Selling Your Expired Listing in Bonita Springs
Having a home expire without selling is frustrating. Most homes and condos in the Bonita Springs, Florida area can and should sell within a standard time frame however there are several key factors that can be pinpointed as to contributing to the property expiring without being sold.
Saleability Checklist – A saleabilty checklist is an important list of questions and answers about your Bonita Springs home and the way the home was marketed for sale when it was last listed. As part of a forensic audit of “what went wrong” the saleabilty checklist helps bring out strong points and shine the light on where your last listing agent fell short in their marketing. It’s on of our favorite tools to use when getting to the bottom of how to properly sell a home that has seen challenges in the past.
Communication – Most home sellers of expired properties have one common issue that they repeat over and over again. There was no communication. The real estate agent listed the property and they never heard from them again. In the day of modern communication it’s your choice of how you’d like to hear from your real estate agent. The Griffith Group uses whatever means is best received; text, call, email, snail mail … yes there are still people who prefer “over land” mail.
Absorption Rate – The nuts and bolts of how long it will take to sell your home, right now, if it was listed is in a simple math equation that 99% of real estate agents do not realize even exists. Learn why to price your home high, at market or even low, by knowing how much competition is out there. We consistently see other real estate agents leaving money on the table! Our approach, including an absorption rate, guarantees you will net more funds at the closing table.
Buyer Perspective – When is the last time you have bought or sold a home? Learning how consumers shop for real estate in Bonita Springs with today’s latest technology and cutting edge electronics to find, tour and purchase a home. Today, real estate home buyers in Bonita Springs, Florida find their properties via the web, tour them using Skype or Facetime and buy them by signing electronic contracts. My own personal paper use is down to about two reams of paper per year and I haven’t owned a fax number since 2011.
Organizing and Staging to Sell – Staging a home to sell may sound invasive to some home owners but think of it from this perspective; Whether you do it yourself or hire help you can rearrange your home, your life and prepare for the move in one process. The Griffith Group offers staging assistance as a complementary service. Easily moving around your current furniture and possessions may add new life to a tired home listing that had expired. We often work with your own furniture, home accessories and can spice up a bathroom or kitchen with a few easy “quick fixes” that help make a house into a home for buyers.
Past Seller Interview – Have you considered interviewing home owners who hired your Bonita Springs listing agent before? We at The Griffith Group provide home sellers the option to contact our past clients to learn how their home selling process was. You can also read reviews on websites such as Zillow and Google+. A link can be emailed upon request.
Agent Reputation – Sometimes it’s hard to know about someone’s reputation both in the business and the colleague community. Besides being great at home selling, one of the greatest resources your real estate agent is going to need to have is the ability to want to help the other agent … without making them feel inadequate or inexperienced. The truth of the matter is that in a rising tide all boats get lifted. We live in an area where anyone can obtain a license with a couple hundred dollars and a week in class. There is a lot of inexperience in the real estate agent market space. It is not unlikely for experienced agents, like The Griffith Group, to sit down and show a buyer’s agent how to fill out a the sales contract correctly or to tactfully explain why an FHA loan won’t work for a particular property, long before they spend three weeks of valuable time trying to close a property that will fail in underwriting. Simply put, the other agents have to want to work with your listing agent. If they’ve had a previous, negative experience the results may not be desirable.
High Tech vs. Low Tech – While we live in an area that is quickly becoming a relocation destination for baby boomers, age does not mean that the consumer isn’t using the latest technology to find and purchase homes. Using a mix of technology with some basic paid advertising in “free newsstand periodicals” helps locate those tourists and vacationers who are on the cusp of diving into Bonita Springs home buying.
Photo Quality – Photos matter and they have to be high quality, high resolution, wide angle and NOT photoshopped. Cell phone photos should be considered a criminal offense to real estate marketing. There really is no reason why a home shouldn’t be photographed from every corner of every room plus have a visual tour that includes the amenities or a street view of what the neighborhood is like.
Renovation Evaluation – Some home sellers make a last ditch effort to fix things up before selling. Beyond regular maintenance, fixing worn items, adjusting anything loose or malfunctioning a home seller should use caution and consult a qualified listing real estate agent before investing in real estate renovations. Sometimes the amount of improvement costs involved won’t be recouped. It may be easier and you may net more proceeds at closing by pricing the home effectively saving the expense and the headache that next home improvement project.
If you’d like to learn more hiring Chris Griffith as your Bonita Springs Listing Agent and learn more about selling your home or how to successfully sell your home after it has become an expired listing call or text Chris Griffith at 239-273-7430. She’s been successfully listing and selling homes as a Certified Residential Specialist in the Bonita Springs area since 1998.