Christopher Smith

If you are a Realtor in town, you very well know that there is a relatively "untapped" market that really never gets penetrated that much. I mean, sure, Realtors come up with all different kinds of marketing ploys to 'lure' the unsuspecting For Sale By Owner into their trap. By in large though, this market is a tough nut to crack.

If you are a For Sale By Owner in Cedar Rapids, you are no doubt besieged by phone calls, pop-bys, emails, snail mails, etc. All of these are in an attempt to convince you that a Realtor can and will sell your home faster and for more of the asking price. In fact, statistics help me out here. In Cedar Rapids, a For Sale By Owner sells his/her home for approximately 94% of the original asking price and/or current buyer's value in today's market place. A Realtor can sell your home for between 97.5 -98.5% of the original asking price and/or current buyer's value. Let's break down the numbers.

On a $100,000 home, that's a difference/ savings of between $3500-$4500 in your pocket at closing. It's true! In all areas of Cedar Rapids, including Marion, homes sold by Realtors are being sold anywhere between 97-100% of the asking price. Also, the "average" Realtor will sell your home in about three months versus six months for the "average" For Sale By Owner. Why? One simple word that speaks volumes! Exposure!

A Realtor can expose your house to the 800+ Realtors in town. That's just what an average Realtor does and that comprises about 90% of all Realtors in Cedar Rapids. An above average Realtor (5% of the Realtor population) will take pictures of your property with a sub-standard digital camera in low light and place them on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). The house will be priced right for today's competitive buyer's market, but it will take a bit longer to sell because of poor marketing.

A top of the line Realtor will do the following to market and sell your house!

1. Take 36 high resolution, wide angle lens photographs of the inside and outside of your house.
2. Provide a virtual tour that "stitches" all these photographs together and accompanies it to music.
3. Take videos of inside and outside of your house, and also the surrounding community and post it everywhere.
4. Post your listing to the top 100 Realtors in towns website, 30 local, regional, and national real estate websites for maximum exposure.
5. Blog about your property on two of the most read real estate blogs in Cedar Rapids, and in the state of Iowa. Hundreds of people read this blog each week. What are the chances that a potential buyer is amongst them.
6. Post videos of your property on websites, video blogs, social media like Facebook, etc. Thousands of people view these blogs each and every week. What are the chances that a potential buyer is amongst them.
7. Offer his company as a full service brokerage offering flexible commission plans starting at 5% to save you literally thousands of dollars at closing.
8. Price your home using our "highest priced analysis" and sell your home quicker and for more of the asking price.
9. Communicate with you daily or often enough to know that we are working our you know what off to bring your house in front of more buyers than any other Realtor/Brokerage in town, period!
10. Be honest with you about the price of your home, about what needs to be done inside and outside to sell your home, and to always represent your best interests.

We as Realtors in Cedar Rapids are extremely valuable when it comes to working with For Sale By Owner clients. We understand your wanting to save money in a very important transaction. As long as Realtors are perceived by the general public as having value, we will always be around.

Also, as long as For Sale By Owners eventually use Realtors to sell their homes (87% of them do in Cedar Rapids), we will still be held in the highest regards, as we do what we do best; market your house to sell! Best of luck this spring and please call if we can be of any assistance at all!

Christopher Smith

Traditions Real Estate

www.christophersmithrealtor.com

christopher.smith.realtor@gmail.com

319-329-5988

Licensed Realtor in the state of IOWA

"Success in real estate at the SERVICE of others"

The #1 Myth For Selling Your Home That Kills Most Deals In 30 Days!

"Honey, we've got to put our house on the market and get going with this."

"I know, I know, but who are we going to list with?"

"I don't care, just as long as it's with one of the big companies in town. I don't want any of those smaller companies representing me. Our house will never sell if that happens."

Selling your home is a serious transaction and event in one's life; true or false? Would you also agree that you want someone who is going to market our house to the nth degree and expose it to more "potential buyers" than not? And would you also agree that Internet technology now plays a larger role in "exposing" your listing to more potential buyers than ever? If you agree to all of these statements, I've got some news for you!

