John Paul Soto

1. 100% Financing
2. No closing costs
3. No down payment
4. No hidden fees
5. Not based on your credit score
6. Interest rates are always 1% less than the standard current rate.
7. 1% of your loan amount will buy 1/4 or .25 of your interest rate!!! (Regular loans 1% buys 1/8)

1. Loan cannot be more than $200,000
2. Has to be your only property
3. Has to be your primary residence
4. PATIENCE and DISCIPLINE!

I constantly have clients, possible clients, friends and family asking me, "Why hire a Realtor and pay him/her a commission for just putting my house in the Internet and a sign in my yard, when I can do that myself and probably sell it faster?. My response? That may be true if you hire a bad Realtor and you are a professional sales person... I hope that in this blog I can show you the benefits of hiring a Realtor and how you will SAVE more money at the end of your successful transaction.

If you are considering selling your home and you are not sure if you want to try FSBO or hiring a Realtor, I will give you some information that will help you make a better decision.

Let me start with the facts:

1. Real Estate brokerage is a 200 year old profession...
2. 70% of all FSBO's end up hiring a Realtor or changing their plans...
3. Realtors can sell your home faster and for more money...

Are you interested in knowing why, or how? Let me give you the reasons...

1. Serious buyers only shop FSBO to save on the commission.

Let's play Real Estate... If you were a serious buyer, ready, willing and able to buy a property today, what will be the reason to shop for FSBO? You would skip 85% of all the available properties (listed with Realtors), and limit yourself to 15% of all the properties available. Remember, buyers do not pay commission or anything else to a Realtor, the seller does. If you are a buyer working with a Realtor, you can take advantage of using the Realtors car, gasoline, his time, professional expertise, and they do all the paperwork and schedule everything for you. So, if you think about it, EVERYBODY pays a commission. The question is, do you pay it to the buyer and you do all the work, or you pay it to the Realtor and let him/her handle the sale?

2. The Law of Supply and Demand.

Are you familiar with the law of supply and demand? Well, it basically states that the more buyers you have for something the more money you can sell it for. The more buyers you have for something, the faster you can sell it. Right? So, if you are a FSBO, you have one yard sign, maybe a web site... How many people have you excited about your home? Only you! With a Realtor, you give more exposure to your home. You will have him/her excited about the sale of your home, plus 10,000 other Realtors in the Charlotte area. In other words:

-There are about 10,000 Realtors in the Charlotte area.
-Each Realtor have approximately 10 ready, willing and able buyers.
-Totaling 100,000 prospects
-It takes an average of 120 days for a Realtor to get your money in your pocket.

... So if it takes 10,000 Realtors, with 100,000 prospects, 120 days to get sellers their money, how long will it take the FSBO?

3. Difficulty separating lookers from buyers.

If some one come to your door today, and tells you that he wants to buy your home, would you sell it to him/her? What if they don't have the money? When would you know? How long would you take your home off the market, while you find out if they can afford you home? If you hire a Realtor you do not have to worry about separating lookers for buyers, we do that for you. Realtors only show home to clients that have been pre-approved by a lender.

The National Association of Realtor did a study to illustrate how possible buyers are separated...

- 70% of all possible buyers have frozen equity. In other words they need to sell their home before they can buy yours.
- 15% prefer to rent. God knows why they are looking at your home...
- 11% Can't afford it.
- 4% are ready, willing and able to buy, and more likely they are working with a Realtor.

4. The Longer it Takes to Sell, the More Money that Could be Lost.

You might be thinking that to not hire a Realtor you save in the commission. However, you will be suprised to learn how much more you end up loosing if your home takes a long time to sell. Remember, 70% of all FSBO end up with a Realtor or change their plans. So, if you try by yourself for a while and then try to sell with a Realtor, you are going to lose more in the long run. Here are some things to think about:

-Rates might go up
-Your new home might cost more.
-Your current home might be worth less.
-You lose speculation time.
-Vacant monthly maintenance.
-Double house payments.
-Discount points might go up.
-Tax advantages.
-Lost in the shuffle.
-Repair and lose money.

5. Marketing Services

Marketing Services = Exposure
Exposure = Prospects
Prospects = More Value

A good Realtor will have a good marketing system in place. Make sure your agent has a great system that goes above and beyond the average agent. It's often said that Realtors don't sell your home, they market it. Make sure they use high quality picture, a state-of-the-art website, presentable print advertising, and ask if they have a professional stager for your home.

6. Third Party Negotiation Saves Time and Money.

Advantages of third party negotiation:

-Trained negotiators
-Not emotionally involved
-Avoid Pitfalls
-Understand the needs of both parties.

By using a Realtor you can avoid loosing a deal over minor problems that could be worked through.

I hope this blog helps you make a more informed decision before embarking in the sale of your home. If you want professional, dedicated Realtors, call us. The Soto & Ferreira Group can help you sell faster and your satisfaction is guaranteed. When you hire us, you hire two agents for the price of one, that means someone is always available for you! We are trilingual agents, in Spanish, Portuguese and English, maximizing the exposure for your home.

