|
SELLER SERVICES
If you're convinced that it's time to sell or if you're just curious about the value of your property - this is the right page for you.
Frequently folks in our communities have a real estate company or agent that they feel loyalty towards. That's great - give that agent a call. However, if the agent is no longer available or you think perhaps it's time for a change - email or give me a call.
I will gladly prepare for you a COMPARATIVE MARKET ANALYSIS no obligation and free of charge.
COMPARATIVE MARKET ANALYSIS (CMA)
The two most important decisions that you will make when you decide to put your property on the market are:
1) the pricing
2) and your choice of an agent to represent you.
The pricing of your property is most appropriately determined by a professional Comparative Market Analysis. Simply stated, a CMA is based on the "Sold", "Escrow", and "For Sale" properties from your community. The necessary data is collected from our Mountain Communities Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
The major components of your property - square footage, location, view, privacy, age, number of bedrooms/baths, quality, garage, condition - are taken into consideration. Another very important consideration is the current market factors in the community. Are sales/prices going up, down or stable? How many properties are for sale? How many have sold in the past three months, six months? What are the average sold/escrow/for sale square foot prices in various categories? How long are properties staying on the market? Where and how does your house fit in this analysis?
Although it is frequently difficult for sellers to believe; a few thousand dollars too high on the pricing can make a big difference in how frequently your property will be shown and therefore how quickly it will be sold. The belief by sellers that "we can always lower the price", is one of the most widely held misconceptions in real estate. By over-pricing initially a seller basically loses the very best time on the market. The first three to four weeks are when the property is fresh in all the agents' minds and will also draw the attention of buyers who are watching my website. You want to use the expertise of your agent to optimize your position in the market right from the beginning. It is very difficult to revive a property that has gone stale on the market.
To start the process, I can come to your house, you can come to the office, or we can do everything by telephone or even email. If you are simply curious about the value of your property I can generally accommodate your request the same day with a simplified but fairly accurate CMA.
ESTIMATED SELLERS PROCEEDS REPORT
This report, generated by an escrow company, will give you a reasonably accurate assessment of what you can expect to net from your sale. It is important to remember, however, that there may be unexpected costs that result from the buyers inspection and from the reports that the seller generally must produce (septic and pest) for the buyer.
LISTING APPOINTMENT
This appointment generally takes place once you have decided to sell and when you have made the decision to hire me as your agent. Frequently, many of the basics have already been verbally agreed upon either by a previous appointment or by telephone. I will provide all of the necessary paperwork, including contracts and the many disclosures required by California law.
We will tour your house to obtain any additional details I will require to familiarize myself with your property. We will finalize details regarding signs, a lockbox, showing instructions, flyers and etc. If lighting permits I will take photographs (inside and outside) for use in marketing your property. The more pictures the better. Research indicates that a minimum of five pictures on a website is an absolute must.
STAGING YOUR HOUSE
I can give you suggestions to make your property more attractive to potential buyers. Home staging involves much the same commonsense advice that real estate agents have been giving to sellers for a long time but with some fresh additions. Simply put, you want to show case your house so that home buyers can visualize living there and so that it appears as large as possible.
Professional home stagers are available in large cities. I am not suggesting that you import one to our mountains, but I am suggesting that you at least mull over the following ideas.
The first step and the most difficult is to separate yourself emotionally from the personal feelings that you have about the house. So don't take it personally! It's not your home now; it's a commodity that you want to sale.
Try to pretend that you are seeing the house for the first time and try to evaluate it as a buyer. If you were in the market to buy this house, instead of selling it, what would you think about the house? What changes would make immediate improvements? What are the house's best features and how can you show them off?
The following ideas are some things that you can do to stage your house yourself. Please note, these ideas do not include making major improvements for which you generally do not get your money back.
INSIDE PREP BEFORE YOU SELL
Everything from floors to windows must be as spotless as you can possibly make them. Or perhaps hire a professional house cleaner. Think about cleaning the carpet. If your carpet is really in bad shape, most times don?t replace it. We can offer an allowance to the buyers and they can make their own choice.
Kill offensive odors - smoke and animal.
Eliminate clutter. De-clutter every part of the house.
Clear off all surfaces, including kitchen, bedroom and bathroom countertops. Pack away family photographs and most other personal items from tables, shelves and walls. Buyers need to imagine their family and their possessions in the house. When buyers start deciding how their furniture will fit into the rooms and where grandmas' rocker will look best - you're on your way to a offer.
Pack up the bulk of your personal collections. You don't want potential buyers spending more time looking at your collections and not at your house.
Remove excess furniture to make rooms appear more spacious. Rent a storage unit if you need to.
Neutralize children,s bedrooms.
Make sure that your door locks work easily. It is really frustrating to a selling agent when they have to struggle to open a door. It is important that the agent keep their attention on your potential buyer.
OUTSIDE TASKS
~Clean the gutters.
~Store or organize items that make the yard look messy.
~Make your front entry inviting. If the weather permits, try potted flowers on your front deck. If necessary, buy a new front door, decorate it, or paint it. First impressions are really important.
~Keep the landscaping neat and if possible watered during the summer months. Curb Appeal!
PRIOR TO A SHOWING
If you're home when an agent calls to make an appointment to show your house - do the following.
Turn on all lights.
~Soft background music is nice.
~Open all drapes or curtains.
~If you're cooking something that smells good don't worry - good odors help.
~In the winter a fire in the firplace is wonderful.
