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Seller's Hints
"When You Sell Your House, It's the Little Things That
Count." You'll never recoup the value of a swimming pool, finished basement, or
most other major improvements when you sell your house. In fact, such additions can
decrease its value. Instead concentrate on two rooms that CAN help sell a house: The
kitchen and bathroom.
Even cheaper: Paint the front entrance and put a couple of pots of geraniums by the
door. If rooms are even the slightest bit cluttered, remove some of the furniture.
No matter what you have in your closets, take at least half of it out. Remove at least
half of what you have on your kitchen counter. Clean the house thoroughly and keep the
windows clean. Hire a cleaning service if you must. Tighten any loose knobs or faucets.
Make sure the porch light and bell are working. And just before the agent shows the house:
Close the garage door. Park the kids and the pets with a neighbor. Put away the kids'
toys. Turn on all the lights, and open all the curtains. Exception: If there's a smoker in
the house, remove ashtrays and other evidence of tobacco. Use an air freshener if the
house doesn't already smell fresh. But don't bother if there's a nice cooking aroma from
the kitchen. Turn off appliances. It's good, however, to have very soft music playing in
the background. From the publishers of Moneysworth Magazine...(a great resource for
financial fitness).
Other useful ideas...
As we prepare for an open house, let's discuss some of these proven
methods...
Set up a bread machine and bake a loaf. That aroma, as you know, is magical. Or break open
a bag of fresh-ground coffee. Have some light beverages and light snacks on hand for
visitors. There's nothing more warming than hot cocoa in the winter or a near-frozen iced
tea in the summer for people or agents driving around and shopping for homes. As best you
can, keep vehicles from parking directly in front of the house. Make sure the sidewalk,
gutter and driveway are tidy and well cleaned for visitors. Have a GIANT, thick doormat by
the front door if it's messy weather outside. Be sure each visitor takes home a flyer
(with a good photo on it) telling all about the house Whenever possible, leave the front
door ajar and a note there saying, "Welcome --Walk Right In." Why make the
visitors uncertain?
You might specially-invite your neighbors to the open house. Their word-of-mouth to
friends and relatives often leads to a quicker sale.
"Our
plan to sell your home"
Objectives
To sell your home in the least amount of time with the least amount
of inconvenience to you. To get as many qualified buyers as possible into your home until
it is sold.
To communicate the results of our activities weekly to you. To constantly look for the best
possible methods of exposing your property to the potential buyers in the market.
Plan:
Submit your home to the Multiple
Listing Service (MLS}. By providing all of the agents in our local area with the
particulars of your property, we greatly increase the probability that your home will sell
sooner rather than later. Over 300 agents check the listings daily.
Promote your home at the Real Estate Board meetings for maximum exposure to the other
agents. Oddly, the majority of agents fail to take advantage of this wonderful
opportunity.
Develop a flyer with a photo, features and benefits of your home, for the cooperating
agents to show to their potential buyers.
Advise you on changes you might want to make in your property to make it even more
marketable at the price you seek. Constantly update you as to any changes you might want
to make regarding your property. Add additional exposure through a professional yard sign
and door key lock box thus ensuring easy access (with your permission each time) by
hundreds of buyer's agents.
Hold open houses when practicable. But that's not all...we also...
Advertise in newspapers and send out flyers to neighbors.Give your home a special place on
our website. Here, interested buyers may see pictures and read all about the special
features that your home provides.
Pre-qualify prospective buyers when possible to preclude wasting time. We work with the
best financial institutions and the best loan reps. We choose those that will act quickly
and decisively when qualifying a buyer. Make you completely aware of all the various
methods of financing that your buyer may want to use. Some buyers may use government
guaranteed loans that require the seller to contribute to the process. We make sure that
all charges to your are explained to you fully and up front.
Invite cooperating brokers in our area to tour your home on special Real Estate
"Preview" days, thereby creating for you an ad hoc "sales force" that
works daily on your behalf.
Provide cooperating brokers a list of features and benefits of your home on a monthly
basis.
Follow-up on all salespeople who have shown your home and gain their feedback. Then,
inform you of any strategic or physical changes needed.
Gain your advance approval before any changes are made in the listing details, as required
by MLS regulations, and plain good sense.
Show you a copy of all advertisements that have been published, and provide you with our
plan for future advertising of your home.
Represent you, in-person, upon the presentation of all contracts by the cooperating
brokers and help you in negotiating the best possible price and terms.
Diligently handle all follow-ups and keep you informed of progress, on mortgage, title,
and other closing procedures after a sales contract has been accepted.
Provide you with an approved list of contractors and inspectors.
Monitor closely all of the required inspections, appraisals, and work required to ensure
that all are done in a timely manner.
Notify you immediately, of any charges that may arise due to discovery of defects or
problems.
Coordinate with the Title Company the procuring of documents and signatures, necessary to
close your transaction on a timely basis.
Follow up, after the close of escrow, to make sure that all minor details remaining are
taken care of to your full satisfaction.
Bob & Roxanne
advise...
Right Now!!! Make a Wish List of What You Want (Whether it's
your first home or your fifth)
How Do I Know What I Want?
Should I Make a Wish List?
First, let's talk about what exactly constitutes a wish list. A wish list is nothing more
than a list of everything you've ever dreamed of having in your house: marble kitchen
countertops, a wood-burning fireplace, three-car garage, four-person whirlpool, the best
school district in your state, a five-minute walk to work, four bedrooms, a master suite
with his and her closets, and vaulted ceilings. You get the picture. The best brokers in
this business will ask their first-time buyers to create a wish list detailing everything
they'd love to have in a home, including:
Location
Think about where you like to shop, where your children will attend
school, where you work. Do you want to be in the country on a few acres to live the
"Oregon Dream" or would you like to be located in a neighborhood where the
neighbors are easy to talk to and always available to lend an ear or helping hand.
