Getting Top Dollar Isn't Rocket Science! Three critical factors affect your sale: Condition, Price, and Exposure. If any one of these is off you'll pay for it. Either you'll get a  lower price or your home will sit for sale for an eternity.  What about a super salesperson who can talk someone into buying your home?  Right, and I'm Joe Isuzu. Want to buy a home?

If you have dark, outdated, or worn carpeting, your equity may be diminished dramatically.

Why? When buyers look at your home, they over estimate the cost of necessary changes such as carpeting and paint. For example, buyers may estimate the cost of new carpeting at $10,000. They will want to deduct that amount from the price they will offer you. In actuality, our preferred direct carpet vendors would probably be able to install new carpeting, which will completely transform your home, for under $4,000, and maybe much less. In this case, not installing carpeting could actually cost you $6,000

Or even worse, buyers may totally pass up your home because they cannot visualize what your home could look like with the necessary changes.

Don't Let Your Buyer Be Turned Off an Outdated Color!

If you have dark, dated bathroom tiles, they can be easily and inexpensively transformed into a beautiful white or light color through a process called glazing. Your bathroom can take on a totally remodeled look through this simple process. It really makes your bathroom look brand new for the fraction of the cost of remodeling. The results are truly astounding.

Buyers buy what they see, not what it could be!  If a home is dirty and the paint is peeling, they don’t say “Gee, all this place needs is a little cleaning and a coat of paint”.  Most buyers instead think “If the owner let this place get run down who knows what kind of shape the structure and the systems are in?”  The only ones who look past the dirt are the investors and bargain hunters and you can be certain that they aren’t going to give you top dollar.

That is why builders make sure their model homes are impeccably clean and decorated.

Preferred Professionals!

We work with a team of professionals who together can get your home in tip top condition. Painters, carpet layers, handymen, plumbers, landscapers etc. You'll be amazed at how easily your home will take shape.

Professional Inspection Before Listing

Many people avoid going to a doctor for a check up because they are afraid of the  problems it will reveal.  They might have to face reality and make some changes in their lifestyle.  Same thing with their homes.  All that maintenance that they were sure they were going to do when they bought their home just never seemed to get done.  When your home is going on the market it is time to face reality.  It’s time to make up for years of deferred maintenance.

We recommend getting an inspection done before you list your home.  Sure, a buyer probably will still hire their own inspector but they will have a greater comfort level and will probably be more willing to risk the time and money of putting in an offer.  Most buyers hate the thought of spending $300 to $500 on a home inspection that reveals problems that they aren’t willing to deal with.  They want the inspection for their peace of mind and are hoping nothing bad is found. 

If they get the impression that a house might have problems, they won’t waste their time and money putting in an offer and getting an inspection.  Also, if there are problems that are revealed, you are going to spend a lot less money doing the repairs yourself than what a buyer will estimate that it will take to fix. If there is a leak in the 10 year old roof it might cost $50 to patch it before you put your home on the market.  If that leak is found during the buyer’s inspection, right away the buyer is thinking that the roof is ready to go and it’s going to cost them $10,000 to replace.

We have an inspection company that does pre-sale inspections and will give a one year guarantee to the buyer.  The buyer’s inspector is going to be less likely to bring up frivolous items because he knows he will most likely have to explain them to another inspector.  Most likely the buyer’s inspector will use your inspection report as a guide and basically confirm that any problems initially revealed have been corrected in a professional manner.

Get the Kids to Cooperate

Getting children in on the game also helps a lot.  We have some tips and a video to help in that area.   How about paying the kids $100 at closing if they have their rooms in tip top shape every day until the home is sold. It would be the best $100 you ever spent. The agent can bring 50 buyers to see a home but if the seller sets an unreasonable price or doesn’t keep the home in excellent condition there just isn’t going to be a sale.

 What's a Fair Price?

If your home is in top shape, and enough people see it, the only other factor is the price.  Too low and you miss out on thousands of dollars there for the asking.  Too high and buyers move on to other homes and your home starts to get stale and begins to get stigmatized for being on the market so long.  Buyers just assume there must be something wrong.  So setting the right price is critical.

Most real estate agents do a CMA (comparative market evaluation).  They find what comparable homes have sold for and try to make adjustments up or down depending on differing features.

Others agents just wait to see how much the seller wants and just go along with it no matter what.  If it’s too low they figure it will be an easy sale.  If it’s too high they figure eventually the seller will lower the price.  In the mean time they’ll have a chance to pick up a customer who calls off the sign in the yard.

We go the extra yard to set the right price

At HomeAtlanta we do our homework and tell it like it is.  We do a detailed CMA and walk you through an analysis.  This is what a buyer is going to do so you might as well be prepared.  If you price it higher than the CMA suggests you’re just hoping that a stupid person will come along and pay you more than it’s worth.  Sometimes that happens but it’s not a strategy to depend on.

Tour Your Competition

One extra service that seems to help a lot is taking our sellers on a tour of 10 comparable homes that will be competing with theirs.  You get to see first hand what buyers are seeing and usually it is very easy to see where your home fits in.  You can see what you need to do to make your home be the number one choice on a buyer’s list.  Sometimes you get used to living a certain way and get used to many flaws in your home.  If your home is on a noisy street you block out the noise.  If the paint and carpet get run down you get used to it.  Many times it’s a real wake up call when you see competing homes that look like decorator showcases.

Remember, no one can talk someone into buying a home.  The more people feel pressured by fast talk the quicker they run away.  You have to make your home "sing" to buyers and make them feel that they might lose out if they don't act quickly. 

Lots of Exposure

Signs

It seems simple but the right signs can really draw more attention to your home.  Many buyers feel more comfortable when they see a familiar sign in front of a home.  RE/MAX has spent a lot of money enhancing their image and this transfers over to the homes that have RE/MAX signs in front of them. 

