Arch City Homes » Sellers

What is Important to Home Buyers and Sellers?

Karen Goodman — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:53:38 +0000

Yesterday I showed you the portions of Gary Keller’s Vision Speech from the 2010 Keller Williams Family Reunion which focused on the U.S. housing market and economic trends.

Gary also spent time discussing the results of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2009 buyer/seller survey.

I’ve read the entire NAR report, and Gary did a great job of pulling out the most important information.

The slide show presentation (click on the picture below to see the slide show) helps you understand what motivates home buyers and sellers. The information is useful not only for real estate agents who make a living selling homes, but also for home sellers who need make sure the marketing of their home reaches as many buyers as possible.

Highlights:

Home Buyers:

Over the last 10 years, almost half of the home buyers each year are first time buyers. The 2009 economy and incentives for first time buyers resulted in the highest percentage of 1st time buyers since 2001.
43% of buyers lived in their prior home for 5 years or less, but only 16% of them expected to live in their newly purchased home for 5 years or less.
The largest group of buyers start the home search process by looking on the internet for homes and information. The next largest group of buyers contacts a real estate agent to get started.
Home buyers are taking longer to select a home, with 2009 buyers averaging 12 weeks before they purchase.
About 9 in 10 buyers are using the internet and a real estate agent to help them find a home.
3 in 4 buyer found the home they purchased through the internet or their real estate agent.
Only 2% of buyers found their home from print advertising!
The most important information to buyers when they look for homes on websites are pictures and detailed information about the house.
The majority of buyers are searching for homes on sites that either offer an MLS search or all of the home listings in an area (including Realtor.com, agent and brokerage websites with home searches). My takeaway: in order to attract buyers to their website, agents MUST have an MLS search which provides a display which makes it easy to see large pictures and has detailed home information in a format that is easy to use!
With 77% of buyers using an agent in their home sale, and another 10% buying through a foreclosure or trustee sale, there are only 1 in 10 buyers purchasing market rate homes and NOT using an agent.
46% of buyers say the most important thing they want from their agent is help finding the right home to purchase, and 29% primarily want help with negotiating price or terms of the sale.
44% of buyers found their agent from a referral. With social media becoming the new way of networking, it is going to be even more critical that agents master the skills of interacting online.
With almost half of buyers stating reputation, honesty and trustworthiness being the most important factors in choosing an agent, the inevitable online rating systems of real estate agents will have a huge impact on the industry.
The vast majority of home buyers would recommend or use their agent again. Agents need to keep in touch with their former clients!

Home Sellers:

Though 88% of buyers said they would definitely or probably use their agent again, only 24% of sellers hired an agent they had used before. Let me repeat myself…agents need to keep in touch with their former clients!
2/3 of buyers and sellers only talk to one agent about their home purchase/sale. Agents need to keep in touch, and then be the first one to respond when a possible client expresses any interest in buying or selling!
Only 1 in 5 sellers think the most important thing their agent can help with is pricing the home competitively. Agents need to be selective in which homes they choose to list, or they may spend a lot of time working for free.
Just like home buyers, the most important factor to most sellers in choosing an agent is reputation, honesty and trustworthiness…online reviews are inevitable!
The number of homes successfully selling by an owner without a listing agent (FSBO), has slightly dropped since 2001.
While the median Sale Price to List Price ratio was 95%, about 1 in 4 sellers had to come down more than 10% in order to sell their home.
Buyer incentives don’t sell homes. Buyers purchase the home with the best features for the location with the BEST PRICE.

Check back for Part 3 of the Vision Speech presentation – Full Service vs. MLS only Discount Brokerages.

What is Important to Home Buyers and Sellers? is a post from: Arch City Homes

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Selling Condos Just Got Harder

Karen Goodman — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:05:14 +0000

Getting a loan to purchase a condo has always been harder than getting a loan to purchase a home.

Lenders want to know that they will get their money back if they must foreclose on the property at some point in the future. If they think there is a good chance that the value will drop, then the lender is much less likely to agree to give out a loan.

While the value of single family homes is affected by general market conditions and how well the property is maintained, condos have an added element that affects their value.

Condominium communities are much more affected as a group by what is happening to the other units in the development. Large numbers of rental units tend to lower the value of a community, since landlords don’t invest as much in updating their units as owners who live in their condo, and vacated rental units put up for sale have much more wear and tear than owner occupied units.

Conventional vs. FHA Loans:

There are two basic categories of loans that the vast majority of buyers can obtain for their home or condo purchase.

