Real Estate Information

With lean times come creative minds...and obviously, real estate sales are no different.  As a real estate virtual assistant my antenna is always in the 'up' position to be alerted to creative selling.  I've collected a few tidbits I'd like to share with our readers.

As you know, in a soft market residents must try that much harder to sell their properties if they want to relocate. I saw a news program recently about the increase in home swapping.   One family listed their home on Craigslist in the 'home swap' category.  I checked it out and it was true!  One such ad was a swap for a home in the Tulsa, OK area for a home in Little Rock, AR. 

Paulia Kennedy emailed me last month that she and her husband and real estate partner/guru, Jeff had made some incredible land swaps, which of course still meant fantastic commissions on the deal.  When I asked her to elaborate, she wrote, "...about the only thing different that we've been doing is focusing on trading properties among sellers. Since the homes aren't selling as fast, we've found that if we can hook up the right 2 sellers that are interested in trading their homes, land, or even multiple properties ... it ends up a great deal for everyone. We just did a huge swap that resulted in a little over $5 million in sales last month. It took lots of work putting all the right properties together with the perfect 2 sellers -- but it turned out great!"  (And this, readers is precisely the reason why the Kennedy Team has been recognized in their July press release, "...by the prestigious Institute for Luxury Home Marketing for their recent performance in the million-dollar and above luxury home market within Hot Springs, Arkansas.") 

Another creative advertisement which piqued my interest appeared on my local news.  A Florida homeowner painted 'For Sale' on his roof so that the advertisement could be seen by commuters from a nearby bridge. He was forced to remove the sign by his homeowners association but he was able to obtain the TV and print press he was looking for.

I have also read about "2 for 1" sales with some folks offering a plot of land with the sale of the home or in one case the sale of the main home included the 'freebie' of a smaller bungalow elsewhere.  Other intriguing sales ads I have noticed include a car with the purchase of the home and another offered the plasma TV. 

One of my neighbors, who owns a landscaping business offered a year's worth of landscaping services with the sale of his property.  This home seems to have more traffic than other homes in our subdivision and the owner tells me his own business has picked-up new clients as a result of this creative offer.  I don't believe the home has sold as of late but I applaud his creativity.

One Florida real estate agent team offers free air-conditioned bus tours of foreclosures and was featured on my local news as well.  Many of these foreclosure tours have sprouted up around the country and offer a great way to learn about buying a foreclosure as the title and insurance agents are seated on the same bus ride with the participants! 

I'm interested in knowing about other ways to creatively sell real estate.  What are some creative selling techniques that have been used in your area?

Janine Gregor
Real Estate Virtual Assistant to Paulia Kennedy

• Use a good camera with a flash. Very simply, a camera phone won't work and most indoor photographs are grainy and unusable. If you can splurge on a wide lens, by all means do so. Good, wide exterior photos are hard to come by so a wide lens can be a blessing. Otherwise, I've worked with exterior photos taken from across the street, which allows the photographer to capture the width of the home but sacrifices nice exterior details. If you don't have a wide angle lens, photograph up-close in two sections and use a photo stitching program to bring the two parts together. 

• When photographing the kitchen; one of the most important rooms in any listing, remove the garbage can. I cannot tell you how many times I have to 'crop out' the unsightly garbage can and this, in kitchens which feature stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. The garbage is quite a distraction from even the most beautiful of kitchens.

• Let the countertops shine, which means, remove the clutter. The 'one appliance rule' seems to work best, so before taking the photograph, consider taking the time to unplug the blender, coffeemaker, microwave oven and move these items temporarily to another room. A clean countertop makes for a great photo even if the countertops are not the highlight of the kitchen.

• I often view virtual tours from other agents to see what the competition is doing. I cannot tell you how many times I see the agents' binders, cell phone, flyers, business cards and car keys in the photographs, particularly on the dining room table and kitchen countertops. The same rule applies…take away the clutter, don't add to it and put these accessories in another room for the photo shoot.

