Are you shopping for an agent by simply looking for the lowest commission only? What about discount brokers? Consider this…

Would you take “Rover” to a discount veterinarian?
Would you go to a discount doctor?
What about seeing a discount heart surgeon?
Using a discounted agent certainly sounds like a way to save money, doesn’t it? You are probably thinking - If they will do the same work and charge less this would be great, right?

But the reality is that this could work against you - consider the fact that you are trusting a discount agent to sell your home for the most amount of dollars - they will be spending money to market your home and they will be the one ultimately negotiating for you! Ask yourself - do you feel comfortable with someone that is so easy to cut their salary, (give away their own income), just to get your listing? Then, what do you think they are going to do when it comes to your money???

The whole concept of doing business for a discount agent is designed around giving discounts. That’s how they get business and that’s how they are trying to get yours. The problem for you is, that’s exactly how they sell homes too. If the discounter really knew how to get top dollar for you wouldn’t they start by NOT discounting their own livelihood?

We rarely just give someone our commission structure. Primarily because they have NOT seen our extensive marketing plan and don’t realize ALL that we do above and beyond our competition. We also encourage you NOT to shop for a Realtor based solely on their commission, because a discount commission realtor gives their services away because there was actually no service to begin with and they lack essential negotiating techniques and proven marketing methods, evidenced by the fact they can’t even negotiate for themselves! A seller may save a few hundred dollars on the selling commission, but it may end up costing them THOUSANDS in the long run due to poor advise and lack of negotiating skills on their home sale and/or purchase!

Here are some reasons we have to support our fee structure.

1) If that’s all they can Negotiate for themselves, how good are they going to be able to Negotiate for you? Again, The whole concept of doing business for a discount agent is designed around giving discounts. That’s how they get business and that’s how they are trying to get yours. The problem for you is, that’s exactly how they sell homes too. If the discounter really knew how to get top dollar for you wouldn’t they start by NOT discounting their own livelihood?

2) You may find other agents willing to drastically reduce their commissions, BUT how quickly are they going to suggest you drastically REDUCE YOUR ASKING PRICE when no offers are made or drastically PUSH YOU to accept a low offer”???

3) We don’t want to be tempted into putting more marketing effort and expenses into the listings that pay out more commission, so we offer the same amount to everyone.

4) We’re full service Realtors that will come through on our promises, and won’t just “list you and leave you”, nor pressure you in any way.

5) Remember, “you get what you pay for”. Good service isn’t cheap, and cheap service is seldom good. It’s always better to invest a little more than you planned, than to spend less than you should.

7) Agents who give away all their commission will lack proper motivation and working capitol to advertise and market your home!

Foreclosure is something that we would not wish upon anybody.  Due to unforseen circumstances in an individuals life they may inevitably be faced with the fact that foreclosure of their home is in their near future. However, for a lot of people, foreclosure can be avoided. Lets talk about the subject a bit.

Lets say you have had a recent tragedy in the family(i.e. Death, Layoff, Divorce, etc). Whatever the case it has greatly hindered your ability to make your mortgage payments on time, if at all.  This is a lose/lose situation for all involved. The mortgage company isn’t getting their payments and your are at risk of losing your home within the next few months. Not to mention the stress this has created in your life and on your relationships.

If you have an abundance of equity in your home you may be able to sell it to an investor quickly. BUT SELLER BEWARE. Investors have no ones interest in mind except their own. Plus, investors typically do not pay more that 70% of the homes value. Unfortunately most people do not have 30% equity in their homes at the near forclosure stage. Especially if they have purchased it within the last 5 years. If this is an option for your then GREAT, your on your way to selling your home. If not, there is another option.

This second option is what we in the real estate industry call a “short sale”.  A short sale takes place when a Real Estate agent works directly with the lender and the homeowner to get the lender to accept a dollar amount LESS than the amount owed as total payoff.  Yes, I did say LESS than the amount owed.

• Example: You purchased a home two years ago for $150,000.  Six months after purchasing this home the real estate market was hot, so you took out a $40,000 Home Equity line to make some improvements. Now you owe $190,000  and the real estate market has cooled down and has an overabundance of inventory. Making your homes current market value around $180,000.  You have been laid off from your job and are now unable to make the payments in a timely manner. Foreclosure is in your near future.  For a $180,000 home the estimated closing costs(title company fees, real estate brokerage fees, tax fees etc.) are around $15,000. Leaving you in the hole approx $25,000 from what you owe.

At this point is where many homeowners stop answering lender phone calls because they fear they have no options. They move out of the property and the property gets forclosed. But they do have options.  Lenders DO NOT want to foreclose on a home!! Why? It is very expensive for them.  Nine times out of 10 it is cheaper for them to take an amount less than the current note as full payment rather than to foreclose.

