SELLERS QUESTIONS:
Q. What is the first thing I should do?
A. First thing is to plan, sit down and strategize. Look at when you want the home sold, and what you want your time to look like. Build a plan.
Q. How much should I budget for repairs and improvements?
A. It’s tough to give you an exact amount on how to plan for repairs and improvements, It really depends on the conditions of the home and if there are any deferred maintenance items. Most sellers over estimate the cost to get their home Market ready
Q. What improvements give the best return on investment?
A. There are three most common areas that people are putting money into, in order to get the highest return. The simplest factors will be flooring, paint and appliances. Aside from that depending on the market, comps and neighborhood, you might also look into kitchen renovations, the ensuite bathroom and other areas might get you the highest return.
Q. What things should I fix when selling?
A. The basics: Buyers are expecting that there’s no dry rot, there’s no termites. There’s not significant damage to the roof. No major defects to the home. Any plumbing and safety hazards. Any health and safety things absolutely have to fix.
Q. What inspections should I do?
A. The three inspections that we basically do before selling a home are roof inspection, home inspection and pest inspection, which is really a termite and dry rot inspection before putting it on the market. Because those are also the three inspections that a buyer is probably going to consider doing and it’s good to know what you might run into before you’re in escrow and while you’re in escrow
Q. Who pays for staging and photographs?
A. I pay for photography, videos, 3 D virtual tour. Every cost associated with marketing in selling your home I cover because we want to make sure the photos look great. Staging consultations I cover. When it comes to physically bringing in furniture there is a significant return that’s an investment you would make and not us.
Q. Can I just offer a credit instead of replacing carpet?
A. Absolutely replace the carpet and not consider offering a credit in lieu of a credit. You want them to see fresh carpet and not come in and think oh I can get a credit, most people don’t think that way.
Q. Do we market to Bay area buyers?
A. There is a strategy I have that market’s to Bay area agents because if a bay area buyer is coming up here chances are there selling their property and moving here and having a good relationship with an agent critical. I market through MLS, Realtor.com, Zillows, Youtube, website, but the good thing is that I am heavily connected with agents throughout the state.
Q. What media is included with the listing?
A. Photos, 3D video, are tools that we use to effectively market your home so when buyers land on your website and they land in the experience that we created they have the right media to engage with and create an emotional attachment to your home.
Q. What do we do with the dog?
A When it’s time to show your home find a safe place for your do to go. Consider the buyer’s experience.
TIMING QUESTIONS:
Q. When is the best time to sell?
A. Timing, The perfect time to go to market. There are several angels to this question, it’s your life style, buyers, less competition, I sell homes all year long. Best time is generally when homes are on the market and when buyer and buying. September more homes on market and generally fewer people buying.
Q. How long will it take to sell?
A. Has to do with what it’s the competition, how quickly homes are selling in the neighborhood, pricing and exposure. Price, are you pricing it lower to start a biding war or are you pricing it fare market to attract the highest amount of buyers? That will have a huge impact on how fast your home sells.
Q. When will the first showing happen?
A. The home will be available to show the next day it appears on the MLS. Keep in mind you have the control as to when people see your home, but essentially after it goes on the MLS.
Q. Do we already have a buyer willing to buy right now?
A. Any many cases we have buyers in our database that are actively searching for a home just like your. We have been advertising and marketing homes in this area for so long and have acquired leads or opportunities for those that weren’t quite ready, we’re emailing constantly and they are searching our website site and we get 2,500 views per month so it’s very possible that we have someone in our database right now but not actively working with them so we may have a buyer for you yeah.
Q. When do we officially put my home on the market?
A. When it comes to putting your home on the market it has to do with timing, when do you want your home to be sold by, how long will it take to sell your home. When I actually build out a marketing calendar I put on there an anticipated Close of escrow date. How long to prepare and how long to market your home.
MARKETING QUESTIONS:
Q. Will you do an open house?
A. I love open houses, I have a week long plan in marketing your open house, it starts a week before, I’m preparing the invitations, post cards, calling people, preparing email to our database. If not a physical open house it will be virtually following the same process.
Q. What services do you provide?
A. We are going to create a beautiful online experience for the buyer. Most buyers is starting there search on line. We negotiate strong on your behalf, which is a critical componet in the process. And once we have a successful negotiation and everyone is in agreement then we move towards successfully finalizing the deal that it actually closes. We have to work with the buyer, work with the buyer agent, work with you and all of the other parties involved in order to actually close.
Q. What is the marketing Plan?
A. My marketing plan is designed to get your home the absolute highest amount exposure.
I’m going to advertise, place on listing portals (Zillows, Realtor.com, Trullia etc.), Classified services (Craigslist, Ooodles), All the major broker websites (Century 21, Re/Max, Keller Williams ect.) you have a favorite broker website? It will be on there as well. Google, facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Overstock.com. Call around the neighborhood, mail post cards, connect with other agents, open house and vendors.
Q. Can we save money by less marketing?
A. All of my marketing is included in my fee, it’s not a line item. I create a custom package for your home where I had success in the past of getting home sold. Think about earning more in the end.
PRICING QUESTIONS:
Q. How much is my home worth?
A. Depends on how much a buyer is willing to pay for it.
Q. Should we get our own appraisal?
A. Sure, if you insist on having a private appraisal than absolutely get one. It’s really for your own peace of mind. You are hiring me to market and sell your home to a buyer that is willing to pay for your home for the highest possible and an appraiser may not always agree with that.
Q. My home is nicer than all the other comps, what we do?
A. If your home is nicer than any other home that sold in the neighborhood, we might need to look within the city. In some cases the region. We would have to make upward adjustments for that. I would need to look a little wider than your neighborhood.
Q. Do you offer discounts for buying and selling with you?
A. If I do everything I offered here today, serve you at the highest level, list your home , sell it and mean while, do the same amount of work and effort help you negotiate the best deal on the home, help you find the perfect home, and you overall experience is a success and you’re asking me to take less of an income? The answer is no. I am incredibly focus in helping you be successful in making more money when you sell your home and save money when buying your home you would not need my small percentage of a discount because you’re going to make that and more.
PROCESS QUESTIONS:
Q What is your communication plan?
A. The number one complaint that I hear from clients that previously worked with other realtors was that they didn’t know what people thought of their home when it was on the market before. We don’t want you to be out of the loop in terms of what’s going on the feedback of your home. I have a system set in place when people see your home. When they schedule a showing of your home they’re entered into our system we follow up with them and request feedback. We ask them to fill out a form and if they don’t fill it out we make contact with them and fill it out for them. We collect all the data and share it with you every week so you can know what people think about your home.
Q. What if a home list for sale in my neighborhood?
A. If a home list for sale in your neighborhood, there are a lot of factors, what is the condition of the home, what’s the price of the home, how does it compete with ours, but generally speaking we can use that energy and that excitement, the activity also looking at that home to market yours and sell yours. We’re going to follow our marketing strategy proven to be successful with other clients we work with and your home is going to standout.
Q. Can we buy another home without having to sell this one?
A. In many cases the equity in the existing home is needed for the down payment for the new home so yes the home will need to be sold. There are some cases where the home does not need to be sold.
Q. Can a buyer back out after we accepted the offer?
A. The buyer can absolutely back out of an accepted agreement. There are major contingencies that enable them to inspect the home, will need to get a loan, that they would need to qualify, there is the appraisal so yes a buyer can back out.
Q. How much information do we need to disclose?
A. Disclose, disclose, disclose. The more information you can give them the more comfortable they are and will keep you from potential law suites.