First I need to apologize for not writing for so long. I have been non stop since the end of the year and here we are, Feb. 1, 2010 already! So what's been going on you might say. Well it's been an interesting past year in 2009, and I expect another interesting year in 2010.
In 2009, we ended up being the number 1 office in the county out of around 450 offices in buyer transactions. What does that mean? It means that we helped more buyers than anyone else in 2009. It's a great feeling to know we helped so many people move into new homes this year. We ended the year with 311 transactions. Not bad for a small company!
Starting now, in 2010, we have decided to add listings to our office. It's something that we had stayed out of the past 4 years or so as most people were not realistic in the prices they wanted for their homes. It's impossible for us to take on and carry tons of listings just for the sake of having listings. However, I do believe that now, after all this time, the market has leveled and it's time to start taking listings.
Why would someone want to list their home with a company that has spent most of it's time and effort in helping buyers? The answer is simple. What's the most important ingredient in selling your home...the answer of course is buyers. Tropical Realty has more buyers than any other brokerage in Brevard County....in fact I wonder if any one office in the country has more buyers than we do. Currently we have over 34,000 buyers in our Suntree office and another 18,000 buyers in our Merritt Island office. Pretty impressive numbers.
You may be asking though, how many of those buyers are looking in my area? We have a simple program to find out. Just go to www.tropicalrealtybuyers.com and you will be able to put your info in the form. From there we will check our database and get back to you with how many people match your home price and city. For instance, as of yesterday, if you were trying to sell your home in Palm Bay between $100k and $200k we had over 764 buyers from our Suntree database. Are they interested in your home? Of course we can't guarantee that, but we can surely tell you that we will get your home more exposure to buyers than anyone else.
My favorite saying lately is: "Why list with an agent or brokerage who lists homes when you can list your home with an agent or brokerage that actually sells home!" It makes sense doesn't it? If you are looking to sell your home, you need buyers. We might not be able to guarantee we will personally sell your home (although we sell 40% of our own listings) but we can guarantee that you will receive incredible service and most importantly incredible exposure to your home. This past month, Jan. 2010, we had over 90,000 visits to our sites. That's an amazing number of visits with over 65,000 of those visits repeat visitors. We must be doing something right if all these people come back to our sites on a regular basis.
With all the buyers in our database and an additional 50-100+ new consumers registering on our sites every day of the week, there is a good chance we have a buyer sitting there waiting for your home to come on the market. To discuss marketing your home, please feel free to call us.
BTW, is your home listed with another agent out of Brevard County? If so, we are always willing to help your Agent market your home by adding them to our site as well as uploading them to the other 22 sites we work with. Obviously the sooner you sell your home, the sooner you will use us to help you buy your new home. If this is you, feel free to contact me and I'll let you know what your Agent must do to take advantage of this program.
As always, if there is anything I can do to help you, please don't hesitate to ask. We are always here to help.
Have a great night and I promise not to take so long between posts.
Showing posts with label Listings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Listings. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Holding Steady and How to Really Sell Your Home!
Hi Everyone!
Well here we are at the end of another month in this fun year of 2007! The market is holding steady as prices have stabalized and sales are consistent. Finally sellers are realizing that if they want to sell their homes, they will need to lower their prices. We have spent most of the past year and a half turning down listings. Certain death of an Agent is taking on listings that will not sell because they are over priced. One reason they are so over priced is the competitive market amongst Realtors. Most sellers will have 2 or 3 Agents come to their home to tell them their thoughts. Of course Realtors know that if they tell the homeowner the homes is worth more than it is, they will most likely get the listing. At that point, a month into the listing, they are telling the seller that their price is to high and they need to come down. It sounds to me like a bait and switch tactic which I don't approve of and will not allow my Agents to do in this office. Honesty will always prevail! Hopefully!
So let's talk about listings for a few minutes. I was on the plane this week after going to South Carlolina for a meeting. What a beautiful area of the country that I have only driven through in the past. The hardest part was understanding their language! Anyway, I was on the plane and met a woman from Virginia who is trying to sell her condo. That area, as with most of the country, has been hit hard with the slow down in the market. The first thing she wanted to do was to tell how her Agent just wasn't doing a good job. The property was shown the first few days and hasn't been shown since...I think it's been three months since it was shown last. After explaining to her that the condo not selling most likely has less to do with her Agent and more to do with the Condo market, she started to listen to what I was saying. (FYI - The condo market in Florida is down 32%) So let's touch on what I believe will help sell your listings:
1. Price is still and will always be a motivating factor. If you are priced higher than other similar properties, there is a good chance your home will be on the market for a very long time. With the amount of inventory out there, you are now competing with your neighbor who is trying to sell their home. Whatever homes sold for in the past is not relevent anymore. Price your home lower than everyone elses and you will get more showings and most likely the home will sell quicker.