1. Whether you are a Realtor with ReMax or with Traditions Real Estate, every listing with a licensed Realtor appears on our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) All 700+ Realtors now have access to that listing and can show and sell that listing to their client.
2. Most larger companies will traditionally have a larger commission they must charge their clients (the sellers). They will tell you that by paying this commission you are getting a lot more bang for your buck. That is false!
3. Traditions Real Estate has flexible commission plans starting at 5% allowing you the client, flexibility as well when selling your home.
4. Do you believe that having your listing on a television show on Sunday will expose your listing to more "potential buyers?" Is there a better way to expose your home to more "potential buyers?"
5. Do you believe that having open houses listed in Sunday's newspaper will expose your home to more "potential buyers?" Is there a better way to expose your home to more "potential buyers?"
6. Larger companies definitely have their place in our community and are not going anywhere. The branding of a listing by a large companies sign does instill a sense of trust in a home seller, but it DOES NOT SELL A HOUSE!

A Realtor sells your house ALL Day, EVERY DAY! If your Realtor can't answer yes to the following questions, are they the right Realtor to market and sell your house? It's up to Realtors to educate the public on how a listing gets properly marketed and sold in today's market.

DOES YOUR REALTOR...

1. Take 36 full color, high resolution, wide angle lens photographs of your property and place them on their website? Fact: Most Realtors don't even have a decent website. They barely put 8 photographs on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and those photographs are horrendous; end of story.
2. Offer a free Virtual Tour that stitches together all 36 photographs. Fact: 95% of Realtors in town do not offer a Virtual Tour.
3. Advertise your property on his website, 100 other top Realtor websites in town, plus 30 of the top local, regional, and national real estate websites. Fact: You'll be doing good if your listing ends up on our MLS (Multiple Listing Service) in Cedar Rapids.
4. Offer his company as a full service brokerage with flexible commission plans starting at 5%. Fact: Many companies have their hands tied when it comes to negotiating a commission that suits the seller and not the company.
5. Blog about your property weekly on several top rated real estate blogs? Fact: Once again 95% of Realtors in town don't even know what a blog is and they don't realize how powerful a medium blogging is when it comes to advertising your property "virally" across the Internet.
6. Shoot video of your home, the neighborhood, general surroundings, etc.? Fact: 97% of Realtors will not take the time to shoot video of your listing and broadcast it to several real estate video websites across the country for maximum exposure. Are you starting to see a trend here with our local Realtors???
7. Have a list of potential buyers in your price range? I have a database of hundreds of buyers in all price ranges looking for the perfect home. Fact: Most Realtors don't do enough business to even have a database, much less a "list" of buyers in any price range.
8. Have a website on page one of Google? My website receives over 100 visitors per day looking for Cedar Rapids real estate. Fact: If a Realtors website is not on the first page or two of any key search phrase, they will NEVER be found.
9. Honestly discuss with you the price you can expect to receive for listing your home? Any Realtor in town can list a home for 5-10K more than it's worth because they have been "strong armed" by the seller. Fact: I walk away from more listings because the seller will not agree to a price that will sell their home, and not let it sit on the market for six months.
10. Get over 100 visitors per month that fill out specific search criteria looking for a home. Fact: If you don't have a viable real estate website that can be "found" on the Internet, you will never achieve this statistic.
11. Receive a text message when a visitor comes on his website searching/inquiring about one of my listings. I've sold several of my listings because of this feature that allows me to be in touch with a buyer for one of my listings in "minutes." Fact: A large percentage of Realtors do not use this technology to it's fullest extent.
12. Market your home 24/7? My website, blogs, & video blogs showcase your hom to more potential buyers than any other Realtor/Brokerage in town! Fact: Most Realtors feel that if a sign is in the ground, and the listing is on our MLS (Multiple Listing Service), that it will sell. This is actually true! The listing will sell, in about six months because it wasn't properly marketed by a Realtor who uses technology and the Internet to expose your listing to as many potential buyers as possible.
13. Promise to market your house on their TV show? Fact: I just reached over to change my babies diaper while watching the TV show and I missed my listing which was being showcased on Sunday morning. Fact: A TV show spot for 15 seconds will not sell your home, period!
14. Promise to advertise your listing in the newspaper? Fact: The Stefan Swanepoel Real Estate Trends Report for 2009 declares, "Newspaper advertising for homes is dead. More and more customers are turning to the Internet to initiate and captivate their home search."
15. Promise to do Open Houses? Fact: an Open House invites 8 out of every 10 people into your home that are not even qualified to purchase your home. That same 8 out of 10 people do not even have a Realtor they are working with to represent them. Six out of every 10 people still have a house to sell first, before they can even consider buying yours!

