Four questions to ask me on our listing interview for your property

I know, I look pretty comfy in this picture. But this is my home – I promise I won’t take off my shoes & kick my feet on your furniture.

When you are ready to place your home on the market, you want to ensure your have the expertise of an experienced realtor. This means that you must know the right questions to ask, to ensure your goals are met. I realize that I may not be the only realtor you interview, so I have compiled a list of questions to help you in your decision making process. By asking me the 4 vital questions below during your home listing appointment, you will walk away knowing that your listing is in good hands.

Question #1 What Is My Listing Price vs. Selling Price Ratio?

Placing your home on the market for $500,000 is one thing, but actually selling a home for the asking price is another. The ability to sell a home for its listing price is what sets a stellar realtor apart from an average realtor. During our home listing appointment we will not only discuss my LP:SP ratio, but also:

·      {C}The percentage of my listings that sell for more than the initial listing price.

·      {C}The percentage of my listings that sell for more than the average industry listing prices.

Question #2 What Are My Listings Average Days On The Market?

Often referred to as the DOM, it is important to understand how quickly your realtor can secure a sale. Even if you do not have a strict deadline you are trying to achieve, you most likely would prefer for your home to sell sooner rather than later. The DOM is also of great importance for individuals who are still living in the home they are selling, as it will affect how long they will have to manage their personal lives around showings.

Question #3 How Many Offers Do My Average Listings Receive?

While any offer is exciting, it is even more exciting to have options. In fact, the more offers you have increases the likelihood of your home selling for higher than your listing price. It also shows how successfully your realtor is at attracting attention to your home. During our home listing appointment we will discuss my average number of offers the homes I sell receive, and how I will generate attention to your listing.

Question #4 What Percentage Of My Homes Close?

Any realtor can list a home on the market, but that does not guarantee it will result in a sale. As a seller you don’t want to ensure you have an agent that is well-versed in developing marketing strategies that lead to a sale.

By asking the questions above you will walk out of our home listing appointment knowledgeable about my industry expertise, and confident in our partnership. 

My top 10 staging tips for your home

The competition is fierce in today’s real estate market, meaning that to successfully sell your home you must recognize the role home staging places in marking your real estate. Below are 10 tips to help you create a competitive home staging plan of action.

Tip #1 Check Out Other Homes In Your Market

Before you begin planning, you need to see what you are up against. In order to do this attend a few open houses for similar homes in your area playing close attention to:

The overall condition of the property.

How move-in ready each home is.

The primary features each home owner highlights.

Areas where their home staging lacks, in which you can improve.

Tip #2 Create A Room-By-Room Checklist

Once you have a good idea of what your local competition looks like, it is time to create a solid plan of action. You can do this by creating a checklist for all repairs and maintenance that need to be performed in each area of your home. Also, add the furniture and wall coverings you would like to invest in for each area—and don’t forget your garage, exterior features when creating you plan of action.

Tip #3 Seek Out A Professional

Whether you turn to a professional stager or your real estate agent, it is important to seek out professional guidance to ensure that your home staging tactics are in line with the goals of your real estate team.

Tip #4 Clear The Clutter

Clearing the clutter is a must in order to sell your home. Buyers prefer homes that are a fairly clean slate in which they can easily identify ways to make it their own. If they are too distracted from your excess, it will limit their creativity.

Tip #5 Depersonalize

As difficult as it may be to do, depersonalizing your home during the home staging process is vital. Remember that your goal of staging is to create a home potential buyers can imagine as their own—not yours.

Tip #6 Minimize Décor And Countertop Appliances

Only a minimal amount of home and kitchen accents should be present once you have performed your home staging. Stick to the basics such as a vase of flowers, a decorative bowl, or a countertop coffee maker.

Tip #7 Deep Clean

Even if you keep your home clean, home staging will require your home to be deep cleaned. This could include shampooing your carpets, refinishing your wood floors, and detail cleaning your home from wall to ceiling.

Tip #8 Don’t Forget The Details

It is easy to focus on the large projects that need to be complete—however, it can be the small things that really make the most impact. Pay special attention to things such as baseboards, trim, locks, doors, and outdoor accents to ensure they look crisp and clean, and that they are operating properly.

