Dee Nott

In my last post I talked about the different options sellers have when it comes to marketing and selling their house. I'm introducing a way to do this faster by creating a buyer frenzy! Hard to believe that is possible? Not really when you look at what buyers want and focus on how you can market to them in a very creative way.

We talked about what it is that buyers want...no big mystery...they want a DEAL. Buying is an emotional exercise whether they choose to believe it or not. If it were not they would just find a house on line and order it like they do a pizza! They have to get into the house and make a connection. That is what you as a seller can create that for you house. This is psychology 101.

So What makes this system work, while nothing else will?

1. Buyers want a DEAL: Start low and Prices JUMP

2. Deadline To Buy: "Sold SUNDAY Night"

3. Gone Tomorrow; Give Buyers A Sense Of Urgency

4. Tone Of Offers; Create Buyer Frenzy -Price Climbs

I'm using the term "Auction" in general so this is not a traditional Auction that I am talking about...this is about creating Multiple Bids and selling to the highest bidder. Before we go into the differences let's look at why "Auctions" work.

Buyers Feel They Are Getting A "DEAL"

*This one factor has made eBay the #1 auction company in the world!
* eBay users sold over $60 Billion worth of merchandise on eBay in the final
quarter of 2007.

What Sellers Can Learn From eBay- Create a "HOT MARKET" for the home!

If you position your home as a good "Deal" buyers will flood you with offers

Benefits of an "Auction" like sale

$. Fast way to get a lot of buyer interest
$. Fastest way to sell your home at a fair price
$. Avoid drawn out showing and selling process

What an "Auction" Can Do For You That Nothing Else Can!- especially selling the traditional way

1. Attract 50 -200 buyers in 1 weekend!

2. Get you multiple offers in 1 weekend

3.Create a buyer frenzy.....................!

Differences between the Sold In A Week System and Traditional Auction

Regular Auction -VS- Sold in A Week System

Absolute - Sell WITHOUT Reserve Reserve- You don't sell below a fair
price you set

10% Buyer Premium-Buyer pays an additional No Buyer Premium- You attract more buyers!
10% at closing

Buyer MUST have $15k to $25k down payment No Large Down Payment- Regular Real Estate
down payment

Can't do Inspections- If you buy at a normal auction Allow Inspections - Give buyers 10 days for
you have to do all your inspections inspections.

Normal Real Estate Closing- Give buyers time
to get financing and close

Home Sells to Investors Wholesale Price -VS- Home Sells To Families Normal
Retail Price

If you are interested in finding out more about the Sold In A Week System give me a call 910-494-2480 or email DeeNott@Connectrealty.com Also check out www.soldinaweekhomesellingsystem.com

• Looking at the traditional method of selling a house it is no wonder the chances of selling are so low!
• Tons of Competition-
  In our MLS area since January 1 2009 to today their where 4878 homes listed and 2542 sold, just over half!
• Few Buyer Showings-
  Because there is nothing setting your home apart from other homes for sale. Few buyers come out and look at it.
• Hard to get a lot of showing WITHOUT "Giving Your Home Away" -
  to get a lot of buyer activity, you have to price your home 10% below market.

Here is a Market Pulse Report for Jan 09 to today:

Market Pulse Report
Activity Date:	New	BOM	Pend	Pend/CS	Expr	With	Sold	Avg Sold$	DOM	Median Sold$
Jan 2009	632	198	355	1	289	187	261	$63,115	87	$108,500
Feb 2009	633	167	364	0	185	183	302	$81,354	80	$122,250
Mar 2009	729	198	419	2	213	206	359	$77,422	85	$118,000
Apr 2009	756	179	459	8	174	161	357	$76,310	79	$120,000
May 2009	712	186	441	5	219	180	358	$77,320	76	$123,000
Jun 2009	456	116	283	6	112	121	264	$79,514	76	$127,125

• 8.9 months of Inventory equals tons of competition
• "Give Your Home Away" To get any showings and to get buyer activity you have to price your home 10% below the market

What are the options for home sellers?

Hire a real estate agent sell the home

The standard agent will only net the home seller 77% "if" you are aggressively priced.

What Used to Work Isn't Working Anymore

• There are about 20 lockboxes on that pole.
• Each lock-box is a condo for sale. so you want 75% of

Fair Market value?