Conventional Loans – Buyers who have good credit, low debt to income ratios and the funds to put down a 5-10% down payment can get a conventional loan. Conventional loans may have fixed or adjustable interest rates and can range from 10-40 years in length. Since conventional loan buyers are less likely to stop paying their loan than FHA buyers, they get better interest rates and don’t have to pay mortgage insurance once they have 20% in equity on the property.
FHA Loans – Buyers who don’t meet the qualifications to get a conventional loan may qualify for a FHA loan. These loans have lower credit score minimums, require lower down payments and allow for higher debt to income ratios. Since these buyers have a higher risk for default, lenders charge a higher interest rate and buyers are required to pay mortgage insurance on the loan regardless of how much they are putting down. (NOTE: Some buyers who do qualify for conventional loans will find it is a better deal for them to get a FHA loan, so you should check both options if you are planning on purchasing a property)

Condos and FHA Loans:

Since condos often appeal to first time buyers who lack the funds for a big down payment, many condo buyers find that they can only qualify for a FHA loan.

In order for a buyer of a condo to get approved for a FHA loan, the complex must:

be FHA approved
no more than 50% of the units can be rental units
have a certain % of units which do not have a FHA loan attached to the unit

The condo association has no control over how many owners have FHA loans on their properties. However, condo associations can control if the complex has been approved and the number of rental units.

In the past, if a complex had not gone through the process to obtain FHA approval, then a lender could arrange for a spot approval for the unit being sold.

As of February 1, 2010, FHA no longer offers spot approvals for condos.

How Does the Elimination of FHA Spot Approvals Affect Homeowners?

Bottom line…if a condo complex has not been FHA approved, it means that no buyer can get a FHA loan to buy a condo in that community.

If you own a condo that is valued below $250,000, the vast majority of buyers are going to need to get an FHA loan to purchase, and that means that they won’t be able to buy your condo if you tried to sell.

Fix the Problem Now Rather than Waiting until You want to Sell:

If you live in a condo community, you need to know if your association has obtained approval. You can check the link here to see if your community is on the FHA list.

HUD Website – FHA Condo Approved List

You can also call your association trustee or management company and ask them if your complex is approved.

If the community is not approved, you need to insist that they apply to get approval unless your community clearly doesn’t meet the approval guidelines. The process may take 6-8 weeks to obtain approval, so don’t wait until you want to sell or you may find yourself with a contract that falls apart rather than closes.

It is also a good idea to know if you are close to the 50% rental rate. If you are, you may want to consider changing the community rules & indentures to cap the percentage of rental units allowed in the community.

Not planning on moving anytime soon…the value of your condo is affected by sales that happen now. If your neighbors have trouble selling because they can’t sell to a buyer who needs a FHA loan, then they will sell for less, and your condo’s value will drop.

Protect your investment and get your complex approved regardless of whether you plan to stay or sell.

Selling Condos Just Got Harder is a post from: Arch City Homes

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New Arch City Homes Feature: Zoom-able Home Pictures

Karen Goodman — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:28:49 +0000

Technology and the internet has completely changed how real estate listings are marketed and sold.

Long gone are the days when buyers must go through a real estate agent in order to get information about homes for sale. Online listings and tax records, digital cameras, aerial mapping and sites like Zillow have changed the game.

Technology has also leveled the playing field so that an agent doesn’t have to go with the company that places a full page color ad in the local newspaper every Sunday. Technology is available for every agent who is paying attention which will give them a cutting edge over the rest of the agents who wonder why the old methods don’t seem to be working anymore.

It’s All About the Pictures:

Originally, the MLS system was simply a way for agents to share all of the local listings and offer compensation to each other in order to find a buyer for each listing. The listings were published weekly in thick books that were available only to agents. The books were filled with real estate jargon and didn’t have any pictures.

Today, MLS listings are now online and available to the public through agent and broker websites and national sites like Realtor.com. Digital cameras in the hands of agents mean that just about every listing now has at least a couple of pictures. The good ones have tons of pictures. The best listings had those pictures taken by a professional photographer.

New Technology Tool Let’s You Zoom in to See More Detail:

A few months ago I discovered a new tool which allows users to upload pictures and turn them into zoom-able images. I immediately tried it out on a picture that I took of Winslow’s Home in University City. Winslow’s is a general store and cafe that is a throw back to the past. It was a perfect choice to try out my new tool.

Give it a try. Click on the icon on the top right corner of the image above. Place your cursor anywhere in the picture and just zoom in or drag the picture in any direction. Zoom around to see what is on the shelves and take a close look at the tin ceiling. Hit your ESC button when you are done to come back to this post.

Zoom-able Pictures and Real Estate:

I don’t think I need to explain the impact that a zoom-able picture would have for a buyer seriously considering a home. Of course, pictures taken in low resolution can only be zoomed so much. I recently discovered a new photographer and am thrilled with the pictures she took for my Kirkwood condo listing. I have to believe that the fabulous pictures played a part in getting multiple competing offers and having it sold in only 10 days…in November! Closr.it lets us take the pictures to the next level by letting buyers see the little details that normal online pictures just don’t display.