If you or someone you know is in a bad financial situation with their home please give us a call. We will set up a private consultation to discuss the options and what might be right for you. Not every real estate agent is trained in how to work with lenders on these situations. We have gone through extensive training and know how to work with lenders to get you on your way to a better financial situation.

Anyone who has sold their home prior to 5-7 years ago may not understand how much things have changed since then. It used to be that an agent could hold an open house, put an ad in the paper, send out mailings, and input into the mls in hopes of getting people through the door to buy your home. Things have changed quite a bit in a short amount of time. Chances are that if you’re reading this blog you understand this because the computer you’re using to access this is the same culprit that has revolutionized the home selling/buying process. It is almost impossible to expect your home to sell without it having some kind of marketing on the internet.

The vast majority of potential home buyers start their home search online and often months before they’re really serious about actually buying! The amazing thing is that this equates to many more showings from more people all over the globe. No matter how many open houses your agent holds it will never equal the number of people coming through your home compared to “virtual showings”. With this in mind, it is more important than ever to market the highlights of your home so that those viewing it online are inspired to schedule a physical showing. The key to this is, first and foremost, having professional quality photographs that showcase your home. Virtual tours, videos, floorplans, engaging descriptions, maps, mortgage scenarios, and community information are all critical components as well.

The better your home looks and feels to those viewing it online, the more likely you will be to actually have them come through your door and fall in love with your home. Keep in mind that there is no “smell-o-vision” yet available online, so if your home has an obnoxious odor, it’s imperative that this is resolved before anyone comes knocking at the door. Pet, smoke, mildew and other odors can repel potential buyers despite the beauty of the home.

If you are considering selling and have questions on how you can best promote your property, feel free to contact the Cobb and Paulding County agents with any questions or concerns you may have. We will be happy to give you some ideas that might help you, regardless of whether you list with us or not. We have more experience than most in visual marketing of real estate, and our fresh outlook has proven to be a great asset in business. We’re happy to help in any way we can!

real estate, realtor,

The answer is, be honest.  Do you really need to sell your house right now?  If so, take a look at your surrounding neighborhood first.  What are homes selling for?  If your home is priced higher than all the other homes that have sold in 2007 in your subdivision or surrounding area, then it’s likely that yours won’t sell.  There are just too many other homes out there to choose from.  Now is not the time to “test” the market.  Your home can be sold, but everyone needs to be real. 

So, be honest with yourself, have your realtor be honest with you and price your home in today’s real estate market, not last years. 

Erica & Sabrina would love to list your home for you.  We are experienced Realtors with Keller Williams Realty Signature Partners in Marietta Georgia.   We will be honest with you.  It’s not just business, it’s personal.

Well I guess it’s my turn to give this blog a shot.  Sabrina was a little reluctant to begin her first blog because she was afraid of what she should say and topics she should discuss.  I, on the other hand, have no problem typing and seeing where it goes.  So I will wait until I am finished to actually name the blog.  I guess I could start with introducing ourselves.  As you probably know by now we are a mother daughter real estate team in Georgia.  We are affiliated with Keller Williams Realty and specialize in Cobb and Paulding County, however, we have closed deals all over the Atlanta Metro Area.  We work with both buyers and sellers and have found that we each have strengths that benefit both types of client.

We discovered on our first appointment together that our interactions with the client were very different from one another.  My belief is that we were there for a job interview and providing the client with credentials about our experience, documentation on neighborhood statistics, and how we will work for them is very important to me.  I make sure that the client has a complete understanding of the process and what they can expect from us.  I know from personal experience that buying and selling a home can be overwhelming and I want to make sure I have answered all questions and have been thorough in explaining the important aspects of why they are hiring us.  My “business first” approach is probably why mom refers to me as the BOSS.  I organize and handle most of the paperwork, find the most effective ways of advertising, integrate the latest technology into our business, schedule appointments and showings, and create all marketing material.  Most of these everyday tasks I perform are a product of my past work experience and directly related to listing a home which is probably why I assume the responsibility of working with sellers.  Trust me when I say that I love my job and I love my clients.  I keep in contact with everyone I have done business with and have close relationships with them for years after the transaction has closed.  Before Sabrina and I partnered up my business was based on 90% referral.  I do the job I say I will do and when it’s done I’ll take you out to celebrate.  :) Sabrina (mom), on the other hand, has her own approach when working with clients.  For instance when we go to a listing appointment she will walk into a seller’s home and comment on the color of paint on the walls, or a beautiful piece of furniture.  She will get down on the floor and play with the children or ask about the vegetables you’re growing in the garden.  Although our styles of business are very different they compliment each other to serve our clients in the best way possible.  The important thing about Sabrina’s approach is that she is already gathering important information about your family and style that will enable her to find you your next home.  Sabrina’s strengths are most evident when working with buyers.  She has the ability to translate what you are saying into what you want.  That may sound like a silly concept.  You’re probably thinking, “If I tell her what I want then she will know.  What is there to interpret?”  This is where experience comes into play.  Working with many buyers over the years, you come to learn that the home a buyer purchases ends up being very different from what they originally said they wanted.  It may be that they absolutely had to have a basement but when it came down to it all they really needed was additional space for their pool table.  Or maybe a buyer says that they only want to look at homes with a 3 car garage but then purchase a home with a 2 car garage but has a separate shed for storing lawn equipment.  It’s our job as realtors to read between the lines and find out the reasoning behind your needs.  I’m sure you have seen the commercial where the real estate agent keeps showing their client ranch homes when they keep telling her they want a 2-story.  This is a typical stigma agents get by not understanding their clients needs.  The difference between an agent that hears you and a realtor that listens to you takes experience and a natural gift.  Yes mom you are gifted!

