My Services ~ What You Get When You List With Me
Professional Photos
High-quality photos are the second most important part of marketing your home to potential buyers. In “the old days,” before we could put photos on the Internet, buyers used to drive by houses and see what they looked like from the street. This is what we call “curb appeal”…how appealing a home appears from the street curb.
Today’s “curb appeal” is how good a home looks via online photos. Instead of driving neighborhoods, home buyers search on the Internet.
If you are also looking for a new home, you know that some photos are much better than others. Ugly photos do not encourage showings. When home buyers have many options, they will “weed out” the homes with ugly photos.
Buyers May Not Tour Your Home If It Looks Bad Online
To help you sell, I upload high-quality photos of your home when I list it to the MLS. I hire a professional photographer to ensure we show off your home’s best features. Research shows that the more photos a potential home buyer sees, the more emotionally attached they become to your home. So the more photos the better!
Decluttering Advice/Plan
A few homeowners do not need help with decluttering and staging their homes to sell, but most do. I will walk through your home, take detailed photos, and create a personalized staging plan, so you know exactly what you need to do to show off your home. I will also give you a copy of my 25+ page Home Selling Tips & Checklists with very detailed, prioritized checklists and other tips for getting your home in top-dollar condition. This helps make the process of preparing your home as quick and painless as possible.
Social Media Advertising
I will post your video and photos on various social media accounts to advertise there as well. And you can share those posts with your friends and followers too. Home buyers are not really using social media yet to find homes, but it never hurts to spread the word to more people
Detailed MLS Photo Descriptions
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what room you are looking at when you are viewing a photo. Or you can’t tell if the floor is tile or carpet. So I also take the time necessary to write detailed descriptions of each photo so that potential buyers know what they are looking out for and notice all the best features of your home. This helps to “sell” your home before a buyer even walks through the door!
Listed on MLS
However, your listing needs to be added correctly to the MLS, and this is not as easy as it sounds. Many agents don’t know what they are doing and incorrectly list your home…which makes it difficult (if not impossible) to find. For example, if an agent doesn’t ensure the correct subdivision name for your home, buyer’s agents searching for homes in that subdivision won’t see your house listed, that’s just one example. Lots of agents leave important MLS fields blank which means your home won’t show up in a search for that field, such as size of garage, 2-car vs 3-car.
Professional For Sale Sign
It is important to put a professional-looking For Sale sign in the front yard, since up to 25% of home buyers find the home they purchase due to a yard sign, plus another 10% when your neighbors see your For Sale sign, and tell their family and friends. I use the real estate post signs that are the highest quality.
Lockbox on Door
Buyers can’t purchase your home if they can’t view it in person. To make it super-easy, I put an electronic lock box (key box) on your home so that licensed agents have easy access to show your home. The lock box that I use records every person who opens it, with the time and date. Only licensed agents and inspectors can obtain the electronic key to unlock these boxes.
Automated Appointment Service
Buyers can’t purchase your home if they can’t view it in person. To make it super-easy, I put an electronic lock box (key box) on your home so that licensed agents have easy access to show your home. The lock box that I use records every person who opens it, with the time and date. Only licensed agents and inspectors can obtain the electronic key to unlock these boxes.
Buyers Can’t Buy Your House If They Can’t See It
If you hire an agent who is not a member of Showing Time, then they require buyer’s agents to call or text them to get permission to show the home and to obtain the combination or code to the key box. If that agent is hard to get in touch with or makes it difficult to set showing appointments, then you miss opportunities to show and sell your home. Unfortunately, you will never be aware that this is going on. Many times, these were vacant homes that had been on the market for months. No wonder, when the listing agent was making it difficult to show the home.
Contract Negotiations
When we receive an offer on your home, we will need to negotiate several aspects of the offer, including:
• Price Inspections & Repairs
• Closing Date
• Terms and Conditions
• Home Warranty
• Survey
• HOA Compliance
Receiving an offer to purchase your home is not the end of the process…it’s the middle! Even after the purchase contract is signed and executed, other negotiations often pop up. After inspections, there is typically a second round of negotiations for repairs. Plus, other issues can occur in the transaction that will require my help and expertise, such as handling appraisal issues or dealing with lender delays. A real estate transaction is complicated, but I will help you through it!
Online Contracts and Signature Service
Real estate laws in Florida are complex. To make sure your sale is compliant, and to help prevent future litigation, I will help you with the necessary sales contracts and disclosures. I use an online signature service to make it easy for you to review and sign documents online. This saves time and headache…no more scanning and faxing!
Weekly Showing & Activity Reports
If you want to stay well-informed on showings and activity, I can provide you with weekly reports so you always know exactly what’s going on with your home listing.
Market Watch Emails
When you are selling your home, it is useful to keep your eye on the market activity in your neighborhood and monitor what your competition is doing. I set up a customized Market Watch for you, which will let you know when homes in your neighborhood: go on the market, reduce their sales price, when they are sold, or when they go off the market. You will be able to view the details and photos of those homes as well. Smart!
Monthly Checkup– If Vacant
If your home is vacant for more than a few weeks, then dead bugs will start to appear and make the home look unkempt. I will check your home at least once a month to vacuum dead bugs and make sure it stays clean and in top-showing condition.
Real estate agents don’t “just” sell houses; we sell a SERVICE to guide home buyers and sellers through the entire real estate transaction. We are more like real estate consultants than we are salespeople. That’s probably why 86 percent of all home buyers and sellers choose to hire a real estate agent when buying or selling a home!
Buying or selling a home is not like buying or selling a TV, a computer, or a car. You can’t buy/sell a home in one day…even if the buyer is paying cash. There are MANY legal aspects, deadlines, and requirements that most people are not trained to handle. What’s more…mistakes along the way can cost you thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The financial risk is much greater than just about anything else you may buy.
That’s why you need your own dedicated, experienced Realtor
looking out for YOUR best interests.