Moving forward, you can expect to see some zoom-able pictures on each of my listings.

Someday, every online picture may be zoom-able. For now, these images can only be embedded on blogs.

It’s just one more reason that sellers should hire an agent who is using the latest technology to sell their home.

New Arch City Homes Feature: Zoom-able Home Pictures is a post from: Arch City Homes

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Marketing Homes for Sale with Video Tours

Karen Goodman — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:52:33 +0000

Recently I started experimenting with using video to promote homes and condos for sale.

Virtual Tour Options:

A few years ago, tech savvy agents started adding 360° virtual tours to their listings. If you haven’t seen any of them, the basic concept is that a video camera is placed in the center of a room and slowly pans so you get a complete view of the room.

There were a couple of problems with these virtual tours. They were really expensive so agents only hired videographers to do the virtual tour on a couple of rooms. The rooms were often distorted, so it was hard to get a feel for the true size of the room. Though these virtual tours were a nice perk to have on a listing, the bottom line was that they didn’t sell more homes and most agents stopped using them because the cost wasn’t justified.

When you click on a listing today and see a link for a “Virtual Tour”, you will typically find a photo slide show with shifting pictures set to music. I set up a slide show for each of my listings.

Most sellers expect a virtual tour, and since there isn’t any added cost, I’m happy to obligue.

However, slide shows with shifting pictures don’t add any new information for a potential home buyer.

In St. Louis, real estate agents are allowed to include up to 99 pictures in the MLS listing and add captions to each picture. So, other than some pretty music, these slide shows don’t add any value to the home sale listing.

Video Tours to Market Homes for Sale:

Video tours give buyers a piece of information that they can’t get from pictures and marketing remarks. Video allows you to see the flow of one room to the next. Video can also let you see small details that would be overlooked in the regular pictures. I’m not going to upload a picture of a ceramic tile floor in a bathroom to one of my MLS listings, but I can easily capture the floor in a video.

Video also allows me to showcase the community.

I can include shots of nearby recreation, parks and shopping districts. MLS rules in St. Louis don’t allow us to include any pictures other than the home for sale or subdivision/complex amenities, so there is no way to SHOW a buyer what the shopping district looks like or the amazing park 2 blocks away.

My videos give buyers the information they need to get excited about a property. I show them how one room flows to the next and include important details such as walk-in closets and laundry rooms. Then I finish off with a quick overview of what they will find in their new community.

I’ve only shot a few of these videos, and I’m learning more about what to do and what NOT to do with each one. I know these are not polished shoots, but then again, I don’t think my clients want to pay a higher commission so that I can have a professional video created for their homes.

All I know is that if I was a buyer, I would happily live through a so-so video if it meant that I got more information about a property.

Check out my first few attempts at video tours.

If you were a buyer, would a video like this help you decide if you wanted to go see a home?

Marketing Homes for Sale with Video Tours is a post from: Arch City Homes

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Homes for Sale Now Syndicated to 30+ Websites

Karen Goodman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:36:09 +0000

Almost all home buyers actively search for homes on the internet. But since every buyer doesn’t go to the same website, it is important that homes for sale are listed on as many real estate sites as possible.

My listings have always been submitted to many of the top internet sites where buyers search for homes. They have been marketed on:

Plus, my listings get extra extra exposure through my upgraded Realtor.com account. And of course, they are listed on every St. Louis area company or agent website that displays MLS listings.

New and Improved Marketing:

Through a partnership with Point 2 Homes, all of my listings are now advertised on over 30 websites. Point 2 Homes stays on top of new real estate websites hitting the marketplace, and continually updates the list of syndication partners.

When I take on a home sale listing, I guarantee that any buyer searching for homes on the internet will find it...regardless of where a buyer spends time searching for homes.

Homes for Sale Now Syndicated to 30+ Websites is a post from: Arch City Homes

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Invite the Neighors to Your Open House

Karen Goodman — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:16:02 +0000

I have to admit that I used to be one of those agents who said that real estate open houses are a waste of time because they just draw nosy neighbors and random people who happen to stumble past the open house signs. Since neither of these groups are buyer candidates, open houses just didn’t seem worth the time.

I still strongly believe that the occasional buyer who hears about an open house and stops by to take a look would have scheduled an appointment anyway if the online information looked promising.

A New Perspective

An agent in my office recently convinced me that there is another reason to hold an open house. Those nosy neighbors just might have a friend who would be interested in moving into the subdivision. This agent talked about knocking on the doors of neighbors to invite them to the open house.

She recently had a successful open house filled with neighbors when some real buyers walked through the door. The crowded property gave the buyers a sense of urgency. She ended up with a contract and sold the home.

I decided to give it a try for my Ballwin condo’s open house scheduled this Sunday, 9/13/09, from 12-2 pm.

Take a look at the video below explaining my twist on knocking on neighbor’s doors.

