Seller Resources

Over 90% of Buyers use the Internet

And that is the national average. Just imagine what it is in Silicon Valley!

What does this mean to you, the Seller? That virtually every prospective Buyer first views your home on one of the many real estate internet sites: Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo!, ZipRealty, Redfin and many others. On top of this, most highly qualified Buyers sign up for automatic email notification for new listings. That means your home's pictures, virtual tours and detailed descriptions are delivered to your best Buyers within minutes of being posted on MLS.

Each picture is worth a thousand words

Prospective Buyers first look at the pictures, don't you? The pictures of your home should be professional and show your home in its best light. And given the instant nature of the internet, they need to be uploaded and online no later than the moment your listing is added to the MLS.

A custom designed website provides extensive descriptions along with large pictures that makes it easier for prospective Buyers to visualize your home and share with their friends and family. Click on the image on the right to see sample websites.

Professional staging worth its weight in Buyers

Notice the difference between listings with nice clean looking homes versus ones that look like the Seller is still living in the home with all of their stuff?

A professional staged home jumps out on the internet. Think of the first impression you are giving the hundreds of prospective Buyers looking at your new listing and deciding whether your home is worth seeing in person.

And then when the Buyer sees your home in person - it is everything they imagined. The staging is designed to make your home attractive to the greatest number of prospective Buyers, thereby maximizing your chances of receiving multiple offers.

Reach as many prospective Buyers as possible

Posting your listing on the MLS goes a long way, but not all the way. Some internet sites and most brokerage sites automatically update their sites from MLS within 1-3 days. Users that opted-in for email notifications are then notified of the new listing on the site. A relatively quick and efficient marketing tool.

However, only a small percentage of prospective Buyers sign-up for email notifications. Therefore, we need to do everything possible to reach out to them. I personally ensure your posting is on Zillow and Trulia (they don't pull from MLS), send eFlyers to licensed Realtors in the area, publish weekly postings on Craigslist, and email Alain Pinel agents in the surrounding offices.

Pricing - the final decision

While the topic of much discussion, pricing is the very last decision prior to posting on the MLS. The market changes very quickly, from week to week. New listings, recent pending sales and final sales prices all influence prospective Buyers as they view your new listing. The pricing must reflect these changes.

A key marketing point is that the greatest number of prospective Buyers look at your home during the initial three weeks on the market. Outbound marketing primarily occurrs during the first week: email notifications for the new listings are automatically mailed, Agents visit during Realtor Tour, Open House visitors peak during the first weekend or two. Most importantly, the real buyers, the ones that have their loan approvals ready, have made a couple of offers and are ready to move - are watching the new listings daily and are the first to see the home.

The pricing delimna - is where to set the list price. The chart below provides a unique insight to the dynamics of pricing:

The charts shows what percentage of the initial list price the Seller received depending on how long the home was on the market. It's pretty obvious that virtually all homes that received a price over list occurred during the first 21 days of being on the market and that prices trend downward over time.

There are two factors at play. First, is the price set by the Seller. Simple logic holds that if the Seller receives more than list, then the list price was set below the home's actual fair market value. If Seller receives less than the original list, then the price was set too high.

The second factor is the effect Buyers have on each other. The first couple of Open House weekends are busy, creating a sense of urgency and competition that drives the price up. After the home is on the market 20+ days the opposite occurs: Buyers assume something is wrong with the house, since no one else wants it, and that they should offer below list, even if there has been a price reduction.

My experience is that Sellers usually agree on the range of potential fair market values. The Seller's delimna is whether to initially try the higher list price and see if they can get it, then reduce with the risk that if it doesn't sell in the first 21 days most of the Buyers have come and gone and the remaining Buyers will demand a discount due to the large number of days on market with no offers.

I am here for you from beginning to end

I know it is a lot to consider and it takes time to absorb it all and consider the various alternatives. I work closely with my clients as a professional advisor to explore the alternatives and help you to make the best decisions for you and your family.

Let's take one step at a time and get together for an initial discussion.