I provide a number of services to help you sell your home. This page outlines the process, tools and my responsibilities to help you get the most out of my services.
How I Will Market Your Home
This is just a sample (and general) marketing plan. As all sellers’ needs are different, yours will be tailored specifically to your case.
- Take beautiful photos of your home and the neighborhood and post them online for agents and their clients to see as a virtual tour. Include photos of the nearby retail, restaurants and grocery stores.
- When needed, have a professional stager visit the property to deliver a written staging plan
- Create a two-sided full color flyer: This will be left in the home for agents and prospective buyers to take. It will also be posted in our office as well as other Long and Foster offices near the property.
- Make sure house is staged to create a warm and inviting presence. Have music softly playing for a warm reception upon entering the house.
- Put an ad in the Washington Post advertising the home and the open house.
- Host at least two open houses: Have a broker’s open for agents to come by and preview on a Tuesday and another open house for the general public on a Sunday (I do the opens myself).
- Arrange for a sign to be put on the property with my cell phone number and the office’s number so that anyone can call at any time for information on your property. Place temporary directional signs on major thoroughfares directing traffic to the open house.
- Send an “Open House” mailing to my neighbors and my contacts. This will let them know about the open house so that they can tell friends who might be interested in the neighborhood.
- Enter your listing into the Multiple Listing System (MLS) for agents to see and send to their clients. This will also automatically be posted on my personal website and posted to Realtor.com, HomesDatabase.com, GoogleBase, Trulia, Yahoo, HomePages.com, HomeSeekers.com, Vast.com, Homes.com, Zillow.com, Redfin.com, Longandfoster.com and many more sites.
- Place your home listing on craigslist.org and my website for extra exposure.
- Put an electronic lockbox on your property for easy showing anytime.
- Announce your listing to the other agents in our office at the weekly Monday meeting and put flyers in the agent’s boxes for the most exposure possible.
- Call agents who have seen your property for feedback and follow-up.
- Provide all support for my clients’ busy lives even when they are in town!
My Responsibilities to Sellers
- Help you enhance the value of your house. I will go through the house with you and create a checklist of items that need to be taken care of to help you get the best price and to get the most people excited about your home.
- Research all of the comparable sales in the market to help you set the best price. After extensive market research, I will meet with you to discuss the best pricing strategy to help you meet your goals (financial and time-wise).
- Give your property total exposure through multiple advertising venues (the multiple listing system (MLS), newspaper ads, open houses, flyers, mailings, etc.). All marketing activities will be tailored to you after an in-depth discussion about your needs.
- Do what it takes to bring serious and qualified buyers to the door. Some people are serious but not qualified and vice-versa. I will vet them so that you do not waste valuable time negotiating with people who are not BOTH serious and qualified.
- Help buyers take action when appropriate. It is important to catch the market ‘buzz’ in the first week or two that your home is listed. Newly listed homes are always the ones most people want to see. During this period, people get excited, but they may need the extra nudge to get them to write a contract. This could be simply because they need more information – about the neighborhood, the home or its amenities, public transportation, financing – basically just getting past their reservations or nagging questions so that they write an offer.
- Use my expertise on contracts to negotiate the best terms for you – price, contingencies, time frame for settlement, etc. This can often be a stressful and emotion-filled period. It is much easier for you to have someone to do the tough negotiating for you so that your interests are best represented.
- Give buyers multiple financing options so that they know that they can afford your home. A loan officer will draw up multiple financing options for all types of buyer situations and put this in some of the home’s marketing materials. Many people do not realize how much they can afford. This documentation will be in your home with the flyers, and I will be able to provide this information to anyone who calls and requests information about your home.
- Make the process as worry free as possible for you, taking care of as many of the details and paperwork (for contractor work, general advice etc. from listing to settlement). If I represented a client successfully sell his property from the UK, I can certainly help others sell homes from long-distance and can provide all support for my clients’ busy lives even when they are in town!
- My clients and I both have a fantastic resource in Long and Foster. Long and Foster is a wonderful company founded on giving quality support to both their agents and clients. Both my managing broker and co-broker are available to me any time of the day, any day of the week. The company also has great name recognition in this area – one that people have trusted for decades.
- Lastly, you get MY tireless, honest and attentive support before, during and long after your house is sold!