And yes, I know I should tone down the hand gestures. This is my very first video post, so I was a tad nervous. I promise to post more videos and they will hopefully get better over time.

Invite the Neighors to Your Open House is a post from: Arch City Homes

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5 Things that Every FSBO Seller Needs

Karen Goodman — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:32:59 +0000

A lot of real estate agents will tell you that anyone who tries to sell their home on their own is being foolish. I disagree.

Most sellers DO need professional advice in order to sell their home. And most sellers that try to sell “For Sale By Owner” or FSBO…either give up or eventually hire an agent to assist them.

But, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people that successfully sell their home on their own. If you do decide to jump into the FSBO market, there are a few things you’ll need.

5 Things that Every FSBO Seller Needs

1. Combination Lock Box

One of the biggest challenges for FSBO sellers is giving buyer’s agents access to their home. Many FSBO sellers insist that they need to be home for every showing.

Buyers feel uncomfortable looking at a home with the seller looking over their shoulders. Even if the seller steps outside, the buyer is acutely aware that the seller is paying close attention to how long the buyer spends in the home. Buyers tend to leave much more quickly if the seller is nearby. Often, they transfer their discomfort to the home, and leave with a negative impression.

In addition, most sellers simply aren’t available to leave work with short notice to run home to meet a buyer’s agent that wants to show the house in the next hour. Sellers who assume that the buyer will come when it is convenient for them are being foolish. All it takes is one house that the buyer really likes, and the buyer will have bought a house before making it back to the FSBO property.

The solution to this problem is simple. FSBO sellers should purchase a combination lock box for the house keys. When an agent calls, they can give the agent easy access to show the home privately. But don’t fall prey to thieves posing as an agent. When an agent calls, I recommend that you take the agent’s name, office and main office phone number, along with their cell number. Before giving out the combination, make a quick call to the main office to confirm that the agent really works there.

2. Yard Signs

This one is pretty obvious. If you are going to sell your house, you need a sign in your yard plus at every nearby intersection pointing towards your house. Buy plenty of extra signs too. You would be amazed at how quickly the arrow signs at intersections disappear.

One of the biggest challenges for FSBO sellers is to get the word out about their house to all of the available buyers. Every potential buyer won’t be driving by the subdivision, but it’s a must-have if you are going it on your own and not getting the exposure of the MLS.

3. Vacuum Cleaner

You might wonder why I’m including a vacuum cleaner in this list. Simple. In order for a house to sell for the highest possible price, it needs to be in spotless condition for every buyer showing.

That means you are going to be doing a lot of vacuuming. Often, you’ll be pulling out that vacuum and scrambling to get the house looking perfect with just a few minutes to spare. It would be nice if every buyer’s agent gave you 24 hours notice, but the reality is that most of them will call only 1-2 hours before they want to show a home.

If your vacuum cleaner has seen better days, it might be time to invest in a new one before you list your home.

4. Digital Camera

This one might seem obvious. But you need a camera that not only takes digital pictures, but takes GOOD digital images!

I use a Canon PowerShot Camera that is a couple of years old. It takes amazing pictures that are often just as good as the ones taken by professional photographers.

If you are getting ready to list your home for sale, good pictures are critical. It might be the right time to upgrade your camera.

5. All- in-One Color Printer & Fax

Now that you have a good digital camera with great photos of your home, you will need to print some color fliers. Actually, you will need to print a LOT of fliers. Since you won’t be advertising on the MLS, you’ll want to pick up a flyer box to go with your yard sign and keep it well stocked.

You could go to your office every time you need fliers, or head over to your nearest copy center. But, it really is much more convenient to have the ability to print more fliers as soon as you run out.

And, you’ll also want to be prepared for a contract by having a way to send & receive faxes at home. If a contract comes in over the weekend or late at night, it is so much more convenient if you have a home fax. Prices on home faxes have really come down, so they are affordable now for most people. I use a Brother All-in-One Printer that handles printing, faxing, scanning and copies. Plus, it’s wireless so I can print from my laptop anywhere in the house.

(Disclosure: I recently signed up with Amazon’s affiliate program to help offset the costs of this website. If you click through on one of the ads or links on this site to Amazon, I will be paid a very nominal amount…change more likely than dollars. I would never recommend to my site visitors that they buy something that I don’t think they need just to earn a buck. But, if you do decide to buy one of the items above and feel this article was helpful in making that decision, I hope you will click through and help me defray my website management costs.)

5 Things that Every FSBO Seller Needs is a post from: Arch City Homes

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Marketing Home Listings Using Social Media & Twitter

Karen Goodman — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:02:00 +0000

The Call Every Agent Wants to Get

A couple of weeks ago I got the phone call that every Realtor using social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) wants to get.

I answered the phone and Jenny opened with “Hello, I follow you on Twitter.”

