The seller is batting! The buyer is pitching. The game is on! A good negotiation is a win win, you want to make sure your transaction is a home run! Exposing your home to the entire market place in order to obtain the right buyer goes without saying. You can’t get out of the batters box without a buyer. However, it’s at that point that the game begins. Often time’s sellers are focusing on one thing and that’s the price. Understandably so, but there are many pieces to the contract puzzle and that is just one.
Here are some things to consider. First, is the buyer approved? Meaning the Loan Officer has actually looked at their credit prior to extending the pre-approval and verified funds. There is nothing worse for everyone involved but to find at the end of the transaction that it’s not closing because of financing. All packed up and ready to go, the house is no longer in show condition and it’s time to start over. The good news is that almost 99% of the time this can be avoided.
Second, are there any contingencies? Does the buyer have a house to sell or to close prior to closing on yours? If they have a home under contract waiting to close, how solid is that contract, the buyer and their financing? It’s very important to understand how each one of these situations can affect your closing. You don’t want to find yourself at the end of a domino effect. A professional Realtor’s knowledge can be invaluable to you during this process.
Third, how far out is the buyer looking to close and how much binder are they leveraging? If the binder is too small and the closing too far out, you could find the buyer walking three months later. Though they may have offered a higher price they can be a risk. Losing one thousand dollars may be worth it to a buyer that finds something they like better. That could leave you having your home off the market for three months and now you’re facing closing on another home without a buyer for the home your in.
Other terms you may want to consider, what is the buyer asking for? Appliances, transferable termite bond, window treatments, closing costs, home warranty and/or repairs. There are many other nuances, more than could be spelled out in such a short article, but the point being it’s a large transaction with many facets and you need to cover all the bases. Time for a homerun, seek out the services of a trusted professional. Keep in mind that the best pitchers and the batters have top notch coaches’. Having professional assistance certainly takes the pressure off. Getting a referral from someone who has had a remarkable experience with a real estate professional is always a good place to start. Take the time to interview several different Realtors, request references and require that their service commitment be in writing. Most importantly it’s a partnership and you need to feel comfortable and have a mutual respect for the agent you choose to market and handle your transaction to closing. It can be a very emotional time for families. With the right guidance it can also be the beginning of their next exciting adventure. Batter UP!
About Me
- Kim Knapp
- Fleming Island, FL, United States
- My beginnings were humble which makes the end of the story that much better. It doesn't matter where you came from it only matter that you have a plan for where you're going. Don't worry about what anyone else says believe in yourself, I did. We moved to Jacksonville from Upstate New York several years ago. Shortly after arriving my husband and I decided that I would give real estate a shot. While my husband positioned himself to be my biggest fan I set out to see what real estate was all about! It's been a wild ride. From the very first year I was blessed to be a top producer for my company Vanguard Realty. What did I learn? That old fashioned hard work, networking with fellow professionals and most importantly remembering that if my customers had a remarkable experience they’d refer me to friends and family is what makes a real estate professional successful.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Amelia Island Fernadina Beach Vacation Rental!
Amazing Vacation Rental 3 bedroom 3 bath 3 stories private elevator 2 car garage!
Over 2700 sq ft of luxury only 1/2 mile from the beach. You can park on the beach too! It's only a 5 minute walk or a 1 minute car ride!. There are bike and beach rentals available just down the street as well.
Over 2700 sq ft of luxury only 1/2 mile from the beach. You can park on the beach too! It's only a 5 minute walk or a 1 minute car ride!. There are bike and beach rentals available just down the street as well.
At the end Sadler Rd when you reach the beach you will also find one of the locals favorite stops, Sliders Restaurant and Bar. They have live music 3 evenings a week and on weekend afternoons outdoors at the beach bar. There is a playground as well, so the kids can play while you enjoy sunset and dinner.
If you prefer a pool Cape Sound offers that as well. Along with the pool is a club house and private work out room.
Call Kim Knapp Today 904-334-7425
Effective Pricing Strategy in a Slowing Market
Just some thoughts on the local market (Jacksonville, FL) and how to get your home sold in a timely manner and at the top of the range. According to the Northeast Florida MLS in December of 2005 there were 13,271 homes for sale equaling 5.64 months worth of inventory. Fast forward to July 2007 there are 26,065 homes on the market equaling 12.98 months worth of inventory. These statistics can be overwhelming however it's not all doom and gloom. Over 2000 homes sold in July as well. The question is how to be among them.
There are several items that influence selling in the current market and primary among them is pricing strategy. The old strategy was to price the property with room to negotiate, wait for buyer interest and then settle on a price that was agreeable to all. Unfortunately, this pricing strategy will not bring showings. Today's marketplace is on the internet, I think we all agree on that, and that should change everything in our pricing strategy.
In yesterday's market, when prospects looked in newspapers, on television and in magazines they only received limited information about the properties that they saw and they only had access to a limited number of the available properties. This meant that the prospect had to call the agent to get all of the information about a property he was interested in and that gave the agent the opportunity to introduce additional properties the buyer did not know about as well as provide more information about the property that the buyer called about. Agents who were successful at this conversion process prospered and the spectrum of properties that were shown was far greater than it is today.
In today's market the buyer decides what his parameters are and looks on the internet for properties that meet his qualifications. The problem for sellers and listing agents is that when the buyer looks on the internet, instead of getting a few words in the newspaper or a few words and one picture in a magazine, the buyer gets, 5 to 20 photographs of everything in the property, virtual tours, a complete list of features, Google mapping and probably access to the school report. In other words the buyer knows it all before he calls.
