Entries Tagged 'Realtor Tips & Resources' ↓

10) Too cluttered - Nothing turns a buyer off more than walking into a potential new home and seeing it filled with stuff. If you really want to sell your home at least take the time and effort to put away, or better yet, dispose of some of your less useful belongings. That collection of McDonald’s plastic toys sitting on your computer desk might have been worth a chuckle when you bought them 3 years ago but c’mon.. get rid of them. Chuck it, stow it, or store it.

9) Too homey - This is hotly debated both ways with one side advising to keep it personal and the other side voting for “less is more”. If your house has an abundance of personal photos, knick-knacks, quilts, and those little marks on the wall from when the kids were growing up, it very well might turn off potential buyers. To help them try to envision themselves living in your house think about keeping the “this is my house” stuff down to a minimum while it’s on the market.

8) Lack of Curb Appeal - If you are trying to sell your home, spend some time and/or money on cleaning up the yard/facade of the house. It never ceases to amaze me when sellers have weeds growing in their yards or still have Christmas lights hanging… in JULY. Hire a landscaper or pay the neighbor’s kid $5 to cut the grass, pull the weeds, and plant some pretty flowers that someone’s wife will fall in love with. Spending some money when you’re trying to sell a home for hundreds of thousands of dollars is a no-brainer.

7) Terrible Photos - This is something a LOT of real estate agents are guilty of. If your home looks unattractive in the MLS photos then expect less people to come by to take a look. Your home has to be appealing and enticing to potential buyers so take the time to make sure you display the best shots you can. Athol over at REagentinct.com has a recurring “Bad MLS Photo of the Day” post that shows just how bad things can get.

6) Condition of the House - Imagine this… your house has been on the market for 4 months.. several showings.. no offers.. You wonder to yourself, “How can I get this much traffic and not have a single offer?” Believe it or not, the stained carpet, warped floorboard, stuck window, and the algae-green pool might have something to with it. Wise up, roll up your sleeves, and take care of it. Better yet have someone else do it. Most home buyers want a turn-key house that won’t require any additional work to move into so keep that in mind if you won’t budge on the price.

5) Difficult Sellers - Nothing is more frustrating to an agent then an expectant seller who fights you every step of the way. If you want to sell your home try to be as accommodating as you can in terms of showings, open houses, and agent previews. It may be inconvenient at times but an hour of inconvenience may be what it takes to sell your home.

4) Using the Wrong Realtor - Be sure you know who you’re hiring when selecting someone to help you sell your home. Interview several agents from different companies and compare them side-by-side to see who will maximize the chances of selling your home. Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from their past clients and if they can’t or won’t produce a list of satisfied customers that should raise some red flags.

3) Lack of Exposure - If people don’t know that your home is for sale that might make it a bit more difficult to actually get it sold. Newspaper advertisements, open houses, 24-hour recordings, fully stocked “For Sale” flyers, craigslist postings and “Just listed” (or maybe “Still listed”) postcards are just some of the marketing techniques that could be utilized.

2) Market Conditions - This is the beast that most of the nation is struggling with right now. Be realistic when putting your home on the market and be prepared to make adjustments the longer your home sits on the market. If it’s been four months without any significant action you should take a long look at your situation and see what you can do to improve it. Which leads us to the number one reason your home is still on the market..

1) Wrong Pricing - Regardless of the circumstances, bad pricing is the top reason why your home is still sitting on the market. The housing market doesn’t care what your neighbor sold his house for last year or whether or not you need to sell at a certain price to pay off the 2nd mortgage you got two years ago. The bottom line is, the market will dictate how much your home will sell for. If you absolutely need to sell your home NOW then adjust the price accordingly.

Keep these 10 reasons in mind when trying to sell your home and the process should be a little less painful and (hopefully) a little shorter.

Technorati Tags: Curb Appeal, sell your home, turn-key house, Wrong Pricing, 2nd mortgage, 10 reasons

Hello everyone! Just thought I’d share some basic open house tips that I follow and usually work out well for me. There is a big difference between showing up at an open house unprepared and showing up with materials, listings, and other useful items.

First, lets assume you don’t have much business right now and have decided to hold some houses open for other agents in your office. Many agents do not have the time or desire to hold all of their properties open every weekend and will eagerly accept your offer to do it for them. Who wouldn’t want free advertising? But in order to maximize the potential benefit to you there are a few steps you should follow before deciding which properties you want to expend your efforts on:

1) Be sure to personally preview the property BEFORE you actually agree to hold it open. Sometimes there are big differences between what you see in the listing online and what you see when you actually get to the property. Make sure to inspect each room carefully, check bathrooms, check the backyard, basically check it as though you were a potential customer walking through the house for the first time. I take a checklist where I grade each area of the home according to feature. Also make sure it is priced appropriately for the market (no use holding open an over-priced listing where no one will show up).

2) After you have decided to hold an open house, decide whether or not you are going to advertise. In many communities there is enough weekend traffic that it may not be necessary to do any marketing but in others you may want to think about placing a small newspaper ad and/or posting on Craigslist (free!). There is nothing worse than holding an open house and having NO ONE come by because they didn’t know about it. Sometimes the listing agent will also advertise for you so be sure to check!

a. Also try not to choose a property that is very difficult to get to. Not only will you need more “Open House” signs to place at every turn, if a visitor can’t easily find the property your traffic will drastically be reduced. If you do need more signs than you have try asking other agents at the office if you could borrow their signs, many won’t mind!

