What Your Should Ask Before You List Your Home

Many of my listings happen to come from expired listings, because of that I meet a lot of homeowners that are hoping a new Realtor will get their home sold.  Let me first off by pointing out that I am going to list the questions you should be asking in order and the most important !

1.  What Kind Of Company Do They Work For ? 
The very first question I hear from a homeowner is "What Is Your Commission" ? This should actually be your LAST question, it does not matter what a Realtors commission rate is if they don't do what needs to be done to sell your home.

• Is the company individually owned, or is it owned by a company ? In most cases bigger is always better because they are affiliated with other companies that can help get your home sold.  You can't just assume that because they have the named Century 21, Coldwell Banker, or Prudential does not mean owned by a company because these are franchises.   Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is company owned, that is why and how we are able to offer so many options like in-house mortgages, home warranties, insurance, and a title agency. 

2. What Is Their Internet Presence, and How Do They Create Your Listing ? 

• What do they do for online advertising ? Everyone puts their listings onto MLS, what you want to know is how many other sites will your home be on, and who will be the point of contact on each of those websites ! Many homeowners don't realize but the ad space around all listings need to be purchased by your agent otherwise the point of contact is not your agent, but rather the agent who did purchase it.  Another important part of Internet presence is do you know if your listing is actually coming up in a search and being viewed, you should find a company that can track at least the number of views your getting or how many times your home came up in someones search.  

• What do they do to create your listing ? The first impression your house gives is by it's listing does the agent stage your home or professional photos, buyers are very visual so you want to be sure that you catch their attention right away ! Another often overlooked aspect is what your listing will actually have written on it ? You want to make sure that it has a detailed description and directions many buyers look to the directions to figure out the area that it is in.  The best way to gauge all of these things is to ask to see the agents other listings and see how they present ! 

3. How Available Would Your Agent Be ? 

• How available are they to you ? This is another question that homeowners often forget to ask, you want to know how often your realtor will be following up with you to give you updates on your home, feedback from Realtors, and most importantly what is going on with other homes that are selling and coming onto the market while your on the market ! You want a realtor who has a system to keep you up to date on all of those things going on in the market around you, this way you know how and when you will hear from them.  

• How available are they to buyers ? This is a very important question to ask because how quickly they respond to inquiries will decide how many buyers stay interested in your home.  Statistics show that 60 minutes after an inquiry is sent, the chance of reaching that potential buyer decreases to less than 50% !  The best way to find this out is after your appointment place an inquiry with them about one of their listings and see how long it takes for them to get in touch with you !  You will also want to see if they will attend showings that are being done by other brokers.  Granted the other brokers will be the ones talking to the buyers you want any questions they have, or any pertinent information about your home to be answered accurately and the only way they can be sure that happens is if your agent is there.  Now, this is my disclaimer, even the best agent will not be able to attend all showings but you should make sure they have a follow up plan in place for the ones they won't be able to attend.  

4. What Technology Do They Use To Help Their Listings ? 

• This question is more of a general question, you want an agent who uses all the tools that are available out there to help get your home sold.  You also want someone who understands the basic technology that is being used in today's market such as the social marketing, virtual presentations, online newspapers and forums ! These are the tools that bring buyers to your home, the more places your home and your agent are the more chance the right buyer for your home will come across it.  I happen to offer some additional tools for buyers who look at my listings like that ability to chat with me online, or giving them the ability to actually schedule an appointment anytime at their convenience! 

5. What Is Your Home Worth ? 

• I am sure your wondering why this at the bottom of the list, the reason why is because as long as the agent has provided you with a Comparative Market Analysis than the price of your home should not vary by very much.  If the agent has not performed an actual CMA and presented it to you, than that should make your decision for you ! The one part of this you do want to make note of is what kind of pricing style they would suggest for your home and area Market Priced or Action Priced !

These are the most important questions you should be getting the answers too, and the very last question should be that of "What Is Your Commission", don't discount a company or agent because of this answer decide who you think will do the best job and get your home sold ! If you hire an agent that your not sure can actually sell your home to save 1% on commission you will only end up spending more time and money living and maintaining it rather than moving onto your next home ! 

Garage Sales Made Easy !

Real estate agents often talk to homeowners about clearing out some of their belongings from their home before putting it on the market, and many people will decide to try the yard sale route.  This sometimes works great, but alot of people who decide to go that route are often disappointed by the outcome selling things for $1 or $2 after spending the better part of their day pulling things out than having to put it back into their house.  Some homeowners, including myself don't even get to that point I've been planning my garage sale for the past 5 years !

Trust me I can understand why it is such a daunting task, and because of some much needed renovations to my home and a "suggestion" from my contractor I was put in a position that either A. this garage sale I'd been planning needed to happen or B. My garbage men and neighbors were about to hit the jackpot!

