THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT WORKING RELATIONSHIP
THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS WHEN ANALYZING YOUR PRICING STRATEGY
PRICING YOUR HOME TO SELL
PRESENTATION or STAGING
MARKETING
THE PARTNERSHIP IN BUYING AND SELLING


THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT WORKING RELATIONSHIP

. . . This is not to say that we expect your business, rather we hope to prove our ability to serve you better than anyone else and to earn the right to represent you.

As a professional, it is not simply our “job” to help you buy or sell real estate, it is far more. Our goal is to be an information resource available when you need knowledge and professional advice relating to your home, helping make your real estate related decisions easier and less complicated.

Selling or buying a home comes with a certain amount of anxiety. Our goal is to help you understand the process because the more you know, the more you feel in control, and the more pleasant the experience will be. So, when we work together, you will find that we will stay very close to you. We do a tremendous amount of research, we are very thorough, and well prepared.

Our practice keeps us in touch with lenders, lawyers, home inspectors, appraisers, insurance brokers, trades, and as a “resource centre” we can get you in touch with the people you need.
If for some reason we do not have the information, we will do our utmost to get it for you. This is our commitment to you and is offered at no obligation whatsoever.

To summarize our philosophy is to be:

“A full range service provider of Real Estate solutions which will satisfy today’s sellers and buyers. Through ethical, responsive, and profitable actions, we will provide enhanced value and legendary service to our clients and customers.”

We might offer a piece of advice. Pick a salesperson in whom you have the utmost confidence and trust. Whether it is us or someone else, if you don’t feel it, it’s probably not there. But, if you are looking for someone who knows this market, someone with the knowledge, patience, and understanding to help you get what you want, then let’s get "Your Home Team" working for you.

There are three cornerstones that form the foundation to the successful sale of your home:

PRICING   PRESENTATION  and  MARKETING

As is often the case, if there is weakness in one element, the strength of the whole may be compromised or even fail.


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THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS WHEN ANALYZING YOUR PRICING STRATEGY

When considering the Asking Price for your home and how you want to be positioned in the market, the answers to the following questions are very important.

  • Is the local market rising, falling, or staying even?
  • Is my opinion of the value of my home based on actual neighbourhood sale prices?
  • How many homes in my community are competing against mine right now and how does mine compare?
  • Have any neighbouring homes been on the market too long and if so, why?
  • Is my home consistent with, larger than, or smaller than the surrounding neighbourhood homes?
  • What improvements have I made since purchasing my home that will actually increase its value, which ones won’t?
  • Are my financial needs influencing my asking price – am I willing to price my home correctly and stand firm?
  • Is my original purchase price influencing my asking price?
  • Are the benefits of moving important enough to price my home at the current market value?
  • Am I selecting my REALTOR® representative on the basis of his value proposition or a price I want to hear?

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PRICING YOUR HOME TO SELL

It is critical to send the strongest signal possible to your prospective Buyers, to use the weakness of incorrectly priced competition to your advantage:

  • Faster Sale
    • When your home sells faster, you save on carrying costs, mortgage payments and other ownership costs.
  • Less Inconvenience
    • If you’ve moved before, you know the energy it takes to prepare for showings, keep your home clean, make child and pet care arrangements and alter your lifestyle. Correct pricing reduces this.
  • Exposure to more prospects
    • At market value, you open the availability of your home to those buyers who would not consider it if it was overpriced – buyers shop by price increments.
  • Increased REALTOR® response
    • When the real estate community is excited about your home and its price, they will make a special effort to contact their potential buyers and include your home in their showing tours.
  • Better response from advertising and sign calls
    • Ad and sign calls are more likely to turn into showings when price is not a deterrent.
  • Attracts higher offers
    • When a home is priced right, buyers are less likely to offer low out of fear of losing their “dream home”.
  • Means more money to you
    • If your home is priced right, the excitement of the market can produce a higher sale price resulting in your net proceeds being higher, and more money in your pocket!

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PRESENTATION or STAGING

More than ever, putting your home’s best foot forward is critical to a successful sale. In fact, it is suggested that within the first 15 to 20 seconds of arriving at your home a prospective buyer will form an opinion of the well-being and desirability of the home.

Home staging is all about making that first impression count. It is the process of creatively transforming your home into a highly marketable and competitive product.

This consultation will include a detailed written report which will outline the necessary and suggested changes that need to be made in your home in order to increase the chances of a successful sale.  

