Tips to Selling a Home

I will be happy to provide you with comps to help you choose the price that's most likely to net you the highest amount of money in the shortest possible time. For example, take two houses in the same neighborhood of the same market value. The comparable homes that have recently sold in the area show that a resaonable list price would be $249,950. Seller A decides to list his home at $259,950 just to "try it out" and see what kind of response he gets, after all, he doesn't want to leave money on the table. Seller B lists his home at $249,950. Both sellers get plenty of showings and after two weeks seller B sells his home for $248,950. After one month of showings and keeping his house perfectly clean seller A decides to lower his price to $249,950. Finally after two months seller A gets an offer, it's $243,950 and he accepts. The moral of the story is: your best shot at a full price offer (or close to full price) is in the first two weeks. After 60+ days on the market you can expect offers to be significantly lower than your asking price.

The is the hardest part for sellers with families. Your house needs to be clean and ready for showings every day.

Remember, your home is no longer your home, it's a product that is for sale. If you view your home as a product you will have an easier time understanding things that you can do to help sell it. As a rule buyers want to be able to see themselves living in the home. We suggest removal of personal photos and things that might make it hard for the buyers to see their family there. Of course, when you list with me I will provide you with a complete room by room consultation (staging) on things you can do to improve your home's marketablility.

I am a certified Stager. This means I can go through every room and make suggestions on furniture placement as well as color selections. Some of my sellers will tell me, "If they really like it, they can look past my hot pink bedroom". Those are some of the most expensive words I hear! Buyers like neutral decor, if you don't have it, get out your paintbrush--it can make your house sell quicker and for thousands more. I can't tell you how many times I've seen decorations sell a home.

I believe in keeping my listings in front of the other agents in our market on a day to day basis. By constantly networking with other Realtors, I have the opportunity to talk about my listings and generate more showings for my seller's homes! An intergral part of my marketing plan includes a broker open house to which every realtor in the Kansas City Metro is invited to. This is a great way to get feedback from other agents.

I suggest to all of my home sellers that we go out and look at other homes in the area. By having an idea of your "competition" you can get a better grasp of the proper price for your home. Of course, if you cannot tour other properties, you can rest assured that I will do this on your behalf.

A C.L.U.E report contains all information regarding insurance claims over the past 5 years for any property. I advise including this report with your seller's disclosure papers. Only the homeowner can order a report. The report costs under $20 and I can tell you the best way to protect yourself from future liability during a home sale is disclose, disclose, disclose! By the way, if you are also buying a home from me, we will request a C.L.U.E. report on the home you are purchasing.

If you don't feel like you can trust the advice of your agent or have doubts about their knowledge of real estate, you need to find another agent. It will be impossible for your agent to provide you with the expertise you are paying them for if you have doubts about their credibilty.

Did you know that 80% of all real estate is sold by 20% of the Realtors? In today's real estate market it's important to find an agent who's in this business for the years to come. There are many agents among us who simply sell a few houses a year or do this as a second career in their spare time. Of course, many of these agents are very competent, however we believe that for your money you deserve a full time Realtor.