It turns out that Jenny had her condo for sale listed with a real estate agent for about 3 weeks and she just wasn’t happy. Her agent wasn’t responsive to her questions and didn’t seem to be doing anything to market the property. He suggested she take the pictures of her condo herself because he didn’t have a good enough digital camera. She even wrote the marketing remarks for her MLS listing.

When she told her agent that she wanted him to market the condo using social media, he told her that he didn’t do that.

Wow!

When she continued pressing him, asking what he was going to do to get some showings and the condo sold, he told her to drop the price. She was willing to consider a price reduction, but only after some solid marketing had been executed which proved that the condo wasn’t going to sell at the current price. When she kept pushing, he suggested that she might prefer to use another agent and he was willing to cancel the listing.

Wow again!

It’s hard to believe that there are agents so willing to walk away from business simply because they are expected to actually do some work for the commission!

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He is a part-time agent with a full time day job. He has managed to sell three properties in a couple of years. According to Jenny, 2 of the homes he sold were owned by relatives.

Agents like this give all of us a bad name. I welcome the day when real estate brokers set some standards and refuse to hire agents that aren’t effective at marketing and selling homes.

Effective Marketing Using Social Media

If you have your home on the market or are planning on hiring an agent, you should definitely ask your agent if they will be using social media to market the home. If they don’t know what social media is, you should look for another agent.

But anyone can sign up for a Twitter account.

Just because your agent has a Twitter account doesn’t mean that anyone is listening.

Many real estate agents have just a few followers (similar to friends on Facebook…which means that these are the people that get notified when a status update is posted). Even more tweeting agents have a large number of out of town Realtor followers.

I’m not discounting networking with others in your field as a valid use of Twitter, but a Phoenix real estate agent isn’t going to have a buyer for Jenny’s O’Fallon, MO condo.

I’ve worked hard at targeting my efforts on Twitter towards St. Louis people. A few of them are other agents, which is a good thing since they may have a buyer for one of my listings. But the vast majority of my followers are just regular people living in the St. Louis region. And each one of these people has friends and relatives who may be looking for a new home.

I joined Twitter in December, and my follower count continues to grow organically at a steady pace. I have to thank Todd Jordan (@tojosan) for helped me get past being overwhelmed by Twitter at the St. Louis BarCamp where I met him. Todd also gave me my first boost by asking his followers to follow me.

Since then, I’ve gotten involved in the local social media scene attending tweetups (gatherings of people using Twitter at local restaurants and bars) and making real-life connections. Since it is natural to pay closer attention to the posts made by people you know, attending events were I meet the people on Twitter who follow me is critical to effectively using Twitter to market homes for sale.

Questions to Ask Your Agent

Here are some questions you may want to ask your real estate agent about their use of social media and Twitter:

Do you use Social Media to market your listings? Which sites?
Who are the typical people that follow your updates?
How many followers/friends/connections do you have on these sites?
Do you attend events where you meet your Twitter/LinkedIn connections in person?
What is your Twitter (or Facebook/LinkedIn) ID?

Then look up the agent and see for yourself what they really are doing on these sites.

What Exactly Is Social Media?

Before you ask your agent questions about social media, it is a good idea for you to understand what it is.

In a nutshell, social media is the concept that news and information is no longer controlled by a limited number of content producers with a silent audience.

Anyone can now publish information to the internet via blogs, video sharing sites (YouTube), picture sharing sites (Flickr), and leave comments or ratings on news stories/products (CNN, Amazon). Websites have been created just to allow people to network with other people and have conversations about shared interests (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn).

Take a look at the social media slide show and Commoncraft video below for two good explanations of social media.

Social Media made easy

View more presentations from David Cushman.

Marketing Home Listings Using Social Media & Twitter is a post from: Arch City Homes

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Marketing Homes for Sale in the Internet Era

Karen Goodman — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:35:14 +0000

It amazes me that so many real estate agents think that all they need to do to market their listings is to put the home on the MLS.

Though most buyers are working with a real estate agent when they are ready to buy a home, the vast majority of them continue looking on public websites scouring the sites for new listings that may have slipped through the cracks.

When I start working with a buyer, I set them up for a automatic MLS search that continually checks for new listings that meet their criteria. However, I also encourage them to take a look at the Home Search on my website which allows them to search for St. Louis homes for sale on their own. There is even an option that lets visitors find foreclosures using a map search.

Marketing in the Internet Era

Since buyers are searching for homes all over the internet, it’s important that my listings are advertised everywhere that buyers will search. My listings automatically show up on EVERY St. Louis area agent and real estate company website that displays MLS listings (meaning you WILL find my home listings on Coldwell Banker Gundaker, Prudential and Re/Max websites!)

