SEVEN TIPS TO HELP YOU TO GET MORE LISTINGS THAT WILL ‘SELL’

It is a tough Real Estate Market out there with Home Prices down to levels not seen in over a decade… GONE are the days when a Buyer could ‘fog’ a mirror with his breath or had a ‘pulse’ and got approved for a Mortgage… CASH has become ‘King’… Lenders have adopted stricter Mortgage Underwriting and Property Valuation Guidelines reflecting the sales of an inordinate amount of Short Sales and Foreclosures… It is a Buyer’s Market and the Competition to attract ‘Qualified Buyers’ has become fierce… The SELLER needs to be convinced of the fact that this is a NEW and Dynamic Real Estate Market… The most important thing for you as a Listing Agent to accept is that ‘Traditional’ Real Estate Marketing like Open Houses, Broker Tours, Point-of-Sale Flyers, Just-Listed/Just-Sold Mailings and having an Broker/Agent WebSite are just not enough to ‘cut-it’ any more…

UNDERSTAND THAT ALMOST 94% OF ALL HOME BUYERS ARE SHOPPING THE INTERNET - You and your Seller will need to EMBRACE the following ‘Progressive’ Internet/Social Media Marketing Techniques to ATTRACT the ‘Qualified’ Internet Buyer: [A] Create a Single-Property Website to syndicate your Property Listing to the 20+ Search Portals like Active Rain, Yahoo Real Estate, HGTV’s Front Door, Zillow Homes, Trulia Real Estate and Craigslist, just to name a few; [B] Create a Virtual Tour/Video and ‘Post-it’ to YouTube; [C] Post and Re-post your Property Listing to Craigslist regularly and often; [D] Run ‘Locally-Targeted’ Face Book Ads; [E] Run Google ‘Ad Words’ Campaigns; [F] Create a Blog OR Face Book-Page specific to the Home being sold; [G] Find Local Area Blogs and Post Comments to them through your Single-Property Webpage; [H] Create a Property-specific Twitter Account and [I] Create a Mobile Property Website accessible via Smart-phone Text Code.  Using these Progressive Internet/Social Media Marketing Tools will give your home more Web/Internet EXPOSURE to more QUALIFIED BUYERS and help you to SELL your Listing…

MOTIVATE THE SELLER GET THE HOME INTO ‘SELLING CONDITION’ – Cleaning and ‘cleaning-out’ is a MUST…  Have the Seller FIX things that don’t work, touch-up the paint and clean or replace carpets... Encourage the Seller to update the Landscaping and clean and/or paint the Outside…  Have them DE-CLUTTER the home by getting rid of items in Closets and Storage areas that are no longer used (or needed)…  An uncluttered home will SELL FASTER than a home packed with ‘Stuff’>>>

BE REALISTIC ABOUT THE MARKET - Find out what’s SELLING and the Average number of ‘Days-on-the-Market’ for the homes that ARE Selling… Accept the ‘reality’ of your Local Market and ‘Price’ the home realistically - The WORST THING you can do is to Over-Price the home...

UNDERSTAND ‘WHAT’ AND ‘HOW-LONG’ IT WILL TAKE TO SELL THE HOME - If the home is in an area with several Foreclosures and/or Short Sales, your Seller may have to meet a Lower Price-point in order to Sell their home.  In all honesty, if your Seller DOES NOT HAVE TO SELL and they’re UN-WILLING to Sell at a Lower Price-point necessary to get it Sold, then they’re either better-off ‘staying put’ OR may want to consider Renting-out their home or looking into a Buyers ‘Least-to-Own Option’ Contract...

DON’T LET YOUR SELLER BE DRIVEN BY ‘GREED’ - One BIG Mistake that Sellers often make is to get a little greedy, particularly if the first Offer is above the ‘Minimum Acceptable Price’ that the Seller has set for the Home… The Minimum Acceptable Price is the amount of ‘NET CASH’ from the Sale of the home, no matter where (or with whom) the home is  Listed/Advertised with… “The First Offer is ALWAYS the Best Offer” - While this saying may not ALWAYS be true, it IS TRUE MORE-OFTEN THAN NOT… Your Seller might be better off with that First Offer than with another Offer six-months later… Keep this in mind and help your Seller negotiate ‘fairly’ with the Very First Offer that they get on the Home...

MAKE SURE YOUR SELLER KNOWS WHERE THEY’RE GOING - Don’t let your Seller make an Offer on a home until they have some serious Buyer- Interest in their own Home…  It’s risky, expensive and often impossible, to finance two properties at the same time... Encourage your Seller to look for another home, but advise them NOT to ‘Close’ on the Sale until they have Money-in-Hand from the Sale of their Home, UNLESS of course, they have enough CASH to do so...

HAVE YOUR SELLER READ ALL DOCUMENTS THOROUGHLY BEFORE THEY SIGN THEM - As a Seller, one can be legally LIABLE for any misrepresentation of the home made to a Buyer… Have your Seller take the time to read and understand any/all Listing Agreements, Purchase Contracts and/or Closing-Settlement Documents BEFORE they sign them... Encourage them to seek Legal/Tax Advice… If, for example, their home is worth less than the Mortgage owed and you will be doing a ‘Short Sale’, the Sale of the Home more ‘complex’…  Your Seller will need to understand the ‘timing’ of the Short-Sale Process, the necessary Negotiations with Third-party Lien-holders and Buyers AND the Financial Risks that they could face AFTER the Short Sale if they cannot make-up the difference between the Sales Price and what’s owed…