A good agent will not list your home at an inflated price just to get you to sign with them. A good agent will want your home to sell quickly, fairly, and to the right buyer. A good agent will tell you the truth about how to maximize the potential to get more money from your home. How do you know you have a good agent? Are they telling you:

1 – Not all real estate professional are REALTORS®.

Only licensed real estate agents who are members of the National Association of REALTORS® can call themselves REALTORS®. REALTORS® are committed to treat all parties honestly – they subscribe to a strict code of conduct and are required to maintain a high level of real estate standards. It is to your advantage to work with a REALTOR® because of the training and standards this professional designation requires.

2 – The price of your home should be based on the price of sold properties in your area rather than the list price of properties currently on the market.

This is how we establish your home’s fair market value. If it’s priced OVER its fair market value it will likely…

• Not attract as many buyers because they’ll think it’s out of their price range.
• Take longer to sell.
• Make competing properties look good.
• Be overpriced in agents and buyers minds and they tend not to forget.
• Cause you to lose valuable time and miss out on buying your dream home.
• Cause advertising dollars and marketing efforts to be wasted.
• Cause negotiations to stall.
• Cause appraisal problems.
• End up selling below market value in order to make up for all the above.

3 – The fair market value of your home is determined by the market

That is, what today’s buyers are willing to pay. Buyers are comparing your home to the other homes now on the market. They don’t care about:

• What your neighbor says
• What another agent says
• What you spent on upgrades
• What it costs to build today
• What you spent on repairs
• What you paid
• What you need
• What you want

4 – Your home generates the most interest in the real estate community and among potential buyers during the first 15 days it is on the market.

If it is not properly priced during this time, we miss out on the peak level of interest. Stage your home for sale as well, remove personal items, and keep it neat and clean. Even hiring a professional home staging company can help. Maximize those first 15 days on the market by being prepared before your home hits the MLS!