Whenever I speak to a new potential home selling client, they have questions. I try my best to answer with thoughtful and helpful insight based on their needs.
Here are the most common things I'm asked by new clients before they choose us to sell their house in order of frequency.
I believe the time to learn about your options and your opportunities is before you have to make choices about your future so that you can do so comfortably, at your pace.
We encourage you to consider what insight you need to feel good about hiring us as your agents. Share those needs with us when you are ready so that we can discuss the information for you during your decision making process and create a custom selling strategy just for you.
- What will you charge to sell my house?
As your listing agent my fee is all encompassing of my home selling services. Some of the things I do is to appropriately position your home within the marketplace, manage your sale process, to create, purchase, monitor marketing and advertising for your home, show the home in person, host pre planned & strategic open houses, obtain and negotiate incoming offers and then oversee your transaction steps including all of the small, medium and huge steps along the way. My commission rate ranges from 2% to 4% of the total sale price on the listing side. You have options when it comes to the buyer agent commission. We can discuss your thoughts and strategies that make sense based on your sale.
- When and how do you get paid?
My commission is paid only at the time of closing and not otherwise, should no sale take place I do not collect a commission. All financial risk involved with presenting your home and the time investment of myself and my staff is mine alone. I am truly your partner in your sale.
At the time of the sale, the closing attorney collects the sale price, pays off your outstanding mortgage, tax stamps, any outstanding liens along with your selling expenses including commission. They provide you with the balance of the sale price after the expenses in the form of check or wire transfer.
- Lisa, I don’t want to give my house away, how will you come up with the right price for my house?
You shouldn't sell for a dollar less than you deserve. Your home is valuable. As your representative it’s my job to first learn what makes it special and unique, then to create marketing and advertising that highlights its worth. This allows me to attract the most ready, willing and able buyers. By being actively involved in the sale, I have the ability to educate them accordingly.
After I view the home in person I will create 3 pricing scenarios for your consideration.
These pricing scenarios will include a way to maximize your sale price via energy based pricing and marketing, actual market based pricing based on the most similar pending, under agreement and recent 3 to 6 months of sales along with factual hard data. Then for those who wish to push the envelope, to find that one buyer most interested in their home and test the market - what the maximum suggested listing price strategy would be.
See the pros and cons of the three pricing strategies listed on my website www.soldbylsg.com within the home selling section or scan QR code at bottom of page.
You’ll choose the plan that makes the most sense for you.
- I would prefer a short listing agreement, what do you suggest?
My listing agreements run for 60 days and automatically expire after the 60th day if the home is not sold. Over the years my average listing follows a 7 day selling strategy, when priced correctly, this system works really well.
We launch on Wednesday day 1, we market and advertise the home extensively with the goal of reaching no less than 40,000 people in those first few days throughout the entire marketing period.
Prior to launch we review the calendar and decide on viewing times based on the home’s availability so you know what to expect, when from people coming to see the home. Our first viewing is either Thursday or Friday with a 90 minute pre planned viewing. Our second is either Friday or Saturday for 90 minutes and our third viewing is Sunday for 2 hours. In almost all scenarios this strategy provides offers provided to you by day 7.
Many home sellers choose to allow private showings as well however it’s not always necessary.
- Do I have to have a for sale sign?
No, the more opportunities we have for people to know the home is for sale, the more buyers we can reach though and very often your neighbor is a great source of serious buyers. In fact, often the buyer with the highest and strongest offer has a tie to the local neighborhood or community that pulled them out to see your home.
If you prefer a very discrete and private sale, we have an entire platform built around our *private exclusive* offerings we can discuss. These homes do not go into the MLS system, do not go online, do not have signage and are not posted publicly on the internet in advertising. They are "pocket" listings sold via word of mouth.
- I’m ready to move forward, what now?
Reach out to me either by phone or email so that we can have a casual and comfortable discussion about your options and your house. We will arrange a visit, I'll listen to the goals that you have for your sale and then get to work on a custom selling strategy for you. Within 48 hours I’ll provide an outline of the steps I suggest and an explanation guide of the process.
Based on the goals you have for your sale, I will help you assess optimal pricing provided through three pricing scenarios including energy pricing, market based pricing and reach for the sky pricing for you to choose from.
I’ll help you determine whether there are any no cost or very low cost ways to make the house show in its most positive light. Very often my clients ask me to go room by room and offer you presentation suggestions. What to keep, what to move, where to put it etc. I will help you with all of it.
I will offer timing suggestions based on your ideal selling calendar. This will include launching, showing, viewing and open house plans including the best days of the week, the most sensible days within the month and the most heavily sought out months of the year to sell based on your specific home and the market it’s in.
- What comes next?
Once you make your pricing selection I’ll customize the sales plan including a communication outline based on your availability. You're busy, you don’t need to be wondering when you’ll hear from me, how often or how I'll contact you.
My communication plan takes into consideration the insight you have shared with me about how involved you would like to be and outlines when to expect to hear from me with consistent updates along the way. This is so that we can discuss the relevant updates and go over the next steps on your timeline. Our selling calendar along with our marketing and advertising plan will work as our roadmap for your sale.
Once we have these things created and you are on board, we will sign the listing agreement allowing my marketing team to prepare for our launch.
We will create a photo direction for our photographer to use to obtain the portfolio that highlights the home as best as possible, creating an environment where it stands out as the most sensible value in the marketplace. When it will benefit the home we have a team who can create virtual staging as well. This is where the photographer enhances rooms with furniture or removes items within the photos to show people the possibility of what the home offers. This can be helpful for homes in need of work, unfinished properties, houses with empty rooms, and houses with unique floor plans that buyer’s need guidance to understand how they can live in the home comfortably. Additionally we will obtain floor plans, video and drone footage to supplement our marketing.
- When should I contact you?
As early as possible so that you have the smoothest and easiest transition and can pick the most sensible timing in the market for you. Ideally somewhere between 7 days to a month ahead of time to allow for our 3 stage marketing plan including pre launch sneak peak marketing, coming soon marketing, full launch.
For some, home selling comes with as long as a year or so of preparation time where we revisit your plan, review pricing monthly and work through an action item list of clean outs, repairs, cosmetic changes.
For others who are ready, I can have your home positioned appropriately within 48 hours. This includes photos, marketing, advertising and a launch plan implemented with pre planned viewing times booked.
I'm confident if you share your plans and ideas with me I can create a selling scenario you'll feel confident with.
