There are
strategies that can sell your home in the quickest possible time. So many
sellers fail to adhere to them either because they do not know about them or
their agent does not advise them to do so. But if your Realtor does give you
the following advice, listen to him, or her, because they have your best
interest at heart.
CURB
APPEAL
Upon driving up
to your home, impress potential buyers with amazing curb appeal. Have your
property landscaped on a regular basis and keep it up until it sells.
DE-CLUTTER
I had a co-op
listing recently that sold in the winter the same weekend that I listed it. The
feedback that I received asked me if these sellers really lived like this; it
is immaculate. Keep wood floors waxed and shiny. If they are dull you can have
them re-sanded and polyurethane. On the coffee table limit magazines to about 3
and choose them wisely. Put the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition away! If
you have hobbies such as boating or cycling, put them on the coffee table. In
the kitchen de-clutter the counter top and keep the sink free from dirty dishes
whenever possible. In the bathrooms, keep them clean and put air fresheners in
there.
And here is my biggest pet peeve; take down all those magnets on the refrigerator
A
PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
We have all
seen listings that have only one to four pictures. And what do buyers think of
when they see this? Something must be wrong with the house when there are so
few photos. Ask your realtor what is the maximum number of photos that is
allowed on their Multiple Listing service and how many do they think they will
put on the listing. Another thing that is trending in my area is a real video
of the home. In the recent past realtors would put slide shows up with music
playing. As technology is ever advancing, the way to go is using video as well
as pictures. If you have photos of your home you feel are worthy to be put in
the listing, such as an area photo, or if you have water views with an amazing
sunset, ask your realtor if they could use it. I personally prefer photography.
I used to take phenomenal pictures and pride
myself on them. These days I have employed a company called Home Tour Vision.
They come in and do a full walkthrough video and take photos which are done
with High Definition cameras. Two of my listings that I recently used Home Tour Vision on are; 1137
East Mountain
Road
in Cold
Spring, NY and
WELL
BILL, I HAVE A CONDO, NOT A HOME, AND CAN ONLY GET SO MANY PICTURES OF IT
Charter
Circle listing is a perfect example of this
statement. It was a co-op apartment and we could only can get so many pictures
of the apartment. In this listing, Home Tour Vision, at my
request, mounted a video camera to their vehicle and drove through the scenic
town of Ossining
and filmed the town’s shopping stores, main street, and train station.
Plus
they also stopped and took photos as well to include in the listing. In
addition, many complexes have other amenities like pools, laundry rooms,
playgrounds, club houses, co-op gardens, golf courses, and restaurants within
their borders. I put these photos in to show what the complex offers in
addition to a great living space. In Charter
Circle
it did not have any of these amenities but still sold in a weekend!
I WANT
TO SELL MY HOME FOR 1 BILLION DOLLARS…
They say
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION in real estate. But I counter this with PRICE PRICE
PRICE. List your home realistically and do
not overprice your home in hopes you will lower the price once negotiations
begin. With that mindset:
·
you
can price yourself out the market
·
get
reduced showings
·
have
the home sit longer on the market
·
have
to have price corrections to catch up to market trends.
Your
realtor should show you comparables of homes in your area that have sold, and
also show you what is active to point out your competition and allow you to see
where your home fits into the current market.
You obviously have your bottom line price but it must be tempered with
your local market. When showing comparables, I find that either a quarter mile
or half mile radius from your home gives you a good indication of what the
market is like in your area.
HOW WILL
YOUR REALTOR MARKET YOUR PROPERTY
This is another
important factor in the sale of your home. Find out what they will do to market
your home. Will they do Open Houses or Mega Open Houses, and broker Open
Houses? In the old days of real estate, before the advent of the Internet,
realtors would stake their Open House signs everywhere like a miner would stake
his claim to a mine and homes would sell at Open Houses. Buyers are looking at
homes at 2 am on the Internet in their pjs rather than driving around to see
Open Houses as they once did. Personally I find Mega Open Houses are more
effective. Message me if you would like to know what they are as it is
something that only few do and do not want to publicly share this Open House
type.
I find a
broker’s Open House is more effective. Every area has one day that is broker
Open House day where any realtor does an Open House for just brokers. This is
key because when your home just hits the market you want the neighboring agents
to see it, because you know agents have buyers!
PRINT
ADVERTISING IS DEAD….
There I said
it. So many brokers have stopped spending money on print advertising in
newspapers because of this thing called the Internet, and only advertise in
print for an Open House. Websites like Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia, just to
name a few, are where the buyers are looking. I have accounts on all of these
sites plus I employ social media outlets such as Facebook, twitter, YouTube,
and propertytube, to advertise. Also submission to your realtor’s MLS
automatically feeds your listings to hundreds of other websites automatically.
Yesterday I showed East
Mountain Road
and when I got back to my office I tweeted it with a few pictures. I received a
few new followers because of it. By using Hashtags effectively, I can draw
people into the listing with twitter or Facebook. I have my own professional
page, THE BUTLER SELLS IT, on Facebook. In addition, I created a page for each
property listing. When making a post I share the posts and pages to my personal
Facebook page to let my Facebook sphere of influence see it. They may not be
looking but may know someone who is and share it with them. Do you remember
that Johnson & Johnson shampoo commercial; “she told two friends, and she
told two friends and so on and so on”, or did I just date myself? Word of mouth
is a very valuable form of advertising.
My thoughts on
Craig’s List are mixed. Many listings get stolen by people overseas to try and
extort money from renters to lease it sight unseen, i.e., if you send me a
deposited check…
The realtor
that tells you, oh yes once I put it on MLS it will go to hundreds of websites,
don’t worry. Look them straight in the eye and ask them, what else do you do,
do you have a facebook page , twitter acct, and can you pull them up and show
me. If they do and you see posts on there from 6 months or a year ago, they are
not utilizing a great tool. They may be a tool, a tool that you may not want to
consider doing business with for the sale of your most precious asset, your
home.
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