Tip #9 Get An Honest Opinion

Once you have completed your home staging, it is time to do a walk-through and get an honest opinion from your real estate agent. Remember not to take any feedback personally, as your realtor wants you to sell your home just as much as you do.

Tip #10 Ensure Your Photos Are Picture Perfect

Most house hunters will be searching for their new home on the Internet via their computer or mobile devices. Even the most detailed home staging plan will fall short if the pictures are not shot well. Before your listing goes live, ensure you are pleased with the images of your home.

By focusing on the home staging tips above you can ensure your home is ready when it is place on the market!

Selling Your Los Feliz Home? Best to Get the Price Right From the Start.

If you want to sell your Los Feliz home in the shorterst amount of time, for the best possible price, it only makes senses to get the price right when your home hits the market fo rthe first time.  Let's look in to the reasons why.      

Los Feliz agents that are working with buyers, whether in the luxury market or in the condo market, are always searching the MLS (especially these days with inventory being so tight), looking for new properties - often we have our clients and ourselves set up to automatically receive new listings.  If we haven't found the perfect home, but have seen everything on the market, we are looking for what is NEW.  When the agent sees the new listing they will examine the photos  which are critcal to have the minute your listing goes live, read the description, look at house and lot size, bed and bath count, condition, neighborhood and price. If the home looks promising, they will schedule a showing or preview the home at the broker's open house - if it REALLY looks promising, we will bring our client to the broker's open to get a jump on things.   As a result, a home for sale will often see the most activity in the first couple of weeks after it comes on the market.

It’s true that those first buyers may not be “the ones,” but if your home makes a good impression on the local agents who show it, they’ll be back with other buyers. On the other hand, if they believe it is over-priced, they’ll avoid showing it. Agents don’t want to waste their  clients' time.  Los Feliz is a unique market, a wonderful area for a family, an executive relocating, and high-profile sports and entertainment figures.  

Both buyers and agents search within price ranges. Buyers who can pay up to $2,000,000 generally don’t even look at homes priced at $2,300,000, nor do their agents. And buyers searching for higher priced homes may want more square footage, more amenities, or a different location.

So while sellers may have the idea that they can price high and come down when there’s an offer, chances are there won’t be any offers.  An overpriced house is simply being seen by the wrong buyers. And overpriced homes become stale  if they've been on the market for a while.

Lst high and reduce the price later? Not a good idea either.  We agents hear ALL the time from a buyer, “How long has this house been on the market?” Everyone has a preconceived idea that if real estate has been for sale for quite a while, there’s something wrong with it. The result is that they either won’t want to see it, or they’ll view it as a house on which they can make an offer well below market value.
The sad truth is that homes first listed above market value often sell for below market value – and only after an extended listing period.

That’s why I take my time and do careful research when preparing a market analysis. The price analysis I give you might not be what you’d like to hear, but it will be an accurate estimate of your home’s market value on the day it goes on the market.

​And is this market, you all most can't price a home too LOW.  The news you hear is true, multiple offers, and cash offers, are the once again the norm in Los Feliz - from The Oaks to Laughlin Park to Franklin Hills, to the best streets above the Blvd.

Getting Your home Organized and Ready to Sell

I know, de-cluttering and getting organized seems to be quite a large project, especially when you’re in the middle to list and sell your home.. The trick is to break it down into several smaller tasks. For example, when you are preparing to sell your house, it is crucial for you to organize each room. This sounds as though it is a huge daunting project.

To begin such a large task, focus on de-cluttering and organizing each room, one at a time. If focusing on the entire room is too large of a project for you, break the room down into smaller tasks. Could you handle starting with the bedroom closet, and then possibly moving on to the, say, the dresser? Getting the work done in small sections is still better than not accomplishing anything at all.

But before you can break the project into different sections, you must first decide where to start. When trying to decide where to being, it may feel impossible. Take a look at the below four steps, and you will be set to start wherever you feel best.

Pull it all out
Regardless of whether you are keeping the item, donating it, or tossing in the garbage, remove it from the area you are organizing.
After every item is removed from the space you are working on, it is time to move furniture, and other large objects into their final positions, or as close to their final positions as you can get. Remember, you can always re-arrange things later on if needed.