Thanks, and see you in the next blog, Please send me your questions, comments and suggestions...

So you have to sell in this tough market. Your job or personal finances are forcing you to sell, and you cannot wait until the market turns back around. You are probably waiting for a good offer to come along; however, you are not even getting enough showings. What to do to get your home sold?

In this market, you better be prepared to do whatever it takes to sell you home. Do not expect to make a lucrative profit out of the sale. Be happy if you break-even and be prepared for the event you need to do a short-sale. Do what it takes to get your home sold. Go above and beyond the ordinary to get buyers in your door, offers in your hands and hopefully all the way to the closing table.

If you really want to sell your home, you need to act like a professional sales parson. You need to separate your emotions from you financial needs, and remember that your home is only worth what a ready, willing and able buyer is willing to pay for it.

1. When is the perfect time? NOW!

It is important to understand that homes are taking longer and longer to sell, some markets are going well past 180 days. There is not time to wait around while you fix little things here and there and try to get the home perfect. Don't misunderstand! You will need to get you home perfect, but you will have to do it fast and while your home in on the market. Buyers will not care too much if they know your fixing your home for them.

2. Fix it, clean it, and keep it like that.

Remember that in this market, you have a lot of competition, and most buyers buy driven by emotions not by price. So stage your home to impress. Remember, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. If a potential buyer does not like your home s/he will not come back later even if you drop the price or more. Do not spend to much money fixing your home. Fix little details that are visible. If needed, give it a new fresh paint job with neutral colors, (a paint job will not increase the price of your home, but it will make buyers more interested). If needed pressure wash the outside to remove dust and mildew. Keep it clean and presentable at all times.

While your home is on the market, start moving out by declouding the place. Ask your Realtor for their professional opinion. Some Realtors may have a professional stager to help you stage the home.

Keep the outside clean too. Maintain the grass cut, and if possible have some colorful flowers around the main entrance. This will help your home make a better and more memorable first impression.

3 Price it right.

Remember that you do not set the price. Your Realtor does not set the price. Comparable homes set the price! Your home is worth only what other homes similar to yours and in close proximity have sold for in the past 6 months to a year. If you have enough equity to price your home lower than other homes in your neighborhood and still break even, do it.

This is a buyers market, and buyers are looking for bargains. There are more and more properties listed as short sales and a foreclosure, at 30% to 60% of the homes value, and these are your competition.

Price your home low from day one. Do not try to sell it high and then lower the price gradually because if there is any ready, willing, and able buyer shopping for a home and your home is not in the price range, you will loose a buyer.

4. Hire a top Realtor.

Get the best and most aggressive listing agent you can get, and make sure he or she is a full time agent. Interview several agents, and insist that they present you with their marketing plan and ask for letters of recommendation. Make sure they have more that just a website and a few open houses. Consider some one that will market your home in the most places possible.

Top agent will help you stage your home, give you a true professional opinion without worrying about hurting you feelings. They should have clean, professional printing marketing material and a well maintained website that attracts buyers to it. They will use professional high quality pictures. Remember real estate agents do not get paid until they sell your home, and they get pay relative to what you home sells for so it important for them to sell your home fast and for the highest possible price.

5. Pay Premium Wages.

Stay away from discounting commission companies. They most likely, will not be able to afford and provide high quality services and the professionalism that full service companies will provide. Remember that you get what you pay for.

"There is hardly anything in the world that some men cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey. It is unwise to pay too much, but it's more unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you loose a little money, that's all. When you pay too little you sometimes loose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do. The common law of business prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the risk you take. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."

John Ruskin (1890)

Saying that, commission rates are negotiable but usually range around 6%, which is most likely, divided 50-50 between the listing agent and the buyer's agent. Instead of paying 6%, ask your listing agent for the possibility of raising the price of your home by 5% and increasing the buyer's agent commission to 4%, 5%, 6% or more. So the split will be 3% for the listing agent and the rest for the buyer's agent. This is an excellent way to motivate buyer's agents to show your home. Remember that Real Estate agents get pay by commission only, and about 90% of ready, willing, and able buyers are working with Realtors, which is wise since buyers do not pay anything for the representation and the services of a Realtor. It is paid by the seller.

6. Promote your home.

Promote your home as much as you can in as many places as possible. Do not relay in the Realtor to be the only one promoting your home. The Realtor should be responsible for the cost of his marketing materials. However, you can help too.

Ask your Realtor for copies of your property flier and post them in as many places as possible. Place them at your kid's school, your office bulletin board, your church, and any other groups you may be part of. Ask your Realtor for a copy of the flier on an email and the link to your property website. Send it to all your contacts, and ask your friends to forward it to their friends as well. They should be able to help you.

7. Accept the offer!

If a ready, willing, and able buyer gives you a reasonable offer, ACCEPT it! Sit down with your Realtor and run the numbers. You will realize how much more money you loose by letting your home sitting on the market for a longer period of time. Remember that you have more competition and is a buyers market. If you do not take the offer, the buyer will move on to the next property.