I still couldn't see myself spending a week pulling everything I didn't want out to get prepared for the garage sale, and than spend an entire day trying to sell it with my son underfoot. I looked into the Ebay store route but it still involved packing it all up in my car and taking it to the store for them to sell it.  Even doing normal Ebay, than I would be going out and having to ship and weigh everything and than pay for it to be advertised on the site whether it sold or not.

After a bit of brainstorming, I realized that I could have a "Virtual Garage Sale" with a little bit of help of Facebook, Craigslist, & EBay.  It would be a garage sale everyday for as long as I wanted, plus it would cost me minimal time and effort plus I would sell alot more in 3 months than doing a 1 day garage sale.

Here are the steps to making your "Virtual Garage Sale" successful !

• The first step is of course deciding where your storage area for your items will be.  If your like me there is not 1 area of the house to put everything you don't want or need anymore and be able to navigate thru it on a daily basis, I unfortunately do not have a basement.  If you are lucky enough to have one than that will usually make your life a bit easier.  I borrowed some fold out tables from friends and families and decided to set shop up in my garage lining the garage walls with the tables.  

• The next step is deciding what you are going to sell in order to make the most of your time, you don't necessarily want to put 50 different items online because maintaining the ad can become time consuming and you will stop keeping up with it because it will become tiresome.   Instead you will want to consider starting with something like 10 ads with 3 or 4 different categories, or think about grouping them so they cross advertise one another.   If your selling things like DVD's your best bet will be to sell them in bulk, putting up the full list of what you have available and sell them in lots of 5 letting the buyers choose which 5.       

• You will want to decide what the best kind of site you want to advertise on.  An Online Ebay Store was a bit much for me to undertake, so I opted for the Craigslist route.    When you use Ebay you will need to decide if you want someone to be able bid or buy immediately with their Buy It Now feature, you will also need to set up a PayPal Account in order to receive payment.  Ebay also allow you to re-list without having to redo the entire ad week after week, but they do charge you to advertise on their website whether the items sells or not. 

• Another option is Craigslist, which is the route which I chose because I was more comfortable not having to be responsibility of making sure the items got delivered.  The upside to Craigslist is the fact that you are not charged per ad, but the downside is you will get quite a few bogus buyers who have no intention of buying.  This site also allows you to simple renew your ad with one simple click, bringing you back up to the top of the list.  

• You will want to share what your selling, you never know who knows someone looking for items for cheap.  I created an entire facebook album where I have what I am selling, and I have sold a few things to friends of friends because of it. 

• Once you have your area set up, and your ads are running you simply sit back and collect your profits ! Because your only running a handful of ads, after you have items sold simply put up whatever you would like to sell next.   

Now, there is some safety & privacy precautions you will want to take if your using Craigslist, which is usually best for large or heavy items.  

• Never believe anyone who offers you a money order because they are "out of the country" or "buying for a relative", they are scams ! 

• Never allow someone to go into your home when they come to pick up the item unless it is absolutely necessary .  

• Always have someone in the house with you, or offer to meet them in an area that you know during the daytime! 

• Do not put your actual home address in the "location" area, just put the town, and never give them your home phone number always use your cell ! 

I've been doing my Virtual Garage Sale, via CraigsList for about 2 weeks and I've sold about $200 worth of items with less than 3 hours worth of work to get it done, and the only reason it took that long was because I had alot of small items I need to sort and group before posting my ads.  I've sold things from an old microwave for $10 to $75 for a old video game system ! Happy Selling !   

                                                                                                                                            

Top 5 Tips For First Time Home-Buyers

I decided to spend a moment and focus on buyers for a moment.  I have a lot of information for my sellers, but when it comes to working with buyers I would have to say first-time home buyers are my favorite.  It isn't for everyone and many agents like it when they have experienced buyers, normally the deals will go along smoother and the process of finding their new home is easier.  Perhaps I like the "challenge" but it is a different kind of reward when you hand someone the keys to their very FIRST new home ! 

Get your finances in order

Before you start working with a buyer broker, getting a mortgage pre-approval is a must.  I have seen too many homebuyers starting looking before they find out what they can afford.  The result is disappointment that you may have looked at some wonderful homes that turns out does not fit into your budget.   Most licensed brokers will have reliable, and attentive mortgage brokers they work with that they will be able to refer you to. 

Know the language

Know the terminology of real estate, you want to understand what brokers are talking about.  Short sales vs Foreclosure, there is a very big difference.  You want to be sure even when you are looking without an agent you have a good understanding of what everything is.  You need to understand the difference between Listing Agents, Buyers Brokers, and disclosure.  Listing agents obviously list the house, and work for the sellers.  Every first time home buyer should work with a Buyer Broker, they will provide you with information about the homes in the neighborhood your looking for, make sure everything the seller is representing is true !

Find a well-trusted real estate agent

This is the most important part for a first time home-buyer, you are going to be depending on this person to help you make a life changing purchase.  You need someone who is okay with having to “hold your hand” so to speak during the process, not because you need it but it is a resource that is available to you.  I once stayed in a closing with my first time buyers for 5 hours, it was a short sale and the bank was having its own issue with paperwork which held us up.  Before leaving the attorney, pulled me aside to thank me for staying and explaining what was going on to his clients.                   

