Guidelines
to Selling a Home in the
Charlottesville area...
We have
put
together some guidelines to help you weed out those firms that may not
be a good fit for you. People make a lot of promises to get your
business. This guideline will help you weed out the promiser from the
do-er.
-
Before you
pick up the phone... Even before you ask the first question, you can
save yourself some valuable time by doing a bit of initial research.
Visit a firm's or agent's web site and see what you find. What kind of
possible exposure can you get? How visible are they on what most buyers
keywords on the search engine? Those promising to put you in 15 to 20
different sites... ask them what those sites are. And see how visible
they are. If they don't tell you, this is a sign of other hidden agenda
they may have. Remember, a listing in the MLS is standard and will show
up on several internet websites irregardless (i.e., realtor.com and
other similar sites that host MLS database).
- Test
the
listing agent you're contemplating on listing your house with. Call the
agent, email the agent. See how responsive he/she is on returning your
calls / emails. How often he/she picks up the phone, how often he/she
just lets the answering machine pick up. This is the person who will be
representing you and your property. His/her response time is crucial to
making or breaking a deal. This is the person who the buyers and buyers
agents will call to see your house. Request some comps for your
property and see how quickly you will get a response.
- Inquire
about
what kind of marketing techniques they will be using to sell your
house. Inquire about the effectivity of these techniques. Remember, you
may be charged for some of these marketing materials whether they work
or they don't.
- Rates:
don't
just sign with the cheapest agent you can find. Focus on the results
not the price. The purpose of all this is to sell your house. It
doesn't do you any good if your property will just sit for 6 months. It
will cost you more in the end. Do your homework and do the math. Most
likely, another agent (a buyers agent) will be involved in the sale of
your house. Inquire about the co-broke structure. How much of the
commission is he/she splitting with the buyer's agent? Hint: In a slow
market you need to maximize the incentive for a buyer's agent (3% or
more) to show your property. If the commission is LOW, it may not SHOW.
All
Area Properties
BRAC DIA NGIC
Relocation