I also realize that sometimes buyers find homes because a friend or relative saw an ad and thought of them. In order to reach the people that aren’t actively looking for homes, I post information about my listings to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Single Property Websites:

Each one of my home listings get’s a single property website through vFlyer. Not only am I able to direct people on Twitter and Facebook to these sites to check out my listings, but vFlyer uses the information I enter to syndicate the ad to all of the top real estate advertising sites including Zillow, Yahoo, Oodle and Trulia. Plus, vFlyer gives me a modified version of the website so I can post eye-catching ads to craigslist (which I post twice a week!).

The site even gives me a profile page which shows the vFlyers for all of my current listings.

Virtual Tours:

Each of my listings also gets a virtual tour. The virtual tours are featured on the MLS and my website home search, plus can be used to promote the listing on Twitter and Facebook.

Realtor.com Upgraded Listings:

Home listings that have multiple pictures get more attention from buyers than listings without any pictures or only a few pictures. Since Realtor.com is one of the most visited consumer real estate websites, I pay for an upgraded account so that my homes for sale display large pictures, and more of them, along with allowing me to customize the listings with additional information.

Plus, every time one of my listed homes is opened, all of my other homes for sale are prominently featured in a sidebar.

(Yes…I haven’t figured out how to scroll down the page when creating a screen shot to show you the whole thing!)

These upgrades definitely gain my listings additional attention. I can even track the results of how the ads are doing. My St. Peters ranch at 981 Whispering Hills, only on the market for 22 days, has gotten lots of attention on Realtor.com.

Advertising on the Internet Isn’t Optional

The time when you could just enter a home for sale into the MLS and wait for buyers is gone. Buyers are no longer simply relying on their agent to identify homes they might like. They are actively involved in the process, searching all over the internet.

If you are selling your home, you need to make sure that your home listing is showing up wherever buyers might be.

Make sure that your home is on the major sites…and go see what the ad looks like for yourself. Do a search on Trulia, Oodle, Zillow and Realtor.com. Even better, Google your street address putting the address in quotes to see what comes up (such as “981 Whispering Ridge”).

If your agent isn’t advertising your home all over the internet, you might want to consider finding a new agent. If you are in the St. Louis area and need an agent to help you sell your home, I’d welcome a chance to talk with you about the additional services I provide for my listing clients. In the meantime, check out my FAQ for Sellers.

Marketing Homes for Sale in the Internet Era is a post from: Arch City Homes

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20 Tips for FSBO Sellers

Karen Goodman — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:25:25 +0000

The odds are against you selling a home without hiring an agent to assist you.

Still, there are always people that want to try, and each year some of them succeed. If you are going to try to sell your home on your own, take a look at my 20 Tips for FSBO Sellers below.

I really hope these tips will help you beat the odds and get your home sold.

Why would I want to help a FSBO seller?

1. FSBO homes that sell under value hurt the value of the neighboring homes, and one of those homes could be my listing.

Often homes that are sold FSBO end up selling for below market value due to a homeowner’s lack of knowledge of the process or limited access to a large buyer pool. The result of a home selling under value is the lowering of the value of all of the nearby homeowners since the price becomes a comp that future buyers will use to justify a low offer.

By helping FSBO sellers sell quickly, and for a higher price, I’m helping my own listing clients when they are ready to sell by helping to set the price for the subdivision where it belongs.

2. Your FSBO house might just be perfect for one of my buyers.

I work with buyers that are looking for homes all over town. At times, I have buyers that have seen everything on the market but haven’t found a house that they are willing to purchase.

Often FSBO sellers do things that turn off buyers. If I bring my buyer to your house, I’m truly hoping that my buyer will like it and we’ll be able to work together so that my buyer can purchase it from you. But, if you don’t follow some basic home seller rules, the likelihood that my buyer will like your house is almost ZERO.

3. If you do decide to hire an agent at some point in the future, I hope you’ll include me as one of the agents that you consider for the job.

I’m hoping that you’ll find the information that I’m providing to you helpful and effective. After giving it a try on your own, if you do decide that you want to hire an agent, I’m hoping that what you have learned here and throughout this website will convince you that I should be one of the agents that you interview to be your listing agent. (If you don’t live in the St. Louis region, I will be happy to help you screen local agents so you can make sure you are hiring a top-notch agent. In exchange I’ll earn a small referral fee and you’ll get a great agent.)

20 Tips to Help Get Your Home Sold:

1. Price the house right

Interview a few real estate agents to find out what they recommend you list the house for and to see the neighborhood comps. Most buyers are working with agents, so they will have easy access to this information. If you are priced too high, buyers will know it.

2. Advertise on the Internet

87% of surveyed buyers state that they search for homes on the internet. Most of them are focusing on agent or broker sites that gives them all MLS listed properties, or are searching on Realtor.com (owned by National Association of Realtors and only includes MLS listed properties).

However, only 40% of homes sold by FSBO sellers to buyers that they did not know were advertising on the internet.

