Why Work With A Real Estate Agent?

It is a legitimate question.  Why should you work with a Professional Real Estate Agent?

A qualified, competent real estate agent will help you understand all of decisions that have to be made when buying or selling a home. -Can show you what the pricing ought to be and clearly show you why.

Your qualified agent should provide value to you  in many ways. The services should be spelled out clearly for you. Each agent has their own style and marketing plan. Make sure you understand if it is a fit for you.

Sellers:

The biggest mistake a seller can make is listing  with the wrong agent.  Who is the right agent you ask? Well read the list below and see if your agent

-Can explain clearly the pluses and minuses of any offer
- Can show you how to properly prepare your home for the market - a good agent is honest with you about the changes you need to make in your home. Don't be offended be glad you have a professional on your side.
- Has  a Network of contacts to promote your property to other than "some agents" in their office
-Has a network of service professionals to handle anything that comes up during the sales process.
(Lending, home maintenance, gardeners, cleaners, insurance, tax and legal professionals)
- Can Advise you on what works and what does not in your particular market.
-Can deliver you a written plan of what they will do to sell your home. Your time is valuable you should not have to "guess" what your next steps are.
-Knows their numbers (sales and other listed comparable properties) forwards and backwards.

Three things that don't matter when hiring someone to sell your home:

1) Number of homes sold - When an agent tells you that they sell 100, 200 or 300 homes a year this is your first tip off that you are dealing with a large "team."  Instead of dealing with one person you will have to go through many assistants and handlers. The persons name on the sign in front of your home may never even see your property.  Some sales teams like this are quite accomplished. However, if personal relationships with the person who is selling your home are important to you, you might want to hold off on signing with one of these teams. Likewise, if the agent you are talking too can only show you 4-5 sales they may not be full time or active enough to get your home sold. Obviously there could be a specialized exception but be sure to ask if the number seems too low. A productive agent in most markets is selling between 24 and 40 homes per year.

2) Ads in the Newspaper of Glossy Magazines - Readership of these publications has fallen off a cliff in the last decade. If your listing agent does this it won't hurt anything but it is not a reason to list with someone and it is not going to sell your home in most cases.

3) A Large Franchise Name - Buyers NEVER ask who has the home listed. They either want to see it or they don't. Any agent that tries to sell you on their franchise is not doing you any service.  By their very nature Franchises are a loose conglomeration of privately held companies. Their "networks" will not likely help you get a buyer. Each franchise has strengths in different geographic areas.  This is of no help to you. Real Estate agents very rarely work outside their territories and unless your home is a unique or specialty property it will just be "a house" to someone not familiar with your area.

Buyers:

Here is your first clue that your agent may not be the best one for you. They put you directly in their car and take you to look at a house.  While this might meet your desire for instant gratification it is not the sign of a professional agent.

A good buyers agent is going to ask you questions. They are going to help you see what you are looking for, what you can afford and what is best suited to you.  Yes you will look at houses but rather than run through  dozens of homes that are not a fit for you you will see homes that are most likely a perfect fit for you.

When you are working with a professional buyers agent and they take you to a home you should either see a home that closely matches your needs or the agent should be able to



explain why they showed you this home.  It could be price, neighborhood or some other feature but it should be a valid reason for not matching your needs to the property.

Watch for the agents that listen to you and show you the right properties. Those are the winners that you want to work with.

Why You Should Never Be Home When your House Is Shown

Think about this for a second. No, really think about it! When you are buying a house you want to walk around the property and check it all out for yourself. You know what you like or don’t like. You are smart enough to ask questions if you don’t see something or don’t understand something.

Oh yes, I know as the seller you know your house forwards and backwards. You can – or think you can –point out all the really good features! But in the end you are in the way. Sorry to be blunt but it is just the truth. The buyers and the agents don’t want you there! It is not because they are going to open every drawer or look behind the sofa – or even talk bad about you. However, the buyer and their agent do need to converse freely about the pros and cons of the property for the buyers unique circumstances. This showing is make it or break it time for your sale so don’t blow it!

You may know a lot about your house but you don’t know this! So please – take the dog for a walk, run your errands, go to the post office, go grab a cup of coffee but please – we really need you to go! It will only take 15 minutes. Yes, that’s right with just a few

rare exceptions - the showing of your home will take between 12 and 15 minutes. Surely you can find something else to do for those 15 minutes!

Later….yes, much later ......if the buyer decides your home is the one then that is the right time to meet them and show them what is special to you about the home. You are paying the commissions to the agents for many reasons but one of those reasons is so that they can impartially “sell” your property to a prospective buyer.

