Monday, November 7, 2011

How to Sell a Listing for an Extra 5.5%!

I made my sellers an extra 5.5% on their sales price!


Several other agents had told my clients that they couldn’t sell their home for more than $500,000!  I thought we could!  My CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) indicated that we could sell for somewhere between $500,000 & $540,000, so we listed it at $539,000 and went to work.


My team prepared our standard Big WoW Marketing Package (www.6243Rohnerville.com) and put the home on the market.  Within 2 weeks we had four showings and 2 offers. 


The first offer, from buyers in Portland & Santa Cruz, came in below $500,000.  When I presented the offer to my sellers, they wanted to know everything they could about the buyers’ interest level, and when I showed them our custom website hits by city, with Santa Cruz and Portland at #1 & #2, they realized that our buyers were very interested in their property.  We knew we had a 2nd offer coming, so we prepared a counter offer at $535,000 and waited. 




When our 2nd offer came in the next day under $500,000 as well, we decided to continue with our counter offer to buyer #1, and let them know that we had received a 2nd offer.  When our first buyers heard that there was another offer on the table, they couldn’t sign our counter offer fast enough!  We opened escrow, and after our inspection period and some negotiations for repairs, we closed escrow at $527,500!


After the initial photos and the placing of a home in the MLS, most agents rely on the price reduction as their main tool to sell a home.  Hence, most agents thought this particular home would sell for under $500,000.  By engaging the buyers’ hearts and minds with our Big WoW Marketing Package, we were able to coax an additional $27,500 out of their pocket!  That’s an additional 5.5% of the expected value of the home!


So if you truly want top dollar when you sell your home, Big Wow Marketing is the ticket!  Obviously, I can’t guarantee you a specific sales price, but I can guarantee you the best marketing available in the real estate industry today!  And it won’t cost you a penny extra!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

I Made My Sellers an Extra 6.7%!

I made my sellers an extra 6.7% on their sales price!


My client had been listed before at $1M with a different agent. He was shocked when I told him his property was worth $750,000. He really wanted to sell, and he loved my Big WoW Marketing package, with it's custom website, but he said he couldn’t go below $850,000. I told him I would market his property at $849,000, and we’d give it our best shot. If it didn’t sell, at least he knew that he was getting the best marketing possible, and we could either reduce the price or try again at a later date.

After 9 months at $849,000, the perfect buyers appeared from Los Angeles. They commented on each of their visits to the property how beautiful the website (www.15500DyervilleLoop.com) looked and how it showed off the property. So when they brought a cash offer at $700,000, we knew they were really interested.



I presented the offer, and my Seller decided to counter at $800,000. The buyers countered us at $750,000. I told my Seller that this was probably the best deal we would be able to get, and that I couldn’t even guarantee that it would appraise for more than this, should the next buyer need a loan of some kind. $800,000 was as low as he would go, though. I made the best case I could to the Buyers’ agent, and hoped for the best.



In the meantime, the website traffic for the home took off! Our weekly average went up over 300%. I can just imagine the Buyers asking themselves, “$800,000! Is this place worth it? What do they see in it? Let’s go look at that web site one more time!” And every time they did, the views and selling features wormed their way into the buyers’ hearts and minds.





Bottom line - they accepted our $800,000 counter offer and we closed escrow. My Big WoW Marketing made my Seller an extra $50,000, or 6.7%, in his pocket. And it didn’t cost him a penny extra!

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat everything like a nail. If the only tool a Realtor has is a price reduction, the property seller is the one who gets beat on. Custom websites - with a 3-D custom floor plan, Virtual Tours with Hotlinks, and the unlimited ability to show off a property to a buyer- are changing the way we market properties. Embrace them, and put more money in your sellers' pockets. They will return the favor!