In the Real Estate market we are in, and have been for a few years, everyone is aware that the time to sell their home is longer now. But, just becuase it is taking on average of six months or longer to sell a home; do you need to be locked in with a Realtor for that time period? Or can you cut your contract early without penalty and go with another Realtor?
The other day I talked with a couple who had their home on the market. They said that the Realtor was unresponsive to phone calls, e-mails and never told them what came out of the showings they had on the house. They could not wait for the listing to expire so that they could find another Realtor. Now, this may not be the norm among Realtors; but seems to becoming more common here in the Charlotte market. My first question I asked them after listening to their story was "Why did you not fire the Realtor?" They did not think they could fire the Realtor and was just waiting it out to the end of the contract.
This led me to the question; Why sign a long term contract (this scenario was a one year contract) and not ask if you can get out of it early? Most sellers do not realize they can cancel the contract. If the realtor did not do what he/she said they were going to do in the contract; they breached. That in itself is sufficient grounds for termination of contract. But considering that the average seller does this every seven years and the average Realtor does this every day it is clear as to why the seller woud not know.
That has led me to use a seller service guarantee with all of my listings. if you are not happy with my services for ANY reason you can fire me. No fine print. No excuses. My company has implemented this and I beleive so strongly in it. I do not get paid unless your home sells; why would I not do everything I can possible to get it sold?
I have told sellers and advised them to do a three month listing with me. If you are happy with my marketing strategies, performance, and follow up then we can renew it. If not we can walk away friends. I have not had one walk away yet.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
What Questions Do You Ask A Realtor Before Listing A Home?
I wrote yesterday about how sellers and Realtors need to be asking each other questions. How else are we both to decide what is a good fit for us? We both need to know the expectations we each have of one another. But if you are looking to sell your home; what questions do you ask a Realtor you have never met before? I decided to go back and review the list of questions I have received over time in regards to that question and see which ones had the most commonality among them and the most relevance. Here is my list of my top questions I have gotten from a seller in no particular order:
1. How well do you know my neighborhood and area?
2. What type of marketing are you going to do?
3. Do you beleive in open houses?
4. Are you full time or part time?
5. What is your pricing strategy?
6. What percentage of your listings actually sold while you have them?
7. How many homes did you have to reduce the asking price?
8. How long do your listings stay on the market before they are sold?
9. How many photos do you take?
10. What is your commission rate?
11. How long is the contract for and why?
12. What would you do to the house to help it sell?
We all have our favorite questions. I tend to leave a listing presentation and write down questions I might not have heard before so that I am prepared next time for that question when I go on a listing presentation. Going through my notes these tended to be the most common ones I received each time. In this market you need to be asking these questions and maybe more. Without knowing you do not know what you are getting involved in. Considering a home is going to be the largest investment you make in your lifetime...make sure when you sell it; you have all the information to make an educated descsion as to who should market it for you.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
1. How well do you know my neighborhood and area?
2. What type of marketing are you going to do?
3. Do you beleive in open houses?
4. Are you full time or part time?
5. What is your pricing strategy?
6. What percentage of your listings actually sold while you have them?
7. How many homes did you have to reduce the asking price?
8. How long do your listings stay on the market before they are sold?
9. How many photos do you take?
10. What is your commission rate?
11. How long is the contract for and why?
12. What would you do to the house to help it sell?
We all have our favorite questions. I tend to leave a listing presentation and write down questions I might not have heard before so that I am prepared next time for that question when I go on a listing presentation. Going through my notes these tended to be the most common ones I received each time. In this market you need to be asking these questions and maybe more. Without knowing you do not know what you are getting involved in. Considering a home is going to be the largest investment you make in your lifetime...make sure when you sell it; you have all the information to make an educated descsion as to who should market it for you.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Do You Interview Your Realtor Before Listing Your Home?
Today most people will list and sell their home with either soemone they know and have a relationship with or with someone they called. If you go either route what are you looking for in a Realtor to sell your home.
