Getting listings sold isn’t luck, it’s a technical skill that can be tracked, quantified, and compared. If you’re going to list property, you might as well maximize your chance of actually getting paid.

Did you know that 4 out of 10 of the average Realtor’s listings actually sell? The more often you sell, the more often you get paid. So you want to be higher than 4. My company’s around 6 or 7. Here’s some of what we do differently with Sellers:

1) Our State Certified Residential R.E. Appraiser does a real market value appraisal for each listing – “Price it Right and you’re Done!” No more listing it too high, only to lose it later to another Realtor who gets paid because the Price is finally Right.

2) Our fees are pay-as-you-go. Only serious Sellers part with some of the money in the beginning in return for a 5% commission. It also causes them to stay with us if price changes become necessary. They now have skin in the game.

3) We do updates and pricing recommendations based on what has been listed and sold since the Seller listed.

The system we use is based on testing and tracking everything and then going with what works, rather than what you wish worked.

If you are competing for a listing, the Seller will grill you on high estimates of value, volume of sales in the area, and marketing programs. But it’s not about those things. It’s about getting the home sold for the highest price in the shortest amount of time. That is the only thing the Seller actually cares about.

The best way to do that is to price it right, offer incentive for any and all Realtors to sell it by putting it in their inventory (MLS), and making it easy to show. If you do those three things correctly, it’ll sell, no matter what else you do. If you don’t, it won’t sell no matter what else you do.

The average listing starts 29% over market value, using a contract that basically says, “we‘ll try to sell your home. If we do you owe us this much. If you decide you hate us, it‘ll cost you this much to fire us.” We don’t use that contract. Our listing contract spells out exactly what we’re going to do so there’s no misunderstanding. We charge our Sellers a little less than our competitors. They like that. In return, they’re willing to pay some of the commission up front for specific items. We charge for a real market-value appraisal so we can recommend a price that will cause it to sell. We report the results of that appraisal in person. If they still want to sell, we charge a fee to put it in MLS. The Seller can fire us at any time without owing any additional money. No hard feelings – We’ve already been paid for what we’ve done so far. No one’s done that yet, though. Since we started doing it this way in January 2007, not a single listing of ours has walked away and sold with someone else.

Kerry Silva is the president of Price, Wright, and Dunn, Inc. (priceright.biz, residential Realtors and Expert Witness Appraiser. He sells homes, supervises Realtors and Referral Agents, and does appraisals for attorneys in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties, Florida. A good referral is someone who’s trying to choose a Realtor or company and wants to compare a couple. He has a web site that does that, RateARealtor.biz.

A licensed referral agent is someone who gets paid to find prospects. It’s good for someone who’s retired or has another job. The full-time realtor he/she’s registered with does all the technical stuff. There’s no need to research and evaluate properties, schedule showings, qualify buyers, drive around looking at houses, hold open houses, write contracts, attend closings, or pretend to be a Real Estate Expert.

Here’s more information: http://www.priceright.biz/ReferralAgents.html

The first step is to get your proof of funds ready. If you are paying cash, be prepared to prove that you have it. If you are mortgaging, get a pre-approval letter from a lender. The reason you do this now is so you can prove to the seller that he should take you seriously when you submit your offer.

Now determine a narrow price range of interest – The reason you keep the range narrow is to keep things competitive. If you waste time with Sellers who have over-priced, the good properties will be taken by another buyer. The over-priced Seller MAY come down some day, but why wait, when there’s a good one out there right now? Grab it before someone else does. And they will. This is true in all markets, whether things are slow or not.

Now rule out all the over-priced stuff within your narrow range – Look at all the homes within your narrow price range by e-mail/internet and pick the top third (your favorites) for review. Have your Realtor look up their just values (public record). Houses – The ones with the highest land values are more or less the ones with the best locations. Location, location, location. Condos – The ones with the highest just values are more or less the ones that would be the most valuable in good condition.

You really need to pick the neighborhood over the house. One way to compare is to look at the land value on the county property appraiser’s web site. Ex. – a house with a land value of $132,000 is almost certainly in a more valuable neighborhood than one with a land value of $62,000. With townhouses and condos, just look at their Just/Market values. “Just/Market Value” for every property in the county is based on a comprehensive survey of market information including sales. Factors such as “Homesteading”, widow’s exemption, length of time owned, etc. are not factored in the way they are in “Assessed Value”. Two truly identical properties would have the same Just/Market value.

What to consider when making an offer – If you’ve utilized competitive shopping, you’ve ruled out all the overpriced stuff at this point. The home you’ve chosen is worth what they’re asking for it. Rather than bid low and lose it to someone else, make an offer that’s at least reasonable.

One technique for keeping the price low is to make the offer as-is, subject to inspection. This also allows you to avoid the process of trying to get a licensed repairman who’s up to your standards to finish repairs within a couple of weeks. Just get the price down and get your own repairs done after closing. If you don’t have the cash, there’s a technique for that, too. Ask me.

