Prospects Realty - Sell your home in Less Time at Less Cost and with Less Stress

The reason why your house is not selling is down to three fundamental issues, Condition,
Marketing and Price. Get these right and your house WILL sell in any market. It is imperative
frame. Lets look at these in more detail.

Condition

It is pretty obvious that the condition of a house will severely affect the value of a property
along with the time it will take to sell it. It is important to achieve that WOW factor when
buyers enter your home along with a must see more impulse from the initial curb appeal
when a prospective buyers arrives outside your home. Remember, the garden is a part of
your home, look at it as an external room. The first room any buyer will see. Based on their
first impression, they could well decide to drive on and not look at the inside. Consequently,
get the garden looking right!

It is also imperative that you get the internal condition and decor correct to achieve the
maximum visual impact, the so called wow factor. Remember, the house you live in is not the
house you sell, you are trying to sell an imaginary life style rather than bricks and mortar.
The lay out could well be different along with the removal of all that clutter. Consequently, in
order to have an independent eye to achieve the correct layout it is important that you
employ the services of a professional stager who will be independent and able to stage the
layout in the manner necessary to achieve the optimum result with what you have. A result
that you will be unable to achieve due to your preconceived ideas and influences after
actually living in the house yourself.

Prospects Realty would recommend the services of a professional stager in order to obtain
the correct lay out and furnishing of your home's interior. We can provide you with the
contact details of several in order for you to be able to work with the one that suits you. Look
upon this as an investment that will produce a quantifiable return in the increased sale price
rather than a sunk cost.

Marketing

Marketing is made up of four items commonly referred to as the Marketing Mix, Product,
Promotion, Place and Price. For house sale marketing the product quotient is the house
which has been covered earlier under the condition section. However your Realtor really is
in charge of the three last items, namely Promotion i.e. how it will be promoted, Place, where
it will be promoted and Price, how much you will ask. Consequently, your selection of the
correct Realtor is fundamental to your success in selling it for the maximum price in the
shortest time, as they actually cover 75% of the process. We will look at their role in what
promotions they should use and where, in this section.

Over the years the real estate industry has relied on the "proven" three P's system which
included: Putting a sign in your yard, Placing a listing on MLS and Praying some else sold it.
You see, unlike other businesses the Realtor you pay to list your home for sale will not
usually be the one who actually sells it! The selling agent will be the one who does the
selling to their client, the actual buyer. Consequently, your contracted agent will have very
little influence on the selling activity, basically limited to the taking to market process or
marketing. However, with the advance of technology this power balance has shifted
somewhat allowing the listing Realtor to take a more pro-active role in the selling process. In
todays market it is imperative that your listing Realtor not only knows about these issues but
implements them.

Reverse Prospecting
The listing Realtor has the ability via the MLS listing database to search for and find
Realtors that have clients who have a registered interest in a house just like yours. They will
have placed a search mask on the system to find a house that has features that match
yours. The technology simply matches the two sets of requirements. Your listing Realtor can
then contact the reactors who represent the interested buyers and inform them that they
have a house that one or more of their clients are looking for. Rather like joining the dots.
They can then arrange for the prospective buyer to view your house. This is an essential
activity and must be undertaken by your listing Realtor.

Digital Photographs
At first view the use of digital photographs would appear to be obvious, however you must
remember that the quality of the pictures is paramount when selling products over the
Internet, which is what you will be doing initially with your house. When looking at homes on
a computer, all a Realtor or actual buyers has to base a yes or no decision on is a picture
and brief description. The cliché a picture is worth a thousand words has never been so
true. Consequently, it is extremely important that the photographs your Realtor takes or has
taken shows the best and most relevant features and that they are in focus and level i.e. not
inclined at 45 degrees. Remember it is your house that you are selling not the view from
your dining room or the layout of your kitchen. Although of interest, they are secondary to
the external appearance of your home. To the right are some classic examples of pictures
that were actually used as the main listing photograph. Is it any wonder why so many listing
fail to sell. In all likely hood you will not see your actual listing, so ask to see it, any
competent Realtor would be delighted to do this. It is also imperative that your photographs
are put onto the MLS listing service the same day as the listing, otherwise your listing will
appear the next day as a new listing minus the pictures. Many Realtors ignore new listings if
they lack photographs. Hence your newly listed property will not be seen by a large
proportion of buyers who have a registered interest in it via the client gateway. It is
imperative that your photographs are placed on the MLS at the same time as your
listing and not the next day as many are. The devil is in the detail, you only get one
chance at being flagged as a new listing!!

Focused Advertisements
A activity that Prospects Realty undertakes for it's clients is to place focused advertisements
in local media such as Craig's List and Savvy Shopper et al to attract people who have a
direct interest in a house similar to the ones they have listed. Rather like baiting your fish
hook with bait that salmon like when you fish for salmon. This activity generates real interest
in their listed properties facilitating their efficient sale.

Guided House Tours
Unlike the "usual" Realtor who will conduct an Open House where according to the National
Association of Realtors statistics less than 1% of sales result, Prospects Realty organises
guided house tours where again people who have a direct interest in a house like yours are
invited to tour several similar properties on one day. The benefit to them is they get to see
what they are interested with the reciprocal benefit for us being the visibility of competitive
buyers viewing the same house at the same time. Nothing like the fear of losing your dream
home to whet the appetite to make a compelling offer.

Prospects Realty undertakes all of the above activities as a matter of routine for it's clients.
Make sure your Realtor discusses them with you, if not we'd suggest you find a different
Realtor!

Price

The final but most important part of the marketing mix. The importance of pricing a property
correctly from the outset cannot be overstated. This is due to the fact that a new listing on
MLS will receive the maximum of hits or visibility within the first three weeks. Consequently, if
a property is listed with an inflated price compared to it's correct market value it will
significantly impact the level of interest it receives from prospective buyers during the period
when most people will look at it on the MLS system. Your Realtor must price your home
correctly to sell it and NOT to please you in order to get your listing. Over 75% of all listings
fail to sell due to being over priced. Not only is the Realtor a busy fool but so are you when it
fails to sell after waiting or rather wasting three months. You must be committed to selling
your house not merely interested, rather like the bacon and egg breakfast, where the hen
was interested and the pig was committed. Prospects Realty will undertake a thorough price
evaluation of your property called a Competitive Market Analysis in order to define the
correct listing price that will deliver the correct market sale price, remember there is
generally a 5% difference between what sellers ask for and what they agree on. This spread
must be factored into the asking price.

Stepped Price Listing
If a property fails to receive any offers or viewings within the first three weeks it would
indicate that it is over priced. However, the manner in which the price is adjusted will make a
significant impact on the visibility of the property listing on MLS. It is far better to reduce the
price in measured steps rather than in one large jump. In doing so you will get visibility with
the buying Realtors and their clients every time the price is adjusted. Therefore, several
steps are far more advantageous than a single large one.

Make sure your Realtor discusses these issues with you. If not, we suggest you find another
one!

In conclusion, moving home is rather like going on a foreign trip. You need a to fill your
travel bag with: a plan, a map, a compass and have a tour guide in order to get you where
you want to be at the anticipated time. However, your planning will define whether you will
end up being a: