Tips and Tools to Help You Get Your Home Sold

Not long ago, I discussed the importance of a seller leaving during any buyer showings (Part 1 of Buyers are Coming…).  I know how tempting it is to be there to answer questions and point out the details that a buyer might miss.  I even had one of my readers mention her own success in being present at previous showings.

But I’ll stick to my guns on this point.  The potential to do more harm than good is real.  Fellow Realtor and Phoenix Real Estate expert Jay Thompson wrote about this very topic at Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

Remember – what one person considers a selling point, someone else might consider a negative.  I’ll give you an example.  I was showing a buyer a home that he was very excited about.  It was our second trip back to the home and the seller was anxious to show us some of the wonderful extras he had put into his home.  The home was painted a pretty green that really wasn’t my client’s taste and he had already shared with me that he would want to paint it.  The buyer proudly shared that the ceiling was actually painted several shades lighter but was the same green base.  Oh, my lucky buyer.

If you are looking for a compromise, my reader Christine had a good one she left in her comment.  She suggested a seller leave a ‘Welcome to Our Home’ letter for prospective buyers.  I think it’s an interesting idea, but I would review it carefully with your listing agent to make sure you avoid pitfalls.

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This is one of my favorite conversations – marketing.  When selecting an agent, one of the most critical questions you can ask is, ‘Will you share with me your plan to market my home?’ 

The answer to this question will tell you a lot about the agent you are considering hiring.   It’s important to ask yourself whether the marketing plan is really marketing your home or primarily promoting the agent.  Jonathon Dalton, an agent in Phoenix and author of ‘All Phoenix Real Estate’ wrote an excellent post about this very conversation on his site.

What kind of marketing should you expect to see?  Your home should be where the buyers are.  Where are today’s buyers?  Online.  Hire an agent that knows how to show your home at it’s best online with superior photography and virtual tours.  Hire an agent that knows how to maximize the exposure on the sites that buyers frequent.  Hire an agent that is committed to staying on top of the quickly changing technology. 

Don’t be seduced about flashy newspaper ads, postcards, or magazines.  Serious buyers aren’t searching for properties in that type of media anymore.

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There are two types of feedback you will get from buyers that have seen your home.

1.  Condition – This is something that can’t be changed.  Some examples of conditions are, ‘we need a downstairs bedroom,’ or ‘we didn’t want to back to a busy street,’ or  ‘we want a driveway,’ or ‘we are looking for a larger backyard.’

2. Objection – These are things that you can address.  Some examples of objections are, ‘we didn’t care for the wallpaper in the kitchen,’ or ‘the paint colors would clash with our furniture,’ or ‘the yard looks like it is overgrown and needs work,’ or even something like ‘it felt too small in the family room.’

When you are reviewing the feedback with your agent, make sure to keep in mind the difference between the two types of feedback.  Address the things that you can right away; address the objections.

If you are consistently hearing that the wallpaper is an issue, the sooner you remove it the better.  If you are consistently hearing that the family room feels too small, have a stager advise you on ways to stage it so that it appears larger.

If you are hearing a condition repeatedly, there are two options.  One, find a way to minimize the impact of the condition.  An example, have a fountain and outdoor music to minimize the impact of street noise.  Another example, make good use of the little yard space you have through staging.  Note that neither of these solutions will take away the objection; they just lessen the impact of the existing condition.

The other option that you may need to consider with an objection – lower your price.  Even if you are priced below comparable sales, if you are hearing an objection repeatedly, the market is giving you feedback that your price is too high when compared with other homes on the market given that it ‘backs to a busy street’ or that ‘the yard size is too small’.  If you’ve done everything you can do in all the other areas, and you still hear a condition – you must lower your price to make yours look like the best ‘value’.

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If you are getting ready to sell, or you’ve already tried without success, it’s time to look at your home with fresh eyes.  Better yet, not your eyes at all.  As soon as you decide to sell your home, you must change the way you view it.  It is no longer just the place you live, your home, it is now a commodity that you are trying to sell quickly and for the highest amount that the market will bear.

