Flippers: A perfect example of my earlier point
Flippers: A Perfect Example Of My Earlier Point OfferPad Incentivizes Realtors On May 7th, I wrote a post to help Sellers understand the pitfalls, THE
©2023 Home Sell And Save | All Rights Reserved
The first step in finding the right agent to market and sell your home is to identify and interview 3 agents. I’ll start by giving you some tips on identifying the 3 you should interview and what you should do to prepare for the in-person interviews:
A. Be a Mystery Buyer:
Call each agent, act is if you’re a buyer for one of their existing listings. This will give you an idea of how they conduct themselves when answering calls for your home. Do they answer personally, or use an assistant or a service? If you leave a message, how long does it take for them to return the call? Do they text an immediate response so you know they’ve got your message? How does their VM greeting sound? If an agent fails this test, time to move-on. No need to waste any more time.
B. Marketing and Online Presence: Find the agent on realtor.com and zillow.com to see a) if they have a complete profile and b) are the property photos and descriptions up to your standards? Professional real estate photography companies have become very popular and very affordable in recent years giving agents NO excuses for not investing in such services.
C. Reviews:
Ignore reviews. Rarely will you see negative reviews, you can trust, and positive reviews can be bought.
D. Neighborhood/Community:
Don’t think you need someone that is your neighborhood or community specialist. I’ve listed and sold properties as far south as Surfside, Fl and north to Palm Coast, Fl. Some agents will use their “success”, in a community or condo, to get a lower list price and therefore a faster sale. The fact is there is no evidence to support this myth.
E. Brokerage:
Don’t think you need an agent with a big international brokerage. I began my career with a well established locally owned brokerage. In fact, most agents in the country are with small offices. You’re more likely to get better support and service, especially if something goes wrong, from a local Broker. Focus on the agent, not the brokerage.
F. Designations and Certifications:
From my experience, having obtained a few myself and working with others who have obtained a number of designations or certifications, there is absolutely no correlation between the quality of the agent and their additional education accomplishments. Having said that, credit should be given to the time agents have invested to obtain any designations and certifications beyond the minimum licensing requirements.
What is my home worth:
The primary purpose of the interview is to allow each agent to present their opinion of value (the best list price for your home). Since you’ll almost certainly get a different value from each agent, this is your opportunity to test and challenge their findings. And remember, some agents will use a high value to “get the listing”, and once you’ve signed, their efforts are focused on price reductions to get your home sold quick.
From my 20 years as a Realtor and having attended and graduated the full Appraisal Trainee course, below you’ll find some useful tips to test each agent on their findings.
1. Price per square foot:
if any of the agents starts discussing price per square foot as the basis of their findings, you can end the interview. The easiest way to explain or demonstrate why this method is flawed is to simply ask you to think about the number of features that can be different from one home to another, which all add value to a home; size of the property, age and quality of updates, pool or not, just to name a few. Since price per square foot is determined using only the sales price and the size of the home, all the other items are ignored.
2. Comparable’s:
to help determine the best list price for your home, agents will look for recent sales, typically a minimum of 3, that are similar to your home. It’s important that you understand why certain homes qualify as a “good comp”, while others are not used. Just a few features to consider: a) sales within the past 6 months, b) sales within a mile of your home c) matching floors, which means if you live in a single story home, a 2 story home should not be used and vice versa, d) homes in gated communities should not be used if you live in an open community. Use these to test the agents and compare their responses.
3. CMA:
a Comparative Market Analysis is a report used by agents to present their opinion of value. What I learned very early in my career is that most Sellers do NOT want to review a 50 page report. Ask each agent to prepare a CMA, so you’ll have it for the interview, and make sure they understand you want a short and concise report. This will not only make it easier for you to understand, but easier to compare the 3.
After you’ve decided on the best price, you’ll want to understand where and how your home will be presented to perspective Buyers. It all starts with the local MLS, which today acts as a launching pad for the listing. Within just minutes of hitting the Enter button on the MLS, your home is shared and/or distributed with hundreds if not thousands of websites, ensuring that virtually anyone, at anytime, can view your home; details and photos.
When meeting each agent, it’s important for you to understand fact from fiction when it comes to the marketing of your home. What works to sell your home vs. what works to get them more clients;
A. MLS:
The MLS (multiple listing service) has been around for over 100 years and continues to be the leading platform or source for homes sold in the United States. The MLS is available to every Realtor (a state licensed agent that is a member of the National Association of Realtors) who has membership in their local MLS. So as long as you’re interviewing a Realtor, you know your home will be listed in the #1 place buyers go to find a home.