3) Now, you have found the perfect property to hold the open house. What do you need to bring? My list usually consists of the following items:

• Small card table w/tablecloth
• Punch bowl w/ice and Bottled water
• Property flyers
• Business cards
• Local maps with Business card attached
• Assortment of home magazines/newspapers/brochures
• Sign in book
• Boombox
• 1 Bathroom set-up

I usually set up the table near the front entryway so you can greet visitors as soon as they come in. After the introduction you can begin to tell them about the home and hand them bottled water (anything to get them to stay longer). Now, the flyers are a debatable option. You can also leave those hidden away until the ask for them and continue to tell them about the house so that they focus their attention on you and not the flyer.

Have some neutral music playing (classical/jazz/elevator). Lay down a bathroom rug, put up some towels, a cheap shower curtain, soap, and toilet paper. Not only will it look nice but it will give you and your guests a bathroom to use while you are there (obviously these bathroom tips only apply to vacant homes!).

4) Many times people will poke their head in and immediately ask “How much?” Before you blurt out the price and let them sneak away invite them in, give them some bottled water, and ask how much they are looking to spend. This is where your preparation really comes in handy.

Before you go to the open house, do a radial search around the house for 1/4 mile for all active listings. Put them in a binder and categorize them by price and be sure to review them before your open house begins. If you get a prospect who takes a look around and says to you “Gee, I like the home but it’s about $20,000 more than I wanted to spend,” you can pull out your bind, flip to a section, and reply “Well sir/ma’am, here are 3 homes that are within your price range, after I finish here would you mind if I showed them to you?”

You will be surprised at how much business you can gain with this simple tip. Make sure, of course, that they do not have a Realtor already so you don’t step on any toes.

5) After prospects have toured the home and are on their way out, thank them for coming and be sure to give them your business card and contact information. If you sense they are not represented or may be seeking representation than by all means try to chat them up. Remember, you won’t make money by waiting for business to come to you!

6) There are already several posts about Open House safety so I will just highlight some of the more basic ones

• Do a walk-through of the house first to make sure it is empty
• Make sure someone knows where your open house is and from what times you will be there, and check-in with someone periodically
• Sit near the entryway so you can see who is approaching; if you do not feel comfortable with someone walking up to the door go ahead and lock it
• Be sure to keep two routes of escape accessible, e.g. open the back sliding door.
• If the yard is gated make sure there is not lock on the gate, if there is leave it open while you are holding the house open
• Try to keep your keys and phone on your person at all times
• When showing the house always keep yourself between the prospects and an exit. For example, if you are showing someone down a long hallway, stand to the side and let them proceed past you.

Well everyone thanks for reading, I hope these tips are useful to some of you!

Michael Krotchie - Realtor® - Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, NRT Inc.
Tucson Real Estate
520.404.4996 — Mobile
520.544.4545 — Office
Tucson Real Estate

Technorati Tags: open house tips, open house

Most real estate agents have a reason they began their career. For some, it is because they enjoy the day-to-day interaction. For others it is the everlasting journey to riches. Whatever your goals may be, visualization techniques are an underutilized and often mis-interpreted aid to your success. Just mentioning the word ‘visualization’ probably causes many of you readers to smile, snicker and be skeptical in general. But to those of you willing to read a bit longer you will find that visualization techniques are actually a very powerful tool that should be used more often.

Have you ever noticed that the people who tell everyone they have bad luck consistently have bad things happen to them? And on the other hand do you notice people who are constantly upbeat and passionate about what they do tend to be more successful than others? These are not mere coincidences but a result of the sub-conscious mind at work. Many people do not realize how amazingly powerful the human mind is and by using a few of the techniques outlined below you will can help yourself improve your life (for free!).

Start off by finding a time and place where you have a quiet environment. Close your eyes, and envision whatever you wish to accomplish. For example, if it is getting a listing for a million dollar house, imagine yourself shaking the hand of the homeowner after your successful listing presentation. During the presentation you felt at ease, in control, and supremely confident. You engaged the homeowners and noticed the wife nudging the husband and flashing a look of approval at him. The husband enthusiastically shook your hand and remarked “I sure am glad we interviewed you.. we were SO worried we wouldn’t find someone who could perform to our needs,” as he and his wife signed the listing agreement. Visualizing that you have already attained the listing agreement is a crucial part of the process; it tells the brain to accept it as fact without asking questions. Let the emotions of the moment wash over you and feel as though you really attained this milestone goal you had placed long ago.

Now after this session you will already have played the scenario in your head. Although it sounds strange your sub-conscious mind will actually drive you to accomplish this goal you had already played in your head. Of course you don’t just dream and then let yourself go on cruise control. Visulization techniques will do nothing without your dedication and HARD WORK. For many of you, the biggest step will be opening your mind to success you have not yet attained.

NOTE: Visualizations can be used not only to imagine success in whatever field you are involved in but also to relieve stress and tension!

By practicing visualization techniques consistently, keeping an open mind and a positive attitude, you will find that positive things just *SEEM* to happen to you more consistently than before! Hopefully this is of help to some of you, if so please let me know how it benefits each of you!

Michael Krotchie - Tucson Real Estate
http://www.michaelkrotchie.com

Technorati Tags: Visualization techniques, Visualize success, Tucson Real Estate