Selling a house on your own can be an overwhelming task. There’s advertising to plan and budget for, private showings to arrange, purchase offers to negotiate, contract contingencies to worry about, and complicated paperwork to fill out. Make it easy on yourself by putting your home in the hands of a seasoned professional. I have extensive experience marketing properties and showing them to their best advantage.

First, I’ll perform a comparable market analysis to determine the most appropriate price for your home. Then I’ll provide home staging advice and suggest landscaping changes that will help draw buyers in. I’ll advertise your home through a variety of methods, including using digital marketing and socialized marketing platforms as well as the online MLS® listings. We will showcase your home as part of our site’s Featured Listings.

When it comes to negotiating a purchase offer, I’ll make sure that you get the best price the market will allow. I’ll help you understand contract contingencies and details of the closing process, in addition to handling all the paperwork for you. Essentially, I’m here to represent you throughout the entire selling process, and to make sure that your real estate transaction is a positive and profitable experience.

Hire a Professional Real Estate Agent

A qualified, competent real estate agent will help you navigate the myriad of decisions that arise when buying and selling a home. An agent provides value to the homeowner in many ways:

Pays for all marketing and advertising costs.
Adds experience and expertise in all aspects of the sales process including marketing, financing, negotiations and more.
Handles all showings.
Brings a network of known, trusted real estate professionals. If your agent doesn’t have the answer, he or she likely knows someone who does.
Always has your interests in mind so you always have someone on your side.
Can handle and advise on all price and contract negotiations.
Provides you with all the possible options and opportunities without holding back.
Gives an unbiased, realistic view of your home and your options. Unlike buyers and sellers, an agent has no emotional attachment to property.
Has the knowledge to help you ask the right questions.
Being a third party, potential buyers are more likely to tell your agent the truth about your home, even if it is unflattering. This objective viewpoint will help you make the necessary changes to get your home sold.

Your time is valuable. Hiring me as your real estate agent allows you to spend your time how you want.

Learn about how I have teamed with Zillow – Showcase Listings – to help Amplify your Listing and Wow Buyers!

Home Valuation

Find out what your home is worth.

What Real Estate Agents Don’t Want You to Know

When thinking of selling your home you have some choices as to how you go about it. Being licensed REALTORS® Jed and I understand the perspective from the real estate professional. Real estate agents are in the business of brokering sales of real property—that’s how they earn their living.

Since competition is fierce, especially given the current economy, some REALTORS® feel they must “fool” the public into thinking that they are the better choice when it comes to selling real estate properties.

However, truth in fact, the REALTOR®’s job is actually between getting your home under CONTRACT and CLOSING on your home…this is when the proverbial rubber meets the road, so to speak. The act of bringing the Buyer to the table is actually dependent on the property itself (not necessarily the Listing Agent) AND, 3 important factors regarding that property –they are:

(1) Price; (2) Condition; (3) Exposure

These are the 3 Things that SELL a home. The REALTOR® is NOT one of them! What we bring to the table are all of the prelisting activities and guidance to get the home listed on the market.

Before we expand on our discussion here, let’s first break down those three factors since they are key in your understanding of selling your home:

(1) PRICE – You get only one chance to price a property correctly – at the very beginning of when you offer it for sale. Property priced too high won’t get the attention it needs to move it swiftly.

As time passes, the listing becomes “stale” and buyers will be able to take advantage of the situation by under bidding and ultimately, getting the property for perhaps less than a good starting price might have yielded.

This is a common issue that can arise with sellers. It’s human nature to have a certain sense of pride in our home and an emotional investment in it that makes the Sellers feel that their home is worth more—because to them it is—but not necessarily to a prospective buyer. A home priced correctly doesn’t mean under market—it simply means at fair market value to a potential buyer—it’s a delicate balance and the help of a seasoned real estate professional is certainly warranted at this juncture.

(2) CONDITION – The term condition covers not only the exterior and interior condition of the property itself but, also the condition of the surrounding area or, in other words, the “location”. As we say in real
estate, “Location, Location, Location”.

For example, is the home in a nice, well-kept residential neighborhood that is highly sought after due to the school district, proximity to conveniences, etc.? Or, is it in a rural area or an industrial area? All of these fall under what buyers view as the “condition” of the home.

When selling your home, it must be in its best possible condition. Not only will this greatly affect the price—it also plays into the amount of time your home will remain on the market. Again, it goes back to only getting one chance to make that first impression, be it with price and condition.

Our advice to Sellers is ALWAYS to get the home in tip-top shape PRIOR to listing! Too many times we see Sellers making the mistake of listing their home for sale while work is in progress to get it in condition to show to prospective buyers. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in selling your home—right up there with pricing it incorrectly.

The bottom line is—spend some time making your home show-ready. We suggest you review our SELLER’S TIPS for making your property ready to go to market.

(3) EXPOSURE – The third factor in selling your home is probably the most important of the three. You might have priced the property correctly and its condition is superb but, unless you have the optimum exposure for your property, how will prospective buyers even know it’s for sale?

This is one of the areas that real estate agents, in their quest to rise to the top of the pack, tend to fool the public into thinking that THEY are what’s needed to sell the property. In truth, ANY real estate professional can assist with the exposure of your property. Exposure is simplistic really – in today’s internet age, besides of course signage at the property, the best place to advertise your property for sale is on the World Wide Web!

Simple as it sounds—the latest statistics from NAR (National Association of Realtors) published in January 2009 show that 92% of all buyers begin their search ON-LINE. That’s a staggering number! Therefore, getting your property out there in the eyes of 92% of the buying population at any given time is all you need in the way of exposure for your property.

