Lori Cain - Tulsa Realty

Selling Your Home in Tulsa, Oklahoma: Digesting, Accepting & Benefitting from feedback – You’ve chosen your Listing Realtor, agreed on a list price and have prepared your home for sale.

Now, prepare yourself for feedback.

Realtors tend to be brutally honest with one another about their perception of your home and their Buyer’s feedback. Sometimes this feedback may be difficult to hear, but it is imperative that you listen with an open mind and react where appropriate.

Hopefully when we prepared your home for sale, we removed as many foreseeable Buyer objections at that time. Your home should be de-cluttered, painted in neutral colors and is shiny clean.

So what feedback might you expect? Did we leave a few things to chance?

If two Realtors say they or their Buyers think the bathrooms look dated, could we install newer faucets and lighting to correct that perception? Could we remove your antique artwork and replace it with something more contemporary?

Despite the pleadings of your Realtor and home stager, you wouldn’t consider replacing your antique furniture with contemporary furniture. But if your feedback in general is that “the house appears dated,” you had better reconsider your decision not to stage.

Selling Your Home in Tulsa, Oklahoma: Digesting, Accepting & Benefitting from feedback –There will be feedback you can do nothing about: “just didn’t like the layout” . . . “distance to work is too far” . . . “brick is nice, but we would prefer a stone exterior.” Probably the most frustrating feedback you will receive is that which you can’t change.

But when you do receive feedback that you can act upon, do so quickly before the next Buyer appears. If two Realtors or Buyers dislike the purple room that you spend days sponge-painting, chances are the next Buyer is not going to like it either.

Some Realtors pay for an automated Home Feedback system. I don’t think those automated systems ask the same questions I want to ask, so I e-mail the showing Realtor a link to the home and ask the questions I want. And I e-mail a link, because if they show 8-10 homes in a day, they may not remember which home is mine – so, provide them with photos up front, and the Realtor will say, “oh that’s the home with the awesome covered patio!”

Your home will sell if it is in top condition, priced correctly and marketed aggressively. Choose the Listing Realtor that understands this selling strategy.

Digesting and reacting to feedback on your home requires patience and a humble attitude – but it’s your acceptance of this feedback that’s truly “priceless.”

Please visit my site today to learn more about my listing services and definitely peruse my Preferred Vendor list!

Getting your home ready for market – “Move-in Ready” is Key - Unless absolutely impossible, it is my preference to prepare my listings to be “move-in ready” BEFORE they go on the market.

Because our inventory of homes is high and Buyers have much from which to choose, YOUR home needs to have the WOW factor.

When the Buyer walks through your door, they need to say, “I can LIVE here. In fact, I could move in TODAY!”

If they walk into a home with stained carpet, dirty walls and obnoxious paint colors, they’re going to turn around and walk out. It won’t matter if your home’s electric & plumbing is updated or that you have good insulation and low utility bills. Buying is an emotional decision, and if the Buyers can’t envision themselves living in your home, you will lose their interest.

The most inexpensive improvements you can make – from which you are sure to receive a return on your investment – are to the walls and flooring. Fresh paint is the least expensive improvement and new carpet is next in line.

Of course, you want to de-clutter also. If a Buyer sees your walk-in closet crammed with clothing, they will think that there is no possible way their clothes will fit. If they see your closets 50% full, they will delight in the amount of storage available.

I include a consultation with a home-stager in my listing services, because I believe it’s a great investment on my part. Staged homes sell almost 50% faster and for 6-9% higher than average. I would rather spend money on a home stager in trade for fewer days on market.

Yes, it’s more money out of pocket up front for the Seller, but having your home staged by a professional will likely speed up the selling process and net you more at the closing table.

Getting your home ready for market – “Move-in Ready” is Key

The combination of home improvements, de-cluttering and home staging will help you avoid costly price reductions. If you can’t afford some of these expenses, ask your Realtor about vendors who may wait until closing to be paid.

Your home will sell if it is in top condition, priced correctly and marketed aggressively. Choose the Listing Realtor that understands this selling strategy.

Preparing your home for sale requires some sweat equity and a humble attitude – but your participation in getting your home ready for market is truly “priceless.”

Please visit my site today to learn more about my listing services and definitely peruse my Preferred Vendor list!

Earnest Money – How Much and When Is it Cashed? - If you’re a first-time home buyer and have a lot of questions, please do not feel embarrassed! If we bought homes OFTEN, we wouldn’t have 1st-time buyers!

Probably the question I am most often asked is “How much earnest money is needed, and when is my check cashed?”

I recommend that Buyers write an earnest money check in the amount equal to 1% of the sales price. So, on a $100,000 house, that would be $1,000 earnest money.

The purpose of earnest money is to show the Seller that you earnestly intend to purchase his property.

You are asking the Seller to take his home off the market while you conduct inspections and make provisions for your down payment, etc. and in return, the Seller would like assurances that you are earnest in your desire to purchase his property.

We may verbally counter your offer back and forth, but once we reach an agreements on all of the elements of your offer, your earnest money check will be deposited in the escrow account of the Listing Realtor.

