I often hear real estate agents liken themselves to doctors and lawyers in discussions about our value as professionals. I see a lot of value in the services I provide, but I’m NO doctor!
I did attend four years of college and earned a BA in Psychology, but I didn’t go to four years of medical school nor did I go through a grueling residency program. I didn’t even have to earn a BA to get a license to sell real estate. I get that we work very hard, and we want the public to realize we do more than open doors for buyers and put signs in yards. Here is the short list of what I do to earn my paycheck.
Research – If you are buying a home, selling a home or renting out your home, I research what other homes in your area have sold or rented for. I go through listings to find out how much was given in concessions, and I go through the pictures to get an idea of the condition and upgrades. Sometimes I visit other homes like yours that are currently on the market and figure out if they are better or worse than yours. After accounting for condition, location, upgrades and other factors, I come up with a fair market price for your home or the home you are interested in buying.
Negotiate – Here is where my BA in Psychology actually does me some good. Negotiation is about coming to an acceptable outcome for all parties. If you are a stubborn seller who has a buyer for your home and you are not willing to replace a light fixture for the buyer, and they walk, who really lost? If you are a buyer who finds their dream home but decides it’s not worth the $500 more the seller wants for it, who really lost? Well, in that situation both the buyer and seller have probably lost. Who wants a no-win situation? A successful negotiation means that both parties have reached an outcome they can live with. It’s not about winning, it’s about getting what you really want in the end.
Schedule and Supervise – I schedule inspections, painters, handymen, showings, closings, cleaners, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, open houses, and anyone else that might be involved in the sale or renting of your home. I also attend most of these things, so you can do the things that are important to you like go on vacation or go to work.
Photographs and Listings – I take awesome real estate photos. I have a high end Canon T1i DSLR camera that does half of the job for me. If you don’t have a camera of the same caliber or better, your photos won’t look as good. They just won’t. I use these in my listings and enter everything about your home into the MLS. I also use Postlets to create another version of your listing that gets syndicated out to a bunch of other real estate websites. I use the listing in Postlets to create a Craigslist posting that I then update every few days. This takes a lot of organization to makes sure everything is complete and if there is a price change that everything gets updates, not just the MLS.
Cover Your Butt – This is the most important one. I complete contracts correctly, and I make sure you have completed all of the necessary disclosures. If you are renting your home in Raleigh, NC, I make sure you have the property registered, you have carbon monoxide detectors if required, and you stay out of the PROP program. I screen tenants, and deliver only the best qualified people.
So, I’m no doctor or lawyer. I’m just a real estate agent who looks after my clients with all of the care they need.
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