"How do I sell my home?" Start with tips from a Real Estate Pro!
As a real estate professional I've heard some amazing misconceptions about selling a home. One in particular gets me thinking of unicorns, rainbows and pixie dust. Its the myth that selling a home is as easy as sticking a sign in the yard and in no time some very nice, but naive person will drive by and make a full price offer without the seller doing a thing. Oh and everyone will live happily ever after...really? No. It might happen to a very rare few, but statistically nearly all For Sale by Owners end up using an agent within about 4 weeks of posting that sign in the yard.
So, how do you sell your home? What's it like when you list your home with a professional Realtor like myself? To begin with, there is no pixie dust.
Agents use formulated systems to sell your home, just like retailers do when they sell products to consumers; there's actually a science to it.
In order to sell a home for the most money, in the least amount of time, we must use a process that requires three main elements to be addressed: 1) The Price; 2) How the home shows and 3) How the home is marketed. These will be re-evaluated during the time a home is on the market.
Let's begin with the Price.
To be honest with you, neither the listing agent nor the home seller controls the price. Surprised? You shouldn't be. A home sells when buyers see the value; that is when a home is priced at the current market value for the moment. The market value changes and needs to be evaluated throughout the time it is listed for sale. My team helps sellers price their house for sale by presenting them with the 5-5-5. That's 5 active comparable homes for sale, 5 pending sales and 5 recently sold homes. Together we analyze the current price and list it as close to what buyer's will see as a good and fair value. It only makes sense to be fair when pricing something, wouldn't you agree?
The second element is how well the home shows.
How would your house show in the eyes of buyers if they were to look at it today? Imagine your home as if you were buying it. That really is an important thing to consider. You probably keep your house clean and neat everyday, but when you market your house for sale, it has to be in the best condition it has been in in years. Why, because you're competing against a dozen other homes for the sale and there may only be 1 or 2 couples looking to buy this month.
Since it's the real estate pro's job to show the home and market it, it's the home owner's job to prepare it for it's big debut! We provide our customers a list to, "Increase Your Home's Appeal" that they can use before we bring in our professional photographer and market the home. We will be marketing their home beginning at the curb and the first picture that we will send out to potentially millions of buyers on the internet will be the front view. Since we hope to attract just one that will buy it, we have to attract scores of others that will even consider it. As they tour the home online, our first impression to our last impression has to be as perfect as can be. The home must show very well.
How the home is marketed.
Marketing the home is the one element of the three that a real estate professional has any control over. That being the case, I've made it my goal to understand where buyers come from and where they are looking so that when we market a home, it is marketed where they are actually looking. We know from the National Association of Realtors that unlike the past, they are not looking in the newspapers for homes. And unlike the myth above, most of them are not out driving around looking for homes on their own. When they are, we have a personalized mobile app for them to contact us with and to get home information on the go. (You can get the mobile app here to: http://app.kw.com/KW1XUEKI2 - Use the code kw1xueki2)
Most buyers are with an agent so they don't waste time or because they want the protection and guidance a professional. With this in mind we market to other agents so they will sell our listings to their buyers.
Most importantly we know that more than anything else, buyers look at homes on the internet first before they ever contact an agent. About 90% of all home buyers use the internet in their home search. That is where we make our biggest marketing impact, with internet marketing.
This has become such an important fact that in order to better meet the needs of my customers I have completed the Internet Marketing Specialist Designation. This is a benefit to my sellers because I am able to target market their properties to buyers where buyers are searching. It's great for my buyers too because I'm able to provide them with the tools, resources and homes they want to see. That creates a win-win for both sellers and buyers.
Selling your home is a marketing process that requires a plan: 1) Price it to what the market will bear, 2) Make the home stand out in the crowd and show great, 3) Leave the marketing job to the real estate team. So, "how do I sell my home?" Start with tips from a real estate pro like those on the Sarasota Suncoast Team at Keller Williams Realty.
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