Size
Think about how many bedrooms you want, the size garden, the extra
room you may need for expansion, where you will do the laundry, storage space. Do you have
to park an RV or motorhome? Do you have a lot of friends who will be stopping by for a
night or two when on vacation? Do you have extended family that might just be moving in
with you?
Amenities
Think about the garage, kitchen and bathroom appliances, swimming
pool, fireplace, air-conditioning, electrical wiring, furnace, hardwood floors. In
addition, here in Oregon, we also consider city services vs. country independence. Do you
feel comfortable with your own well, septic system, and security?
In the Grants Pass Area, you will also choose between the Grants Pass School District, and
the surrounding Districts. This decision has significant property tax consequences. We
will provide you with all the information you need to make an intelligent choice. An
article by Ilyce R. Glick, author of the book, 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer
Should Ask*
Decisions, Decisions...
But that's what a wish list is all about. If you're honest about
what you want, the inconsistencies and conflicts will come out. Most first-time buyers are
confused by all their choices. First-time buyers take on that "kid in a candy
store" quality: Many have difficulty choosing between different styles of homes. One
broker says she always has a few first-time buyers each year who need to see at least one
of everything in the area: a ranch style, an old Victorian, an in-town residence, and
several new subdivisions. By asking specific questions about your daily lifestyle, we are
able to center in on the best location and home size and amenities for your budget. We can
read between the lines of your wish list.
"We're A Team And Your Input Helps Us Help YOU"
"Wish" and "reality" lists have another use. By prioritizing the items on these lists, a good
real estate agent can tell which items you might be willing to trade off. For example, if
the first wish on your list is to have a four-bedroom, two-bath house, and the
thirty-eighth item is a wood-burning fireplace, then the broker knows you would probably
prefer a four-bedroom, two-bath house without a fireplace to a four-bedroom, one-bath
house with a fireplace. What Trade-offs Are You Willing To Make? The bottom line
is this: Unless you win the lottery, or are independently wealthy, you're probably going
to have to make some trade-offs when buying your first house. (This applies to almost ANY
house you will buy)
The Wish List
Brokers say the best wish list should include everything you want in
a home, such as location, schools, shopping, and distance to work. If your initial list
says "nice house, four bedrooms," try asking yourself these questions to
stimulate your true desires:
How often do I go to the city? Suburbs? Country? Where would I rather be?
How long do I want to spend driving to work each day?
Do I have frequent guests? Do I need a separate guest room?
Will my children take a bus to school, walk, or will I have to drive them?
How far away is my church?
Do I want a big garden?
Must I have a garage? Two-car? Three-car?
How far away is the airport?
What is my favorite form of recreation and how far away from it am I?
Where does my family live? Where do my friends live?
How far away do I want to be?
Summarize Your Desires
Once you get the information down on paper, try to organize it into
a concrete sentence: "I want a four-bedroom, three-bath home with a large garden,
fairly new kitchen, loads of closets, a wood-burning fireplace, two-car garage, within a
fifteen-minute commute to the office and church, down the street from the high school, in
such-and-such location."That's a start. Now, prioritize the items in your wish list,
and think about which items you would trade off for others. For example, would you give up
a wood-burning fireplace if it meant having a two-car garage? Could you get by with a
smaller house if it means you'd be in a better school district, with the resulting higher
property taxes? Would you prefer to be closer to work even though it means giving up a
large garden? What if you had to live in a condo, but could walk to work?
The Reality List
Now, for your reality list. Write down everything you can't live
without for the next five years. If you're a single woman, your reality list might
include: Two bedrooms (that's really for sale purposes; it can be much easier to sell a
home with two bedrooms than a home with one bedroom); Two bathrooms (same reasoning as
above); Parking space or attached garage; Outdoor living space of some sort (could be a
garden or patio); Second floor or higher; Within a twenty-minute drive to work. Now we
have something to work with. We can take your wish list and begin to match it to homes
listed in the multiple-listing service. Are the wish list and reality list worth the time
and effort? We say yes.
These Lists Help YOU Get Clear
Even though a good broker will spend an hour or two sorting out the
same information, writing up a wish list and a reality list will help focus YOUR mind on
what YOU really want. An honest wish list is a road map to finding the house of your
dreams Bob & Roxanne can make it happen for you, so here's what We'd like you to DO
RIGHT NOW...
Set a Bookmark right now for this page, because
after you've looked around some more on the web, you may want the
help of a highly experienced Realtor. And the "Bookmarks" or
"Favorites" notation that you set now, will let you find us again
fast. You can go to the buttons above and click on the button called: "Contact Form"
and fill out the blanks
and Click on "Submit" and that
will send the form to us. When we get your input, We'll answer you with as many details as
we can by e-mail or call you the same day. Once we communicate further, we'll set about
researching the local marketplace so that if you're selling, you can quickly know the
going rate for homes like yours. If you're buying, We can immediately search for
properties that match your needs and quickly report back to you our findings. Whether
you're buying or selling, we can also arrange a meeting. We promise to always be on time
with you and return your calls promptly. Remember--we personally handle every aspect of
your real estate transaction. We don't pass it off to unlicensed clerical help
We look forward to hearing from you! |
