selling: Meeting and Beating the Competition
- 07/01/08 04:54 AM
During this time of more buyer-friendly real estate markets, we are having lots of conversations with our sellers about making their houses competitive as possible. There are all of the normal factors that any good agent will discuss. This would include Marketing, both traditional and web marketing Developing a pricing strategy that will attract offers Preparing the house for the market, staging it attractively, then living in it like compulsive neat freaks until it is sold There are some other, perhaps more subtle, factors that can also make your home sell in less time nd for top dollar. Do you make … (10 comments)
selling: Sell Or No Sell?
- 05/22/08 05:49 PM
There are almost as many ways of approaching real estate as there are people in the profession. And I was especially amused reading some of the comments on Catarina Bannier's last post last week about hating the "sales" part of the business. Like maybe agents like her should find another way to make a living? I don't think so.Many of the most successful Realtors I know do not feel comfortable in the old real estate "sales person" paradigm. And a number of major trainers, including Brian Buffini and Joe Stumpf, have built their systems around losing the salesman side of the … (17 comments)
selling: An Important Turn Off When Your House Is For Sale
- 02/06/08 01:35 PM
BEEEEEEP! "Hello. This is Pat Kennedy and I'm an agent with Evers & Company Realtors. I'm planning to drop by your house between 2 and 2:30 this afternoon to set of your burglar alarm. If that's not convenient, please call me on my cell phone at 202-555-5567. Thanks!" Seriously, folks, if you have a listing or if you're a seller and you have an alarm system, agents who come by will set it off. I can promise you that. And when we do, it isn't pretty. First, there is a gawdawful noise that can wake the dead. It's an impossible challenge … (28 comments)
selling: Working Out The Ideal Selling Strategy
- 11/25/07 11:10 AM
I just got back from a house that one of my neighbors wants to sell some time in the indefinite future. It’s what I call a “granny house”, one that has been loved and cared for, but is in a bit of a time warp. It needs a face-lift.It has great bones, but some fine lines in the plaster. The kitchen was total state of the art in 1952, and the baths have the original 1915 pedestal sinks and subway tile (which is making a comeback). But there’s rust in the sink and cracks in the tile. There’s a lot of … (15 comments)
selling: Getting to a "5 WOW" Real Estate Practice
- 11/09/07 01:54 PM
All over the country, local boards of Realtors and many companies give awards each year to the "Top Producers" in real estate. They’re usually based on how many houses an agent sells in a given year or the agent’s dollar volume. And sometimes companies give good office citizen awards to agents who are there to do stuff their colleagues don’t like to do, like phone duty or helping out newbies. Or a local Board will name a “Realtor of the Year” to acknowledge service to the real estate community.But have any of you heard of any awards given out for quality … (16 comments)
selling: The Importance of Being Earnest
- 10/24/07 03:16 PM
If I am writing an offer in a multiple contract situation, I advise my clients to write a big, fat earnest money check. If mine is the only one on the table and under the asking price, I do the same thing. A big check makes it easier for me to sell their offer to the sellers.If I am the listing agent, a sizable earnest money check gives me a warm fuzzy feeling about the offer accompanying it. The big check is supposed to make it easier for the sellers to hold the buyer’s feet to the fire should those feet … (11 comments)
selling: How Clean Is Clean?
- 10/04/07 12:37 AM
The moving truck has just pulled away from your house, and you are totally, completely, 100 percent pooped! You spent most of the day before cleaning up years of grime and cob webs your sellers left you, and now you're looking at decades worth of all kinds of nastiness in your old house - dust bunnies (enough to knit a sweater), the mother of all bathtub rings, crust in the oven, and a cure for the next pandemic in the corners of the refrigerator's meat tray. There's a reason that MOVE is a 4-letter word! In most parts of the country, … (17 comments)
selling: PLEASE! Don't Be Alarmed!
- 10/03/07 04:00 AM
If your house is for sale, and if it has an alarm system that is activated while it's on the market, someone like me is going to come by to show your home and set it off. I've yet to meet an alarm system that I am not almost certain to activate accidentally. On the way into the house, I can never find the discretely placed key pad in the thirty or so seconds that you have to deactivate the system. While I'm inside the house, I will accidentally lean against a wall in the master bedroom that has an embedded … (11 comments)
selling: So Are These Guys on DRUGS?????
- 10/01/07 02:23 AM
I'm preparing my itinerary for a showing expedition to Fairfax County. Gettin' the map, checkin' it twice and what have we here? A house with a single under-exposed photo of the outside, no virtual tour, but fabulous locaiton, price seems OK and - Oh! No!! What's this right under the "Do Not Contact Lister" notation on the MRIS? It says this guy will pay a commission only to a sub-agent! Yes, the commission to a buyer broker would be Zero! Zip! Nada! So, I called the listing agent who was really nice. I explained that there may have been a … (59 comments)
selling: "It's The Relationship, Stupid!"
- 09/21/07 03:47 AM
While I was writing the first draft of The Irreverent Guide, a had a wonderful writing coach named Jeff Stein. He's a professional journalist and has two books already published and is working on a third now. He was the perfect coach because he knew zip about real estate and lots about writing. After he read my first few chapters, he suggested that I take a sticky note, write on it "IT'S THE RELATIONSHIP, STUPID!!!!" in big bold letters, and stick it to the top of my computer screen. Without knowing about our business, he put his finger right … (8 comments)
selling: I'll Be On TV Wednesday!
- 09/18/07 08:57 AM
Tomorrow afternoon between 3 and 4 (east coast time) I'm being interviewed on a cable program called "Daily Cafe" on the Retirement Network. (You can click the link to see if and when it airs where you are.) This week they invited Dr. Ruth to talk about sex, and me to talk about real estate. The producer has been a blast and I think it'll be fun. It's broadcast nationwide out of Reuters' studios here in DC and now I have to figure out how to stage myself. That's the hard part!
… (9 comments)
selling: The Good Client
- 08/13/07 12:59 PM
Every real estate advice column gives you advice on how to find a great agent. And that’s important. Even more important, however, is learning how to be a great client – how to empower your agent to provide truly awesome, amazing service. So here are some pointers: Start with a great agent, someone you like and trust, and then treat her like she walks on the moon!. Then guess what! She’ll walk the moon for you! The alternative is not great – if you think she’s going to be an idiot, she will be. And when she tries her normal walk … (1 comments)
Pat Kennedy -- author of The Irreverent Guide to Real Estate -- gives you a look at life on the streets as a real estate broker in our nation's capital. And her blog is peppered with great advice combined with humor!
During this time of more buyer-friendly real estate markets, we are having lots of conversations with our sellers about making their houses competitive as possible.
;)
;)
;)
