Realtor – Page 6

The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow – 5 Priceless Tips for Home Sellers

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is getting your home sold. It’s the reward for hard work and patience. Here are some tips to get to that pot of gold more quickly.

Pricing your home. This is actually the most important step. If you price it too high then prospective buyers who can afford your home won’t see it. Price it too low and you’re cheating yourself. An average home buyer will look at anywhere from 15 to 20 homes and your home needs to come out on top. If it’s priced too high, it’s being compared to homes with higher end finishes and amenities. How can it possibly compare? Then it will sit on the market, making buyers wonder what is wrong with it. That won’t give you the pot of gold! Home sellers make their biggest mistakes in pricing their home.

Hire a Realtor: When looking for a good Realtor, you need to find one with a great track record, but also one that has good communication skills. A good track record will tell you they have the knowledge and skills to sell your home. Communication is one of those skills that are a make or break it. Make sure that everyone understands the communication expectations from the beginning. You also need a Realtor instead of selling yourself. A Realtor knows how to price, market and sell your home, lead you through the entire process and get you more than you could without one, even when paying their commission. That pot of gold is closer now!

Clean and stage your home: Appearance and first impressions are a crucial element in any home sale. Make updates if you can afford to do so, clean the home from top to bottom, and pack up all your extras. Make your home look bigger, spotless and plenty of shine. Make sure you have it smelling good too. If you move to your new home before selling the old one, don’t leave the home vacant. Vacant homes are more difficult to sell and can cost you money during negotiations. Home sellers sometimes don’t understand the value of having a clean and staged home. Listen to your Realtor, they will guide you about what needs to be done.

Be smart when selling your home and quickly find your pot of gold.

Realtor Negotiations – How to Find a Hard Negotiating Realtor!

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Most people aren’t savvy negotiators. It is a skill that most people generally aren’t comfortable with. Negotiating is hard! When you’re buying or selling a home being a good negotiator would come in handy. So if you aren’t good at it, isn’t it a good idea to hire someone who is? Definitely. So how do you choose a good negotiator?

When you are trying to find a good Realtor, one who is a great negotiator, it would stand to reason that you should find one that will negotiate and compromise with you on their commission, right? Wrong! Why? Think about it. Do you want to hire someone to negotiate for you to back down and give your money away? If you’re a seller, don’t you want someone working for you that is trying to get the most for you? If you are buying, don’t you want someone working for you who can get the best price and concessions? So if they cave on a commission which is THEIR money, how hard will they really work for you?

When you are looking for a Realtor look for one that is fair, but firm. Negotiating doesn’t mean taking a stand and never moving, but making sure to negotiate the best deal. Being fair means both sides benefit, being firm means your interests aren’t ignored. Look for a Realtor who has good relationships with other realtors. A good rapport with others means more buyers for your home, or more homes to go look at. If they can’t get along with other realtors, they won’t be able to negotiate in your best interest. No one will want to deal with them!

Don’t settle for a Realtor who gives in when you pressure them to lower their commission. It’s in your best interest to pay more commission. You’ll end up with a bigger sale in the end!

When Should You Break Up With Your Realtor?

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Every relationship has their downsides. The one you have with your Realtor is no different. If the relationship has gone bad, you need to break up. Just make sure you do a few things before the break up and a few things to keep in mind during.

If you are selling your home and you’ve become dissatisfied with their performance it may be time to break up. Before you take that step you need to try a few things. First, meet with your Realtor and make him or her aware of the issues you are having. Believe it or not, they may not be aware that you are dissatisfied. Make them aware of your concerns. If you feel that your home isn’t being shown enough, tell them. If you think your home is priced wrong, find out why they priced your home the way they did. Not enough communication? Ask for more. As with any other relationship, try and fix the issues before throwing in the towel.

One thing that you must remember is that having a Realtor list your home means you signed a listing agreement. This isn’t just a handshake agreement; it’s a legally binding contract. There are things that your Realtor is required to do, and things you are required to do as well. Breaking a contract has consequences. Read your listing contract. Make sure your current Realtor is living up to what the contract states. If not, you have grounds to break it. If so, move on to read the clauses where it talks about consequences for breaking the contract and prepare yourself.

Lastly, don’t hire a new Realtor before you break up the relationship with your old one. If you lie about not having a listing contract in place, your new Realtor relationship will start off on the wrong foot. That’s because they WILL find out, mostly because the old Realtor won’t just slink off and lick their wounds. They will think the new Realtor is interfering with a business relationship and possibly sue. End one before starting another.

