly status reports of your showing statistics. This system also provides a mechanism for updating the showing agents as open houses, price changes, or the like occur.
We will assist you in negotiating all offers and counter-offers, and in overcoming buyer objections. This is a critical and often emotional part of the sales process, and we will represent you as agents trained in negotiating on more than just price. Terms, timing, and non-tangibles will often net you a better bottom line while still providing a win-win situation for the buyer and the seller. We will also provide you with a seller net sheet so you have a good idea of what that bottom line will be.
Once we have a contract in place, we will monitor the closing process closely to ensure that all inspections, contingencies, and timelines are met. We will also ensure the any problems are dealt with swiftly so that closing is not delayed. We will provide an online Transaction Management System so that all parties concerned have access to required documents, tasks, and contacts. You will be able to login at your convenience for an up-to-date status of where we are in the closing process. We will also review all closing documents prior to signing to ensure they correctly reflect the purchase agreement.
The Good Life Real Estate Team will also be available to assist you with purchasing a new home or to provide you with relocation assistance.
Here are some additional resources for you:
Eight steps to selling your home