2. Offer more to the Buyers Agent. I have never quite understood why Listing Agents get paid the same as the Agent who has brought the buyer to the seller. In every other business I have been involved with, the person who brought the buyer got paid. I can see a lot of Realtors not wanting me to say this, but I'm going to. If you have a 6% listing, tell your listing Agent to take 2.5% and have your Agent payout the Buyers Agent 3.5%. Keep in mind that all Agents are commission only. Put yourself in their shoes, especially in this market. If they are not selling many homes and they are working with a buyer. They are more apt to show homes that pay more commission. It's just human nature. A Realtors job is to narrow the search for the customer. If there are 20 homes that are similar and you are offering 3.5% or more to the Buyers Agent, which home do you think will be shown more. The second portion of this is to offer a bonus to the Buyers Agent. Instead of lowering your price $5k, offer the Buyers Agent $5k bonus with an acceptable offer. If you are lowering the price more than $5k then offer the $5k while lowering the price the difference. Remember, reward the Buyers Agent and you are more likely to get showings! I'm probably not making to many Realtor friends at this point!
3. Expectations - One thing for sure is to keep your expectations realistic. Most homes are sitting on the market for several months right now. Don't be in such a rush to shoot your Realtor. Also, don't ignore their advice only to wait until the listing expires, then with a new Agent do exactly what your original Agent was suggesting. That is very frustrating from an Agent's perspective. When talking with your Agent, ask them when they "Really" believe this is going to sell and how long you can expect the home to be on the market. If they tell you it's going to sell real quickly, tell them to get lost!
4. Condition of the Home - Your home must show like a model. Your home must be kept in excellent shape and have great curb appeal. It's worth spending a few bucks to spruce up the house. While I am on that subject, put yourself in the buyers seat. When you are looking at houses what turns you off the most. Usually the home that is not well kept or when you drive up the homes looks like a mess. If your home looks like that home, the buyers will be thinking the same thing!
5. Marketing Your Home - Again, I'm not going to make to many Agents happy right now but the truth is the truth. Most Agents will take your listing and put it in the MLS. They will then tell you that they will also put it in Realtor.com, Yahoo, Google, and possibly a few other Real Estate sites. The reality is that once a Realtor puts the listing in the MLS it automatically goes into all those Real Estate sites. Those sites have feeds sent to them on a regular basis of all the new listings. Internet Marketing has changed the way to market homes. The most important feature is to be in the MLS. You then have, as in our case, thousands of Realtors wanting to sell your home. Again, once it is in the MLS, it will be on the other sites. At Tropical Realty and MitchRealty.com, we have chosen not to do any print advertising. We have chosen to do only online marketing since 80% of the people looking for a home start on the Internet. Currently we are receiving 55,000 visits per month from potential buyers. Our average listing gets seen 250-300 times per month. This much more than your listing will be seen in the Real Estate Magazines. Ask your Realtor how much money they spend on Internet Marketing and how many people a month come to their site. If they are not generating thousands of people, then you are not getting great marketing. The magazines are becoming antiquated! Don't be fooled by any of those buy back schemes or some fancy marketing they are saying they are doing. Basically you want to know how many people a month will look at your home. It's that simple.
Well that's it for now. If you have any questions or need any advice, don't hesitate to call or email me. We are always here to help!
Have a fun day!
Mitch
Well here we are at the end of another month in this fun year of 2007! The market is holding steady as prices have stabalized and sales are consistent. Finally sellers are realizing that if they want to sell their homes, they will need to lower their prices. We have spent most of the past year and a half turning down listings. Certain death of an Agent is taking on listings that will not sell because they are over priced. One reason they are so over priced is the competitive market amongst Realtors. Most sellers will have 2 or 3 Agents come to their home to tell them their thoughts. Of course Realtors know that if they tell the homeowner the homes is worth more than it is, they will most likely get the listing. At that point, a month into the listing, they are telling the seller that their price is to high and they need to come down. It sounds to me like a bait and switch tactic which I don't approve of and will not allow my Agents to do in this office. Honesty will always prevail! Hopefully!