Buyer’s closing costs typically run 2-4%, much less if you are paying cash.

Why Choose A Buyer‘s Agent?

Many good realtors (including me) offer free buyer consulting, with the sellers paying the commissions, and sell all realtor’s listings, not just their own. The commission is already set and there is an agreement that the listing Realtor pays the Selling Realtor from that, so there is NO commission paid by the Buyer under this arrangement. It’s free to the Buyer.

Sure, you can do all this yourself. But a good professional (I said a good one) will be better and faster at it than you could ever be. And the Seller pays the commission, not you. If you flop around on your own, you’re always a day late for the good ones. A realtor can notify you by e-mail whenever a home within your parameters gets listed – as soon as it gets listed – by them or any other realtor! And a good realtor knows how to avoid contract problems before they become problems.

Your non-realtor closing costs will be around 1.75%. My real estate commission is 5% total, including any other Realtors involved. 2.5% goes to the Buyer’s Realtor. I’ve found 2.5% works fine if the home is priced right. I collect some of the commission up front, which includes a real market-value appraisal so I can recommend a price that will cause it to sell. Don’t fall for the Realtor who gives you the highest home value with a half-hour CMA. You can spend a lot of time paying for upkeep while your house just sits there overpriced.

Some sellers pay for a home inspection right in the beginning of the listing, rather than waiting for a future buyer to pay for one later. They do it for peace of mind when fielding offers with repair clauses in them. This enables them to take an offer with $5000 repair liability when it really only needs $500 in repairs. The home inspection report can be posted online on the MLS listing.

Strip the home
In order for the home to sell quickly and for top dollar, it needs to be repaired, stripped, and neutralized. It’s not your home any more. Now it’s your product. The better the product presents itself, the more buyers will be interested in making an offer on it. You need to strip it. The more items are in it, the harder buyers have to work to “see“ the home. Sometimes it’s too much effort, so they just move on to the next one.

You also need to depersonalize your product. The idea is – nothing on the refrigerator, no pictures with people in them, no club, sports, or religious items, etc. If you distract them with something interesting, they’ll talk about that, rather than continue to see the house. At the end of the day they’ll remember the interesting item, but not the house. They’ll buy a house with a nice kitchen, not one with a thought-provoking poem on the wall. We’re selling kitchens, not poems.

As is always the case, the transition from “home” to “product” requires as much stuff as possible, including furniture, to disappear. You are going move anyway. Start now. If you move out as much stuff as you can stand to, the house will sell a little quicker, and for a little more money, than it otherwise will. So start moving now, and get paid for it, or move later, and pay for it. If you get to the point where you are cursing my name on a daily basis because so much of your stuff is gone, you’re there!

Don’t be there
Use a lockbox for showings. It doesn’t matter that you know the property better than anyone else, because you’ll intimidate the Buyer just by being there. Let their Realtor tell them why yours beats the competition. You’ll also have the convenience of not having to be home every time a Realtor wants to show it. When you list with Price, Wright, and Dunn, Inc., the Realtor will call you before showing – no lockbox shows on the listing.

Pricing
Property values have been declining in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties in Florida. So your listing price should be very close to the market value. Don’t fall for a Realtor who tells you it’s worth more it is, then beats on you to lower the price after you give them the listing. Not a single buyer cares what the realtor has told you. They will buy the best deal out there, considering condition, updating, location, etc.

Don’t overprice. Your first day on the market exposes you to all the current buyers out there. After that you are only exposed to the new buyers. The average listing THAT SELLS is priced at $100 below the next $5,000 mark within 2 or 3% of the market value. Most sellers keep the price just out of range and don’t sell until they finally bite the bullet and catch up. This results in a low sale because they miss they best buyers, who come right in the beginning. Waiting to price it right is not your friend.

More info at http://www.priceright.biz/SellingTipsAndExpenses.html.

Your non-realtor closing costs will be around 1.75%. My real estate commission is 5% total, including any other Realtors involved. 2.5% goes to the Buyer’s Realtor. I’ve found 2.5% works fine if the home is priced right. I collect some of the commission up front, which includes a real market-value appraisal so I can recommend a price that will cause it to sell. Don’t fall for the Realtor who gives you the highest home value with a half-hour CMA. You can spend a lot of time paying for upkeep while your house just sits there overpriced.

For more info, go to http://www.priceright.biz/SellingTipsAndExpenses.html

Kerry Silva is a residential Appraiser & the Real Estate Broker of Price, Wright, and Dunn, Inc. He sells homes, supervises Realtors and Referral Agents, and does appraisals for attorneys in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties, Florida. A good referral is someone who’s trying to choose a Realtor or company and wants to compare a couple. He has a web site that does that, RateARealtor.biz.