I use condo to punctuate my point...obviously on single family home those lock-boxes are spread out, but you get what I'm saying here!

What about those buyers? What do they want?

With all the media attention given to the foreclosure crisis, buyers are programed to look for a deal! They are looking at At Least 25-50 homes, before buying!

They make "low ball" offers and walk away if the seller makes a counter offer...let's face it they have options.

They back out of buying a home becasue they decided the home wasn't a good enough deal.

When Do Home Buyers Buy?

1. When they feel they are getting a Good "Deal"

2. When they have to, Job Transfer, etc

What Does EVERY Home Buyer Want?

SAD BUT TRUE - To Practically ROB A Home

• The longer they wait the cheaper prices get
• Trying to Gage the "Bottom of the Market"

So if your home does not sell what are your options?

Rent the property? This is just not something most people are prepared to do...it is just a huge headache to rent out a house as well as some other pitfalls that come with it.

• Lose your Homestead Exemption ( taxes jump)
• Your insurance would go up ( ave jump 25%
• Capitol Gains double in 2010, lose tax savings

Does it make sense to become a landlord?

• Late night toilet runs, broken hot water heaters
• An average of $5,000 is spent every year fixing up the home whenever a renter moves out.
• You would have to repair anything the tenant broke.

The Best Option for a Home Seller

Reduce the 6% real estate commission

Sell your home in ONE WEEK ( or less) & Beat out other sellers!

Use our Sold In A Week Method to create a Buyer Frenzy and Tons of offers!

In my next blog will outline this system and show you how to sell your home in less than a week and save tons of money by doing some very simple things. In the meantime feel free to check out www.MyHomeSoldInAWeekSystem.com for more information!

You can always call to find out the details and set up a no obligation appointment to check out my system and see if you can benefit from using this to sell your house and move on!

Ok spring is here and we are starting to see the Fayetteville NC market move! YAAA that is the good news! The bad (and I plan to turn this into a positive for those of you reading this) there are a ton of homes on the market that have been on the market for quite some time.

If you are getting ready to put your home on the market here are my suggestions as to what steps you should take right now. I'm going on the assumption that you will enlist the services of a professional REALTOR. Statistics are in your favor when you do for a faster sale and higher sales price. ( yes you can net more with an agent even paying a commission.) I won't go into that here but I do have more information about how you reduce your risks (and there are a lot) when you use a professional.

Your Realtor is an important part of the process so make sure you take your time and do your research here. I suggest you write down some questions and interview several. Google the agent to see if they have a true internet presence, and by that I mean how they are marketing their listings, how they are attracting buyers. Just having a website is not enough. Are they truly adding value by syndicating their listings to show up on all the major sites, do they use lots of picture and descriptions to make the listings "sticky" and compel buyers to take action? Are they taking listings that have no chance of selling because they are priced too high or in poor condition? Why is that important? A serious agent will take their fiduciary obligations to their client very seriously. If they are not going to be straight with their client by telling them the dangers of overpricing and marketing a home that will not compete in the market they are in my opinion doing a disservice to both themselves and the their clients.

Do they have a marketing plan, in writing? You need to know what it is they will be market your house and why! Make no mistake; the commission is not earned until the house is closed. The agent will be "fronting" the money to market the home and if they are going to just "wing" it and do the very minimal amount you will lose valuable time and money. An experienced agent does not "wing it" They are invested in the sale of your home and have a clear plan to accomplish that. Get the marketing plan prior to the appointment and read over it carefully. If there is something you think they should be doing that is not on the plan you will want to ask them about it in the interview. Most agents have long since moved on from what used to work, things like open houses that are pretty much a thing of the past unless it is new construction.

Another trait you should look for is an agent who has all the information about your area in the way of stats on what is selling and what's not. Absorption rates, Days on Market, odds of homes selling etc. Don't limit your competition to just the immediate area, buyers have access to every home on the market. The agent should be able to provide you with information about where buyers are buying and how to prepare your home to compete with them.

What extra services does the agent provide? Do they use a professional photographer? Home Stager? Do they have a good list of service providers such as contractors, homes inspectors, lenders and other professionals that are at the ready. Do they utilize social networking sites and use tools like video and virtual tours to market your home to a larger audience?