Clean, clean, clean
While you have everything out of the room, or space, clean it thoroughly. Having everything our out of the way gives you the chance to find dust bunnies, and other dirt and debris that you would normally not see, or be able to access easily.
Do the same for each and every item you bring back into the space. After all, who wants dirt and dust particles flying around on a freshly cleaned bookshelf, especially when it’s due to the book not being wiped down.

Sort your items
This step is commonly seen on the popular television show The Clean House. When removing items from the space, sort them into several piles:

• Keep: This pile is for the things you are going to put back
• Donate/Sell: This pile is for the items that are still in good shape, but are not being used.
• Reuse: This pile takes items that were cluttering one room, and uses it for a different purpose in another room.
• Recycle: This pile is used for items that you are getting rid of that can be recycled. For example, if you come across a large stack of old paper that you do not need and are going to toss, throw it in the recycle pile
• Toss: These items simply need to be thrown in the trash.

Put the items back
Put the items from the keep pile back in their place.  Remember, you want to keep the area organized and neat. Be sure that everything has it’s own place, and does not begin to clutter the area you are working to neatly organize.  You want to get top dollar for your home, don’t you?  To do so, a potential buyer needs to be able to see your HOME, not just your “stuff”.

Who Should Sell Your Home?

Here are a list of eight questions you should ask any realtor your are planning on hiring to sell your home.  

How Long Have You Been in the Business selling homes in Los Feliz?

The standard joke is there's nothing wrong with a new agent that a little experience won't fix. But that's not to say that freshly licensed agents aren't valuable. Much depends on whether they have access to competent mentors and the level of their training. Newer agents tend to have more time to concentrate on you. Some agents with 20 years of experience repeat their first year over and over. Other 20-year agents learn something new every year.

What is Your Average List-Price-to-Sales-Price Ratio in Los Feliz?

Knowing the agent's average ratio speaks volumes. Excluding sizzling seller's markets, a good buyer's agent should be able to negotiate a sales price that is lower than list price for buyers. A competent listing agent should hold a track record for negotiating sales prices that are very close to list prices. Therefore, listing agents should have higher ratios closer to 100%.

What is Your Best Marketing Plan or Strategy for My Needs?

As a seller, you will need to know:

• Specifically, how will you sell my home?
• Why or why not is a direct mail campaign appropriate?
• Where and how often do you advertise?
• Will you show me a sample flyer?
• How do you market online?
• How Much Do You Charge?

Will You Please Provide References?

Everybody has references. Even new agents have references from previous employers.

• Ask to see references.
• Ask if any of the individuals providing references are related to the agent.
• Ask if you can call the references

What Are the Top Three Things That Separate You From Your Competition?

A good agent won't hesitate to answer this question and will be ready to fire off why she is best suited for the job. Everyone has their own standards, but most consumers say they are looking for agents who say they are:

• Honest and trustworthy
• Assertive
• Excellent negotiators
• Available by phone or e-mail
• Good communicators
• Friendly
• Analytical
• Able to maintain a good sense of humor under trying circumstances

How Will You Help Me Find Other Professionals?

Let the real estate agent explain to you who she works with and why she chooses these professionals. Your agent should be able to supply you with a written list of referring vendors such as mortgage brokers, home inspectors and title companies. Ask for an explanation if you see the term "affiliated" because it could mean that the agent and her broker are receiving compensation from one or all of vendors, and you could be paying a premium for the service.

What Kind of Guarantee Do You Offer?

If you sign a listing or buying agreement with the agent and later find that you are unhappy with the arrangement, will the agent let you cancel the agreement? Will the agent stand behind her service to you? What is her company's policy about canceled agreements? Has anybody ever canceled an agreement with her before?

What Haven't I Asked You That I Need to Know?

Pay close attention to how the real estate agent answers this question because there is always something you need to know, always. You want an agent to take her time with you -- to make sure you feel comfortable and secure with her knowledge and experience. She should know how to listen and how to counsel you, how to ask the right questions to find out what she needs to know to better serve you.