Sellers

Preparing Your Home | Selling 101 | Commission | Pricing | Going FSBO?

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If you are a homeowner thinking about selling your property, there are a lot of things to consider before you put your home on the market. That’s where the advice of a professional can be instrumental in helping you make some sound decisions up front and put things into prospective before you start.

There are a few homeowners out there for whom selling a house is simply another business transaction.  For most people, however, selling their home can be an emotional roller-coaster, full of stress and misgivings. The key in either case is to hire the right real estate agent. The right agent will educate and help alleviate concerns, take away the stress, and provide peace of mind.

Please keep in mind that REALTORS® play many roles in the marketing and sale of your home. Prior to 1993, all agents in the State of Georgia, essentially worked for the Seller – all sellers – no matter who had actually listed a particular property. Anyone with a buyer wanting to show a property ‘contracted’ with the listing agent of record and acted on their behalf to show the property, leaving the Buyer out on their own. For the homeowner, this was in part a win-win situation. All the agents worked for you! However, all the liabilities fell on your lap for things done on your behalf by any random agent who ‘sub-contracted’ with your main agent to work for you.  Imagine you hired your agent for his integrity and competence… and some other agent sub-contracts with him, someone not as upstanding or competent.  See the potential problem? For the Buyer – well, the Buyer was out in the cold, fending for himself.

But the big problem was this.  A buyer spends days, maybe weeks or months working with a real estate agent.  They have had numerous lunches together, spent a lot of time talking in the car together, really gotten to know each other. They have essentially bonded and the Buyer feels that Agent is their friend… and after all this time, trusts that their friend is looking out for their best interests.  But are they?  No.  That ‘friend’ is really working for the Seller via the Listing Agent.  This all came to a head in a major lawsuit filed in Minnesota 1993 and the ramifications were felt all over the country.

In Georgia, the effects of this was felt with the passing of BRRETA (Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act). Real Estate agents could now represent Buyers as well as Sellers.  In the absence of a signed written agreement between the parties describing the relationship clearly, BRRETA establishes that the agent technically works for no one and can merely ‘facilitate’ a transaction as a Transaction Broker.

Today, the Buyer Representation business is booming. Some real estate agents have chosen to ONLY represent Buyers! Represented and armed with an arsenal of information off the Internet, Buyers today are coming at Sellers like never before. That is why the person whom you choose to represent you, as a Seller, in any real estate transaction is so critical. It’s an important decision that shouldn’t be based solely on social relationships or familial obligations but on sound investigation and judgment.

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My Role in Marketing Your Home

As your representative, my priority is not only to find a Buyer for your property at the best price and terms possible, but also to take away as much of the stress and burden of selling your home away from you so you can get on with your life with as little interference as possible.

My role is to assist you in determining the optimal sales price for your home based upon my knowledge of current market conditions and analysis of comps in and around your area. It is also my primary goal to ensure that the selling process starts off on the right foot by helping you get prepared, understand the marketing and sales process, and do everything possible to ensure that no unexpected conditions with your home is allowed to interrupt that process or threaten it in any way.  I will develop a marketing strategy to get your home the most exposure and maximize all opportunities to find the right buyer.  As a former corporate sales professional, I have dealt with all levels of the marketing process and understand the importance of true targeted marketing to get the highest results.

I have the creativity to design and develop truly unique and eye-catching marketing materials to help your property stand out from the crowd. I don’t rely on generic, pre-printed fliers or MLS generated brochures. Everything I do is original and custom designed for your specific property.

As an e-PRO and Real Estate Technology Consultant, I understand the shift in the real estate market today as a new generation of Buyers, raised on technology, turns to the Internet to research areas and find their dream homes. Any marketing plan today must have the Internet and technology as part of it’s core basis and I am in a position to maximize this essential tool for you.

Any home I take on to market will receive my maximum effort. I will not place my sign in your front yard and disappear. I am a strong believer in accountability and will make every effort to communicate with my clients, to deliver updates, provide feedback and review comments, all in an effort to ensure the highest quality service.

Once an offer is made on your home, my role shifts from marketing specialist to advocate. My role is then to advise and assist you with all contracts and negotiations to ensure your interests are protected. It is not enough to simply act as a messenger or go-between. I play an active role as your agent to provide you with all the information available to allow you to make sound decisions.  It is my job to advise you of options, best course of action and potential opportunities or pitfalls. All in all, it is my overall duty to make sure you are protected and you are happy with the end result of any transaction.

I am pleased to be affiliated with a truly powerhouse company like Coldwell Banker. As a large national and international real estate company, they provide me access to resources for education, client support and services not available in smaller, locally owned companies. Plus, the nationally recognized name and reputation of Coldwell Banker gives you an edge in the market place by being instantly identifiable! As a locally owned office, we are in touch with our local market place, never losing sight of the unique needs and circumstances of buying, selling and investing in the Golden Isles.