How do a chose an agent to sell my house?

When you decide to sell your Home real estate market, you will have to make many important decisions such as pricing, advertising, and choosing a sales agent. If you would like to sell your house as quickly as possible, for the best price, and with the least amount of stress, an experienced real estate agent can ease you through the process, which homeowners can find daunting!

So what should I look for in an agent then?

You should interview a few agents from different companies. Did you buy a car in the first dealership you went into in your car buying experiences? Most likely no unless the first one gave you a sweet deal!  The same is true for choosing a realtor.  Some agents will try to buy your listing, which means they will promise you they will get you more then what the market will bear, in hopes you will sign with them, because the other two realtors would list your home for 20k, obviously this guy knows something the other two don’t right? .  Note then the agents you interview should bring you comparable sales that are consistent. Depending on how thorough the agents are they should all bring many of the same comps.

I want to sell my home for 1 billion dollars !

So how is a list price determined?

An agent you will show you  comparables of sold houses and active listings in the general area. I typically  show homes that  are within a radius of 1/4 to 1/2 mile of your property. Unless it is a rural area and homes are spread out or you are ithe only colonial in a sea of ranches, then you would look at all the colonials in that area. this will give you a bead on the market and  will help you make an informed decision in the pricing of your house.  

You want how much to sell my home?

Frequently the first question I get asked before I even am sitting before a home owner is what’s it gonna cost me, what do you charge , what’s your commission? Over the phone I usually say 35% and wait for the silence or the laughter. And then I tell them anything I tell you after this wont sound that bad. 95 percent of the time this works in developing a connection  with some one and I usually give a range between 5 and 7 percent.  When in front of the home owner I explain that I use everything as away to help sell a home even commission. Typically when an agent puts a home on a multiple listing service the commission agreed is split between the listing broker and selling broker. All participants in the multiple listing agree to cooperate and show everyone’s listing. An agent should show all homes in the market area regardless of what commission they would receive if they sold the home. But some time agents see 3 homes on same street or close in proximity and one has a lower commission then the other two and may not show the lower commission home. This is wrong but does happen.  Since I know this can happen, I try to get the highest commission possible so I can offer more to a cooperating broker.  The hope is my home is priced well, in best condition so a buyer will choose it with their agent. But then I show them my marketing plan to show what they will get for the commission asked.

So what is a good marketing plan ? 

I don’t know what a good one is, just a great one that I offer.  Today print media is dead, but if you are reading this blog you probably already know this!  Its all on line and social media venues like Facebook, and Twitter and MLS syndication's. You may be familiar with the first two I mentioned but what is MLS (multiple Listing Service) Syndication's. When an agent puts a listing on MLS it automatically goes to realtor.com. However the MLS in each area has agreements with other home buying web sites that it will send a feed of listings when ever new or updated information is available. Some web sites get regular feeds others just get the initial listing feed and never get another update again. I also have a profile on Trulia   and Zillow (Click each to see my profile). Listings automatically go to those both, but since I have a agent profile and pay for different features I can do more with the listing then it just going to the site through regular syndication.  Another big social media outlet I have is my Facebook fan page for my real estate business : The Butler Sells IT (click on link, and like my fan page!).  I also have a yourtube.com channel and a propertytube.com channel. I place listing videos and other video material here.  Many can claim they use these things because they are buzz words today, but with my past life as an IT consultant, I leverage all technologies to my sellers advantage in the sale of a home.

So what else does my marketing plan include besides social media?

The latest in selling homes is the virtual tour. It has come a long way from 2007 when I first saw it and the first ones made you feel you were walking in a submarine and get nausea! I employ a company called Home Tour Vision (click on the link) which delivers an amazing “real virtual walk through tour”  with narration pointing out a homes features. There staff comes to a home and videos  it in HD as if you were walking through it. They also photo the home in HD quality. I have prided myself in my photography.   Since I do, the editing on my end would add more delay on getting the home listed. With Home Tour Vision doing the photography as well it helps me to maximize the other facets of getting a home listed.  You many say there are a bunch of companies out there that do video or what was popular before this the slide show.  The difference between them and Home Tour Vision is they also have a marketing system as well. I recently sold a coop in a weekend thanks to the video done by Home Tour Vision.  This is video they did that sold 48 Charter Circle (click on property to view video by Home Tour Vision)

Well I want my agent to an open house very Sunday till my home sells!

Are Open Houses Effective in selling a Home?

 Like everything else in real estate things change. Back in the day open houses were as vast as trees in the forest and very effective in selling a home. Why was this? Because for a long time there were no computers around and every month a broker would get a book of listings and this is how agents would show properties. And an open house sign would a tract buyers in droves and was common for an agent to sell a home from an open house. Today that is not the case with the traditional open houses. Today the open house is at 2am when some one is looking at a video from Home Tour Vision in there pjs. Most buyers are super tech savvy and want to view the homes that catch there eye on line.  So is the open house a dead horse? No!

 I employ two types of open houses, a brokers open house and a mega open house. The brokers open house is important because you premier the home to local brokers and agents in the area. Why is this important?  Because agents have buyers Duh… You want an agent to walk out the front door and be on the cell phone w a client  telling them you have to see this house today!  It is also important because it exposes the home to all brokers and agents so they are aware of the home even if they don’t have a buyer today they may get a call or a colleague in there office may have a buyer.  As for a mega open house that’s part of my classified marketing. If you are interested drop me a text email or call and would be glad to share it with you, unless of course you are my competition lol! 

Which day is it better to initially put the home on the market?

 It has been said that Friday is the best day to list a property because buyers are more available on weekends to visit homes for sale.  Today's home buyers are tech savvy and can view all the details of a new listing by logging on to the internet. Therefore, the Friday listing idea is no longer relevant.  Any day is a good day!

I still cant decide on which agent????

So you have interviewed a few agents and all have a lot of these characteristics and you still cant decide what then?  Ask them for testimonials or links to them. I am currently working on video recommendations or reviews  here are mine on Trulia, I have 22 currently and growing.  If all things being equal and you are at a crossroads in choosing an agent then you should say who did I most feel comfortable with.  What agent best matches your personality, do you want some one all business, or some one you feel a connection with that you can talk to as if you are talking to a friend. I try to be informative, knowledgeable and have my clients feel that I am with them through the whole process, to advise them on real estate matters, not just look for a quick sale and forget about them after the sale.  

Even with the with the best actions taken by your agent, the selling home the home still relies on how the market is doing in your area, how much or how little inventory is out there.  I hope this was informative and light hearted. If you have any questions or are interested in buying or selling never hesitate to contact me but remember to sell a home my commission is 35 percent lol!