Southern California Real Estate by Phil McCollum

Information Is Key to a Successful Real Estate Transaction...

"Sellers Need to Be Aware of Property Value, Current Market Conditions, and Have a Marketing Plan..."

It's been said "Failure to plan is a plan to fail" and that accurately describes the home selling process. Home sellers have a lot to think about and it's essential to start the process early to gather an understanding of market conditions and have a plan to attain marketing exposure for your home.

Marketing Plan

There are many aspects of a successful marketing plan. I get into details on this subject in my Home Seller's Guide, but let me give you a brief synopsis here.

More than anything else, real estate marketing is about attracting the attention of real estate agents. This may surprise you since most real estate sales efforts seems to be geared toward attracting buyers with activities such as open houses, newspaper ads, flyer distribution, etc.

From your own experiences you can probably see the limitations of this approach if you think about it. How many open houses have you attended with absolutely no intention of buying the home? Most people are curious and drop in on quite a few, especially within their own neighborhood. How many real estate ads have you seen and ignored (or worse, not even noticed in the first place). That's the fate that befalls most real estate advertising.

And have you found flyers on your doorstep or on the windshield of your car? A few may have been of interest to satisfy your curiosity about local home prices, but mostly they don't stimulate a buying response.

These activities are all intended to expose your home to as many buyers as possible. That's a good thing, and I'm not against these activities because you never know who might drop by an open house, call on an ad, or respond to a flyer. All these methods work to some degree to attract buyers, but there are better ways to gain exposure of your home to help it sell quickly and for your target price.

What would help a real estate agent discover and promote your home? Well, above all else real estate agents rely on the MLS to find properties for clients. Interesting, agents also use the MLS to keep their clients informed about available properties, by e-mailing data on homes for sale.

Let's think about this...

The MLS can be used by agent to find the properties of interest, and also to print or email listings to clients. That makes the MLS listing doubly important. Agents locate properties by imposing search criteria such as price range, number of bedrooms, and so forth.

Once your property pops up in an agents search results, the real work starts. How does your home (meaning the MLS listing of your home) make a good impression?

A key here is to have an effective MLS description, numerous photos of the property, and utilize multi-media presentations as much as possible.

Do agents do this?

You'd be surprised at how many agents use a single photos of the property, and not a very good photo at that. And then the description may be a single boring sentence or useless information. I'm not saying all listings are this poor, just that it happens more often than you might imagine.

Certainly most agents do not use multi-media presentations (videos, virtual tours, phone hotlines) and thereby restrict the effectiveness of the presentation.

And that brings me to the point of this discussion. You have a powerful resource available to market your property and it's vital to make the best use of it. I'm talking about the MLS and more broadly, the internet. As an internet marketing expert, I know how to get the exposure your home needs with multi-photo and multi-media presentations, detailed and appealing descriptions, and even customized websites. Ideally, you should have 10 or more photos of your property, and a compelling description, and a virtual tour to allow prospective buyers to preview the property before taking the time to visit in person.

As you know everybody is busy these days and time-saving shortcuts are appreciated. If you pique a buyer's interest with your internet presentation, you'll find they are more likely to want to see your property in person and more likely to want to buy your home.

Your Home's Personal Website

I want to give you a preview of one of the methods I've created to get your home the in-depth exposure that is needed to influence buyers.

When you list your home with me, I will create a customized website dedicated to your home. This website will make it easy for people to get an in-depth look at the property.

This is a doubly effective strategy in that it presents your home in its best light to real estate agents and at the same time gives them the ability to show the same presentation to prospective buyers.

If you'd like to take a look, I've placed a sample here for your review.

Review my home marketing website

And this one

Market Conditions

Obviously, before you establish a listing price you need a pretty good idea how much your home is worth and which direction prices are trending. You'll also need to factor in any time constraints if you need to get your home sold quickly.

