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No doubt you spend a good deal of time getting your seller’s home ready for the market. Even more importantly, you will need to prepare your seller for the market. Warn your seller that when agents make an appointment it probably is only an estimate of their arrival time. This is because the agent will be on a tour of several homes and the buyer will control the pace. Yes, it is better if your seller can be out of the home for showings but this is frequently an unreasonable expectation. Counsel your seller against discussion of compromising information. If a buyer has questions about the home, answers should be direct, accurate, and brief. Questions about the price, closing date, terms, or other details of the transaction must be referred to you. Plan in advance exactly how your seller will handle the inevitable question: Why are you moving? A polite but vague response probably will be innocuous. Mention of a job transfer, divorce, foreclosure, et cetera should be avoided. Your seller should not discuss irrelevant topics such as sports, religion, politics, or the possible sale of the grandfather's clock or other furniture. There is no way to know which of these topics might ruin a contract. So he’ll be polite, brief, and will stay focused on the goal. Of course, he'll keep any remaining pets, as well as pet remains, out of the way anytime the home is to be shown. Your seller needs to realize that one should never, ever tag along during a showing. He cannot help: Most agents will readily find the pantry as well as the linen closet. Many of us will even be able to figure out, on our own, which is which. If your seller happens to be at home and notices that a prospective buyer shows unusual interest, asks several questions, or spends a long time, he should know to give you a call as soon as the visitors depart. When these buying signs are noted, prompt follow-up is required. In addition, if a buyer returns for a second visit, you need to be advised at once: The home is probably on the buyer's "short list." Your seller should know how to contact you immediately. Be sure to let your seller know how many showings to expect daily, weekly, or monthly and about how many showings are required, on the average, to sell a home. If activity is slow, once a month you must:
Resist the temptation to take the
easy way out by doing nothing except rekindling your seller’s hopes.
Your inaction almost certainly will lead to another month of
market inaction for the home. Remember,
to today’s home buyer the three most important factors are price,
price, and price, in that order. If there are a reasonable number of
visitors, but after 15 or 20 showings there is no buying interest, this
indicates that the market exposure is fine but the price is still a bit
high to draw an offer. Buyers
are coming, but they are finding measurably better value in other homes
on the market. Corrective action should be taken in the form of a price
reduction so that your seller’s home will stand out as the best among
the competition of lower priced homes. At least once a month, and
especially when considering a price change, obtain updates on
competitive homes. Important factors are homes new on the market, homes recently
sold, and price adjustments made by competitive homes. If your seller notices an unusual
number of drive-aways, agents arriving with buyers but not coming into
the home, spend some time at the curb to determine what is lacking in
the appeal. If corrective action can be taken,
do not hesitate. Also ask
the seller to make a note of agent’s names and phone numbers when they
call to schedule a showing. This
might help encourage agents to come in when they arrive, and will allow
you to ask those who drove away without entering, what was so
objectionable. If the
problem continues and is indefinable or incurable, then a price
reduction is needed. If contract forms are standardized
in your area you should provide your seller samples of the forms for
review when you first list the home.
If necessary, they should also be reviewed by the seller’s
attorney so that any questions can be resolved at an early stage. During the marketing period you must
periodically remind your seller that all the effort will pay off.
But when he's halfway through the marketing period, he will see
no milestone by which to measure the progress.
He will not have 50% of a contract.
An offer usually will come out of the blue when least expected.
If your seller plans to be away for more than a day, he must let
you know where he can be contacted.
This is important.
Many buyers, especially job transferees on a house hunting trip,
will not wait and hope that you might find your wayward seller tomorrow. After your seller has been readied
for the market, prepare a high quality information handout or brochure
to be available in the property and for you to circulate as appropriate.
Do not pinch pennies here: An exceptional brochure impresses
buyers and sellers alike as well as future buyers and sellers. Develop a standard format and use premium materials and as
much color as you can afford. Please
include the home’s price! But
remember, the price and even other data might change.
It will be handy if your standard brochure can be produced in
small quantities, as few as 5 or 10.
So make friends with a good, full service print shop. Alternatively,
purchase a high quality, color printer and associated paraphernalia. The best brochure is probably four pages or less, but do not stray too far from local custom. Can your standard MLS information sheet be incorporated? Don’t try to list every insignificant sliver of information as this will detract from the important part of your message. Concentrate on what is important to buyers in your market and do not dilute it with trivia. The object is to have the buyer finish reading the brochure before going to sleep. Besides, travel time to the airport or the grocery usually is not a major issue. When it is, the selling agent or the buyer can easily find the answer. Don’t make 999 busy buyers wade through this stuff because of the 1 out if 1,000 who can not figure it out. Yes, voluminous brochures can work almost as well on buyers and even better on sellers, but remember the goal is to sell the home. Thick brochures for sellers, thin for buyers. Choose your audience carefully. And remember, a four-page "property" brochure in which three pages is devoted to hyping your talents and successes is sure to impress only one person. If your ego is this fragile, order a lower cost brochure and start saving for a shrink. An
excellent vehicle to convey some important thoughts is a personal letter
from your seller to the prospective buyer.
The more personal, the better.
It can be handwritten or typed, and it should be signed with your
seller’s first name. It should be reproduced and included with the information
handout available to visitors in the home. |
