Starting with the initial decision to sell, worry is often a major issue for sellers; however, once a listing agreement is signed, sellers are no longer alone with their worries. PJ Wade explains Three Needless Worries and how real estate professionals remove stress and worry for sellers.
As if there isn’t enough for sellers to worry about when they decide to sell their home, some of them needlessly worry about things that their real estate professional is responsible for. After making the decision to sell and selecting a listing broker, the associated worries–which sellers face alone–are behind them.
Once the home is listed, sellers often shift to a new set of worries when really they should turn to the real estate professional they hired to help them stop stressing. Then sellers can redirect their attention and energy toward contributing to a successful sale.
Seller Worry #1. “My Listing Is Not Receiving Enough Exposure to Buyers”
• Are you insisting your listing professional advertise and post everywhere, online and off?
• Do you want open houses every weekend and multiple mailings to the neighborhood?
• Are you concerned that if your listing is not front and center on every marketing and advertising site, in every brokerage campaign, and in every real estate publication, you’re not getting enough exposure to buyers?
Unless you are a marketing professional yourself, step back. Let your listing real estate professional do their job. What really matters is exposure to specific buyers–target buyers–who qualify-financially to purchase your home and whose needs match what your property has to offer. Marketing to people States away from your home or to those without sufficient financial resources or those who would not value your home is a waste of time, effort, and money. The Internet is a wonderful marketing tool because it enables targeting of specific subsets of people, not because the entire world could view your listing.
YOU WIN: If you were smart in your choice of listing broker, you’ve selected a real estate professional and brokerage well acquainted with the target buyer niches markets that will appreciate your listing. Their experience and success of matching buyers with properties is why you hired this professional listing team. Real estate knowledge about where target buyers search for listings, online and off, and what benefits attract them is what you need and what you are paying for. On-point communication in the right media will catch the eye of target buyers. If your professional hasn’t told you already, ask about target buyers and the strategies for reaching them.
Seller Worry #2. “The Professional Is Too Busy To Work on My Listing”
If you are concerned that your real estate professional–the listing salesperson–is not putting the time into your listing that they said they would during their listing presentation, call them on this. You need to be sure your listing receives the attention you signed on for, but more may be going on than you realize, so approach the subject with respect:
• The multiple listing system or MLS is doing a lot of the professional’s work, as are online public versions and the internet in general. Allowing simultaneous access to your listing by multiple buyers and real estate brokerages maximizes exposure and speeds up the selling process.
• The other salespeople at the listing brokerage are also working to sell your listing, as are professionals on the local real estate board. The listing salesperson will be searching out target buyers; however, the professional’s key value lies in promoting the property across the real estate board to salespeople who also work with the same target buyer niche markets.
Seller Worry #3. “My Home Is Not Being Described Properly”
Do you feel the advertising and online copy promoting your listing does not rave enough about your property or extol the virtues of your favorite features?
• Understanding what will catch the eye of target buyers is what really matters, not how you feel when you read the marketing copy. You’re not the target buyer. In fact, you may have little in common with them, except, hopefully, your house. They do not have the knowledge associated with living in your home the way you do.
• Buyers are buying a house (or condominium unit) based on hopes and dreams that it will be their “dream home.” Before they live in it, they need to love it and value it–perhaps for very different reasons than you—so they will make a great offer.
• The real estate professional understands how to stimulate the interest of prospective target buyers by helping them make the transition from thinking about “the property” to wanting it to be “my home.” Creating this emotional attachment in home buyers who have spent only a short time viewing a property requires communication skill and real estate expertise.
• Wording matters. Terms like “as is,” “total remodel,” or “fixer upper” leave different impressions–good or bad–with different types of buyers who are looking for different types of properties. For instance, the word “modern” is very popular with Millennial buyers and with buyers intent on a certain style of building and interior. How “modern” is used in marketing may be quite different for these two groups. According to an article on Realtor.com, “‘Modern’ does not always mean updated, new, or renovated, real estate pros say. In a historical home, it could imply the home’s historical integrity has been preserved and systems are still up to date.”
Don’t stress in silence. Inquiring is not complaining. Express your concerns to your listing professional, so they can reduce your stress and help you understand real estate from your new “insider” perspective.
As you begin to fully grasp the significance of your transition from thinking about “my home” to celebrating the buyers’ “new home” and potential real estate purchase, you’ll feel more confident regarding your decision to move and about the selling process.
You’ll also understand the value in helping your real estate professional do their job for you.