So let's talk about listings for a few minutes. I was on the plane this week after going to South Carlolina for a meeting. What a beautiful area of the country that I have only driven through in the past. The hardest part was understanding their language! Anyway, I was on the plane and met a woman from Virginia who is trying to sell her condo. That area, as with most of the country, has been hit hard with the slow down in the market. The first thing she wanted to do was to tell how her Agent just wasn't doing a good job. The property was shown the first few days and hasn't been shown since...I think it's been three months since it was shown last. After explaining to her that the condo not selling most likely has less to do with her Agent and more to do with the Condo market, she started to listen to what I was saying. (FYI - The condo market in Florida is down 32%) So let's touch on what I believe will help sell your listings:
1. Price is still and will always be a motivating factor. If you are priced higher than other similar properties, there is a good chance your home will be on the market for a very long time. With the amount of inventory out there, you are now competing with your neighbor who is trying to sell their home. Whatever homes sold for in the past is not relevent anymore. Price your home lower than everyone elses and you will get more showings and most likely the home will sell quicker.
2. Offer more to the Buyers Agent. I have never quite understood why Listing Agents get paid the same as the Agent who has brought the buyer to the seller. In every other business I have been involved with, the person who brought the buyer got paid. I can see a lot of Realtors not wanting me to say this, but I'm going to. If you have a 6% listing, tell your listing Agent to take 2.5% and have your Agent payout the Buyers Agent 3.5%. Keep in mind that all Agents are commission only. Put yourself in their shoes, especially in this market. If they are not selling many homes and they are working with a buyer. They are more apt to show homes that pay more commission. It's just human nature. A Realtors job is to narrow the search for the customer. If there are 20 homes that are similar and you are offering 3.5% or more to the Buyers Agent, which home do you think will be shown more. The second portion of this is to offer a bonus to the Buyers Agent. Instead of lowering your price $5k, offer the Buyers Agent $5k bonus with an acceptable offer. If you are lowering the price more than $5k then offer the $5k while lowering the price the difference. Remember, reward the Buyers Agent and you are more likely to get showings! I'm probably not making to many Realtor friends at this point!
3. Expectations - One thing for sure is to keep your expectations realistic. Most homes are sitting on the market for several months right now. Don't be in such a rush to shoot your Realtor. Also, don't ignore their advice only to wait until the listing expires, then with a new Agent do exactly what your original Agent was suggesting. That is very frustrating from an Agent's perspective. When talking with your Agent, ask them when they "Really" believe this is going to sell and how long you can expect the home to be on the market. If they tell you it's going to sell real quickly, tell them to get lost!
4. Condition of the Home - Your home must show like a model. Your home must be kept in excellent shape and have great curb appeal. It's worth spending a few bucks to spruce up the house. While I am on that subject, put yourself in the buyers seat. When you are looking at houses what turns you off the most. Usually the home that is not well kept or when you drive up the homes looks like a mess. If your home looks like that home, the buyers will be thinking the same thing!
5. Marketing Your Home - Again, I'm not going to make to many Agents happy right now but the truth is the truth. Most Agents will take your listing and put it in the MLS. They will then tell you that they will also put it in Realtor.com, Yahoo, Google, and possibly a few other Real Estate sites. The reality is that once a Realtor puts the listing in the MLS it automatically goes into all those Real Estate sites. Those sites have feeds sent to them on a regular basis of all the new listings. Internet Marketing has changed the way to market homes. The most important feature is to be in the MLS. You then have, as in our case, thousands of Realtors wanting to sell your home. Again, once it is in the MLS, it will be on the other sites. At Tropical Realty and MitchRealty.com, we have chosen not to do any print advertising. We have chosen to do only online marketing since 80% of the people looking for a home start on the Internet. Currently we are receiving 55,000 visits per month from potential buyers. Our average listing gets seen 250-300 times per month. This much more than your listing will be seen in the Real Estate Magazines. Ask your Realtor how much money they spend on Internet Marketing and how many people a month come to their site. If they are not generating thousands of people, then you are not getting great marketing. The magazines are becoming antiquated! Don't be fooled by any of those buy back schemes or some fancy marketing they are saying they are doing. Basically you want to know how many people a month will look at your home. It's that simple.
Well that's it for now. If you have any questions or need any advice, don't hesitate to call or email me. We are always here to help!
Have a fun day!
Mitch
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