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You Can Thrive as a Home Seller
Despite a Maze of New Challenges Created by Denver's Changing Real Estate
Market!
[continued from Page 1 - written by Mike Cooke]
No. 3 -
Prioritize marketing efforts to find the most motivated buyers. Surveys consistently show that
80% to 85% of all buyers are working with a real estate agent to help them find a house.
So, the quickest way to reach the largest number of home buyers is by
making sure that all the real estate agents in the area know that your
house is for sale so that they can show your house to their buyers.
But
there is an even more important reason why we want to reach all the buyers who
are working with real estate agents -- these buyers tend to be more
motivated. Agents can only work with so many buyers at one time and the
agents do not get paid unless the buyer actually purchases a home. Thus, agents
screen potential buyers and only work with those who are really serious.
As a whole, the buyers working with agents are more qualified and more
motivated.
We want to find a
motivated buyer! Motivated buyers act more quickly and are more likely to offer a better price for your house. Also, a
highly motivated buyer will be less picky about inspection items and will work harder to
overcome the minor snags and obstacles that inevitably arise during
the purchase process.
The fact that
most buyers work with an agent -- and that these buyers are more qualified
and more motivated -- has a major impact on how we market your house. It
means that a large part of the marketing effort needs to be directed at
real estate agents.
Getting top dollar for a house
by finding a highly motivated buyer is largely a matter
on making sure that agents know that your house is for sale. Ads, open houses, the
internet and other efforts to reach buyers directly – all these have a place in a good marketing plan. But, they are not as
critical as the efforts we make to let real
estate agents know about your house.
No. 4 -
Think like a buyer when preparing marketing materials. I always prepare a flier to tell prospective
buyers about your property. The property flier is an important marketing
tool and we use
it in several different ways. I always get input from my clients about the
features we should be highlighting for a buyer.
The
property flier will be more effective if we keep a couple things in mind
while preparing it.
First, we want to focus on things that are of interest to
the typical buyer. A flier in one house
I showed had two pages of details
about a concrete patio including how much rebar was used in its construction.
Trust me -- most buyers are not interested in rebar! Kitchens, master suites, family rooms, views, nearby
parks and open space, proximity to schools and access to work are the things that are of
interest to most buyers. We want to tell as much about these items
as we can.
Also, we want to try
to explain benefits instead of just listing features. For
example, saying that a yard is professionally landscaped is listing a feature.
It is better to turn
this
into a benefit: "Yard professionally landscaped to minimize yard
work" or "Yard professionally landscaped to provide you with
colorful, flowering shrubs throughout the growing season".
So,
as you make a list of things we should tell prospective buyers about your
house, keep these two issues in mind: What features of your property will
be of most interest to the buyer and what benefit will a buyer derive from
that feature.
No. 5 - Make it easy for buyers to see your house.
There are always a certain number of buyers in the market who need to buy immediately. They are under time
constraints and they need to find a house quickly due to a relocation or
because they've sold their current home.
 We
love these buyers because they tend to make better offers. We want to make it easy for
these motivated buyers to see your house. If a
call to set a showing is not returned for several hours or if you turn down a showing because
it is inconvenient, you may miss the ideal buyer for your property.
My
office is open seven days a week so that we don't miss out on any showing
opportunities. While you are the boss and make all the decisions and can
turn down showings, it is in your best interests to
accommodate buyers as much as possible and make it easy for them to see your house when
they want to see it.
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