Working With An Agent Category

It is not unusual for homeowners to yield to the temptation to try to sell their own home. It seems easy enough–just place an ad in the weekend paper and wait for buyers to show up. Although it may seem simple, real estate sales transactions are extremely complex proceedings.

The first pitfall can come with pricing your property realistically. Homeowners often price their property too high initially, then drastically slash the price when weeks go buy without an offer. Even if a prospective buyer agrees to the initial asking price, there could be complications if the buyers begin to feel that they have agreed to pay too much, or if the lender’s appraisal values the property at far less than the agreed-upon price. Some clients hire agents to market their home professionally after weeks or months of trying to sell their own home without success, or after their FSBO transaction fell through.

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If you are selling your home and it has been on the market for several months, you might start to wonder why it just isn’t moving. How can you introduce some extra energy into the sale?

The first thing you should do is have a frank talk with your real estate agent in order to get feedback from prospective buyers who have seen your home, and other agents who have shown it. Does your home look its best? Is it accessible for agents to show on short notice? Is the price in line with the rest of the market? Do you need to consider neutralizing any strong decorating features that may not have wide appeal?

Getting your home sold is a collaborative effort between you and your real estate agent. It is important for your agent to market your property aggressively, but you must do your part to ensure that buyers see a home that is as appealing as it can be. Ask your agent for any new ideas that will create results.

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Your agent calls to say he is bringing prospective buyers to see your home at 2:00 p.m. You quickly straighten up the house and run the dishwasher. What should you do then? If you have to let them into the house–then take a drive or walk the dog!

Many owners think they should linger close by while their home is being shown. They are afraid that the real estate agent might miss the storage shelves in the basement or forget to point out the beautiful new floor in the kitchen. It is better for the agent to miss something than for you to be ushering the buyers around, so resist the temptation to stay while your house is being shown.

Buyers usually base their decision to buy on an attraction that often has more to do with emotions than pure logic, and a lot goes on between buyer and agent during a showing. The buyer needs to evaluate the home’s pluses and minuses, and the agent needs the opportunity to work with the buyer’s objections. This process cannot take place comfortably if the seller is on the scene.

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The sense of smell is a powerful motivator. When prospective buyers walk into a house, they respond more positively if they smell freshly baking oatmeal cookies instead of the lingering odor of a household pet.

As the homeowner, you may not notice odors that visitors are aware of as soon as they walk in the door. When your house is for sale, ask a friend or neighbor to give it a “sniff test”. If there are offensive odors in your home, how do you get rid of them?

There are a few simple solutions–giving the floors and walls a good scrubbing, using the old vanilla-on-the-light-bulb trick, plugging in an essential oil diffuser and throwing out the dog’s special chair. You can temporarily declare your home a “no smoking” zone. You may need professional help for cleaning carpets and drapes or deodorizing walls and wood floors. Your real estate agent will be able to provide you with a list of cleaning services which can assist you in making your home smell clean and fresh.

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Pheromones are mysterious little chemical sensors that are supposed to have a lot to do with whether or not we are attracted to people. They may also play a big part in the way people react to houses.

If you have a house on the market, it will be important to ensure that the pheromone factor is as high as possible–so that the prospects who come inside will involuntarily pull out their checkbooks and offer to pay your asking price. A good real estate agent can give you some important hints about maximizing your home’s ability to attract buyers. This could mean completely airing out every room to eliminate musty odors, or allowing enough time for freshly painted walls to lose that telltale toxic smell.

Unless you are already compulsively neat, you may need to make temporary changes in your housekeeping habits to ensure that your home is both fresh-smelling and sparkling clean. Sometimes this will involve hiring a professional cleaning service. Give your real estate agent the space to speak candidly about what you need to do to make your house looks its best.

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When we help prospective buyers locate a new home we listen carefully to their goals. What are their criteria for selecting a neighborhood, what style of house do they prefer, what price range and floor plan meet their needs? Will any special considerations go into making the homebuying decision? When we have a good picture of what the buyer wants, we will go to work to find the best property on the market that will accommodate those needs.

Our real estate agents succeed when they can make the buyers’ goals their goals. Finding the perfect home is a collaborative effort. The buyers communicate what they want, why they want it, and where compromise might be possible, and the agent listens carefully and selects the homes that come as close as possible to meeting the needs expressed. When there is trust and communication between the buyers and the real estate agent, miracles can happen! Creating these miracles for buyers and sellers is “Job #1” for us.

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Only approximately 2% of all listings nationwide are sold by the listing agent. When you list your house with me, I will try my best to sell it myself, but more importantly, I will simply get it sold.

Colleagues in my firm or real estate agents who are affiliated with a cooperating broker may sell my listings. This is why I work hard to maintain a reputation for being very professional and easy to work with. I make the homes I list as easy as possible for other real estate agents to preview or show to buyers.

When you select a real estate agent to market your property, you are hiring them not only for their list of prospective buyers, but for their ability to tap the lists of other people in the business. I constantly lobby among my competition, asking if they have seen my listings, getting feedback and urging them to add my listings to the short lists that they show when they have a prospective buyer.

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Technical terms can be confusing to people who do not work in a profession, and real estate agents use language that may be confusing to many home buyers and sellers.

If you find your eyes glazing over when your real estate agent starts talking about escrow, clear title, easements, encroachments, contingencies, financing, appraisals and the closing process, don’t hesitate to ask for a translation. Buying or selling a home is a major step, and professional real estate agents are totally committed to helping you understand the process thoroughly so that you can make informed decisions.

The simple transaction of trading the sellers’ house for the buyers’ money has become complicated by several hundred years of custom, common law, and state and local government requirements. Consumer demands have resulted in up-to-date rules that communication be as clear and understandable as possible. Real estate agents work to create an atmosphere in which you feel comfortable to ask questions.

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The most common and popular arrangement to have with a real estate agent when selling a specific property is an “exclusive right-to-sell”. This type of agreement has advantages for both the broker and the seller. It allows an agent to give his or her full attention to marketing a seller’s home or property for a certain period of time without competition from other real estate companies.

Within such an exclusive arrangement, the real estate agent shares the listing with national and worldwide referral networks through the Multiple Listing Service that is subscribed to by most real estate sales professionals. The MLS listing assures your home of the widest possible exposure to the market place.

Nine out of ten homes that are sold today are “listed” homes (more in some markets). Enough said!

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The best real estate agents in today’s marketplace are becoming even better about marketing the homes they list to the public, as well as to other agents who have potential buyers.

When you are interviewing prospective real estate agents to help you sell your home, ask how they find buyers. In the past, a “For Sale” sign would go into the ground, the basic information went into the Multiple Listing Service, and then there was an occasional Sunday classified ad and an “open house”. If the house did not sell right away, the agent might recommend a price reduction.

Agents today are much more sophisticated and pro-active about getting people into their homes. They rely on computers, direct mail, telemarketing, and just plain clever ideas that no one else has tried. Ask prospective listing agents for two things–a written analysis of what is happening with housing prices in your area and a marketing plan which outlines how they would get your home from “For Sale” to “Sold”.

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