Decide what you “must have” and what you would “like to have”

I had a home buyer once tell me that she would never purchase a ranch they would never give her the space she needed.  For the most part she was right, almost every single home that was a ranch would not meet what she needed to have.  Before we began looking I asked her to make me a list of her “must have”,  and “like to have list”.  Must haves are the number of bedrooms, a school district, or a price range.  These are things that if they did not have them it would be impossible to move to that home.  Fireplaces, pools, central air, these are all things that you would like to have but, you could live without.  These lists are different for everyone, in this clients case the home she purchased ended up being a ranch.  If we had limited the search she would have missed out on her “perfect home”. 

Should I Spend The Money To Have A Home Inspection?                                                                                                                                  

Absolutely. The $200 to $500 that a professional home inspection costs could be the best money you ever spend on your house. Not only does the home inspection seek out any defects (and gives you some peace of mind), the home inspector will often give you tips on maintaining and repairing your house. See the section on Home Inspections for tips on what to look for and how to choose a home inspector.

Key Elements To Get Your Home To Sold

I recently was going thru some key points during a listing appointment, and have decided to take the time to put "pen to paper" so to speak.

When someone list's their homes I like for them to have a clear understanding that I don't just want the listing, I want the home to sell.  That is our purpose, and believe it or not many people do not realize that if you are going to list your home with a Realtor you should be ready to move within 60 - 90 days.  Not all homes take a 6 month period of time to find a qualified buyer, not if they are marketed properly and priced at what the market calls for.

I have decided to take the time to elaborate on some of the tools and resources I use to help my listings get to sold.

Professional Photo's and Videos 

This is a great tool, your home will not always have perfect light when buyers come to see it, or some homes are vacant.
The company I work with for the pictures, also does a Virtual Tour which is uploaded to YouTube allowing your potential buyers to feel as if they are walking thru your home, all the while they are sitting in their living room.  This does 2 things, it catches the buyer and makes you that memorable listing because virtual tours are not yet common, and gets more serious buyers into your home !

** Sellers Tip **

Buyers in todays market, spend most of their time searching for their new home on the internet.  Those pictures are your very first impression, if there is not enough or they are not well taken you could be overlooked.  On more than one occasion I have had to push for a buyer to go see a home that they didn't like the pictures on MLS, after some prompting they agree to go and almost all the time they can not believe how the home showed in person.  

Another inside tip for sellers, many websites have their own way of how the homes they show in their search results show up to the potential buyer.  Many first go by what kind of account the listing agent has with the company, second they go by how many pictures you have of the home ! Let your listing agent take pictures, trust us we spend 90% of our time in people's homes we know what they are looking to see ! 

Here is an example of a home I personally have listed, and used professional photography to give it an edge on the competition.

                                                                                                                                                        

Staging

Any home can benefit from staging, a professionals eye will be able to give your home a un-biased opinion.  

Realtors will know what can distract a buyer, even though what distracts them has nothing to do with the home they are potentially buying.   

Sometimes simply moving around things in a room, can give it the illusion that it is bigger than it is, some de-cluttering is always recommended you don't want your home to be cold or sterile feeling there is always a happy medium.  

** Sellers Tip **

Begin your packing the moment you list your house on the market, not the everyday necessities but the things you can do without. 

If your home is on the market your ultimate goal is to be moving, it will help de-clutter the home for the prospective buyers that will be coming in to view your home, and you will need to pack those things at some point, I look at it as positive thinking ! Many storage facilities offer specials for very low rates, and the benefit to you will be priceless.  

Now some people have decided to buy their new home first, and than list their home for sale.  Vacant homes can be a wonderful thing, but buyers are visual, I work with a wonderful company who does staging, it is at no cost to my sellers.  Their is no pesky rentals fee's it is all done virtually, and again it is a benefit of using a professional photographer.  

                                                              After                                                                   Before

This home was bought by investors, renovated but they did not want to have to rent furniture for the pictures.

Online Marketing 

The absolute best marketing tool you could possibly have today is the internet.  I don't mean just Zillow, Trulia, or Realtor.Com.  

Social Marketing is the best exposure you could ever ask for, you know how you re-united with past colleagues, classmates, or even extended family.  You will never know if they or someone they know is looking to a buy a home, you want your home to be blogged, twittered, and facebooked as much as possible.  Not only does it attract prospective buyers it will catch the eye of other agents we all network together and it is the easiest way to let other realtors know about our listings all over Long Island.   

On any given day you can look at my Twitter feed and know exactly what I am doing, and where on Long Island I am.  The same goes with other realtors, if we are having an open house we like everyone to know.   When I first list a home I will often blog about it, conveying the excitement I have about this new listings to my network and many people will share this with others.  Remember you never know where your buyer will come from !!