I can hear some of you already, ‘But I have to live here and feel at home in the meantime‘ or ‘Everyone already says that my home shows beautifully.’  I know, I know.  Trust me.  I get it and I’ve heard it but believe me when I tell you, it’s the seller that says, ‘Tell me what I need to do‘ that will meet with success.

So what do you need to do?

Step 1: Stop going to your friends for advice. 95% of your friends wouldn’t dream of criticizing your taste.  As a matter of fact, we often hang out with people that have similar taste.  That doesn’t mean you and your friends necessarily have the taste that will appeal to the broadest spectrum of buyers.

Step 2: Pay attention to the advice of your agent. They are working with consumers every day.  They know what turns a buyer off and what is most appealing.  Caution – we wary of the agent that says that it’s all just great and they wouldn’t change a thing.  That’s rarely the case; there’s always some improvements you can make.

Step 3: Change you mindset. We live in a home differently than the way you sell a home.  Remember, if you are looking for your home to sell, understand the market conditions, competing properties and the inventory.  You vying for buyer attention.  You must be willing to let go of the personal things that may make you feel most at home.  Keep your eye on the ball friend!

Step 4:  Do the work. Whether it means painting, removing wallpaper (and I know you hate to do it), clean up the clutter, remove items from kitchen and bathroom counters, remove bulky furniture, or freshen the yard (we’ll address more of the specifics later), get to it.  As soon as you start having a mental argument with your agent about the necessity of ripping down this expensive, decorator wallpaper – stop yourself and remember that you won’t be living here shortly anyway.  Appeal to the greatest number of buyers – this is the goal!

Step 5:  Whenever possible – hire a pro. The best results and return on investment are from a full staging company, but if cash is not available hire them for a consultation.  And don’t allow yourself to fight them on their suggestions.  You are trying to create the emotional appeal that makes a buyer feel a sense of urgency about writing an offer.  This is what a good stager is best at and this is what you are hiring them for.  You are looking for the kind of advice your friends are afraid or unwilling to give you.  Take it.  You’ll be thanking them later.

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When a property is listed in the MLS, the Buyer’s Agent will see ‘Showing Instructions’.  It may be to ‘Go Direct’ (vacant homes generally), or ‘Call First’ and then go, or ‘Appointment Only’.  My advice – be careful with ‘Appointment Only’.

With inventory high, it is critical that your home be easy for a buyer to access with their Realtor.  Today, I had a showing that illustrates how ‘Appointment Only’ can place your home in a negative light.

We had 5 homes on our list to see and we were meeting at 10 to begin.  It was the 4th home we intended to see so I called the agent to tell her we would be there between 11 and 11:30.  She assured me she would be there so later than 11:05.

The first problem has already happened.  When a buyer’s agent has multiple properties to show, it can be a challenge to be very specific about arrival time.  The amount of time to show a home will vary with interest level and the travel time between homes can be impacted by traffic.

I arrived with my buyers at 11:05.  The listing agent was not there.  No lockbox.  No sign.  No access.  Just waiting…in 100 degree temperatures…in Corona, California…..no listing agent….

The listing agent called at 11:10 and said she was just 10 minutes away. More waiting…100 degrees….

We did finally see the property and my client likes it.  The listing agent was very nice but I suspect that she’s struggling to make it up to this property every time it is shown.   It recently expired after 90 days on the market and this is likely a contributing reason why.  We could have passed on seeing it if we had been in a hurry or if my client became impatient.  Some agent’s will just skip a property altogether if  it requires going through too many hoops to show it.  Frankly, there’s just so many options out there right now.

When is ‘Appointment Only’ ok? When your area considers that type of showing style the norm (some areas of the country do) or you have a very, very high end home.  Even if you have pets, allow the agent to call with a big enough window that it still is convenient for you to remove pets, and then let them access via the lockbox.

The bottom line – make your home accessible and easy to show!

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I found this searching my own MLS today and knew that I had to share it to illustrate the importance of hiring a Realtor that is a Local Expert.   It’s not enough to hire someone to ‘just get it in the MLS’.  In fact, you can do yourself a big disservice by hiring someone that is unfamiliar with your community.  Let’s cover some of the things wrong in the following listing. 

