Seller’s Guide
“We’ll get you the best possible price for your home with minimum stress and our strategy is simple— we do all of the work before the sign goes in the yard.”
Strategic Planning
It’s easy to think that in our current market selling a home is as easy as putting a sign in the yard and waiting for offers. But the reality is a scenario like that one could only be the end result of extensive, strategic planning. There’s no way to get around the hard work involved in selling a home, but with our guidance you’ll be able to do it on YOUR terms not your buyer’s.
COVID-19 Precautionary Procedures
Pricing
Let’s start with a property valuation. Give us as much information about your property as you are able to share so we can perform a personalized pricing proposal. We’ll use the same guidelines that NC appraisers use but will also factor in active listings to show you a probable sales price range.
Click for full Triangle Region report (PDF)
Overpricing your home can be detrimental to the performance of the sale if you’re not prepared to revise quickly. Most homes in the Triangle Region priced under $550,000 sell in 30 days or less, and they receive the most attention from active buyers during the first few weeks. Our goal should be to price your home correctly from the beginning to catch the most active buyers and minimize days on market. You made sacrifices to build your home equity and we want to protect it. We never want to use price as a marketing tool.
Pre-Listing Preparation
As risk managers, our proven strategy is based on the idea that we do our potential buyer’s due diligence for them in order to maintain control of the negotiations. Buyer’s due diligence will include things like ordering home inspections, ordering a survey, ordering an appraisal, taking floor plan measurements and collecting neighborhood information. Getting ahead of these things means we can set expectations that are much easier to meet at the end of the day.
Pre-Listing Inspections
Having this report in hand is the easiest way to create a repair punch list. We will disclose the entire report to our buyer prior to accepting their offer. This may seem counter-productive… why would you want to show your buyer all of the faults with your property before they make an offer? Simple answer— so we won’t have to negotiate them later. They already chose your property if they are preparing an offer and our experience tells us that these disclosures do not keep them from making their decision to purchase.
Pre-Listing Repairs
Referencing our inspection report, we can make strategic repairs to maximize your profit. Some big-ticket items that will always be less expensive to repair ahead of time are foundations, roofs, siding and septic systems. We have a list of trusted local contractors who can help with repairs on our vendor page.
Staging
Most buyers make their purchase decision based on their emotional connection with a property and the impression they receive while touring. Whether you have great furnishings or no furnishings, our goal will be to transform your home into a photo-ready “product on the shelf” that any buyer can walk into and immediately see as their own. Staging is different from interior design— we’re creating a very specific buyer impression for showings and for that we rely on our professional stager.
Marketing
As real estate marketing professionals, how we sell is just as important as what we sell. Reaching maximum market exposure through our Multiple Listing Systems and other outlets requires effective use of photos and language. There are many strategies we can employ to enhance exposure and we must take everything into consideration when preparing your listing.
Our Marketing Tools—
Professional Home Staging (Interior and Exterior)
Professional Photography
Luxury-style, light-blended photography
Twilight photography
Areal photography and videos
Walk-through videos
Multiple Listing Services
Connects listing to cooperating firms (buyer agents)
Auto-feeds to third party real estate websites like Zillow and Realtor.com
Instant NEW LISTING emails sent to buyer agents with saved searches
Key remarks written separately for buyers and agent views
Strategic information disclosure
Related listing documents are made available for download
Custom Listing Website (Click Here For Examples) ⬅︎
Additional (larger) photos and video links
Linked from third party real estate websites like Zillow and Realtor.com
Enhanced neighborhood and school information
Trackable site visit counts
Social Media Marketing
Instagram and Facebook
Showing Time
An online centralized showing service manages all showing appointments
Lockbox access
Showing feedback from buyers and agents
Open Houses
Pre-scheduled prior to listing, AM and PM weekends
Maximizes exposure to drive-by and “shy” buyers
Connects listing to its own neighborhood
Allows listing agent to show property (has answers to questions)
Signage
For Sale
Construction / site signs
Coming Soon
Under Contract and Sold riders
Directional street-side “arrow” signs
Print Materials
Flyers and brochures
Direct mail campaigns
Confidentiality and Security
Once we begin receiving offers for your home our role shifts from Project Coordinator to Negotiator committed to your best interests. You can take comfort in the knowledge that any time we engage the buyer or buyer’s agent we are bound to protect your confidential information, motivations, and goals. It’s also important to know that we do not work on a good faith basis, we get agreements in writing.
Security measures
Lock Boxes with Auto-Reset Combo Buttons
Only confirmed showing agents receive the combo
Realtors are ethically bound to protect access combos from public/buyers
Combos changed after contract
Keys only released to buyer after funding and recordation
Lights On/Off For Impromptu Showings Where Seller Can’t Set Up
Confidential Information (Loan Payoffs, Socials, Tax Info Etc) Sent to Preferred Attorney and Lender Using Email Security
Double-verification for wire instructions
Contract Price Not Disclosed to Public Until After Sale
Personal Information Not Disclosed to Public or Common Friends
Is This Your Primary Residence?
If the sale you’re planning is for your primary residence it’s likely you will need to begin looking for its replacement. It’s possible and in fact typical to have your sale and purchase close on the same day, but this takes planning and know-how. With so many moving parts lining up together on that day (movers, utilities, rent/mortgage) it will be absolutely critical to avoid last minute delays. Working with a single agent on both transactions makes this easier. We’d like to represent you as your buyer’s agent as well. Click here to learn how to be a better buyer.