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Jun
13
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Two nights ago, I did a presentation for a local real estate company on Prospecting without a Sales Pitch. When I got to the part about why I think it’s more important to be a good real estate agent than to be a good real estate prospector, a hand went up in the back of the room.
“What exactly do you mean by being a “good” real estate agent?”
Ahhhhhh…. I’m SO glad you asked.
Our industry celebrates production. Therefore, if you have lots of that (production), you are “good.” Eh, I don’t agree so much. I’ve known many a successful real estate agent who I would not in a million years accuse of being “good.” Oh, sure, they get plenty of business, but what they do with it after the paperwork is signed? Not much.
So anyway, back to the question from my audience. “What makes a real estate agent GOOD?”
My mouth could barely keep up with my brain. What I said was something like this:
“You know your market, your systems and your contracts. You are a good negotiator. You put your clients’ needs above your need for a paycheck. You know how to properly price a home. You know what your seller needs to do to get his home ready for market. You know how to build rapport with your seller so that he trusts you. You know how to take decent photos. You know how to write an appealing MLS description. You return phone calls promptly. You preview listings so you don’t waste your buyer’s time. You know how much it costs to replace a 50 year old furnace. You have a handyman, a cleaning service and a good HVAC contractor. You’re pleasant to other agents so they’re happy to show your listings or accept your offers. You keep your brochure boxes full. Your lockboxes work…”
To me, THIS is a good real estate agent.
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May
18
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Ahhhh… it’s a gorgeous day in Charming Old Denver. I think, I hope, maybe… Summer’s Coming!
I’ve always been a summer girl. I come alive when the thermometer reliably hits 80 degrees and am perfectly happy as it reaches toward 100. Bliss.
Okay, back to business.
Are you thinking of putting your house on the market, but putting it off til the kids are out of school? Well… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re almost thru Denver’s Home Selling Season. On the 4th of July, the market dies dead thru September and stays slow until the holidays. In other words, the first six months of the year are Good; the last six months are Bad, relatively speaking anyway.
But the good news is that you still have time… May has been a strong month so far and June will likely be as well. Just don’t put it off too much longer…
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May
02
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Y’know, it’s tough being a listing agent. No matter how good of a job we do, the margin for error is huge. If we sell the house too fast… we blew it on the price and “cost our seller money.” If the house takes too long to sell… well, we all know what happens then. We didn’t live up to our promises and we disappointed our seller.
Anyway, I just had a listing go under contract with multiple offers. Fortunately (for me), a good friend of mine had the same thing happen to him just a few days earlier and (unfortunately for him), his seller wasn’t prepared. She blasted him for underpricing her home and told him, rather snottily, that she had no intention of making any repairs at inspection.
So, Miss Smarty Pantz me, I warned my sellers up front about what I call “Seller’s Regret.”
Here’s the thing. In today’s market, almost every seller will experience Seller’s Regret. But it’s their choice (sort of) which type of Seller’s Regret they’ll experience.
Type 1: “Damn! We underpriced our home! We should have priced it higher! That darn Realtor – she cost us money!”
Type 2: “Crap. I wish we’d listened to our Realtor upfront. We should have made the repairs, staged it right away and priced it lower. Now, five months later, our listing is stale, we’ve paid $9000 of interest-only mortgage and are fair game for low-ball offers, if we get any at all. Let’s look into renting it out (heavy sigh).”
If a seller is lucky enough to experience Type 1, he may never know the pain and angst of Type 2 and he may always wonder if he should have/could have priced it higher. And that’s okay - pricing homes is an art and, especially in my Charming Old Denver market, there is no One Price for a home. Luckily, in our part of town there ARE buyers out there and if you do accidently (or even intentionally) underprice a home… it will likely still sell at market value - whatever that value may be.
www.charmingolddenver.com
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May
01
Posted by Jennifer Allan
Last Thursday, I put a wonderful little 1925 Bungalow on the market. Sunday evening, I presented multiple offers to my seller. We’re now under contract about $7k higher than asking price, and inquiries are still coming in.
But, wait a minute! I thought we were in a miserable housing market… what the heck happened?
Pretty simple, actually. My sellers did everything I asked them to do to prepare their home for market, they priced it competitively and voila! SOLD!
So… what all did they do to “prepare for market?”
- Had the home professionally staged
- Painted throughout, including the dingy ceilings (under protest!)
- Finished all the incomplete projects
- Replaced the smelly carpet in basement
- Cleaned out the wood-shop in basement and painted the floor
- Resurfaced the cast-iron tub
- Replaced an ugly ceiling fan
- Repaired the sticky locks
- Priced the home just below market
Yes, my sellers worked their backsides off and spent around $3k on repairs & staging. Was it worth it? Oh, yeah… to them at least. They’d already purchased their next home and sure didn’t want to be sitting on this one any longer than they had to.
Do they feel any Seller’s Regret at the quick sale? No. Oh, maybe a little bit, but they’re smart enough to know that there are two kinds of Seller’s Regret… and they’ll take THIS one all day long. I’ll talk more about Seller’s Regret tomorrow!
Related blog - Your Seller Asks… “Do I need to fix this?”