~ Please,leave the agent and the buyer's to themselves.
Taking the time to prepare the house may put extra dollars in your pocket, and in less than average sold time. Another plus, is that a great overall impression is often enough to make a buyer more lenient about requesting minor repairs. You want the buyers to fall in love with the house as soon as they drive up.
If you have already moved on or the property you have for sale is a vacation home, the most important factor is to leave your electricity on. It is really difficult to sell a house that the potential buyers can't see well. I also encourage sellers to leave their water on at least during the summer months. Buyers frequently have small children that may need a "potty".
~During the winter months, if at all possible, leave some heat on. Cold houses are a hard sell. During the summer keep your landscaping watered -leave your sprinklers on or hire a neighbor.
~In the winter months, I may have to have your driveway and stairs shoveled - especially if we're expecting a busy weekend.
~Also, if you're comfortable, leave the drapes and/or blinds open. It's a great selling feature for the buyers to open the front door and see a magnificent view, some pine trees or just some open space.
If any problems develop with your house I will let you know. If it's small I'll take care of it. If it's a large problem I'll let you know and help you arrange a fix.
OUR "MAGIC" KEY BOXES
I will always keep you posted on how frequently your house is being shown. Our techinically advanced Key Pad and Key Box system allows me to register the Key box that is on your door into my computer. So I can check weekly to see which agents have shown your property. When we need feedback on how buyers our reacting to your house, I can call the various agents and pass the comments on to you.
I would appreciate it if you would let me know if this material has been helpful to you. If you have any additional suggestions or questions I would like to hear those also.
ADVERTISING
My first task following a listing contract is to make a color flyer for the brochure box in front of your house. (Is it possible to attach a flyer here somehow??) The flyer will also be placed on a bulletin board outside of the front of the Mountain Sales office. This is excellent advertising! I can't tell you the number of customers that have come into my office with flyer in hand or saying to me "Can you take us to see the house that's on the board out there? Once I could have actually sold a house right off the flyer without even showing it. However, before I wrote the contract I insisted that we go to see the house. They bought it!
Each property that I list is quickly added to our local
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and setup for caravan. Caravan takes place on most Friday mornings and is attended by all the local agents. I of course will let you know when your house is scheduled for caravan and the feed back that I receive. Each agent is also given a color flyer. Sometimes I serve refreshments.
CHRIS NET MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE
The next step is to place your property on Chris Net Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Chris Net is a huge Multiple Listing Service that services the real estate agents (thousands) in much of the Los Angeles area. I joined Chris Net several years ago to reach a larger audience for my listings. I was especially interested in reaching out to the Santa Clarita, Valencia, Burbank, Semi Valley and the San Fernando Valley areas; as well as to the South Bay - the Manhattan and Redondo Beach communities along with the Palo Vades area.
Per The National Association of Realtors, 76% of home buyers start their new home or vacation home search on the internet and that number is growing daily. So it is really imperative that your real estate agent have a strong internet presence.
From Chris Net my listings go to "realtor.com" this is the website with the largest internet audience by far. I also get reports from realtor.com advising me as to the number of weekly visitors to my various listings (3,000 to 5,000 is not uncommon). The listings also go into the L.A Times and many other websites and to additional print advertising.
Several years ago I also bought from realtor.com a premium package called "Feature Listings" which puts four of my listings on the front page of zip code 93222, along with my picture and my contact information. This package also allows me to do some fancy design "stuff" - like add a moving headline and to change the content of my listings.
If you're interest, you can go to realtor.com, put in zip code 93222 and check it out.
By the magic of IDX my listings also come to this website pinemountainsales.com). I add by hand all local listings that are not on Chris Net and that I am ethically able to show (only Mountain Sales. I sure do wish that all of our local agents belonged to Chris Net it would make my job easier.
Currently I am advertising in the Enterprise, the Pioneer, the Signal (Santa Clarita) and Beverly Hills 213. I am also considering the Santa Barbara area and the South Bay.
In general, outside of the websites, my advertising philosophy is to focus on our beautiful and unique mountain area rather than on specific houses. Most buyers still
do not know that our community exists and are amazed when they stumble on us, or find us on the internet or see an ad.
After all of this talk of advertising, I will also tell you that there is a misconception regarding advertising selling houses. Studies done by the National Association of Realtors indicate, that even with the growth of the internet, 82% of all real estate sales are the result of agent contacts through previous customers, referrals,
walk-ins and community involvement. In our area Mountain Sales Vacation Rental program frequently brings in buyers who fall in love with our area.
OPEN HOUSE
I will do occasional open houses with your permission and on an as needed basis. Generally I hire an acquaintance that I trust to do the actual open house. It is my belief that I do better for you as your agent in my office or showing your property. Open houses are more successful for agents to met new customers than they are to sell houses. This is especially true if your house is tucked away and not on a main street.
SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
To all of my sellers I offer a Satisfaction Guarantee to cancel our listing contract, hassle free, if you're not happy with my service or the marketing of your property. To my knowledge I am the only agent who offers this guarantee. I'll even put it in writing for you. My primary goal is to have sellers and buyers who are happy and satisfied when the escrow closes.
I also pledge not to harass you to the lower the price of your property. You will get the facts from me but the decision on price is yours to make. I'm pleased that my listings frequently have the highest average sold square foot price each quarter.
If you are interest in statistics - I have an analysis of "Average Home Sold Square Foot Prices" by size categories from the present going back to 2004. Just call or email and I will email it to you.
Seller Links:
|