Your check is NOT held until closing.

Earnest Money – How Much and When Is it Cashed?

If your financing falls through during the time period stipulated in the contract or if you find something during inspections that alarms you, your earnest money may be returned.

Other costs that you may incur up front include the cost of your appraisal and inspections.

For more information about buying or selling a home, please call me!

Selling Your Home in Tulsa, Oklahoma – Can you and your Realtor agree on Price? - Once you’ve selected the Realtor you believe can best market your property, you need to agree on the price at which to list your property.

We have many “values” floating around. We have your taxed assessed value which is public record, and you may have a bank-appraised value. Then there’s the neighbor down the street who sold his home for $xxx, and you know your home is nicer than his. Then your son jumped on the internet and determined your home value on Zillow.

We have a tendency to take the price we paid for our home, then add the cost of each improvement made – although some of those “improvements” would fall into the category of “maintenance.” Of course, we want to factor in an amount for sweat equity and profit. Lastly, it’s our nature to want to add a few dollars for negotiating room.

Home Improvement or Home Maintenance?

Although we may be selling used homes, we’re not selling used cars. It’s critical to your home selling success to price your home correctly from day one. Your Realtor should be able to provide you a list of comparable properties that have sold in your neighborhood in the last six months. Some will be in better or worse condition than your home, and that needs to be taken into consideration. Sadly, there may be foreclosures in your neighborhood that will adversely affect your property’s value.

The bottom line is that your home is worth what someone is willing to pay. Period.

Selling Your Home in Tulsa, Oklahoma – Can you and your Realtor agree on Price? - We don’t have a crystal ball to determine that amount, but we do have statistical data available to us in order to make an educated guess. We don’t “pad” that amount to allow for negotiating room.

Buyers today are educated, savvy shoppers and your home won’t be shown if it’s overpriced. The longer your home is on the market, the more desperate you appear and thus, the more negotiable your price becomes. Probably the first question Buyers ask today is, “how long has this property been on the market?” If the answer is “ninety+ days,” get ready for that low-ball offer.

As our real estate market is ever-changing, we now have to be concerned that your home will appraise for the amount it will be sold, and that too must be factored into your pricing decision.

Should your Realtor agree to price your home at whatever price YOU think is best, without finding comparables to support that price, RUN AWAY from that Realtor. The best ammunition you can provide your Realtor to sell your home in a timely fashion is a realistic price from day one.

The best and fastest way to DE-VALUE your home is to go through a series of price reductions.

Your home will sell if it is in top condition, priced correctly and marketed aggressively. Choose the Listing Realtor that understands this selling strategy.

Pricing your home correctly requires homework and is an emotional decision – but a decision that’s truly “priceless.”

For more articles in this series of Selling Your Home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, please visit my real estate blog.

Getting Your Home Ready to Sell in Tulsa - Select a Listing Realtor right for the job – Questions you should ask

Not all Realtors are the same.

It doesn’t seem to matter if my Buyers are looking at $80,000 houses or $300,000 houses – we will run across listings with no photos, no virtual tours and little information on MLS. And, Buyers will totally rule out looking at homes that they can’t preview from their home computer. So, before you sign up with a Realtor to SELL your home, be sure to ask where and how your home will be marketed.

Individual Realtors offer different services, and we pay to advertise your home out of our own pocket. We don’t regain that investment until your home sells.

In order to select a Listing Realtor who will properly market your home, ask lots of questions!

Questions you want to ask your Realtor include: does your Realtor offer the enhanced advertising on realtor.com that allows more photos, extensive verbiage and virtual tours?

On which web sites will your virtual tours be displayed? Ask them to send you links of their other listings on Realtor.com, Trulia, Yahoo and Zillow so you can be sure of what type and level of exposure you can expect for YOUR listing. [links to trulia, zillow, etc.]

84% of Buyers are searching for homes on the internet before they ever contact a Realtor, so if your photos and virtual tours are not plastered on YouTube, Realtor.com and a dozen other popular web sites, the number of Buyers NOT seeing (and considering) your home is almost unquantifiable.

Select a Listing Realtor right for the job – Questions you should ask - Will your Realtor be honest with you about the needed updates to prepare your home for sale? Is your Realtor looking at your home through a potential Buyer’s eye?

Does your Realtor offer an electronic keybox, so that your showings can be accurately tracked and does your Realtor follow up with cooperating Realtors to get feedback? Will your Realtor provide good directions to your home so that Buyers and Realtors can easily find you?

What staging services will your Realtor offer and will your Realtor go over comparables to price your home competitively? What steps will your Realtor take to promote a sale within a reasonable time frame? Will your Realtor present you with his/her marketing PLAN?

How often will your Realtor communicate with you? You probably know how often your home is being shown if you occupy your property. Establish expectations from day one, and you’ll be less frustrated.

Lastly, ask for references. I display testimonials on my web site, and am happy to provide you with phone numbers of previous clients.

Your home will sell if it is in top condition, priced correctly and marketed aggressively. Choose the Listing Realtor that understands this selling strategy.

Marketing your home is expensive, but priceless.