When looking for Palm Springs Homes for sale be sure to visit www.PSAgent.com where you will find a totally AD free,

accurate search tool. No registering, no gimmicks no spam - just accurate Palm Springs Real Estate listings.

How Much Is MY Home Worth?

Find out with our 26 Point Max Home Value assessment...As a free service to you I will come to your home and complete my 26 point Maximum Home Value assessment. Just for letting me meet you and walk through your home I will leave you with a written report of what I think it will take to prepare your home for sale at the maximum current price.

You see, I work with so many buyers that, I can walk through any home and see it through the buyers eyes. I know what they will like and what will raise questions for them. Let me show you these things and you can have a more successful sale.

It will take about 30 minutes, depending on how many questions you have for me. No pressure no obligation - you receive free of charge the written plan to getting your home on the market and achieving top dollar in your sale.

How Do I Calculate How Much My Home is Worth?

The correct selling price of a home is the highest price that the market will bear. Many factors influence this price and those factors can change from month to month and year to year. It is important to talk with a Realtor who is actively working in your community to correctly determine the price of your home. Don't play guessing games with one of your largest assets. To assist you in determining the correct asking price we provide you with a comprehensive market analysis of comparable properties sold and offered for sale in your neighborhood. We educate you on the trends currently at play in the market and advise you on any special concerns in your area.

Simply email us, and we will provide you with a speedy response. There is no obligation, you have lots to gain and nothing to lose by contacting us soon.

Don't forget that knowing your homes current value is very

useful when it comes to insurance matters, tax issues and estate planning. With all the changes of the last five years it is time for you to take another look at this critical number.

Just one mundane example of this is the cost of installing a water heater. It has more than doubled to over $1200.  Just one example of the rising costs of replacement.

Recovery...Really, Is This The Best Time To Sell?

The last three or four months in California (well most of the state anyway) have been a heady return to the days of multiple offers. Declining inventories have lead to a mini frenzy on many properties. Prices have started to inch up. Don't worry, no one is going to get whiplash from the speed that they are rising but they are indeed rising a little. Homes that are in tip top shape sell first, followed by homes that need just a little work followed by great buys on big fixers in good areas.

[caption id="attachment_2151" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sales Surge In California[/caption]

This trend has bypassed  properties with high Homeowners fees, it has also excluded most condos - Single Family homes are the darlings of the current market.  Great prices on homes/condos have had the negative effect of making the HOA fees really jump up and hit buyers in the face.  Ironically, it is the best priced condos that often have the worst time of it. While many people will take a closer look at a nice condo for a mere $100-115 thousand they hit the pause button upon finding out that the monthly dues are over $400. At todays' historically low interest rate that is almost as much as the mortgage.

Many reports on the state of Real Estate focus endlessly on the numbers 49%-55% decreases in inventories year over year, and as mentioned earlier the modest surge in prices.  It would be easy to interpret this as a positive sign of a rejuvenated housing market.  Underlying these trends though some economists are pointing out, are the harder facts. Only about half of the homes purchased are being bought by primary home owners. That means the other half are being bought by investors that want to fix and flip or fix and rent.  The economist say this points to low demand despite record low interest rates consumers are not flocking to buy homes. The underlying economic conditions of growth in the economy and lack of jobs is holding the average home buyer back even with 3.5% interest rates!

The point here is not to say that all is lost. Movement in the market is still good. Banks still have years of work to do to reduce their foreclosed inventory. It is debatable how they will do that but that is for another blog post. Some new construction is starting to spring up or get restarted.  Inventory levels could change depending on these two segments alone.  It has been talked about lately, that the banks may start selling off their inventory in bulk sales. That could change the market drastically. Also, investors could shift gears. If they are unable to find tenants or buyers for their flips they won't be buying more. The economy could improve the only constant here is the fact that things will change.

This leads me to the point that I don't think should be missed. If you are in a position where you know you want to sell your home in the next 6 months, do not wait. Now is the time - seize the moment and do it now.  After almost 12 years in the business I can personally attest to the fact that in every market condition the market tends to shifts about every six months.  The shift could be availability of financing - inventory levels - consumer confidence or something as mundane as popular price points but it will shift.  We are drawing close to that six month window, sellers now is your moment.

This Month In Real Estate

Top 3 Home Improvements - This Month In Real Estate

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We often hear how important it is to get all the facts and check everything out when BUYING real estate but what about selling? A commonly overlooked component of SELLING your home is updating, staging and tweaking your home to appeal directly to buyers. Most of these items are simply and only require a little effort - but can pay off in a big way, your bottom line.

For more information on selling your home visit our Sellers Page at PSagent.com

July 2011 This Month In Real Estate Selling Your Home

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