I know as a Realtor, I go to a listing presentation with a list of questions I will ask the seller. Depending on my relationship with the seller and what i know some of the questions I do not ask ( becuase I know the answer already). But the answers to those questions help me decide if I am willing to take this listing on or not.
So, do sellers interview Realtors? Or do you go with one that you feel based on personality will work best for you? When sellers have Realtors stop by and give them a presentation all the presentations tend to look the same after a while. So, how do you know which Realtor is right for you? Ask questions.
The Realtor you choose is and needs to be someone you feel is going to do the best possible job for you. This is a buyer's market right now. You need to ensure that the Realtor you pick is marketing your home to the most wide array of buyers possible for your home. That the Realtor is going to do everything possible to ensure your home gets sold in a timely manner.
So, before you list your home for sale with a Realtor put together a list of questions you want to ask. Think about if you were buying that house (or when you bought that house), why you would or did choose that house. How did you find it? Why did you pick that house? What features stood out to you when you purchased that home? What made you pick that house over another house? Then ask your Realtor what they will do to market and sell your home....
A home is the largest single investment you make in your lifetime....you want to make sure that you have chosen the best fit to sell your home...not just the name or company. The Realtor is what matters most.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
I know as a Realtor, I go to a listing presentation with a list of questions I will ask the seller. Depending on my relationship with the seller and what i know some of the questions I do not ask ( becuase I know the answer already). But the answers to those questions help me decide if I am willing to take this listing on or not.
So, do sellers interview Realtors? Or do you go with one that you feel based on personality will work best for you? When sellers have Realtors stop by and give them a presentation all the presentations tend to look the same after a while. So, how do you know which Realtor is right for you? Ask questions.
The Realtor you choose is and needs to be someone you feel is going to do the best possible job for you. This is a buyer's market right now. You need to ensure that the Realtor you pick is marketing your home to the most wide array of buyers possible for your home. That the Realtor is going to do everything possible to ensure your home gets sold in a timely manner.
So, before you list your home for sale with a Realtor put together a list of questions you want to ask. Think about if you were buying that house (or when you bought that house), why you would or did choose that house. How did you find it? Why did you pick that house? What features stood out to you when you purchased that home? What made you pick that house over another house? Then ask your Realtor what they will do to market and sell your home....
A home is the largest single investment you make in your lifetime....you want to make sure that you have chosen the best fit to sell your home...not just the name or company. The Realtor is what matters most.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Should the Company Matter When Listing A Home?
I had an interesting question posed to me the other day from a prospective seller. Their question stemmed from whether you are really hiring the Realtor to sell your home or the company. A good question and one I have to admit I have not really considered to be a difference factor when it came to hiring a Realtor to sell your home. Does it really matter who's company sign is located in your front yard?
Perception wise it does. I did some research on this topic and nationally it is a larger factor than I perceived it to be. 78% of the people who listed their homes and did not personally know a Realtor chose one based on the company they worked for. To me that was an astonishing number.
What makes a Realtor good or excellent at their career? Probably not that they are affiliated with one company over another. But their passion for the business and desire to help each and every client sell their homes for the largest amount of money in the shortest period of time.
Now, there are caveats of a large well known branded company helping with marketing or bringing in outside referrals to the area. If the area you live in has a high relocation number for jobs and your company is one of the select few on the major relocation companies preferred vendor list; it can help.
I always went in talking with prospective sellers about ME and what I will do to help get their home sold. Should the compnay matter? No...I beleive you are not hiring my company to represent you (though technically you are) but you are hiring ME to market and sell your home for you.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
Perception wise it does. I did some research on this topic and nationally it is a larger factor than I perceived it to be. 78% of the people who listed their homes and did not personally know a Realtor chose one based on the company they worked for. To me that was an astonishing number.
What makes a Realtor good or excellent at their career? Probably not that they are affiliated with one company over another. But their passion for the business and desire to help each and every client sell their homes for the largest amount of money in the shortest period of time.