Don’t Be Fooled here by real estate agents who are trying to dazzle their way to earning your business.

This is the area where real estate agents try to dazzle potential sellers into doing business with them by showing statistics of the number of properties they’ve sold over the last number of months, how their marketing is superior to that of their competition’s, how they will work harder to drive buyers to your property, how they sell homes faster, for more money, etc., etc., etc…..we’ve seen many of the slick ads and read the letters they send to expired listings and for sale by owners. It’s all a bunch of hype, really.

Real estate agents don’t want you to know that you don’t need them to bring a buyer for your real estate property.

What you DO need them for is everything that occurs from the point of the potential buyer showing an interest in your property to closing. This goes back to “Contract to Closing” that we discussed earlier.

Seasoned Real estate agents have experience in negotiating the contract to best protect you, the Seller. And a GOOD real estate professional will stay on top of every detail (and there are a lot of details to be sure) that needs to occur to make the deal go to closing.

For a behind the scenes detailed look at the details handled by the real estate that can potentially occur as well as those that must occur in every real estate transaction see our report entitled “Contract to Closing”.

One of the biggest misconceptions that the public has about real estate agents is that they believe that the agent who has the sign in the yard of the home is the one responsible for the sale of that home. That may be true on a house or two in any given neighborhood but, more often than not, it’s a Buyer’s Agent who is actually responsible for selling that home.

So, if you see a lot of “FOR SALE” and “SOLD” signs in an area with the same real estate agent’s name on them, keep in mind that doesn’t mean that the agent whose name is on the sign is the “best” there is for selling homes in that area. It simply shows that he or she is good at getting sellers to LIST their properties with him/her. There’s a big difference!

Thanks to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) that just about every city in the US has, any real estate agent can show and sell your home – it’s actually a great thing for you as a Seller. It just means that you have literally THOUSANDS of agents working to sell your home. Approximately seven thousand five hundred here in the Charleston market. That’s a LOT of agents who are all vying to bring a prospective Buyer to your house!

The list agent comes out looking like the king or queen of that area – however, with a closer look, you’ll see that the “selling agent” is more often than not, someone other than the list agent. List agents don’t want you to know this!

If there is anything we would like you to take away from this article, it’s that hiring a real estate professional to assist you with the sale of your real estate property is certainly a prudent choice. However, we want you to understand that all real estate agents are not created equal.

You many feel this is contrary to what we said earlier when we stated that “any real estate agent can assist with the exposure of your home”. That is true.

However, for a faster and smoother process, there are good, seasoned agents out there that are technologically savvy and would better serve you when it comes to getting your home exposed to as many buyers as possible.

Also, good seasoned agents will better serve you when dealing with the rest of the transaction that goes beyond the exposure and bringing the buyer—again the “Contract to Closing” negotiations and details.

For more information on selecting a real estate agent and what specific questions to ask during the interview process see our report entitled, “12 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Realtor“.

Home Sellers Guide

Ask for a Free Home Evaluation: A well-priced home will generate competing offers and drive up the final sale value. Our free market analysis takes into account the most actively searched prices and home values in the area and provides you with a detailed evaluation that puts it all in perspective.

Sell Your Home with a Professional: Our tried and true marketing plan will take the guesswork out of selling your home.

See What’s on The Market: Use the search tools on this site to get an idea of the competition.

Connect to a Professional: Contact me anytime you need to know what’s really going on in this market. When you’re ready to take the next step toward selling your home, I’m here to help. I’ll make sure your listing gets the best exposure and reaches the right buyer—whether they’re out of state, in another country, or right around the corner.

Here Are Six Problems That Can Instantly Turn Buyers Off

Potential buyers are much more likely to return to a home that impresses them at first glance, while homes that appear disorderly or poorly maintained seldom sustain buyer interest.

1. Home Odors. Because homeowners become desensitized to the odors in their homes, they rarely realize how obvious odors can be to visitors. This is particularly true of pet owners and smokers.

2. Carpet and Flooring. One of the most visible areas of your home is your flooring. If your carpet is worn or dirty, consider either cleaning it or replacing it. If you have vinyl flooring with corners coming up, get it glued down. Special note: Replacing flooring in smaller areas, such as kitchens, with high quality flooring can bring in premiums in price.

3. Paint and Walls. Paint is one of the least expensive ways to “spruce-up” your home. Consider painting outside trim and interior walls and doors.

4. Clutter. Excess clutter is a big buyer turn-off. You have to move anyway, so you might as well pack away items that make your home feel good to you, but turn off buyers. This includes nick-knacks, furniture, family pictures, wall hangings, etc.

5. Signs of Pests. If you have any sign of mice, rats, roaches, spiders, or bees, you should immediately contact a local pest control company and have them eliminated. Remove all spider webs with a broom.

6. Landscaping. If your landscaping is messy, overgrown, or looks cluttered in any way, spruce it up. Buyers make positive or negative conclusions about your home within the first five minutes. Don’t lose the battle before you’ve even begun.

44 Tips for Sellers

There’s no doubt about it: first impressions count with buyers. That’s why we prepared this 44 fail-roof list of simple, quick, and inexpensive things you can do to prepare your home for sale. This list comes out of years of working with buyers and hearing their comments. It is formulated in a checklist format to help sellers to remember all of those “little things” that can add up to make a big difference between their house and the competition.

We have comprised these tips for our Sellers out of years of buyer comments when viewing houses that are for sale. They are broken down into three categories: (1) Exterior; (2) Interior; (3) How to Show Your Home For Maximum Profit.