If there are 40 properties that may fit the buyer's needs (area, price range, bedrooms, baths, size) he can prejudge all of them prior to calling about any of them. Because the buyer has all of this information the vast majority of buyers are going to call on the same limited number of homes that seem to represent the best value within the buyer's spectrum of needs. This creates a situation where the most competitive houses get an inordinate amount of activity and houses that are priced in the middle of our value range get little to no activity. That means that the old strategy of "leave room for negotiations" is not valid because it creates so little activity that there probably will never be an offer to negotiate.
If you want to compete on the internet that means a seller needs to be in the top 10% of all homes that they are competing with in terms of value, otherwise there simply will not be substantial showing activity. So the new pricing strategy must be to price it very competitively, based on the active competition and not the sold "comps", and then when the buyer is interested hold firmer to the price that you want.
In many fields this is known as "puppy dog" selling. The point being that the best way to sell a puppy is to get it into the purchaser's hands and when he likes it he will find a way to buy it; in the same way the home seller is better negotiating with a buyer after the buyer has been in the seller's house and has made a decision that he wants to write an offer. Now the seller has some leverage to hold close to his asking price, whereas keeping his price high and being "willing to negotiate" simply means there will not be any activity. This is hard for sellers because they have to face up to what they are ultimately going to receive rather than hope that they may do better, but if sellers are going to succeed in selling their property at its highest and best price they must adapt this strategy in order to deal with today's internet buyer.
The second issue is merchandising. Buyers that are not on the internet are riding through the areas that they are interested in, although statistically this only amounts to about 15% of buyer activity it is not something to be overlooked. Now is the time for sellers to look at their property through the buyer's eyes rather than the way most of us see our houses while we live in them. This means that sellers need to insure that lawns are in excellent not just good condition, that windows are freshly cleaned (especially on the first floor in the front of the house), that garages are neatened, closets are cleaned out, rooms are freshly painted and the house "shows well" in all respects. The dollars spent on landscaping and other "clean up" items will be dollars that are recouped when the buyer thinks the property "looks great" rather than "is OK".
Recognizing the shift in the market coupled with unparalleled local, national and international exposure through our extensive marketing plan together we can sell your home. If we can compete for your business let us know! Email us or visit us at our site Team Knapp.
There are several items that influence selling in the current market and primary among them is pricing strategy. The old strategy was to price the property with room to negotiate, wait for buyer interest and then settle on a price that was agreeable to all. Unfortunately, this pricing strategy will not bring showings. Today's marketplace is on the internet, I think we all agree on that, and that should change everything in our pricing strategy.
In yesterday's market, when prospects looked in newspapers, on television and in magazines they only received limited information about the properties that they saw and they only had access to a limited number of the available properties. This meant that the prospect had to call the agent to get all of the information about a property he was interested in and that gave the agent the opportunity to introduce additional properties the buyer did not know about as well as provide more information about the property that the buyer called about. Agents who were successful at this conversion process prospered and the spectrum of properties that were shown was far greater than it is today.
In today's market the buyer decides what his parameters are and looks on the internet for properties that meet his qualifications. The problem for sellers and listing agents is that when the buyer looks on the internet, instead of getting a few words in the newspaper or a few words and one picture in a magazine, the buyer gets, 5 to 20 photographs of everything in the property, virtual tours, a complete list of features, Google mapping and probably access to the school report. In other words the buyer knows it all before he calls.
If there are 40 properties that may fit the buyer's needs (area, price range, bedrooms, baths, size) he can prejudge all of them prior to calling about any of them. Because the buyer has all of this information the vast majority of buyers are going to call on the same limited number of homes that seem to represent the best value within the buyer's spectrum of needs. This creates a situation where the most competitive houses get an inordinate amount of activity and houses that are priced in the middle of our value range get little to no activity. That means that the old strategy of "leave room for negotiations" is not valid because it creates so little activity that there probably will never be an offer to negotiate.
If you want to compete on the internet that means a seller needs to be in the top 10% of all homes that they are competing with in terms of value, otherwise there simply will not be substantial showing activity. So the new pricing strategy must be to price it very competitively, based on the active competition and not the sold "comps", and then when the buyer is interested hold firmer to the price that you want.
In many fields this is known as "puppy dog" selling. The point being that the best way to sell a puppy is to get it into the purchaser's hands and when he likes it he will find a way to buy it; in the same way the home seller is better negotiating with a buyer after the buyer has been in the seller's house and has made a decision that he wants to write an offer. Now the seller has some leverage to hold close to his asking price, whereas keeping his price high and being "willing to negotiate" simply means there will not be any activity. This is hard for sellers because they have to face up to what they are ultimately going to receive rather than hope that they may do better, but if sellers are going to succeed in selling their property at its highest and best price they must adapt this strategy in order to deal with today's internet buyer.
The second issue is merchandising. Buyers that are not on the internet are riding through the areas that they are interested in, although statistically this only amounts to about 15% of buyer activity it is not something to be overlooked. Now is the time for sellers to look at their property through the buyer's eyes rather than the way most of us see our houses while we live in them. This means that sellers need to insure that lawns are in excellent not just good condition, that windows are freshly cleaned (especially on the first floor in the front of the house), that garages are neatened, closets are cleaned out, rooms are freshly painted and the house "shows well" in all respects. The dollars spent on landscaping and other "clean up" items will be dollars that are recouped when the buyer thinks the property "looks great" rather than "is OK".
Recognizing the shift in the market coupled with unparalleled local, national and international exposure through our extensive marketing plan together we can sell your home. If we can compete for your business let us know! Email us or visit us at our site Team Knapp.
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