Brad's Real Estate Blog

Getting your home ready & hiring an agent

Before searching for and setting an appointment with a real estate agent there are certain things you can do to get your home ready for sale. First, start by removing any clutter in the living areas and the bedrooms. Make sure that kitchen counters and clean and clear, pick up any toys, clear the walls of excessive frames, etc. Remember, the home must look as neutral as possible so it can appeal to a wide majority of people. For that reason, you should consider packing away personal effects for instance photo frames and refrigerator magnets. Finally, if there are any simple inexpensive repairs you can make, by any means, do them. After you follow these steps to get your home ready, you can now start to consider hiring a real estate agent to market your home properly without breaking your budget. Keep in mind that the majority of real estate agents will give a great presentation to get a listing, but after that they will stick a sign in the yard and hope for the best. You should consider hiring an agent that strikes you as competent, aggressive and most of all honest. There are certain elements you should keep in mind when discussing and negotiating with an agent. First, the listing contract usually will bind you for a specific period of time, thus not allowing you to fire your agent. Make sure that the listing agreement contains a clause that allows you to terminate if the agent does not perform according to standards. This will keep the agent on their toes and will ensure that he/she works hard for you. Next, make a judgment based on your gut feeling about the agent's integrity and honesty level. This is crucial because above all, you want your realtor to perform for you. Pay close attention and even make notes of the promises that the realtor makes and hold them accountable in due time. This is a business transaction and you should treat it like one. You can be sure that once you make a good decision on the agent you hire, you will make it a lot easier on yourself down the road of the transaction.

Marketing your home

In the previous part, we discussed getting your home ready for sale by doing simple repairs and hiring the right real estate agent to help you sell your home. The next natural step in the home selling process is quite crucial to its success: Marketing! In order for your home to sell it needs to be exposed to the wide audience of prospective buyers. This exposure is acquired by multiple steps. First and foremost, your realtor must post your home listing on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) very promptly (within 3-5 days). The MLS is the primary marketplace for all licensed realtors and their prospective clients and you cannot afford to skip this step. Second, you and your realtor must work together and help each other and move the process along. Ask your realtor to make a standard email flyer (e-flyer) containing photos and information about your home. Then, forward that email to everyone on your email address book. They might not buy your home themselves but they might have a relative or friend that might. You should also kindly ask them to forward the email to anyone who might be interested. Also, take a few printed flyers and leave them with different neighborhood businesses you deal with such as the dry cleaners, nail shop, sandwich shop, coffee shop etc. These are very low cost ways to market your home that can be very effective. Last, your realtor must do a minimum of one open house per month in your home and don't let them tell you any different. Open houses are a powerful marketing tool because buyers feel at ease to look at the home on their time. However, don't be fooled by TV shows where open houses are always full of interested buyers. Usually open houses are quite slow and people flow is scarce but remember, all you need is one buyer. In summary, work with your realtor to market your property and you will see positive results.

Offer Negotiations

Your combined marketing efforts have finally yielded an offer. What do you do next? The most important thing to keep in mind before you even look at the actual offer is that different people have different negotiating styles and their offer is not necessarily related to their view of the home. Many times, sellers receive low offers, get offended, and appalled, they flatly reject the offer without giving it any room to develop into a considerable offer. Many buyers have a bargaining personality and will try to "steal" the property away, but if they don't succeed then they start to deal closer to a more achievable deal. This does not mean that there are no bad offers. Obviously, some offers will never yield an agreement simply because the parties are too far apart. But the biggest favor you can do to the transaction is to work with your realtor as a team and seek each others opinion on how to best handle an offer. Remember that to reach an agreement both parties have to make an effort in earnest to get closer to a middle ground. So keep the lines of communication open and make a deal happen!