To help you evaluate market conditions I've built a series of charts using local sales data to "paint a picture" for you. The market conditions data evaluate the following five parameters for the local Southern California real estate marketplace:

- Selling Price Percentage Change

- Selling Price Per Square Foot

- Selling Price / Listing Price Ratio

- Sales Rate

- Days on Market

You can get all the details from the Market Data tab or you can use the following link:

Visit my Market Data page

How Much is Your Home Worth?

Home values are affected predominantly by the location of the property, prevailing market condition, size of the living space, and the condition of the property. Everything but the condition of the property can be evaluated quickly and easily by comparison to other home sales.

While in some cases a single property, such as the house across the street, may be the best comparative property, other times many properties in your neighborhood, both larger and smaller than yours, must be considered to get a broader picture of local property values. I can provide all the data you need to make this evaluation, and for some neighborhoods I've already done so on my website. Refer to the Neighborhood Data page to review sold property comps including pictures and descriptions of the properties.

If your neighborhood is not represented, I can prepare a custom list for you.

How to Prepare for Sale

It goes without saying, or at least it should, that you want to make a good first impression when showing you home. Why? Because that's all you get. Buyer's do not return to a home they've already seen to take another look unless it already appeals to them. If your home is sloppy or dirty when a buyer walks through, this will be a major turnoff and you will lose that prospective buyer. Even a buyer who would have liked your home will walk away if the home didn't "feel" right.

On the other hand, if you can maximize your home's appeal, by working hard to keep it clean, neat, and calling attention to the best features, then buyers may very well become interested and your home will sell faster for a higher price.

My Home Seller's Guide describes in great detail what you can do to make your home outstanding. Before you run out and spend any money on upgrades, find out what you can do on a budget that will increase the appeal, and therefore the market value, of your home.

You can request a copy of my Home Seller's Guide by filling in the form at the top right hand side of this page.

Negotiation and Acceptance

Once an offer has been received, a multi-step negotiation process begins. This process can be easy or it can be painful with repeated counter offers. It's important to realize when writing counter offers that this in effect constitutes a rejection of the presented offer. In other words, you either accept every aspect of the purchase offer or you reject it. Counter offers are an easy way to continue the negotiation but the buyer is under no legal obligation to continue the negotiation.

The purchase price is the primary item for negotiation, but their may be other aspects under consideration as well, such as the terms of sale, the close of escrow date, whether repairs will be made, and inclusion/exclusion of items of interest to the buyer.

After a final offer has been negotiated and accepted, additional negotiations are often required depending on the results of the professional home inspection performed by the buyer and the assessment of other reports by the buyer.

This topic is addressed in more detail in my Home Seller's Guide.

Avoid This Mistake...

Home sellers can make a lot of mistakes that will cost them money, or cause their home to take longer to sell. I discuss this in more detail in my Home Seller's Guide but today I want to mention one big mistake that is easily avoided.

Can you guess what it is?

Well, I suppose it's human nature, but many home sellers set their listing price too high. I know most people think this is no big deal, that it's worth a try to get the higher price, but let me discuss this in the context of buying a new car.

Let's say you walk into Dealer A and look at a new Toyota Camry. The price on the windshield is $25,995. Across town is Dealer B and he has the same new Camry on his lot but the price is $23,995.

Now, we know that car prices are negotiable and maybe Dealer A will come down in price and give you a better deal. It's possible, but where would you want to start your negotiations? Doesn't it seem more appealing to start negotiating at the lower price? The point is that home buyers think the same way. They know seller prices may come down, but they don't have any assurance of it, so they focus their attention on what looks like the best deal. If your home is priced too high, it will get ignored.

When your home first comes onto the market, it is the best time to get noticed by real estate agents. They are always looking for new properties to show their clients. If you set your listing price too high, your home may be excluded from their search results.

To avoid other mistakes made by home seller's, grab a copy of my Home Seller's Guide. You can get the guide by filling out the form at the top right hand side of this page.

