All Posts tagged home sellers

If you’re like most people, your home is your single largest personal investment.  For that reason, finding the agent who will best market your property is imperative.  According to the National Association of REALTORS®, most people speak to only two agents prior to making their decision of whom to list their home with.

For an agent, that’s great news!  If they get the appointment, they have a 50% chance of getting the listing.  But as a homeowner, it is your job to ask the right questions and make sure you know what each agent brings to the table.  La Quinta real estate is extremely competitive.  Buyers are discerning and you need to put your best foot forward.

First, ask the agent what their typical marketing steps are.  How do they go about being your ‘megaphone to the marketplace’?  For example, which websites will they use to showcase your property?

Beyond their own personal website and their company’s website, they should also mention Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and REALTOR.com, just to name a few.  Over 80% of buyers begin their home search on the internet according to the National Association of REALTORS®, so just make sure they have this angle covered.

Second, find out what their plans are for staging your La Quinta home for sale.  Some agents invest in the cost of staging upfront, while others introduce you to a stager and ask you to make the investment if you so choose.

Whatever the case may be, this step is vital because no matter what the situation, it’s always a good idea to get an outsider’s perspective on what would make your home show best.  It doesn’t have to be expensive, most stagers charge less than $100/hour and simply re-arrange the things you already have rather than ask you to purchase anything new.

Third, but probably most important is photography.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive professional photography, but it does need to be better than what the average person can do with a point and shoot camera.  Many agents, knowing how important this step is, have made the investment in quality equipment and lessons that enable them to take very nice photos.

Whether they hire it done or do it themselves, it has to be good.  Make sure you look on the internet at an agent’s current listings.  The photos will speak for themselves.  Are they dark or shadowy?  Have they gone the extra mile and done night/landscape photography?  For La Quinta real estate, the mountain and golf course views are big selling points.  Even though you’ve ‘done your homework’, ask about it during your interview just to make sure.   Keep in mind; good photography is key to internet marketing.

Fourth are open houses.  As recently as the 90s, the internet was not a viable a tool in marketing real estate, so there was really no way to see what the inside of a home looked like without going to an open house or making a showing appointment.  This has changed, so open houses aren’t as busy as they once were.  Nevertheless, open houses do sell homes.

So, ask your prospective agent for their thoughts on open houses.  Tell them you would like to try one or two.  Even if they don’t believe in them, they should be willing to hire a junior agent to hold your home open.  Bottom line, if they give you the answer that open houses don’t work so they’re not going to do them, move on to someone else.  All this said, don’t be crushed if after cleaning everything and vacating your home on the weekend, no one attends.

Finally, when selecting an agent to market your La Quinta property, another thing to consider is their connections within the community.  Do they have a network of people they’ll be marketing to?  What groups are they involved in?    You really don’t want a ‘part-timer’, i.e. someone who works 40 hours a week at another job and sells real estate on the side.  The more involved in the real estate community they are, the more connections they have, the more word of mouth advertising your property will get.

In conclusion, there are several things your agent needs to do to effectively market your property.  In your initial interview, make sure you cover all the areas above and get a really good idea of their standard protocols.  You want someone with a proven system of using all the technology and all angles possible to make your home stand above the rest.  After all, getting your home sold is what’s best for you and for them!