Ready to list with a former school teacher who listens to your concerns, prices your home using our exclusive "Highest Priced Analysis," and markets your home to more potential buyers than any other Realtor in town???

Christopher Smith

Traditions Real Estate

www.christophersmithrealtor.com

christopher.smith.realtor@gmail.com

319-329-5988

Licensed Realtor in the state of Iowa

"Success in real estate at the SERVICE of others"

Cedar Rapids real estate forecast has never been better. I've spoken with a few brokerages this past week, and they say the same thing. "Business is booming." In fact, some go as far to say that we are setting record months for sales.

Traditions Real Estate is no different in that with our flexible commission plan, our dedication to SERVICE FIRST, and our attention to the little details, our business has been blessed with record sales as well.

If you're a buyer, there is plenty of inventory to choose from and all price ranges and locations are fully stocked and ready for your perusal.

If you're a seller, you are starting to compete with a lot more inventory so make sure of two things!

1. Your home is priced right.
2. Your home has that WOW factor on the inside as well as on the outside.

While Cedar Rapids real estate is alive and kicking, it appears from one source (myself) that SERVICE is sorely missing from our fellow Realtors in town. How do I know this? Observe the comments I've received from clients that I received after hearing there horror stories about other Realtors.

• This Realtor wouldn't drive on the other side of town to show me a house because it was a waste of gas.
• A Realtor I worked with wouldn't show me houses unless I was prequalified and ready to go with a lender.
• I was told by another Realtor that he would not show me acreages because they were a nightmare and a waste of his time.
• I was working with this Realtor but everytime I called her, she didn't call me back for at least a week.
• I was told by this Realtor that she doesn't do Open Houses because they don't sell houses

These are just a few of the comments I've received from disgruntled clients that are now working with me. Why are they working with Christopher Smith of Traditions Real Estate?

1. I haven't forgotten that I work FOR the clients and they don't work for ME.
2. I live by the Get by Giving philosophy.
3. I understand that to earn trust and receive a client for LIFE, all I have to do is provide WORLD CLASS SERVICE to them and they are mine for ever!
4. I too understand that Open Houses don't sell houses, yet I do them anyway to appease and promote good spirits between my sellers and I.
5. There are lots of different types of properties out there. We would all love to sell the 300K houses with no problems and brand new furnaces, A/C, and roof so there are no contingencies to the sale of the house. Problem is, that's not reality. There are fixer uppers, lower income properties, distressed properties, near foreclosure properties, acreages, and other properties that require WORLD CLASS SERVICE and ATTENTION. Those that follow through with this SERVICE are GOLDEN to their clients.
6. We all know as Realtors that gas is six billion dollars a gallon, but if you can't drive across town to service a client, get out of the business and stop wasting your money.
7. COMMUNICATION is a HALLMARK of being a REALTOR. If you don't have the decency to communicate with your clients either by email, phone, snail mail, etc., once again, hang up your R pin and let someone else do the job that's motivated and honored to represent the profession.

I sense a trend or maybe an ebb and flow of laziness among out real estate agents out there. I know we're coming off of a cold, harsh winter, but spring is here and the market is outstanding. My prediction for Cedar Rapids real estate agents is this: THOSE WHO DO NOT PROVIDE WORLD CLASS SERVICE, GO ABOVE AND BEYOND THE TRANSACTION, AND COMMUNICATE ON A WIDE SPECTRUM WITH THEIR CLIENTS WILL LOSE 50-70% OF THEIR BUSINESS.

It's all about SERVICE and this is why my slogan is: Success in real estate at the SERVICE of others. You see, it's not about me and it never has been about me. My head is way too big to fit on most billboards in town so I don't need to show the public who I am. I just need to show each individual client I come in contact with that I am there for them to provide service, answer questions, educate and inform, so that they can make one of the most important decisions in their life: whether or not to buy or sell Cedar Rapids real estate.

Here's to an outstanding year for all Realtors in the area who SERVE, rather than drop the ball!

Christopher Smith

Traditions Real Estate

www.christophersmithrealtor.com

christopher.smith.realtor@gmail.com

319-329-5988

Licensed Realtor in the state of Iowa

Success in real estate at the SERVICE of others