SmarterSeller™s Want to Know

The best way to avoid mistakes in pricing is to consult with a real estate professional who is highly skilled in value estimation and well informed about overall market trends and nuances.

In most cases a broker’s opinion of value, also known as a market analysis, will be more appropriate than a .highest and best value. report which is also known fee appraisal.

A market analysis is usually offered by a Realtor without cost to the homeowner as an accommodation to seek future brokerage business. But beware, many Realtors have little skill in value estimation as evidenced by homes that sell for too little or not sell at all.

A comprehensive market analysis – such as the one we offer – will show you a range of values that the market is currently paying for homes similar to yours. Our report will temper the comparable sales value range with at least three other approaches to value estimation and offer you suggestions about how to improve your home to increase value and price in the marketplace.

We are often asked if pricing should consider room for negotiation. The answer is usually “Yes”, but the art is putting in just enough room for play without over-pricing a home to the point that it is not shown and sold. Generally, a correctly priced home sells at or within a few percentage points of full listed price.
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Occasionally this can be a viable or best course of action. If you have little or no equity, or if you have the one in a hundred homes that everyone wants to buy due to perfect location, perfect style and perfect condition, this may be a workable choice for you.

But remember, you will need to do the work, bear the cost, take the time and take the risks of this undertaking on your own shoulders. You will have no expert with whom to consult or turn if the sky becomes stormy.

Ask yourself a few qualifying questions. “What is my time worth?” “Am I knowledgeable enough and do I have the right skills and temperament to go the distance alone?”
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Maximizing your home’s appeal and preparing it for sale is equally as important as proper pricing and marketing. After all, people buy a home as much with their eyes and heart as they do with their minds and their checkbook.

As part of our services to our selling clients, we spend time in the beginning to help you make the small fix ups and presentation of your home that will pay off with a quicker sale and a better selling price.

During our twenty years of selling homes we have learned about buyer ‘hot buttons’ and ‘turn offs’. We can offer you simple ideas that with no to low cost can make big differences in how a buyer views your home. We can also refer you to service and home product providers if needed.

We give you options; you decide what to do or not – you are always in control.
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You can choose to try to sell your home on your own. You can choose to hire a typical sales person. Surprisingly, some sellers simply hire a friend or relative even if they have no brokerage experience.

Perhaps a better choice is to hire a professional real estate consultant who has the experience and work ethic to provide you with a better selling experience and end result. Find someone who will guarantee their performance in writing – not in empty words.

After you review the information offered in this web site, we suggest that you visit with us and compare what we offer to what other Realtors offer.
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It is impossible to answer this question without first seeing your home knowing the price you’ll select, and considering the prevailing market conditions that will impact your sale – including supply and demand.

Even with great marketing, the price you choose will likely be the greatest determinant of how long it will take to sell. Great marketing only reveals an over-priced home as just that – over-price – and few buyers make offers on over-priced homes. Based on our experience and extensive market research, we will be able to give you a good idea of how long it will take to sell your home at the indicated value range.

If anyone claims that they can ‘ball park’ a time to sell or a price without first thoroughly reviewing your home and the current market, you should be very skeptical and consider carefully what type of service and performance you will likely encounter from them during the selling process.
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It is imposWe have refined our SmarterChoice™™ advertising program to include and reflect media and channels that produces buyers and gets homes SOLD today, while eliminating marketing and advertising that no longer work.

What Works Great Today:

1. The Multiple Listing System and the Network of Cooperating Realtors.
2. Multiple National & International Real Estate Websites and “Home Search-Bots”.
3. Direct Mail Targeted to ‘High-Probability’ Identified Buyers.
4. Huge overhead and cost of near-empty offices for surplus, idle real estate agents.

What No Longer Works – (And Didn’t Work Well Even ‘Back Then’):

1. Ads in Newspapers that Have ‘Nose-Dive’ Paid Circulation.
2. Print Ads in Rack Handouts – ‘Old School’ – Replaced by the Internet.
3. Cable Television ‘Showcase’ Programs that No One Has Time to See.

You are welcome to purchase other advertising on your own with the substantial savings you will realize with any of our SmarterSeller™™ options.
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Showings will mostly be by prior appointment made directly with you. If you allow, your home may also be shown without a prior appointment should you be unavailable for calls.

Please be away from their home during showings so that prospective buyers can focus their entire concentration on viewing your home without the distraction resulting from owner presence. A home enjoyed is often bought.

Please prepare your home before it is shown – comfortable temperature, all lights left ‘on’, and a last minute tidy-up. Please – no lighted candles or wood fire place burning while you are away due to risk of fire.

It is customary that all homes for sale have a digital key accessible lock box to allow for keyed access to your home. Making it convenient for Realtors to show your home is very important. With digital reporting via radio transmitters we have near real-time information about the occurrence and completion of your showings.

SmarterChoice™ Real Estate is also the first (and so far the only) Realtor in the Lincoln area to offer you automated online real-time Home Showing Feedback Reports available 24/7 via our website. This service is available to you via a secure web portal and account individualized for you.
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It has been said “The Internet has changed everything.” Well, not everything, but it has definitely changed how buyers shop for homes – forever.

Today we have more to do and fewer hours in which to get it done, while working more hours, managing more complex lives, and for many of us, the biggest job of all – raising a family.

Today more and more people are connected to the Internet and have learned how to use it to save time and money.

As a result, today’s serious home buyers shop online over real estate websites, with some enjoying free subscriptions to 24/7 e-mail notification services that send them all new listings, matching their needs, when entered into the MLS.

So, what does that say about Open Houses? Quite a bit, but here’s more…

Recent surveys of home buyers conducted by the National Association of Realtors showed that less than 3% of all home buyers now find the home they eventually buy as a result of attending Open Houses.

Also, local surveys conducted on behalf of Woods Bros. Realty, and targeted to Realtors holding open houses for their listings, showed similar results. Less than 2% of all listings sold were a direct result of an open house or sold to those who attended an open house for the property sold.

Do you think that 2% – 3% results are substantial enough to justify large amounts of time and money on Open Houses?

Most Realtors know that it isn’t but they have difficulty justifying their fees to sell a home with since most of their marketing activities are not visible.

So, week after week they encourage or accommodate Open Houses. And if they are honest, in most cases, they report back to their selling clients that few attended, that they did not get many (if any) names, and so on.

We have information that will prepare you to hold your own Open Houses if you’d like to have them, whenever and as often as you please. But we think it is more important to tell you the truth about Open houses, as we have done here.

Last words to consider… If Open Houses worked, most For-Sale-By-Owners would have already sold their own homes and wouldn’t list them with Realtors, and most Realtors wouldn’t have to split brokerage fees with other Realtors bringing a buyer, or do much else to sell homes. They could just hold Open Houses.
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