Think of that time you put your son in swimming lessons and he got to be a great swimmer, in the pool. You’re feeling pretty confident, so you turn him loose at the beach only to see him get swept out in a rip current or battered by set of waves he can’t get out of. Real estate is like swimming. The mechanics are the same, but different conditions require different skill sets. Almost any real estate agent can put your house in the MLS, order photos, put a sign in the yard and wait for an offer. The difference is everything that happens before the listing goes live and everything your agent does after the offers start coming in.
For many of our clients, their home represents decades of work and a significant amount of their wealth. The equity you’ve built may be paying for your next home, creating more freedom in retirement, helping your family or simply giving you more choices about what comes next. We believe protecting that value deserves a thoughtful strategy. For example, in the event you are selling to buy, your deal will need to be reverse engineered, or have a reverse contingency, so you are not homeless in the event something happens with the property you are purchasing. These are the kind of details that come from planning and strategizing, before a sign is placed in your yard.
Strategy begins before anyone talks about a list price. What should you repair? What should you leave alone? Would professional staging make a difference? Are there small maintenance issues that could cause buyers to wonder what else hasn’t been maintained? Would spending $20,000 on an update actually return $20,000, or would you be better off keeping that money in your pocket? If we can get more than a dollar in sales price for every dollar we spend on updating, does it make sense to do some projects?
A good listing agent should be able to help you separate what will actually improve your sale from what simply costs you money. There are things we can do that will likely decrease your market time and increase your sales price.
Presentation is one of the things that can generate a great offer, quickly. Buyers don’t experience your home the way you do. They experience it for the first time through photographs, video, online marketing and eventually the front door. How the home is prepared, staged, photographed, described and introduced to the market can influence both how buyers perceive its value and how quickly they decide whether they want it.
Pricing deserves the same level of thought. The goal isn’t to choose the highest number you can and have an agent agree that you should “test the market;” you need honest, reliable advice. The goal isn’t to be $40,000 too high, so you have room to come down. The goal is to understand the market, the competing homes, the likely buyer, the condition of your property and how all of those pieces should influence your pricing strategy. A good agent knows getting an offer is the first step toward the finish line, not half the battle.
Price matters, but so does financing, contingencies, inspections, appraisal, closing dates, possession, repair requests and the likelihood that the buyer can actually make it to closing. Sometimes the highest offer isn’t the strongest offer. An experienced agent should help you understand the difference and negotiate the entire transaction, not simply the number at the top of the contract.
There will also be moments when something doesn’t go according to plan. An inspection uncovers a problem. An appraisal comes in low. A buyer gets nervous. A closing date needs to move. Those are the moments when experience, judgment and the ability to solve problems matter far more than not hurting your neighbor’s feelings when you did not hire her niece that dabbles in real estate when she’s not working at Costco.
You worked too hard to build the value in your home to treat its sale like a commodity.
You deserve someone who knows how to prepare it, position it, market it, negotiate it and protect your interests from the first conversation through closing.
You deserve more than someone who can list your house. You deserve someone who knows how to sell it and protect you in the process.
