Based on article by Lin Nulman, homelight.com
I love the way the original Mission: Impossible series starts. Jim Phelps finds the hidden tape, presses Play, and hears he has to, you know, go ahead and topple a regime or something.
Trying to sell a house can make you feel the tape should say, “Jim, your impossible mission is to get this place sold.” But Jim has the solution, and it works every time: use a real estate team. He picks the people he needs for their different talents, and they get it done.
You can pick a Dream Real Estate Team that will get a SOLD sign in front of your house.
It turns out you can pick a bigger, more expensive Real Estate Team than you really need. Yet other team members are more than worth it. So let’s review some, including:
1. Real Estate Agent
2. Real Estate Attorney
3. Appraiser
4. Home Inspector
5. Contractors
6. Home Stager
7. Photographer
Your real estate agent can be one powerhouse individual or a listing agent from a group that works together. A good agent does a long list of things to improve your chances of selling faster, for the best possible price.
An agent should do Jim Phelps’s job on Mission: Impossible: plan the mission and head up the team.
A Great Real Estate Agent:
• Stays on top of the recent sales and price trends in your area
• Creates local marketing materials and strategies
• Makes recommendations on and/or hires other real estate team members
• Runs your open house(s) and other showings
• Gets your listing on all the important online search sites, perhaps even creates a virtual tour of your home. (More than 90% of buyers do online searching first.)
The real estate agent should be your first priority for the Real Estate Team. Since she plays such a big role in your house’s sale, you need a super pick.
We recommend you interview at least three agents before you make your choice.
Here are a Few Things to Ask During an Interview:
• Is he full-time?
• What’s her level of education in her field, and how many years of experience does she have?
• How familiar is he with your neighborhood? Has he sold homes on your street?
• What’s his track record? (Make sure you check out their profile for a full run-down.)
• How many sellers does he represent at one time? How much of his work gets delegated?
• Are her fees negotiable?
• What is her customized marketing plan for your particular house?
• Will she show you references from previous clients?
• How often will he be in touch with you?
Do You Need a Real Estate Attorney?
Sure, you can hire one. But before you switch channels from Mission: Impossible to a legal drama, consider whether you really need one. Real Estate attorneys are problem solvers; for example, when someone tries to back out of a contract, or the buyer and seller have a conflict about a repair request.
But outside of problems, a real estate attorney is only necessary for complicated situations, such as selling huge estate properties or dealing with a 50-page builder contract. Chances are your real estate agent can recommend an attorney, since they use them themselves.
Do You Need an Appraiser on Your Real Estate Team?
Abosulitly not, in a normal situation where “the owner is a realistic seller” and the “numbers speak for themselves.”
An appraisal to assess the value of your home will happen, but that takes place once the seller and buyer have signed a purchase agreement. Before that, your real estate agent has the knowledge to create a listing price that reflects value.
An appraisal, even from a licensed, experienced appraiser, is still just an educated guess from a third party. Appraiser’s opinion helps when he and a seller disagree about the value/listing price, or when there aren’t comparable sales in the area. Then, he says, he suggests they “step back a little” and get that third party opinion.
Your ‘Prepare Your House for Sale’ Real Estate Team
What dream team members do you need to have your house make its best first impression when it goes on the market? Part of that answer depends on what repairs you have to do and what systems need maintenance or updating. If your faucets drip and your furnace hasn’t been serviced lately, these people need to be on your team!
But what about things beyond fixing actual problems? What kind of makeover, if any, should you think about? Recent information suggests that you might want team members who can:
• Update front doors and/or garage doors
• Prune or add color to your landscape for curb appeal, which includes getting rid of plants that block natural light in the house
• Insulate the attic
• Make your home more energy efficient
• Take down walls to create open living space
• Change out cabinet fronts, hardware, lighting fixtures, countertops, sinks, and old appliances in kitchens and bathrooms.
