What about the internet and selling your home?
1. Do you know that about 90% of home buyers find homes on the internet?
2. Out of town buyers, and most first time buyers, totally rely on the Internet.
3. A major internet marketing plan has a dramatic advantage over news print ads.
4. Does your agent advertise on multiple websites, or Facebook, & LinkedIn?
5. Does your agent have their own website and/or enhancements on Realtor.com?
6. Has your agent taken a video of your home for display on the MLS/Internet?
7. Is your agent clueless about the internet? Think about what that means.
Before putting your home on the market, get it appraised!
One can easily understand why sellers are interested in the street value of their home. And like most sellers, the first person they’d call for that info is a real estate agent, right? Let me recommend an improvement on that decision. Call a licensed appraiser. It is my opinion that in the majority of cases you are best served by obtaining a professional appraiser’s assessment of a home’s value. Yes, I can recommend a few to you. Appraisers are licensed specialists, and while their opinion of your home’s value is, an opinion, they get much more specific in their process of evaluation than the average agent who is generally not a licensed appraiser. Know your home’s street value, up front, and then work with your agent. If your agent is savvy, they will be the first to tell you to have your home appraised.
Before putting your home on the market, get it inspected!
During the selling process, being in the informational driver’s seat means having a lot more self-confidence in your, and your agent’s, decisions. In addition to an appraisal, get your home inspected so that you know its condition up front, and what needs to be done to bring it up to saleable condition, or at least to know what the buyer might ask to have repaired. Wouldn’t you like to have full knowledge of your homes condition before you are presented with an inspection response from the buyer? You are in a much better position to know if the buyer is asking for something reasonable, or if you are being taken to the cleaners.
Do you know what Dual Agency means?
While there are other legal explanations, and it is legal in the State of Louisiana, in a nut shell it means that an agent can represent both the seller, and the buyer. I recall a class I once took where the instructor was covering this subject. Her opinion was, in the case of Dual Agency, “you have to provide a higher level of representation”. To me this is sheer rationalization to justify getting both sides of the commission. My advice to you, think long and hard before signing the form that authorizes Dual Agency. Personally, I won’t do it; the risk of a diminishment in service to either one, or both parties, is too great. Think about it, can an attorney effectively represent both parties in a divorce? In most cases, the answer is no.