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YourHub.com \\ The Valley \\ Stories \\ Business \\ General Business

How to lose thousands when selling your home

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Contributed by: Lawrence Monaco on 5/31/2007

In this changed home buying and selling market, the decisions you make will either cost you thousands or save you thousands. And many homeowners who are planning to put their homes on the market this summer, will not be thinking of a few key considerations to ask when selecting the right real estate agent.

What's crucial beyond the basics of receiving a comparative market analysis (CMA) and a scan of their marketing book filled with impressive-looking slicks, is whether the agent will be reactive (which results in price reductions and thousands lost) or pro-active (which results in thousands saved).

Marketing makes the difference when thousands are at stake. Just listing your home with a reactive agent who merely posts in theMultiple Listing Serviceand print, then just sits at open houses with street signs, hoping for a buyer to walk in, is a lot like a retail store opening the door, and simply waiting for a few people to walk in, knowing most won't buy, the rest are lookiloos, and one only might be interested.

For homeowners, that results in weeks and months and expired listings as the you are then approached on more than one occasion, with the goal of reducing the price on the home.

A reduction in price once means the home wasn't priced right to move the first time. A second reduction means the market is being chased downward which often either results in a third reduction, or considering accepting yet another reduced-price offer on the second reduction. These are the many thousands of dollars lost by the selection of a reactive and non-aggressive agent.

While the agent's job is to get an offer into escrow and sheppard it through to a successful sale, the better agent starts to work at the time when the listing is written, versus upon the acceptance of an offer.

Being Internet savvy and technology-driven to drive higher numbers of potential buyers to the Internet to consider your home, drives higher numbers in the front door and higher numbers of offers for you to select from versus only settling for.

That difference is huge and means thousands made and saved by the pro-active and aggressive agent, and that is what you're paying them for. Those are the real cut-to-the-chase questions you need to be considering, then asking before you open your door to the first agent who walks in.

How many visitors have hit your site, how many buyers are signed up to receive listings with you, how many buyers are you currently and actively working with, and how will you market and not just list my home, are some of the most important questions you should be posing, and will be paying or saving with.

Most all agents have the same tools, and sites and slicks to work with. It's what we all do, in virtually the same ways.

But it's the pro-active agent who pitches your home to other offices than their own, other print forms than the norm, other Internet sites than the ones you already know about, and creates interest outside the box that will achieve a higher net return on your home's successful sale. In today's market, it should be a marketing campaign, not just an open house.

In the shortest amount of time, the highest amount of buyers and agents and offers should be the quickest goal, and most often, the first offer received is not the best.

A savvy and seasoned negotiating agent will not just present the offer to you, hoping you'll accept it so the deal can be closed, but a responding game plan of a counter-Offer should be discussed and draftedalong with it.

Since you believe your home is worth what you listed it for, and if you find a buyer who presents a low-ball offer from that price, write a letter to the buyer and tell them why you believe your home is worth what it is, regardless of their offer and the comps in the area.

This technique, netted me over $30,000 on my own home's sale when I wrote such a letter, saying that the worth of walking my child to school only one block away, I considered priceless. I received my full Counter-Offer price without question, when other similar homes around mine are still sitting on the market, months later.

Closing windows is another key ingredient in selecting the right agent. And that is not meant literally. There are many windows which remain open on the purchase agreement that at most times, a hesitant buyer can slip through.

The most crucial element at this stage, is finding out which agent knows which windows can and should be closed in the shortest amount of time during the escrow process, so you won't end up at the end of a 30- or 45-ay period of your home being off the active market, only to see the buyer back out because contingencies and timeframes were not acutely followed up on by your agent.

In this changed market, marketing is key. It's critical in selecting the right agent who understands what's at stake for you, and what you should be thinking about when making your selection to ensure that every base is covered in the successful promotion of your home's sale.

Market your home, don't just list it.

Lawrence Monaco, Realtor
Keller Williams Realty Studio City
818/571-2150
www.AllValleyListings.com

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