August 31, 2005

Hot Tips For A Cooling Market

======================================================================

My 5 Favorite Tips, Tricks, and Techniques That Will Make
or Save You Money When You Sell A Home In A Softening Market

by Jeff Hoffman

© Jeff Hoffman- All Rights reserved
======================================================================

When the hot as a firecracker real estate market cools off, many frustrated sellers are caught without a plan for selling their home. If you’ve never sold a home in such a market, or perhaps you’ve forgotten how to navigate through one, the “rules of engagement” are quite different than you’re used to.

Whether they help you make money, save time, save money, or avoid frustration, these tips, tricks, and techniques can be a lifesaver to anyone selling a home in a softening real estate market.

Here are my 5 favorite tips, tricks and techniques to selling a home in a softening market.

1. Hire the "Top Gun". Throw away the flyers, postcards, and door hangers from the discount commission agents and hire the full service “neighborhood expert” real estate agent. Now is not the time to hire a newly licensed agent or a low commission “do some of the work yourself and save” real estate company to represent you in the sale of your home. I have a saying…”saving nothing of nothing is still nothing.” Translated, it means; if your home doesn’t sell you’ve saved nothing by listing with a reduced commission agent. The extra commission you’ll pay to hire an expert with a history of selling homes in your neighborhood will be easily offset by the fact that your home will likely sell quicker and for more money. Experienced agents who have been through a declining market cycle(s) are worth their weight in gold to you. Remember, if your home doesn’t get sold you don’t get moved and your agent doesn’t get paid, you both lose.

2. Value Range Pricing. One of my all-time favorite tricks. Most MLS systems allow your agent to offer your home for sale using a "range" rather than a specific list price. This alerts agents and buyers that you'll entertain offers between "X" price and "X" price. This technique is great at creating traffic and offers. There are two reasons why. First, buyers like to barter. When you list your home in a "range", it creates an impression that they can negotiate a lower price for your home. Second, without having to actually lower your price, you are creating the impression that you have lowered your price, which in turn, gets more buyers interested in your home than if you did a traditional price listing.

3. Price "below" the market. Before you panic and say you're giving your home away consider this...in a declining market, today's right priced home is tomorrows over-priced home. Staying ahead of the pricing curve is critical to selling for top dollar when the market is softening. Get at least two price opinions from different sources and enter the market below the median price of the homes that have sold within the last four weeks. For years I've used a tool called the "Total Market Overview Report." It's a computerized spreadsheet that shows the up to the week snapshot of the real estate market in your area to help you see which direction the market is heading. Contact me if you'd like to know how to get one for your home.

If you want to do your own research on pricing histories here are three online appraisal services you can use:

www.ElectronicAppraiser.com
$29.00 Complete Property Valuation - Detailed property information, comparable sales in the requested area, charted valuation, accurate market value.

www.InstantHomEvaluations.com
$9.95 Basic Home Valuation Report—a quick and inexpensive snap-shot of a home's worth. Provides the value range, assessed value, previous sales price and sale price information for 3 comparable homes.
$29.95 Professional Home Valuation Report-- a detailed evaluation of a home. This is the same report used by mortgage companies and banks to approve home loans.

www.REcyber.com
FREE--recyber society offers a yearly subscription service costing $149.95 however you can use their "Top 25 E-tools" link to get to a link for Instant Home Prices via domania. You'll receive up to five recent sales for your area without having to pay a registration fee. The information is general at best but it can help you confirm the pricing recommendation of your agent.

4. Offer an incentive to agents or buyers. Real estate agents often pick homes buyers see and make offers on. Offering an increased commission or a closing bonus if the home receives an offer by a certain date are two ways to increase interest of cooperative real estate agents. For buyers, you can offer to pay their loan fees or title and escrow costs. Secret Tip: If you don’t want to dig into your pocket to pay for these incentives look for an agent who offers a reward program that can be used at their cost like my program at www.buyercashrewards.com. More agents are realizing the power of such programs so ask around before you list with an agent.

5. Offer a Guaranteed Sale Program. Back in the early to mid 1990’s when we last went through a slow seller’s market home builders were offering to buy the home of the person who wanted to buy the builder’s home. Today, there are real estate agents who promote a guaranteed sale program where they will do the same thing. Understand if it’s tough for you to sell your home it will be tough for many potential buyers of your home to sell their current home to buy yours. Call around to local real estate offices and ask if any of their agents are offering a 90-120 day guaranteed sale program, or visit my site at www.Guaranteed-Sale.com.

~~
Jeff Hoffman is the President of Hoffman Realty Group, Inc. and the creator of a powerful home selling system designed for the home seller not the real estate agent. To learn more about his Smart Seller Home Selling System visit
www.SmartSellerListing.com

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to sell your home ON TIME, for TOP DOLLAR, eliminating the frustration and stress many sellers routinely face...

Click Here => NEW FREE Book "18 Notorious Homes Selling Problems & How I Solved Them"-

-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

** Attn Ezine editors / Site owners **
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your
ezine, blog, autoresponder, or on your site so long as you
leave all links in place, do not modify the content and
include our resource box as listed above.
If you do use the material please send us a note so we can take a look. Thanks.