Why Your Home Didn't Sell

If you've already listed your home for sale, without finding a buyer, you'll want to figure out what went wrong. There are several possibilities.

First and foremost, was your home priced correctly? I've already addressed this topic, but I'll hit it again. You must list your home at fair market value to get the most interest. Overpriced homes are easily ignored by both agents and buyers.

The next possibility is that the marketing of your home was weak. Your marketing plan should have a strong focus on attracting the attention of real estate agents, while still taking action to attract buyers interested in your location.

As you know, your MLS listing is a powerful tool to attract both agents and buyers. Was this tool used effectively? Your home listing should contain at least 10 quality pictures of your property. And more is better. It should also have an appealing description so that the words alone can create interest.

Finally, was your home presented as well as it could have been? I know it's difficult to keep your home in peak condition while you are living in it. Nevertheless, you will find that buyers respond much better to properties that are very neat and clean. Various strategies to maximize the appeal of your home are covered in more detail in my Home Seller's Guide.

Any of these problems could have been enough to sabotage the sale. It you would like to evaluate your options, go over the comparable sales data, and discuss my marketing plan, please give me a call and let's get together.

Review Market Data

If you want to be proactive in assessing the market value of your home, I suggest you start by researching your competition (see right hand sidebar). That will give you a clear picture what other homes are for sale right now that would be direct competition to your home. By this I mean homes that are priced close to the price you hope to sell for, with about the same square feet of living space, and in a comparable neighborhood.

Additionally, to understand the current market value you may want to review data on closed sales. I have already posted much of the data you will need for selected neighborhoods/cities. All this data can be found on my Neighborhood Sales page.

You can visit using this link:

Neighborhood Sales Data

Of course, I will perform all these steps myself. I'm providing these resources for people who like to take a "hands on" approach and do their own research.

Search for Properties

As part of the process of evaluating the competition, you may want to search for available properties. My Search page allows you to quickly and easily search for available properties and includes two local MLS databases, as well as the most popular real estate sites.

On my Search page, I've listed the real estate sites in order of popularity. These popular sites also provide a wealth of information related to real estate.

I will of course be watching the marketplace to see what is happening, so you won't need to do anything if you don't want to.

Click Here to Learn How!

FREE Home Seller's Guide

Selling your home can be pleasant experience, or extremely painful and frustrating. It helps to educate yourself at the beginning of the process, before you actually put your home on the market. Preparation will go a long way to making the experience a good one. Here are the most important considerations:

You will need to prepare your home for sale. What I mean here is that you need to transform your home from "the place where you live" into the future home of a prospective buyer. There's much you can do to improve the appearance and appeal of you home.

You will need to determine the fair market value of your home. That may be easy or not, depending on what nearby homes have been sold recently, and market conditions. We are living in turbulent times, so it really pays to do your research and get this right.

In order to find a buyer, you must gain maximum exposure for your home, and present it in the best possible light.

Next, once an offer has been received comes the delicate stage of negotiation and acceptance of an offer. Care must be taken to select a well-qualified buyer and maximize your net proceeds from the sale.

Finally, there are intangible elements throughout the sales process that must be handled. Issues can arise that can put your sale in jeopardy and you need to work through it all to a closed escrow.

My Home Seller's Guide is your starting point to address all these elements, to get educated and prepared for a successful sale.

I wrote this report for you, to help you make the sales process proceed smoothly from start to finish.

You can get a copy of my report for free. Simply fill in the form below and it's all yours!

The Ultimate Marketing Plan for Your Home...

I hope you realize that marketing is one of the three keys to getting your home sold. Without quality marketing, you are hoping and praying that a buyer will discover your home. Fortunately, you are about to discover the secrets of real estate marketing, and learn how you can TAKE CHARGE of your home selling situation.

ATTENTION HOME SELLERS!
In Less Than 60 Seconds You Will Discover...

"The Ultimate Marketing Plan for Your Home: How To Get Your Home Sold Quickly & Easily for Full Market Value!"