So you see, we each balance each other’s strengths so that we can provide our clients with a strong real estate team.  And being in business with my mother and best friend makes our “team” not just about business, it’s personal.

This week Erica & I went on caravan together.  If you aren’t familiar with this term, it’s when a group of agents from an office follow one after the other previewing each others listings.  The reason for this is to keep up with what is currently for sale and to show off their individual listings to other agents.  So this week we previewed 7 homes around Paulding County.  The price ranges were anywhere from $141,000 to $ 299,000.  Of the 7 homes we saw 5 of them had funky odors.  Some of them were pet odors and some of them I couldn’t tell you what the smell was.  They just smelled. 

When a potential homeowner comes into your house you better believe that smell plays a big roll in whether or not they get a warm fuzzy about your house.  The worst thing that could happen is when someone has looked at 20 different homes to potentially buy, and yours is the one that stands out in their mind as “Oh yeah, the stinky house.” 

There are things you can do to help with this.  Pluggin room deodorizers work well.  Keep them in every room.  Be careful however about the scents you choose.  Everyones nose has a favorite and a least favorite.  So keep it neutral & light and clean.  I wouldn’t go with heavy flowers or perfumed ones.  Before you leave the house spray a room neutralizer around a little bit.  But my all time favorite thing to do is right before you know you are going to have someone visit your home, bake a batch of sugar cookies.  Nothing says home like freshly baked cookies.  Now, not all of us can be Martha Stewart, so cheat.  You can find all sorts of cookies in the refrigerator section that are pre-made.  They smell just like home-made cookies but are easier.  Pull them out of the oven (don’t forget to turn it off) then place them on a plate in the kitchen with a note that says, “Thank you for looking at our home, please help yourself.”  I had a home-buyer tell me that she bought my house for two reasons….It was clean & the cookies!  They had seen many homes that were amazingly enough, dirty, cluttered and smelly. 

It’s a very competitive market right now with thousands of homes for sale.  If you want yours to sell, Clean it, De-clutter it & for heavens sake, make it smell good!

As you may or may not know, Erica & I are a mother/daughter team. (You know this if you browsed our web page already) Keep reading, it gets funny and informative. Erica has been in real estate for close to 8 years and I was doing mortgages for the past 22 years. blah blah blah…..So, when I told my big sister last year that I was going to get my real estate license and join Erica in this venture, her response was….”Have you seen that movie, American Beauty?  The one where Anette Benning is a real estate agent and holds an open house.  She arrives early to get the house ready and strips down to her slip, puts on yellow rubber gloves and starts cleaning.  The whole time she is chanting, “I will sell this house today, I will sell this house today!”  And my sister says that that is how she pictures me doing real estate!  OK, I do have a bit of an obsessive personality, but not quite that.  In a year, I’ve not stripped down to my slip (who wears those anymore?) but I have cut grass for a vacant house where the seller was out of town and couldn’t and I have done a little bit of picking up before an open house. 

I do however have a piece of advise for people showing their homes.  I swear it works!  I had a buyer tell me at the closing that the reason they bought my house was the cookies.  Well that, and the house was spotlessly clean.  Here’s the trick……Just before a buyer comes to see your house, throw some cookies in the oven.  They don’t have to be home-made.  Get some of those slice and bake cookies in the refrigerator isle of the grocery store.  They will make your home smell like home cooking and mama’s house.  Place the cookies on the kitchen counter with a note that says, “Thank you for looking at our home, please help yourself to some cookies.”  People get a warm fuzzy feeling and will remember your house out of all the others they saw that day. 

So, how did I do with my first blog?  Stay tuned for more helpful ideas on how to list and Sell your home!  And please, if you know of anyone in Cobb County or Paulding County that needs a realtor, keep us in mind! 

A More Money Tip–
No matter what the size of your property, you can increase the value for a potential buyer by maintaining the landscape.

1) Prune bushes and remove overgrown or dead shrubs.
2) Add an inch or two of pine bark to define a bed.
3) Edge the sidewalk, patio and driveway.

More tips are available from “The Girls that Get it Done.”