• Update flooring
Before doing any significant renovation, be careful, as there are renovations that are not worthwhile and will not add the expected value. If a contractor suggests building a new deck or another bathroom from scratch, or gutting the whole kitchen, consult the report before handing out a Team uniform.
Of course there are the must-dos, and you can do them yourself, or hire someone to take them off your hands. Your Home Stager may be able to help you organize some of these tasks - or refer you to someone who can assist
• Clean. Really, really clean. Everything has to shine and sparkle, and stay that way.
• De-clutter. You want potential buyers to get an exciting sense of your house’s…well, potential for them. The grandkids’ fridge art and all the magazines have got to go for now.
• Paint. Tired, marked-up walls are like a gloomy face on a first date. Bubble-gum pink bedroom walls may raise a red flag. A fresh, neutral look will show off the wonderful features of your house.
• Get that curb appeal: new plants, tree pruning, new sod, or bright colors in the garden.
Does Your Real Estate Team Need a Home Stager?
What’s this Home Stager trend that everyone is talking about?
Does your Real Estate Team need one?
Staging “is shedding new light on how to promote a home… Professional home stagers are practiced in the art of preparing a home for resale. They work with the ‘flow’ of a home, eliminate clutter, edit and arrange furniture, and even assist in enhancing curb-appeal.” Working with your needs and budget, a home stager can:
• Consult on the arrangement of what’s already in your rooms
• Supply just the right props for rooms that are almost show-ready
• Bring identity to that tricky or undefined space through furniture and accessories
• Fully furnish an empty home to make it a stunner
As top 1% Sacramento real estate agent Elizabeth Weintraub poetically expresses it, “Home staging is…magical… the art of creating moods. Professional stagers are highly skilled artists…”
Stager Susan Atwell’s story brings the facts into the picture: in 2006 she saw a friend’s “as is” home get no offers in nine months. Then the friend called in a stager:
“The total transformation cost less than 1% of the listing price, and once staged, the home proceeded to sell in just 2 months, with multiple offers and the beginnings of a bidding war. At the time the home was listed, there was a 7- month inventory of homes glutting the market.”
When the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) studied staging results, they found the same thing. Homes that had been on the market an average of 156 days “as is” sold within 42 days after staging, which is 73% less time on the market.
Homes staged before listing sold 79% faster!
Do You Need a Real Estate Photographer for Listing Photos?
You have a smartphone, right?
Wrong. Your house faces competition on those search sites.
You want to show the best features, shot from the best angle (hint: you don’t get that standing in a room with your phone). You want photos to be eye-catchers and breath-takers.
Photographer Jay Groccia calls great real estate photos “inspirational.” And necessary: “That was it – right there – that was your opportunity to grab that buyer’s attention, and if they clicked back, you’ve lost them forever.”
John McBay of Perfect Exposure Imaging agrees, saying it “requires…a keen sense of composition, the skills and equipment to attractively light the interior spaces, cameras and lenses that may be different from one room to the next, and the ability to edit the images to further enhance their appearance…”
A university study into buyer behavior showed that most buyers look at the photos first. A 2010 Redfin study found that listings with professional photographs got 61% more views, and that these houses sold from about Chf 900 up to Chf18,000 more than homes listed without them. They repeated the study in 2016 and reached the same conclusion: yes on the professional photos.
The cost varies by area, however, your agent is often the one who hires the photographer for the listing shots. Insist on it.
The Last Real Estate Team Pick?
Having just provided a friendly ear to someone going through both selling and buying, I want to end this “dream real estate team” list with the members of the squad closest to you. Even the Mission: Impossible team members needed someone to have their backs sometimes.
Enlist family and friends to listen, to take kids and dog away from the house while work is done, to take you to a movie during the open house, and to cheer for you and your real estate team when the sale is complete!
Hi, my name is Carmen and I am a professional Home Stager. Working with me is easy and uncomplicated!
Through my knowledge, we can identify the weaknesses and strengths of your property, and create an action plan that will allow you to expedite the sale of your real estate!
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