Why Am I Getting So Many Lowball Offers

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Your home has been on the market for some time and the few offers you’ve gotten are lowball offers. Now you want to know why. There are a few reasons, some might have to do with you, others with the prospective buyers.

A lowball offer is when prospective buyers make offers on your property that are well below asking price. First start looking at things you can control about the sale of your home. Start with price. Is your home overpriced? This can be a touchy subject as an owner. You have an attachment to your home and most likely think that it is worth more than it may be. Next is condition of your home. It ties in with price, of course, but even if your home is priced right, condition can be a reason you are getting lowball offers. If prospects are walking through your home and thinking “I’ll need to fix that, and that, and that…” then they are mentally taking the perceived cost of fixing up the home off the asking price. If you can afford it, update, paint and fix up your home. Yes, you may need to raise the price, but the prospects may not mind the higher price if it is in better condition.

If you listened to your Realtor, updated the home and priced it right, then price and condition may not be the issue. Over the last several years, home prices plummeted. Prospective buyers have become used to seeing great homes at bargain basement prices. Even though prices are now rising back to fair levels, buyers are still thinking that prices should be lower than they are. That may mean that you are getting more lowball offers than fair ones. Eventually buyers will come around, and in this situation there isn’t anything you can do to change things. Your hope here is to have your Realtor discuss pricing with the prospects or their Realtor.

Are You Buying a Family Home?

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Are you buying a family home? Great! So how do you decide what home you should buy? That depends on where you are in your life. Much like what size home you need, what kind of home will depend on the questions that you should ask yourself, and also share with your Realtor.

When you are buying a family home consider what kind of home you need. Well, where are you in life? How big is your family? Do you plan on having more kids? Are your children older and moving out for college or on their own? The answers to these questions will help you decide if you need more space or less. It might mean you need a single family home, or maybe a condo or small town home or duplex. Here are some considerations too: does one of your family members play a loud instrument? A multifamily type home may not be a good idea. Your lifestyle helps determine the type of home you need.

Do you have elderly parents? Is it possible they will move in with you? You might want to look for a home with two master bedrooms, or a home with an in-law suite. This may also determine house type too. With elderly people in the mix, will you want a home with multiple floors, or a ranch style with no steps? Would a larger condo fit the bill so you can have a life with little maintenance and enough space for your whole family?

What you need when buying a family home should be determined by where your family needs will take you in the foreseeable future. Be realistic about it. If you have high school aged children, will they be leaving to live at college? Is it likely they will be moving back home after college? Will your parents need supervised living that you will provide in your home? Don’t go into your home search with rose colored glasses on, be very realistic. Ask the hard questions and answer them honestly.

So what kind of home do you need? Work with your Realtor and find out.

Does Your Realtor Speak Your Language? Hire The Irish Realtor

October 27, 2021 By Deborah Ward

Language. It’s more than just the English, Spanish or French you speak. It’s the ability to have effective communication with those around you. Does your Realtor speak your “language?” Deb, the Irish Realtor does. She has effective communication.

Have you seen the commercial with the dad in the backyard talking about something, and asks his daughter via text something and she answers “idk” and he says “what does IDK mean?” and the neighbor behind him says “I don’t know” explaining that IDK is an acronym for I don’t know. The main character totally missed the point and says something along the lines of “well I’m not so stupid after all.” Communication is about language. Have you missed the point of another person’s answer or conversation because you IDK? Now picture yourself trying to talk with a Realtor about your most important purchase… your home. Not having good communication here would be detrimental to your whole life. Does your Realtor speak your language?

If you are a twenty or thirty something hip to the newest internet slang, constantly tweet, facebook, tumble and pin things, wouldn’t you want to do business with someone hip to that as well? Now turn it around. Your Realtor has years of experience dealing with everything real estate: title issues, the newest home updates, appraisal acronyms and the like. What happens if he or she can’t make you understand those terms? Getting to a place where all understand is paramount. Your Realtor must be someone who can communicate the real estate language to you and make sure you each understand it so you will have all the knowledge you need to buy or sell a home.

Part of that is also being able to actually reach the other. How do you communicate the best? Email? Text? Do you even check your voicemail? Does your Realtor? Make sure that each of you know and respect the communication preference of the other.

Deb, the Irish Realtor, strives to be a great communicator. She really understands the ins and outs of communication. Her lilting Irish brogue has softened over the years, but she knows that even accents as lovely as an Irish brogue can make communication misunderstandings possible. So start out on the right foot by saying to Deb, or your Realtor “you can best reach me by_” and then ask LOTS of clarifying questions as you go!

The Deb Ward Team