The other purpose of a sign is to get buyers to stop and take notice of your home.  We have found that two signs grab more attention than one.  We use a directional, a lenders sign or a home inspection sign to get more attention.  It really doesn’t matter what except something that will make people slow down and take a look.

Directionals are also very important especially if you live off the beaten path.  There are buyers out there every day just driving around looking for new signs.  You need to make sure they’re directed to your home.

Professionally Created Brochures

Buyers usually investigate several homes prior to coming to a buying decision. They compare, analyze, eliminate, and analyze again, always using the property flyers to help them remember and compare the specific features of each of the homes. When the flyers do not adequately portray the beauty of the home, it is very easy for a home to be eliminated prematurely.

We take great pains to see to it that our listings are given every consideration they deserve by taking the right pictures at the right angles. We create professional brochures  that highlight your home's finest qualities. We get many compliments about how we get the best angles to show your home's best features.

The flyers also go into a flyer box in your front yard.  They try to entice a buyer to take the next step and see the inside of your home.

The flyers also reduce the number of curiosity seekers.  The lookie lues are directed to your home’s web page where they usually can get all the information they want. It’s a hassle showing your home so you don’t want nosey people inconveniencing you.

World Wide Hi-Tech Internet Exposure

Our listings are well represented on the Internet.  Our web site www.HomeAtlanta.com , is where we post 12 to 25 pictures of your home.  We take many more pictures but are very careful in selecting only the best ones.  This is very important because sometimes a buyer will pass up seeing a home because of some little detail he sees on an Internet picture. We do not use the 360 degree virtual tours because they tend to distort the image and it is hard to control exactly what is seen.  Sometimes showing too much is worse than not enough.  The purpose isn’t to do a documentary but to create an interest in seeing your home in person.  Also the 360 tours just take too long to load creating frustration to your buyers.

Once a web page is created for your home, we can link it to a variety of places: emails to agents or possible buyers, Internet sites such as Yahoo.com, Excite.com, Lycos.com, iOwn.com, Realtor.com and MS Homeadvisor.com and hot links in online classifieds in the Atlanta Journal.

Your home is given a “Grand Tour” on www.remax-greateratlantaga.com which consists of 6 pictures.  This site gets 20,000 hits per month with 83% of buyers looking at homes that have a “Grand Tour”.

Your home is also given a “Grand Tour” on www.Realtor.com .  This site is really becoming the go to site for many home buyers.

Your home is also placed on www.Yahoo.com real estate section.  Yahoo is the most popular search engine around.

Your home is also placed on www.Excite.com real estate section.  Excite is another  popular search engine.

Your home is also placed on www.Lycos.com real estate section, another popular search engine

Your home is also placed on www.Homeadvisor.com real estate section.  

8 Pictures in the MLS database

The MLS allows agents to upload 8 pictures into the database.  Most agents don't take advantage of this opportunity to showcase their listings.  Most listings only have a single picture that has been taken by a MLS “photographer” who doesn’t even get out of the car to take the picture.  What an opportunity for you! As we stated earlier, we take a lot of pictures and only use the ones that show the best features of your home.  You're home is more likely to be shown if there are nice looking interiors pictures in the MLS.

Weather permitting, we can take pictures on the same day as we list your home and have pictures uploaded to the MLS that same day.  The nice thing about multiple photos in the MLS is that when an agent emails a listing to a buyer, the buyer receives all eight pictures.  When a buyer gets sent an email package of 10 homes and only yours has more than one picture which one do you think will get looked at the most?  Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Flyer Express to 1000 agents

A flyer of your home is sent to at least a thousand agents in your market area. Agents are key marketing targets because most  out-of-town buyers have an agent.  These are usually the buyers who will make you the best offer.  They’re on a fixed time table, are usually well qualified and have to decide quickly.

Email Brochures

We send an email brochure to the top 100 agents in your area.  We also send an email brochure to at least 100 people on our newsletter list and to anyone in your email address book.  Email is very easy to forward and  we encourage them to do so. Who knows who might know someone looking for a home like yours.  This can be a very powerful tool.  Look how quickly a computer virus can touch millions of people around the world. 

24 hour information hotline

There’s nothing more frustrating to a buyer than driving by a home and not knowing the price or any details.  If the flyer box ever runs out, a buyer can easily call our 24 hour information hotline.  Here they listen to a professional narrator describe all the features of your home. 

Open Houses

The real reason Realtors hold open houses is to try to pick up new clients.  They're hoping to meet a neighbor who is going to sell in the future or maybe they'll meet a buyer who needs the help of a Realtor.  There's nothing wrong with this but a seller should know this ahead of time. Once in a while someone will walk into an open house and actually buy it.  But that is usually the exception.  We try to hold an open house within the first two weeks when it's a fresh new listing.  Usually that's when you attract the most people.  If you're lucky in attracting a real prospect, having many people looking at once can sometimes motivate them to act quickly. 

Agents usually spend Tuesday afternoons touring other agents' listings.  They call this caravan time.  Some hold luncheons and drawings to entice agents to come and look at their listings.  Unless your home is being shown by appointment only, most agents who have any client that might be interested will probably have taken a look at your home already.  The agents who attend just for the free lunches are usually the ones who have nothing better to do.  It doesn't hurt to have your home on caravan but usually the money spent on lunch and drawings is better utilized elsewhere.

None of this stuff is rocket science.  But it is a lot of stuff to take care of.  If you'd like to try it yourself, I'd recommend reading  Sell It Yourself.  It has many other insider tips that you'll find very valuable.

If you want the help of a professional, please call us to set up an appointment for a free consultation.  We'll discuss what you want to accomplish and see if we can help you get it done.  We look forward to hearing from you.