Spring Has Sprung, But Have You

 Now that it is time to once again reset the clocks and enjoy longer days of daylight, the grass is starting to green in certain areas and soon the flowers will start to awake from their Winter slumber. We all know that Spring is just around the corner and we can sense the delight that it will bring by thawing the frost and making the world look new again. Mother nature is ready and you should be too.

 Now is the time to start the arguous and preparing fa the months ahead in order to embrace the bounty that they bring. The typical real estate season starts in the Spring and more buyers will embark on their journey to become home owners and more sellers will begin their task of listing their current home in an effort to up or downsize depending on their needs. The Spring brings with it the new sales season and we have to be ready to strike out and stack our claim of the bounty that it presents and the opportunities it will provide to grow our business.

 Time to check all those flier boxes and be sure they are ready for the drive by traffic. Info boxes are always a great way to gain exposure and some people are far more likely to pick up a flier containing information about a property than they are to call the listing agent. So make sure that those info boxes are stocked to capacity for all the world to see and pick up to learn more about the available home and you. There are tons of software programs right at your fingertips on the Internet that will provide you with sleek, professional, and stunning fliers to use in your advertising.

 Make sure your listings look their best. We all know the importance of presenting a clean, well staged, and well priced home to the buyers in our markets. But with Spring upon us again pay attention to the outside of your listings. It is obviously the first thing that everyone sees when driving by or driving up and you want the outside to make a strong impression. A clean cut, well maintained, and well landscaped outside will make buyers want to see the inside that much more. It can and does instill excitement in people, so don't overlook it. Get those leaves raked and put out some fresh mulch or pine straw. If the landscaping is top notch, it will pay off.

 Update those MLS photos for your properties. If you listed a home in December and there were dead leaves on the tress and a foot of snow on the ground, it may be time to take a new picture of the outside. When Spring rolls around and the trees are green and the snow has melted, people don't expect to see the old photo from the dead of Winter. Those old pictures can also date how long a home has been on the market and may create a curiosity in buyers as to why it has not sold yet. It can also lead the buyer to believe that the seller may be a little desperate do to the fact that it has been listed so long and may promote low ball offers from a buyer looking to get a deal. And in the end aren't they all? So go take some better pictures and load them up.

 Dust off those open house signs. I do open houses year round, but I know a lot of agents that lay off during the Winter and start back during peak season. Well, it's time to start getting back in the groove and opening up those listings on the weekend for all the world to see. Stock up on your cookie dough, again the fliers for the home for sale, and get ready to put out a ton of directional signs driving traffic to your listings. They can be an excellent form of prospecting and you never know when the right person might walk through the door and make an offer. So take every opportunity to make your listings available to the public. Take your laptop with you and if you have a wireless card, then you can multitask while at the open house and never skip a beat in your Internet advertising and updating your blog.

  Ready or not, here it comes. We would all be well served if we went through the trouble of making these simple preparations for the months ahead. Time waits for no one, and the time to take advantage of Spring is here for us and we need to seize the opportunity and get back in the swing of things if we want to be successful.