This system is perfect for home sellers who want to get their home sold and avoid the risks, delays and hassles that have become commonplace when selling your home.

Are you interested in getting your home sold quickly and easily for full market value?

Download "The Ultimate Marketing Plan for Your Home" today...

Monthly Prize Winner

Every month I give away a gift certificate worth $150 good towards your closing costs when you allow me to sell your home. This certificate is in addition to any other bonus offers I may have available, so it really is money in your pocket.

It's easy to play. Simply fill in the form at the top of the page to request my free Home Seller's Guide and you'll automatically be registered for the monthly drawing.

Home Inspection

Typically it is assumed that the buyer will perform a home inspection and sellers never even consider getting one for themselves.

This is a mistake. Once the condition of the property has been assessed by a home inspector, a buyer has the right, and the incentive, to ask for repairs or compensation. You may wish to challenge the results from the home inspection. The best way to maintain a strong negotiating position is to have your own inspection.

There are two advantages. The first advantage is that you can learn about and repair any problems that will be objectionable to the buyer and will most likely need to be repaired anyway. By learning about problems up front you can get estimates and select someone to make the repairs without any buyer pressure or interference.

The second advantage is that you can rebut buyer requests for repairs if your own inspection report does not site requested repairs as problems. At the very least, having an independent assessment will put you in a stronger bargaining position and will likely save you more than the cost of the report, and possibly much more.

To find a home inspector, here is an excellent resource from the American Society of Home Inspectors that will allow you to choose from many highly qualified candidates.

www.ashi.org

Another resource you might want to visit is California Real Estate Inspection Association.

www.creia.org

And you can try the National Society of Home Inspectors.

www.nshi.us

Home Warranty

It is customary for the seller to purchase a one-year home warranty plan for the buyer. Receiving a one-year home warranty puts the buyer's mind a rest regarding repair and replacement of home appliances and other items covered by the home warranty plan.

Failure to offer such a plan will be perceived as a problem. The cost of a one-year home warranty is typically less than $300.

Termite Inspection

Before listing your home for sale, it is prudent to have it inspected for termites. In Southern California, these pests are prevalent and can attack your home at any time. Even when your home is treated regularly, an infestation can occur.

The standard practice is to identify any termite problems and have them corrected either before or during escrow.

Since it's better to know what you will be dealing with, it's a good idea to get an inspection done early in the process. In fact, you may want to have several contractors inspect to get more than one estimate. The inspections are typically free since the termite companies hope to win your business in that way.

Disclosures

When you sell your home you are expected to inform the buyer regarding the condition of the property to the best of your knowledge.

This included the unpleasant details that you would prefer to keep hidden.

I highly recommend that you review the real estate forms related to disclosure that I've posted on this website. Not only will this allow you to begin gathering the facts necessary to complete the form, it will give you a better understanding of the disclosure process.

Failure to disclose defects that come to light after the sale is completed open you up for significant legal consequences, and you don't want to go there.

Legal Risk Management

Buying a home is a perhaps the largest purchase you will ever make. And although thousands of homes are sold nationwide every day, making it a somewhat common occurrence, may people forget that whenever high-value assets change hands there is some risk.

In fact, there is more risk than you might imagine. Buying or selling a home requires disclosure of information and if disclosure is incomplete, or contractual agreements are violated, legal disputes can arise and since the amount of money at stake is high this can pose a serious concern.

Legal problems are almost never anticipated and they can be quite expensive, even if you win the dispute. Most real estate brokers don't offer any risk protection and won't even talk about it. BRC Realty does talk about it and offers legal risk management protection for up to $50,000 in legal expenses. It's a great deal. You should definitely take advantage of it.

Because I feel that risk management is vital, I'm going to help you. By registering below you will be eligible to receive $150 credit toward a legal protection policy that will protect you for up to $50,000 in legal expense.

