THE 9 CRITICAL POINTS NO HOMEOWNER CAN AFFORD TO IGNORE WHEN CHOOSING A REALTOR.

Pricing: Hire an agent who will tell you the truth.

The truth is the pricing strategy you choose will account for 80% of selling at the highest price. There are only two pricing strategies: accurate market value and “wait and see” or overpricing method. The greatest benefits of accurate initial market pricing are obvious. You will attract the greatest number of agents and their buyers to your home right from the start. The more buyers show up at your home, the sooner you sell. The sooner you sell, the highest price you will get. The reason is simple: while the property is fresh, i.e. has not been on the market long, you have the negotiating power. Your position is strong and you won't have to negotiate much on your asking price.

However, this changes once your home has been exposed to the market for too long. It becomes a stale product, (much like a discounted week-old loaf of bread) and becomes hard to sell. Negotiating close to your asking price at that point is highly unlikely.

Beware of agents trying to “ buy ” your listing by giving you an unrealistic and inflated price. Not being competitive on the basis of honesty and skill and desperation is the cause of such action. It will cost you at the end. The longer your home remains on the market, the lower your final selling price will be. No one pays full price for a stale product.

If you choose the “ wait and see ” strategy and overprice your home, chances are you will have to make an adjustment on the price later, but it will be costly. By then you will have lost critically important momentum in the sale process, i.e. being a fresh new listing on the market. Buyers are excited by new listings and are willing to pay more for your home at the beginning. It is much harder to bring the buyers back to the old listings. And, how likely are they to pay your price at that time? If you want the top-selling price, allow Jane Fairweather to aim for making a realistic sale. This means Jane will price it right from the start, price it at market value.

Hire an agent who will market your home, not just list it.

Newspaper advertising finds you a buyer in only 4% of the cases. The same goes for holding an open house. Even in today's hot market, in the Greater Washington Area, only 58% of all homes listed will sell during the initial three-month listing period. Top real estate agents know this. That's why they hunt for buyers rather than wait for buyers to find them.

The secret to selling your home quickly is to hire a real estate agent who uses phone, fax, mail, e-mail, printed media, and direct personal contact to market your home daily to other real estate agents and potential buyers. Simply listing your home is for sale is not enough. Your agent must actively market your home every day to give you maximum exposure to the best buyers. Hire an agent who has a great track record for listing and selling homes in your area, who will make things happen, not wait for something to happen, one who will actively promote your home, not passively wait for buyers to find you. Jane Fairweather has a marketing plan and substantial budget designed to actively market your home.

Hire a marketing specialist, who specializes in marketing homes, not a buyer specialist.

Every professional has a specialty. The same applies to real estate…. residential, commercial, industrial, investment, apartment buildings, vocational, agricultural, leases, etc. In residential real estate, there are 2 specialties: marketing/listing specialists and buyer specialists (buyers agent). Benefits of working with marketing specialist: operates established marketing systems (marketing materials, printing, graphics, distribution systems, marketing and telemarketing departments, photography, computer systems, and administrative support). Hire an agent who is focused strictly on promoting and marketing your home.

A buyer agent needs only a car and access to MRIS listings. He does not have a marketing process or system set up. He also does not have the staff, marketing budget, a team, telemarketing, technology, and many other details necessary to focus on one thing only: finding a buyer for your home. Jane Fairweather represented 111 sellers last year and successfully sold all of their homes.

Negotiations: Hire an Expert.

Negotiating is one of the most important aspects of the sale. This is where the strong, well-honed skills of an expert negotiator will translate into thousands of dollars for you. Dollars either made or lost. Strong negotiation comes from an agent not being attached to the outcome of the transaction. Hire an agent who has developed a busy, successful practice as well as strong negotiating skills over many years. Jane Fairweather has successfully negotiated over 150 contracts every year for the last 10 years.

Find a professional who already has a large client base of potential buyers.

What are the chances that the average real estate agent will both list your house for sale and find a buyer? One in a hundred. That's the statistic of an average real estate agent. Hire an above-average real estate agent. One who already has buyers in mind when he lists your home. These agents have an established base of satisfied clients, from whom they have received referrals and repeat business over many years. Find a real estate professional who will promote your home daily to past clients. Jane Fairweather has a strong repeat and referral business from her 4000 past clients . Last year, 38% of her sales came from past clients.

Hire a busy agent.

Imagine you are new in town, looking for somewhere to eat. You spot two restaurants, side by side. Each has a parking lot for guests. One is full, the other almost empty. At which restaurant will you eat? At the busy restaurant, naturally. They're busy. They obviously have the best food. In the Greater Washington Area, the busiest agents are also the best agents and the most successful. That's why they're busy. They have the most listings and sell the most homes. An agent without listings is an agent without buyers. What's more, a busy, successful agent is financially secure and negotiates for your asking price from a position of strength. Jane Fairweather negotiates contracts nearly every other day.

Hire a whole team for the price of one agent.

The most successful real estate agent, the one who will sell your home for the best price, in the shortest time possible and with the least hassles, has a team. They don't work alone because they are too busy to work alone. Their team members put the sign on your lawn, make photocopies, answer the phones, and handle a million and one other vital tasks. Having a team helps your real estate professional focus on what is most important to you: finding a buyer for your home, negotiating the highest price, and getting you to settlement. The Jane Fairweather Team has a licensed Associate Broker, licensed agents, and licensed administrative assistants that service your listing.

Technology: Hire an agent on the cutting edge.

This year, 30% of all homebuyers will be using the Internet as their primary source of getting market smart about the homes for sale in their area. That opens a whole new world of opportunities for you to market your home. With the Internet, you have the potential to show your home to a whopping 60 million homebuyers -24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It means you can expose your home to a much wider audience without the hassles of real home tours. Also, e-marketing is critically important in today's technologically advanced market. Hire an agent who is on the cutting edge of where Real Estate industry meets technology today. Check out Jane Fairweather's website at www.janefairweather.com .

Track record and experience: Success is a history not a promise.

Every business has a measurable, quantifiable way of determining performance. So does real estate, but you need to know what you are looking for. Here are some questions to ask: How many years has the agent been in the business? How much expertise does the agent possess? Does the agent own different types of real estate (residential, commercial, rental, recreational)? Does the agent have property management expertise? Total career sales volume? How many clients moved? How many clients in the agent's client base? National and International rankings? Rank in the Greater Washington Area? Is the agent primarily a listing agent or a buyers agent? How many of the homes that the agent lists end up sold? How many homes does the agent sell annually? % of selling vs. asking price? Average number of days it takes to sell a listing (average number of days on the market)? How often does the agent find buyers for their own listings? Past performance is not always a guarantee of success, but it does provide a strong foundation to achieve the desired result-the sale of your home.