You are already losing exposure by not being included on the MLS properties search websites. With only 19% of buyers looking at online FSBO websites and only 11% searching for homes in the newspaper websites, it is critical you post your home listing on every real estate listing site that you can.

3. Offer to pay a buyer’s agent commission

88% of home buyers used a real estate agent to assist them in their purchase of a resale home.

Real estate agents provide their services at no cost to the buyers. When a home sale closes, the seller pays a commission to the real estate company that listed their home. A portion of that commission is paid to the buyer’s real estate brokerage. Each broker pays a portion of the commission they received to the agent working the deal.

If almost all buyers are working with agents, and buyer’s agents don’t get paid unless a commission is paid by the seller, they won’t be showing your home. I’ve worked with hundreds of buyers, and only a few were willing to buy a house without an agent’s assistance. If they found a FSBO house and the owner wasn’t willing to pay a commission, they didn’t even want to see the house.

Are there buyers that would still come see a FSBO house even if the owner wouldn’t pay the buyer’s agent commission? Sure. But, by eliminating the vast majority of buyers, you are shrinking your buyer pool and it is more likely that it will take a long time to sell or you’ll have to take a lower price.

4. Put a lock box on your house

Weekday showings capture the some of the best buyers, relocating buyers. They usually fly in for a house hunting trip for a few days, often during the week, and need to find a home before they leave. Most showing appointments are scheduled by agents after 9 am for the same day as the showing.

If you can only show your house in the evenings, weekends or with plenty of advance notice, you’ll miss the majority of motivated buyers.

Of course, you if you are contacted by a buyer that doesn’t have an agent, you should plan to be home for the showing. Otherwise you are inviting strangers into your homes that won’t be accompanied by a professional that is required to abide by the Realtor code of ethics.

5. Make yourself scarce

If you have to be home when a buyer is looking at your home, let them explore the home on their own. Buyers need to imagine the house as their house, and need to be able to discuss your house while they are walking through it. If you are leading them on a tour, following them around, or hovering in the background, they’ll feel uncomfortable. They won’t open closets or look inside the kitchen cabinets. They won’t discuss how their furniture will fit in the house, and what changes they would want to make.

If you want to sell your house and can’t leave, go sit on the front porch or on the back deck. Better yet, take a walk down the street and let them know that they can just leave the door unlocked when they leave. Keep an eye on the house and don’t return until they leave.

Concerned about strangers walking around your home by themselves? One of the advantages of hiring an agent is that your agent will meet any buyers that don’t have their own agent so that the buyers can look around without the homeowners home.

6. Put away anything valuable

If you follow my advice above about making yourself scarce, you don’t want anything valuable that could be easily stolen. You are going to move anyway, so go ahead and get the valuables boxed up for the move. Jewelry and other small valuables should be well hidden in the house.

In addition, make sure you maintain accident and contents insurance. You never know when someone might get hurt falling off the deck or accidentally break one of your treasures.

7. Put out lots of signs

Since you won’t get seen by most buyers that are searching the MLS on the internet, you need to have out as many signs as possible so people looking in the area can find you. Plan to stock up since arrow signs seem to disappear pretty quickly.

Be sure to check municipal and subdivision rules for signs that are located at the subdivision entrances and the arrow signs pointing people to your house. Many areas do not allow signs that are not on your own property.

If you can’t put a sign out by the closest busy street, or you don’t live on the busy street, you should really evaluate if you can drive enough traffic to your house simply on your advertising.

8. Put out a brochure box and prepare to make tons of copies

Since buyers and buyer’s agents don’t have a way to look up your house on the internet simply by looking up your address on the MLS, you need to have fliers outside with the price, pictures and highlights of the home. Give them a reason to give you a call.

Even better, buy an internet domain name for your house, set up a website, and advertise it on your sign. Give them a way to see that your house is so great that they need to call you.

9. Schedule an open house every weekend

Open houses rarely are effective at finding the buyer, but without the exposure of the MLS, FSBO sellers need to take advantage of everything that they can. Make sure you put lots of open house signs out the day of the open house (if your municipality allows them). Otherwise you’ll need to pay for advertising in the local paper. Make sure you advertise on craigslist too.

Try not to get too discouraged when you don’t get many people coming through. You’ll probably find that most people attending open houses are nosy neighbors or curious folks just driving by (but not really in the market to buy a home now). You’ll also probably get your share of agents that are going to try to talk you into giving them the listing. You won’t find me bothering you at an open house unless I have a real buyer that might be interested in it, but lots of agents that don’t have enough business will try to drum up business by visiting open houses.

10. Return all calls PROMPTLY

Agents often schedule their appointments only an hour or two before they are ready to go show properties. If you don’t return their calls right away, they will just scratch your house off the list and may never call back to reschedule.