B. Public Websites:
every Realtor should allow the MLS to share your listing with a long list of websites, like Realtor.com, zillow.com, Redfin, etc… Additionally, your home will appear on most if not all Brokerage websites, like Remax.com, Compass.com, etc… even if you’re not listed with one of those companies. So make sure the agent you hire does in fact share his/ her listings with these sites, and as mentioned earlier, make sure the agent profiles on realtor.com and zillow.com are complete and accurate.
C. Marketing Exposure:
this almost repeats section B, but I feel it’s very important for you to understand that you should never believe any agent who tells you “my listings get more exposure” or anything like that. It’s just NOT true. Today’s technology and the sharing of listings has put every Realtor on a level playing field. Your home, regardless of the agent or Brokerage you choose, will be seen on the same websites. Your job during the marketing section of the interview is to ensure your home will be marketed with professional photos, including drone aerials and that the information posted online is complete and accurate. I guess a silly way of saying it is that everyone can use a paint brush. Not everyone is an artist.
D. Who is promoting what:
don’t be fooled with promises of Open Houses, Just Listed postcards and email campaigns, and yes even ads in the newspaper as additional tools used by the agent to sell your home “faster and for more money”. The fact is, and it is a well known fact, that aside from newspaper ads, which are ineffective and long past their time, the other 3 promote the Agent, not your home. Open Houses are used by agents as a “lead generation” tool; a means to find active and qualified buyers. And since only one person can buy your home, if they’re good agents, they will work to be hired by any or all of the other visitors to your home, to find another home and earn another commission.
I believe every Brokerage in Florida uses the same listing agreement/contract. However some Brokerages will make subtle changes to the agreement, in the agreement itself, or on separate forms.
It is important that you take this opportunity to review the listing agreement each agent will require you to sign. In addition to the changes I mentioned, since the document is a legal contract, agents are only allowed to enter certain information into blanks throughout the form. It is this information that you need to review and understand before signing.
I’ll briefly review just a few here, (but will soon have an entire post dedicated to the most widely used Listing Agreement and Purchase Contract.)
1. Modifications:
contract law states that any hand written or added language to a contract, supersedes the language in the pre-printed form. If you’re presented such a form, you should exercise your right to have an Attorney review the document before signing. Because I’m not an Attorney, I can’t counsel you on the details of any changes, but trust that any changes made to your listing agreement will typically not be in your favor.
2. Fill in the blanks:
as i mentioned, the listing agreement form is printed with blanks to allow the agent to customize the terms of the agreement to each seller. Information such as the amount of commission you will pay, the length (months) of the agreement and terms under which you can cancel or terminate the agreement, are just a few of the many details you’ll see in the agreement.
How and what information the agent places in each blank/field can create a variety of agreements, each governed by slightly different terms. For example, most listing agreements are 6 months or a full year term. Are you giving your agent 1 year to sell your home? And what if after 4 months, you’re not happy with the agent or the broker? Can you cancel and list with another Broker tomorrow? Likely not!
And of course let’s not forget about the commission. The total commission due the Broker, upon the sale of the property, will be listed in the agreement. How much are you paying? Is there a Brokerage, Transaction or Listing Fee in addition to the commission? If you’re paying 6%, make sure you understand how that is split if another Broker brings a buyer to your home. And will you receive a commission reduction if your agent finds the buyer for your home, without another agent involved?
It’s important that you not be shy about hiring an Attorney to review the agreement. As a member of the Professional Standards/Grievance Committees, I’ve spoken to too many sellers that are upset with their Brokers, yet can’t get out of the agreement. If you’re unsure, hire a Real Estate Attorney before you sign.
Flippers: A Perfect Example Of My Earlier Point OfferPad Incentivizes Realtors On May 7th, I wrote a post to help Sellers understand the pitfalls, THE
Does Fractional Homeownership Work? Fractional homeownership – or co-buying – isn’t anything new, but today it’s aimed at wealthier people looking to buy a second
7 Types of Tax-Deductible Home Improvements With Tax Day approaching, make sure your clients are taking all the home deductions for which they may qualify.
The Florida As-Is Residential Contract for Sale and Purchase The “As-Is” is the most widely used Contract used in South Florida, if not the entire
©2023 Home Sell And Save | All Rights Reserved