What skills do they bring to the table? Marketing your home is only a small part of the equation. Once your home is under contract this is where the agent really earns their commission. There are a number of details and dates to keep up with. They need to be able to communicate will with the buyers agent, the buyers lender, and have the experience to anticipate any problems and proactively deal with them before they blow up a deal. If they are bragging about how they are a hard-ass (sorry but that is the only word that I can think of!) they may not be well liked by other agents and if that happens other agents will do anything to avoid being in a cross sale with them. This will hurt the seller in the long run. A balance can be achieved with an agent with good social skills, they will know how to represent and protect their client's interest while achieving a smooth transaction.

Communication is key...will they list your home and disappear when things do go they way they should? You should ask how they will be communicating with you and how often. Sometimes just making a weekly "date" prior to the sale will be enough for you.

If the agent is not living up to what you agree upon will you be able to get out of the listing agreement? What are the penalties if you do back out? Do they offer an easy exit listing agreement?

Should you go with a brand name company or use a single agent? I'll say this about that! Every agent no matter what company they are with are independent contractors. They are their own company within their company. If they are using that company as the reason you should work with them ask them what it is that their company provides that makes that so. Ultimately the agent is the focus of your interview. Just because they work for a "top firm" does not instantly mean they have the experience to get the job done.

I could go on here because there is more to listing a home then putting a sign in the yard and a picture on the local MLS. Do your research and get your questions together make your appointments. Take your time, ask a lot of questions. You will be working with this agent for awhile and need to feel confident that you made the right choice.

I'm loving this group! I've pretty much started my real estate career as a buyers agent as most do, but I soon realized that I missed being creative as I came off a 20 year Visual Merchandising career because of an accident.

When I heard about Home Staging a year into my RE biz I immediately signed up for a Home Staging class ( via Stagedhomes.com) and got to work on obtaining listings...the nastier the better! lol

I'm fueled when I walk into a listing appointment and the house is cluttered and walls are a deep maroon!!!

One of my first listing was a hard sell for the staging part until I took the sellers to some of the surrounding homes that where for sale at the time. Some nice some not so nice. What happened was they started to put on their Buyers Eyes and got it! They would need to do some work to put their home into market ready condition. Homes in the area where taking 60+ days to sell! They needed to sell fast. The seller really surprised me when I presented the staging plan and even went above and beyond what I asked of them. The moral of the story is...they sold the home in 11 days not 60+ and those other homes stayed on the market a heck of a lot longer and some sold for substantially less than orig asking price...we got full price!

Here is what we where up against here is the result

If you are planning on selling your home it is a good idea to get real clear on what you are up against. By that I mean who is your competition. If you think it is just the other homes in your neighborhood you might be surprised to hear what I'm about to say.

Now those other homes in you neighborhood are important, but that is just one place to look for your competition. Buyers have tremendous power now that they can search for homes on the Internet. And being that over 80% start their search online they are looking at a ton of homes that are similar in price and size, so you need to know what they are looking at so you can do your HOMEWORK to make your house shine!

How do you do that? I suggest getting online right along with the buyers and run a search in the price range you feel you would list your home for. You can narrow down the search by looking at homes that are similar in style and age.

One of the first things I do when I list a home is to take the sellers out on a little house previewing tour so they can actually see first hand what those other sellers have or have not done to prepare their homes for the market. The seller is now looking at homes through the buyers eyes and can get a real feel for how a buyer might look at things. Using that information we will go back and take another look at their home and come up with our plan to stage and do any repairs that are needed to to make their home very appealing to a buyer.

The next step is to look at how they will position the home on the market to sell in the time frame they need to sell. By that I mean how will they price the home to come up in the searches we need it to come up in and stand out as the best value. Remember earlier when I said buyers are looking in other areas and will choose a home that stands out in price, condition and location. So if they see your home and like your area but also see another similar home in another area they like your home better be priced better, look better even smell better ( ya...I said it) You never know what is going to push that buyer to make a choice.

It is not easy to step out of your Home and view it as a product, but just keep in mind that you are not alone out there. Not every house that goes on the market sells. if it where easy there wouldn't be over 3000 homes for sale in my immediate market right now.

Check out your competition and start putting your plan together!