Home staging is made affordable for everyone by:

  • Offering "do it yourself" options how to prepare your home for sale
  • Providing an affordable, half-day service that transforms your home using only the belongings found in your home
  • Providing staging services on an hourly rate so that you are in control of your budget 
  • If necessary, providing low cost furniture rental alternatives
  • Offering home staging payment plan options
  • If requested, providing discounts on a wide variety of products and trade services

When Cinderella went to the ball,
she would not have won the hand of the Prince
if she had gone dressed as a maid!

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MARKETING

More than selling your home, our job is to market your home, to mount a comprehensive and multi-dimensional campaign that will reach out to both the real estate community as well as the buying public at large. This is the third and equally important cornerstone.

  • We know that more than 80% of home buyers commence their new home search electronically and our marketing plan will aggressively reach out to them
    • It will present your home electronically on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) of the Niagara Association of REALTORs, linking to REALTOR .ca and the world-wide real estate community.
    • Your home will be featured on our corporate site.
  • A custom designed, full-colour marketing brochure will be provided for point-of-sale distribution.
    • Most home tours include several properties which after a while blur into each other; we will make sure your home stands out.
  • Your home will be advertised in selected local print vehicles.

  • In the early stages of your listing a Public Open House can be an effective way of testing the market’s reaction to your offering and while fewer than 2% of homes sell at an open house, they can be useful and we are pleased to schedule, advertise, and coordinate an event. 

  • The availability of your home for easy showings is extremely important. Busy Sale Representatives may be reluctant to include homes in a showing tour which require them to “run around” collecting and returning keys. We recommend the use of a key-safe Lock Box to eliminate this potential obstacle and to make showings possible when you are out.

  • Be flexible with showing requests – it only takes one Buyer to get your home sold. Don’t make a showing request seem like an inconvenience. Showing appointments are arranged by our client coordinator who will follow your instructions in arranging buyer visits.

  • Following these visits we will attempt to determine how the showing went and provide you with feedback as it is given to us by the Buyer’s Representative.

  • The market is always in flux. During the time when your home is for sale and as may be appropriate, we will provide you with information regarding new offerings and recent sales which may influence the marketing of your home.

  • The “First Offer Rule” is very important. If you get an offer in the first few days or weeks the tendency is to try to hold out for a better one which is generally a mistake. Years of experience has taught us that the first offer is often the best.

While we have a wonderful, highly professional support staff we want you to think of us as your single point of contact. If you have questions or concerns; if there are some changes you think we should discuss, or if you are simply looking for insight – give us a call. If we don’t have an answer, I’ll find out.

Our job is to make the sale of your home as uncomplicated and enjoyable as is possible – to make life just a little easier for you. It’s our job to make things happen, and to build a relationship which is mutually rewarding and beneficial.

We are excited about the opportunity of working together and we are looking forward to earning the right to represent you with knowledge, patience, and understanding – dependably yours.          

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THE PARTNERSHIP IN BUYING AND SELLING

In business before buying, you direct your Purchasing Department to provide you with product and cost comparisons. Then based on the best and most complete intelligence, you move pro-actively confident that you can negotiate the very best deal. When selling, the Sales and Marketing Department provides you with competitive information and creates a coordinated campaign that will ensure the successful sale of your product.

When buying a home, think of yourself as the Director of Purchasing. Create a list of the elements which are mandatory and those on your “wish list” which you would like to have included – it is not a bad idea for you and your partner to make separate lists then compare notes, you will find many similarities but there may be a few important surprises!

Once you have completed the profile of your “new” home you need to hire and contract with a Buyer Representative whose responsibility it will be to identify a selection of appropriate homes. Because there evolves a close working relationship, your choice of representation may be critical to the success of your search. When interviewing prospective representatives, be sure that the chemistry is right and that there is a clear understanding of the goals you have set.

When selling, think of yourself as the Product Manager, your home as “the product” and your representative as the Sales and Marketing Department. In order to ensure the successful sell-through of “the product”, both parties have responsibilities. As Product Manager, you need to ensure that your home is attractively packaged and price-pointed correctly so that the Sales and Marketing Department can fulfill its mandate to mount a successful multi-dimensional marketing campaign, one to which all parties can be held accountable.

It is important to fully understand the market. Don’t look at it through an unrealistic prism rather be objective, compare your home to the competition and the most recent selling prices for those properties in your neighbourhood which are most like yours. If a pragmatic perspective suggests a disappointing result, remember that once your home has sold, you will be buying in the same market as selling and you should be able to make up the short-fall.