If the MLS entry is full of this many errors, how can the agent negotiate powerfully for the seller about value (if by some miracle a buyer actual looks at this property and makes an offer)?  Agent selection is a critical part of your success and a ‘mls only’ listing may not do you any favors either.

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I see this question online and hear it time and time again.  The answer is ‘no’ – and ‘yes’.  Let me explain.

It is important to know what is common in your local market to offer the Buyers’ Agent.  The compensation that you pay your Listing Broker is usually split so that 50% goes to the Listing side and 50% goes to the Buyer’s Agent.  For example, if you have a 6% listing agreement, in most cases (make sure to read your contract) the listing agent will offer 3% in the MLS to agents that bring a buyer.

If you hire an agent that works for 4%, and they offer 2% in the MLS, you may potentially have a problem if most of the competition is offering 2.5% or 3%.  In this case, raising the commission may help you sell your home with increased showings (if you are already priced right).

On the other hand, if you are wondering if offering 3.5%, or even 4%, will get that home sold, the short answer is no, but let me qualify this in the following ways:

• Buyers usually choose which properties they want to see – regardless of the commission.
• If we are having a Be Honest, agents will show the home as long as the commission is in line with the market.  The exception – if there is a large inventory, or a lot of similar floorplans, showings will then favor the higher commissions because agents will have to find a way to narrow down the showings.
• You may find some increased showing activity with the Bonus.  Agents may make a point of forwarding the listing to their buyers that may request a showing.  But, it still must appeal to the buyers.

What will get your home sold?  The right buyer seeing it at the right price.  If you are struggling with a choice between reducing your price and offering a bonus or an unusually high commission, go with the lower price.

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I can’t help myself.  I don’t want to pick on my colleagues but really, some of this just begs to be picked on.  And in the interest of supporting those that are seriously trying to sell their homes, I need you to be aware of the importance of photography.

I know this is some of the worst examples, but trust me when I say that the difference between a decent shot of your home and a great shot of your home, can feel as extreme as what you’ll see here.  Each time, ask yourself, if I were a buyer, ‘would I ask my agent to show me this home?’  If the answer is ‘no’, then that might be one of the answers to the question, ‘Why didn’t my home sell?’

‘No One Puts Baby in a Corner’

Don’t recognize the title?  That’s okay – Dirty Dancing – but I digress.  What is it with corners of a room?  How about the kitchen, the front, the living space, the entry?  Call me crazy but a bedroom corner – come now.  This inspires no emotion.  It’s simply dead space.

  No Photo Available

This has become an image I see less frequently but it’s frustrating when I do come across it.  The particular home I pulled this from has been listed for 299 days – with no photos.  No property deserves this treatment.  If a property requires TLC, something is better than this.  Investors love to see work but potential in a photograph.  

 Focus People, Focus! 

I would love to explain the following but I just can’t.  This may be a case of ‘less is more’.  Take a look:   

Really?

And then there are the shots that I just have to laugh:

FYI – your screen is not dirty… 

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There is a great article on Agent Genius that is worth checking out.  The audience for the article is intended to be other agents.  But as a seller selecting an agent, it is equally critical to understand the role this plays.

For example, did you hire an agent that was happy to take your overpriced listing?  The fact is, that may be their MO and other agents know it!  They know that the agent consistently takes overpriced listings.

The article is written by Ginger Wilcox.  Ginger works in a smaller community where the agents that are consistently working know one another’s style very well. 

But even in the Orange County Real Estate community, where I work, there are a fraction of Realtors doing consistent business.  We know who is difficult to work with, who overprices, and who is a lot of hot air and no results.  If I am looking for a good deal, there is one agent I know that grinds on his sellers.  He gets the home sold, but I know his brow beating methods.  Not great for the seller, but usually great for my buyers.

So as a seller, pay attention to your gut in the interview.  Pay attention to their references.  Check the references (the last 3 people they worked with).  The reputation will impact how your listing is perceived by the real estate community that is working with your potential buyer.

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