Why should you sell your house with me?
Well, hopefully for lots of reasons, but I’ll try to give you a few. As in any profession, not all Realtors are created the same. Your idea of a great real estate may be different from your neighbors or from mine, but I think several factors need to be a constant. I would think you would want someone who’s honest, commutates, and is competent and experienced. I believe that I have these characteristics. My job is to provide you with information and resources, to guide you through the deal, to give advice and assistance as needed, and to make sure that your interests are represented and promoted in the transaction, all while marketing your house with the latest marketing techniques. My promise to you is that I will do this to the best of my ability.
What will it be like working with me?
I’m a straight shooter. I’m not going to sugar coat things just because I think that’s what you want to hear. I won’t “buy” your listing by telling you its worth more than it is. I don’t take listings just to take listings; they have to make good business sense. We’ll have an in depth conversation BEFORE entering into a listing agreement. You should interview me, but I’ll be interviewing you as well. To me, it doesn’t make sense to enter into a business relationship unless we’re on the same page. If we don’t agree on the value of your house, or if you don’t like the way I market homes, or if you won’t get the house in showing condition, then we may not be a good match. Don’t get me wrong, I love new listings I want the opportunity to sell your house, but only if its right for both of us. In general, I’d say I’m a pretty nice guy and I’m easy to work with. Oh yea, I love what I do and I work very hard at it!
What will you do to sell my house?
I believe there are three key steps needed in order to sell a home efficiently and effectively.
The first, and quite possibly the most important, is preparation. Before we sign the listing agreement, I’m going to present the facts of the current market conditions are. I’m not going to pull numbers out of the air and quote unrealistic numbers. I’ll show you what homes have sold that are similar to yours and what our competition will be. Keep in mind, I don’t make up prices and I can’t force a sale of an overpriced product. The market will tell us what the house is worth and we need to let the data guide us. Preparation is more than price alone. I’ll walk through your home and give you suggestions room by room on what you can do to improve the marketability and get top dollar. Most of my suggestions will be minor, inexpensive things that you can do. Things like clearing out clutter, getting rid of extra furniture, cleaning, painting, landscaping, or changing out dated fixtures. Every house is different and therefore the preparation may be different. In my opinion a home should be in 100% showing condition before it hits the market. For the most part you only have one shot at a buyer. If the property isn’t in the best shape possible, we’ll lose them and they won’t come back.
The next step is marketing and advertising. I’m a firm believer in internet advertising and I use it heavily and aggressively to market my listings. I hire a real estate photographer to take pictures of every one of my listings. Photographers have superior equipment and a better eye than the average Realtor, and it really shows in the pictures. This will help your house stand out over the competition online. I’ll syndicate the listing to hundreds, if not thousands of websites. These not only include the top real estate websites, but also news sites, search engines, video sites, and social media sites such as Facebook.com, Flickr.com, Twitter.com, and my blog. You never know how the buyer will stumble across the listing. I pay for upgraded listings (more pictures, longer descriptions, and better placement) on sites such as Realtor.com and Trulia.com. I’ll have a video posted on YouTube.com and Yahoo Video. I use modern marketing techniques because that’s what today’s buyer expects. On the flip side, I’m not a big believer in open houses, direct mail, or newspaper ads. They are dated methods and statistically buyers simply don’t find homes this way anymore (1-2% nationally). If you were buying a house would you look in the newspaper? You’ll get to see one picture and a few abbreviations describing the house. Open houses are used by agents to get new clients, not to sell houses.
Lastly, I handle all of the remaining detail work to get the house to closing. From coordinating showings, providing feedback, communicating market conditions, negotiating, handling the piles of paperwork and legalities, inspections, guiding you through the process, and working with 3rd parties (title companies, inspectors, appraisers, contractors, etc). Everything that needs to be done to get the closing to the finish line!
Interested in learning more? Let’s talk!
