Realtor - Choosing and Pricing Strategies

Today, this is what you will need to choose a Realtor either to Sell your home thru or to buy a home.

First of all please get an agent that has experience in negotiating, researching, and has designations, CRS, ABR, CDPE, etc. this shows the agents regard for their industry by obtaining continuing education and expanding their knowledge in Real Estate as with time, quickly change in Financing, Marketing, Negotiating, Today's technology, Proper pricing of a property, in this Shifting Market.

I have been a full time Realtor since 1989 and I have been thru 2 recessions and have closed over 2000 sales and listings. Always require that the Agent prepare an extensive CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) so that you know what homes like yours are on the market currently for and selling for. That is so important. Show them what is selling on the market and what is not. You need to price your home to get IN the market. Please do not rely on an appraisal, past or current. Realtors know what is out in the marketplace as they are out their every day viewing and previewing properties. Make sure the agents your interview to list your home or buy a home thru is a student of MLS and using an Activity Index (also known as Hotness Inventory or Pending Ratio) or an Absorption Rate (also known as "Months of Inventory) analysis to show how long properties are taking to sell from their Original List date, which could be 2 or 3 years previous to listing with you, in this Shifting Market. Many are selling for 65-71% of the Original List price. Did you know that?  Your agent should.

In a Buyers Market, which we have been in for 2.5 years, the Buyers are spoiled for choice and will start prioritizing the deal, rather than the area or location. They are looking for opportunities at their price point wherever they may be. Sellers are not only competing against other properties in their neighborhood, but also against properties in the next neighborhood and the entire city, or even county. If you are only looking at Solds, it's like driving with your eyes on the review mirror. The Baby Boomer is not longer worried about school systems. They want what they want where and when the want it.  I am a boomer. In a buyers' market, real estate becomes a commodity- and the only defining feature of a commodity is its PRICE. If you bought stock last year and that stock was worth $49 per share and today you need to sell that same stock and it is now worth $25 per share, what could we sell it at? Twenty-five dollars is right!

Since we live in Charleston, SC and everyone has fishing on their brain....to relax. Here is another analogy. You can have the best bait, you can have the best boat, and you can have the best fishing equipment; however, if you throw the bait out of the boat and it goes down ten feet and the fish are down at forty feet, they're not going to bite. So what happens if you lower another ten feet? They’re still not going to bite because the fish are down forty feet. We keep lowering and all of a sudden, guess what, your bait is right in the middle of all those fish and you have a feeding frenzy. Pricing your house in this market is much like fishing - we can't see the fish so we keep lowering the bait until they hit. But be careful, because time is money. It will continue to cost you to live in the house a mortgage payment, Real Estate Taxes, Homeowners Insurance, Utilities, Lawn and garden upkeep, house cleaning, staging of the home, etc. Every month you are not realistic with your price and continuing to drop the bate down another 10 feet, it will cost you money and time and possibly more buyers or fish to bite.

The experience fisherman knows where the fish are and how to get them to bite quickly and reel them in. The fisherman that knows where they are and how deep they will need to drop the bait, will know when and where the fish are, to snag the first hungry fish. He uses a depth charger and a Realtor applies the MLS and other data to know where the buyers are.

Make sure your agent prepares a marketing piece for your home for the buyer to take with them. 4 Color brochures with photos inside and out, descriptions of each photo in the MLS and on the brochure, no less than 5 pages of information, features of the house and community. Include the Seller Disclosures as well. That way the buyer has something to look at when they go back to their hotel, home or out with their husband to show what they saw that day. The listings that have brochures are ones that sell quicker. Have you ever gone new car shopping and left the showroom without a brochure?  Probably not.

Buyers make sure your agent is pulling all data for the home you may be buying or building on that street and area. This will show if the area is in decline or holding steady. Review it with them before making an offer.  When the Realtor prepares your offer be sure to include comps of homes that you used to make the offer. This sometimes helps the seller to know where you are coming from. Because the Listing agent may not have done that at the time of listing or updating the sellers each month or sooner as to what the market was doing. It shows you have done your homework and care about your buyer’s investment. Your agent should be with you during the home inspection and the walkthrough prior to closing and at the closing table keeping you informed at all times.

Sellers your agents should look into the buyers financing with the lender they are using to make sure there are no hiccups along the way. That way you keep a pulse on the sale, financing & appraisal and you will know if it is not looking good for the buyers financing and to release them from the contract soon than later to get your house back on the market ASAP. The buyer can always come back and make another offer AFTER he has secured his financing. This should be done prior to even looking at a home. Underwriting guidelines are so very complex and strict today that anything can happen. Be alert and keep your Sellers informed. And do not have your seller move out of their home without a Letter from the Lender giving a written loan commitment. They are bound to that commitment if nothing changes with the credit or job history of the buyer.

If there are issues that come up in a home inspection, the agent should be the knowledgeable professional as to what resources to use to get a resolution to the problem. Remember, "It is only a problem if it doesn't have a solution".  Your agent should be pro-active and not re-active.

Call Pat Broghamer 843-725-8095 if you'd like to interview her for a Buyers Agent or Sellers Agent. She works hard so you don't have to.  

 Next Blog.....Short Sale and Foreclosure Buying or Selling with a qualified Agent! 

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