I’ve often tried to show FBSO properties, but not gotten my calls returned until days later after my clients had left town.

11. Keep your house spotless…ALL THE TIME

You never know when someone is going to want to see your house in an hour, or will even just knock on your door. If you turn away a buyer because it isn’t clean enough to show well, the buyer might not come back. And, if you show it when it is a mess, you’ll likely lose the buyer anyway since most buyers can’t see beyond clutter and dirt.

12. Do not allow any smoking inside the house

And hide all the outside ashtrays/butts. Buyers that aren’t smokers are REALLY sensitive to a smell of smoke and will almost never buy a home that smells of smoke. Even buyers that are smokers will often state that they don’t smoke in their house, and don’t want a house that smells of smoke.

If your house already smells like smoke (ask a non-smoker friend for a candid opinion), do everything you can to get rid of the smell. Clean the carpets, draperies and bedspreads. Paint if you must. If you can’t get rid of the smoke odor, you’ll sell for a big discount.

13. Confine dogs to a cage

Every time you leave the house, you should have dogs contained so you can agree to last minute showings. If you can get home to pick up your dogs with very little notice, it’s even better if you can get them out of the house. If you must stay home during showings, don’t just assume that people that aren’t afraid of dogs want your dog to follow them around or jump on them. Put the dog outside or put it on a lease and keep it with you.

An alternative to putting a dog in a cage is to use a baby-gate and confine the dog to a laundry room or small bedroom with the door open. This will allow people to look inside the room, but will keep the dog from scaring them away.

It’s ok to leave cats loose in the house. Just make sure you put a note on the exterior doors to remind people not to let the cats out.

14. Make repairs and cosmetic updates before listing

Buyers are very critical of homes that appear to need repairs or maintenance. Most buyers can’t imagine what a house would look like with a new counter top or different paint colors. If they do make an offer on a house that looks worn, expect a low offer.

15. Provide a seller’s disclosure

Most buyers will feel much more comfortable buying a home if you are upfront about the problems you’ve had and the steps you’ve taken to fix them. There could also be legal repercussions if you don’t disclose material defects that you are aware of that might influence a buyer’s decision to purchase or the price they would offer.

16. Get municipal inspections before you put your home on the market

Many areas, including unincorporated St. Louis County, require municipal inspections at the time of a home sale before a new owner may occupy a property. Unless you are selling as-is, it is expected by buyers that you will provide a passed municipal inspection. If you are going to have to do the work anyway, you might as well get credit for it when you show the house. You’ll also have a better idea of your repair costs and will be able to more accurately plan the net proceeds when you agree to a purchase price.

17. Be aware of everything that you will need to do once you do get an accepted contract

There are a lot of details that need to happen after you find a buyer and negotiate a contract to make sure that the deal closes and you protect yourself legally.

You’ll need to understand issues related to financing, appraisals, inspections, title, survey and closing. Hiring a lawyer can be a help for contract negotiations, but they typically don’t get involved in the numerous contract details. If you do have them assist you every step of the way, make sure you understand what their fees will be.

18. Expect to make some repairs after the buyer gets inspections

Just like the municipal inspections, buyers expect that you’ll make repairs on items that don’t pass their inspection unless you are selling as-is. Real estate agents are good at educating their clients on what is considered reasonable for buyers to ask sellers to fix. If you have any friends that are real estate agents, it would be helpful to talk with them about what most buyers expect before just saying no to a buyer’s request and risk having the contract fall apart.

19. Keep your home in great condition until closing day

Most home sale contacts state that the house will be in the same condition on closing day as it is on the day of the contract. If you don’t keep the house in good condition, your buyer may refuse to close or may try to renegotiate the terms at the last minute to make up for additional damage.

20. Move out completely prior to closing day

There is something called a final walk-through, and if you aren’t careful, you could have your deal fall apart on closing day. Get everything moved out by the day before closing and clean the house. Don’t give the buyer any reason to make a fuss at the condition of the house only hours before the deal is supposed to close.

For more tips, don’t miss my FAQ for sellers.

Contact Me to Add Your Home to my FSBO List:

Feel free to contact me at any time while you are trying to sell on your own.

I’ll be happy to answer your questions about selling FSBO. You can be assured that I’ll respect your wishes as far as contacting you. If you don’t want me to email or call you, you won’t hear a peep from me. On the other hand, I’ll be happy to touch base periodically if you would like to have someone to check in periodically to answer your questions.

I work with buyers in all price points all across town, and would love to add your home to my FSBO list.

The REALTOR© code of ethics prohibits me from advertising your home on my website if I don’t have a listing agreement with you, so I can’t publish the details on this website.

However, my goal is to help my buyers find the best home out there that meets their needs. Maybe that is YOUR HOME!

Send me an email or give me a call to tell me about it!

20 Tips for FSBO Sellers is a post from: Arch City Homes

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