Now, there are caveats of a large well known branded company helping with marketing or bringing in outside referrals to the area. If the area you live in has a high relocation number for jobs and your company is one of the select few on the major relocation companies preferred vendor list; it can help.
I always went in talking with prospective sellers about ME and what I will do to help get their home sold. Should the compnay matter? No...I beleive you are not hiring my company to represent you (though technically you are) but you are hiring ME to market and sell your home for you.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
Monday, January 17, 2011
Martin Luther King day...We Remember
Today marks the celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King. A great man in his time who pioneered the civil rights movement in the 60's. Though I was born near the end of his life; I remeber in school studying about the Martin Luther King.
I grew up in the Northeast. Maybe it was the times or the area I grew up in....but the issue of segragation never really seemed to poke his head out at us. I was taught that all people were created equal and we treat each other as we would want to be treated. I studied a lot about Martin Luther King in school. I beleied in his cause and his non violent nature way of getting his point across. Back in 1986 the federal government acknolwedged his birthday with a federal holiday. The first non president to have that honor bestowed upon them. We recognize it as the third monday of January every year.
I live in Charlotte North Carolina now and have for a few years. This year do the mother nature the children lost a few days of school last week. Approved a few years ago was to use today (Martin Luther King Birthday) as one of the makeup snow days. Well the NAACP is up in arms over this....yet they are not arguing about the fact that one of our founding father's birthdays (George Washington) is being used as another make up day. Or that Lincoln Birthday is being used as a make up day. It bothers me that they would say that they are going to protest the children going to school today...
I think if Martin Luther King were alive today he would want the children in school. That was one of the things he fought for. In fact, Charlotte would make him proud. The school system spends more on minority low income children per student than any other class of students in the school system. Is that not what Martin Luther King wanted? A time where we all were treated equally and fairly...All given the same opportunites to education?
I may be a northerner who moved to the south. But, one thing I am certain about. Equality is a two way street and eventhough we have taken his birthday for the education of our children; we have also taken some of the greatest President's birthday's for the education of our children. And if history has told us one thing we are all created equal and the need to be treated equally....I think the Charlotte School system has done that....
So yes I have sent my children to school...but that does not mean i think any less of what Martin Luther King did for us as a society and a world.....He had a dream and I think his dream is living in each of us.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
I grew up in the Northeast. Maybe it was the times or the area I grew up in....but the issue of segragation never really seemed to poke his head out at us. I was taught that all people were created equal and we treat each other as we would want to be treated. I studied a lot about Martin Luther King in school. I beleied in his cause and his non violent nature way of getting his point across. Back in 1986 the federal government acknolwedged his birthday with a federal holiday. The first non president to have that honor bestowed upon them. We recognize it as the third monday of January every year.
I live in Charlotte North Carolina now and have for a few years. This year do the mother nature the children lost a few days of school last week. Approved a few years ago was to use today (Martin Luther King Birthday) as one of the makeup snow days. Well the NAACP is up in arms over this....yet they are not arguing about the fact that one of our founding father's birthdays (George Washington) is being used as another make up day. Or that Lincoln Birthday is being used as a make up day. It bothers me that they would say that they are going to protest the children going to school today...
I think if Martin Luther King were alive today he would want the children in school. That was one of the things he fought for. In fact, Charlotte would make him proud. The school system spends more on minority low income children per student than any other class of students in the school system. Is that not what Martin Luther King wanted? A time where we all were treated equally and fairly...All given the same opportunites to education?
I may be a northerner who moved to the south. But, one thing I am certain about. Equality is a two way street and eventhough we have taken his birthday for the education of our children; we have also taken some of the greatest President's birthday's for the education of our children. And if history has told us one thing we are all created equal and the need to be treated equally....I think the Charlotte School system has done that....
So yes I have sent my children to school...but that does not mean i think any less of what Martin Luther King did for us as a society and a world.....He had a dream and I think his dream is living in each of us.
Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com
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