Seller Services
Philosophy:
My philosophy when listing your home or condo is to be simple and elegant – to portray that listing in its very best light to every potential buyer. This often takes more time and effort, but will always pay off for you in a quicker sale at a higher price. I see many agents taking their own photographs for the listings. This is just lazy and cheap. These photos are what goes out to the world! I always utilize an experienced professional real estate photographer. Why not put your best foot forward? I also love aerial photography. It really shows a buyer the full scope of the property and the surroundings. This is especially important to a buyer who doesn’t know the area. Another tool I like is handing the buyer a full color brochure on high quality paper when arriving at the showing. They might have seen numerous properties that day, but yours will definitely stand out when they have the brochure to look back on. These and many other things I do may seem trifling, but it is the little things that add up. My overriding philosophy is never to cut corners and my results speak for themselves.
Setting the Listing Price
In setting the list price for your home, you should be aware of a buyer’s frame of mind. Based on a list of houses for sale in your neighborhood, buyers will determine which houses they want to view. Consider the following pricing factors:
- If you set the price too high, your house won’t be picked for viewing, even though it may be much nicer than others in the area. You may have told your REALTOR to “Bring me any offer. Frankly, I’d take less.” But in that list of houses, yours simply looks too expensive to be considered.
- If you price too low, you’ll short-change yourself. Your house will sell promptly, yes, but before it has time to find the buyer who would have paid more.
NOTE: Never say “asking” price, which implies you don’t expect to get it.
To determine the proper list price, contact me today and I’ll provide you with the following professional services:
- Comparable sales.
- Analyze your market conditions.
- Determine offering incentives.
- Estimate your net proceeds.
Using Comparable Sales
No matter how attractive and polished your house, buyers will be comparing its price with everything else on the market. Your best guide is a record of what the buying public has been willing to pay in the past few months for property in your neighborhood like yours.
Also we can furnish data on sale figures for those “comps”, and analyze them for a suggested listing price. The decision about how much to ask, though, is always yours. The list of comparable sales we bring to you, along with data about other houses in your neighborhood presently on the market, is used for a “Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).” To help in estimating a possible sale price for your house, the analysis will also include data on nearby houses that failed to sell in the past few months, along with their list prices.
This CMA differs from a formal appraisal in several ways. One major difference is that an appraisal will be based only on past sales. In addition, an appraisal is done for a fee while the CMA is provided gratis by me and may include properties currently listed for sale and those currently pending sale.
In the normal home sale, a CMA is probably enough to let you set a proper price. A formal written appraisal (which may cost a few hundred dollars) can be useful if you have unique property, if there hasn’t been much activity in your area recently, if co-owners disagree about price, and any other circumstance that makes it difficult to put a value on your home.