This is my gift to you. Register for this bonus today by requesting my Home Seller's Guide above.

Keep in Touch Plan

When your home is on the market, it's nice to know that something is happening.

My plan is to provide you with weekly updates that describe what I am doing to market your home, and let you know what sort of interest has been generated.

I will inform you about any offers that come in.

Virtual Tours and Video

One of the best ways to present your property is by using virtual tours and videos.

Just like you, home buyers are busy people and they need to be efficient in their home searches. Properties that only have one of two pictures, and a very limited description can easily be passed over in favor of homes with a better presentation.

When you list your home with me, I will ask you to take sixty or more digital photos of your home, yard, neighborhood, etc. If you don't have a camera, I can provide one or take the pictures myself. From these pictures I will select the best to put on the MLS, to include on the website I build for your home, and to make a virtual tour of your property.

The idea is to present your property so that buyer's can get a good feeling about it before they ever come out to see it. This is of paramount importance to anyone who is out of state looking to move into the area or anyone who is too far away to easily visit your property in person.

In addition to the virtual tour, I will put together a video of your home and post it on the internet.

Justification of Listing Price

I will provide the agent of prospective buyers with the rationale I used to establish the listing price. By providing a report of comparable properties that other agents can print out and use, they will be in a stronger position to convince prospective buyers that the price is reasonable.

It goes without saying that this strategy will not work unless the home is priced correctly relative to comparable sales data.

For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

Some seller's are interested in handling the sales process themselves. There are advantages and disadvantages to selling your home yourself. Obviously, the only advantage is the desire to increase the net proceeds from the sale by eliminating a real estate sales commission. It can be done, but you need the knowledge and skills to pull it off. For most people it's much less stressful to hire a real estate agent to handle the deal.

If you are one of those people who wants to try to sell your home unassisted, to help you out I've gathered a few resources for you. Check it out here:

Visit my FSBO page

Home Staging

Staging your home refers to the use of an interior decorator to make the interior of your home look like a model home.

There is no doubt that making your home appealing will help you get a higher sales price. However, if you will be living in your home until the close of escrow, I don't think hiring a staging service is necessary or appropriate. You should do your best to keep the property clean and neat, and follow the guidelines of interior decorating to create a clean, light, warm, and open feeling. Contact me and I can provide a video that will guide your through the staging that you can do yourself.

Staging becomes more important when you are attempting to sell a vacant property, especially a high-end home. An empty home does not have the warmth of a lived-in home. Using furniture, artwork and other decorating touches can substantially improve the look and feel of a vacant home.

When selecting a staging service, ask to see samples of other homes they've done and judge for yourself whether the homes look appealing to you. You'll want to check samples from homes such as your own to get the most representative assessment of the benefits of the service.

You should consider staging as an upgrade to your home. Obviously, it's going to cost you money up front, just like repainting or replacing the carpet would.

Accredited Staging Professionals

www.stagedhomes.com

www.coasthomestaging.com

Research Your Competition

The value of your home is not based on how much you paid for it, how much your neighbor's home sold for six months ago, or how much you need to sell for in order to buy a new home. In other words, it's not worth what you want it to be worth. Market values change over time, sometimes dramatically as we've experienced over the past few years.

Without getting into all the gory details about how to price a home for sale, let me suggest that when you are ready to sell you carefully consider your closest competition. I'll provide all the data you need, but you can take it one step further yourself by driving past the properties to judge the curb appeal, and neighborhood, and comparing those to your own home.

Clinging to a false perception of your home's value can be a huge obstacle to getting your home sold. By putting yourself in the buyer's position, you may be able to more realistically assess your home's market value and adjust your listing price accordingly.

ATTENTION HOME SELLERS! In Less Than 60 Seconds You Will Discover...

This system is perfect for home sellers who want to get their home sold and avoid the risks, delays and hassles that have become commonplace when selling your home.

ATTENTION HOME SELLERS!
In Less Than 60 Seconds You Will Discover...