PROView - September 2007 - (Page 4) What to Do to Sell a Home by Mathias Bergendahl, Director of Marketing and Communications You probably know Realtors® who, no matter the market conditions, time and again perform higher than the average agent in your marketplace. Clearly, they must be doing something right - their numbers are there to illustrate it. But what is it that makes them stand out? What are they doing differently? And more importantly, what can we learn from them? We invited several local top producers to share their viewpoints on what has enabled them to achieve success even in a market as challenging as the one we currently are experiencing. With notepad in hand, I set out to find out what they are doing to be successful. Hopefully their stories will both inspire and motivate. If you believe the news reports, our market is in a steady decline. Home prices are edging downward, foreclosure rates are going up and the intensely debated issue of property taxes is certain to cause homeowners to stay put in their homes until more permanent and sustainable relief is visible. Not to mention the difficulty in finding property insurance without having to go to the government-run Citizens Property Insurance Corporation at skyrocketing rates unfathomable only a few years ago. If you believe media outlets, nobody is willing to buy real estate at this time. So is the market at a complete standstill? Not so fast. According to several area Realtors®, there are plenty of opportunities in our local marketplace. Much to my surprise, all of them were extremely positive and upbeat. Sure, most have been in the marketplace for a long time and have experienced challenging times before yet what they described was a market they perceived as full of opportunities. In the words of Gary Ubaldini of the Gary & Nikki Team, Keller Williams Realty, in Palm Harbor, “we’re in a skills market and our buyers and sellers need our consultative process now more than ever.” Ubaldini went on to discuss the importance of coun4 PINELLAS REALTOR® ORGANIZATION seling sellers on setting a correct price.” There’s no doubt that every Realtor’s® integrity is tested,” he said, stating that many sellers unfortunately have an unrealistic idea of what their home probably would sell for, often resulting in agents being asked to set a price at a level unlikely to gather the attention of a buyer. “We go through a consultative process for all our listing appointments,” continued Ubaldini. “While a CMA is an essential tool to show sales activity in the area around a property, we also discuss the market’s overall absorption rate as part of a detailed supply and demand analysis.“ Furthermore, they provide a list of all homes for sale within the immediate surroundings to show the number of homes competing. Ubaldini went on to say that their customers are given a forecast as to the likelihood their homes will sell at different price points given the overall marketplace statistics. “We simply find that an in-depth, realistic outlook enables our customers to see the rationale for a certain price level,” he added. Ubaldini pointed out that a price set too high resulting in little interest among buyers can get a relationship off to a very bad start. He said most homes that sell do so within the first 60 days on the market, and a price set too high may cause sellers to miss the September 2007
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