• I realize some rooms will never shine in any photograph; the paint might be too bold, the wall paper might be dated, the room may be small, but removing the laundry and making the bed really helps to improve the look of any bedroom. 

• Try not to include the family pet in the shoot. I've worked with photographs where the family pet is using the cat litter box, walking on the kitchen countertops or sleeping on the living room couch. Again, this is another distraction and some buyers might be turned off just knowing that a 75 lb Labrador shares every inch of a home they might consider purchasing. If the house is being marketed as a pet-friendly home with its own doggie door, tiled floors and fenced in yard, then adding these items to the listing description is smart marketing but do leave the family pet photos out. You want to highlight the home itself and its best features. Some buyers don't appreciate pets. Good photographs should appeal to the masses.

• Bathrooms often don't photograph well because it is very difficult to get inside and position the camera at such an angle to capture the entire room. But if you are able to get a good shot of the bathroom, close the toilet seat and pull the shower curtain. The room will look much neater and a closed curtain acts as a nice background for small and under-decorated rooms. I've often suggested to my agents to carry a pleasant-looking, light shower curtain in their car if the bathroom doesn't have a nice one. It only takes a few minutes to attach but can really make a difference in an unappealing bathroom. One clean, unused bar of soap, one hand towel and a freshly folded bath towel are all that is needed to tidy up a small bathroom. I call that my 'agent bathroom staging kit'. 

• Finally, take many, many pictures….as many as you can; at least 50 per listing. Turn the lights off, turn them on, move the door, photograph from all angles and not just from the main doorways. A nice trick Paulia uses is to stand in front of something decorative such as a fountain and have this item in the foreground while the home is in the background. I've seen her use this technique when a tree or bush is in full bloom so the flowering portion borders the photograph and the home is photographed featured in the background all in one frame. Even the least desirable looking homes can really shine if photographed this way. 

Hello!

I'm so pleased to be on board with The Kennedy Team.  I've so enjoyed learning about the state of Arkansas and in particular, the unique real estate market of historic Hot Springs. I'll share what I've learned with Paulia's readers on her blog while I attempt to keep pace with Trademark Real Estate's Number One agents!

How fast have you closed a listing?

Last week, Paulia emailed me that the Kennedy Team had picked up a new listing on a stretch of a Hot Springs' Highway 290.  As I was jotting down the particulars to prepare to market the listing through http://www.Bestofhotsprings.com virtual tours, craigslist, MLS and the likes, another email came through that the property had already been SOLD.   

Now I have worked with a number of real estate clients from all over the country since I began my virtual assistance business over 2 years ago, whose properties have sold in days...usually weeks and recently months, but never in less than 24 hours or in this case, never in less than 2 hours!

I joked with Paulia that the "...ink hadn't even dried on the contract..." and then decided this might make for some interesting blog content. Wow! This Kennedy Team is good!

I asked Paulia to give me a play-by-play...

She wrote, "...as we began to get prepared to officially list the property...we first started with placing a "For Sale" on the fence, and had not even had time to take pictures of the property, nor begin marketing the property in the MLS, online, etc. Within about 1 1/2 hours of placing the sign on the property, the buyer called and WANTED that property. He was very familiar with the property, and lived nearby, so he knew that it was the perfect property for him. Jeff then met him at the property for a quick look, and then to our office to write the contract.  In less than 2 hours, we had an offer and an acceptance on the property."

Amazing!

Having worked with hundreds of listings throughout the years, I often check with my client-agents and brokers regarding the status of their listings as I am always interested in the outcome.  (A bit of a listing-junkie, I find great satisfaction from assisting in marketing a listing and to see it through to the closing day.) If the property hasn't closed, I expect one of two answers:  the deal is both moving along well and I'll have an anticipated closing date, OR, I will be the recipient of a lengthy 'venting' email from the agent explaining the usual snags which can hold up, or worse, yet, cancel the sale of a listing.  (I've often thought the VA really stood for Venting Assistant instead of Virtual Assistant!) 

But when a listing goes 'just right' at Olympic-style speed, it's all worth writing about.  It's pure joy to share!  This particular Kennedy transaction was truly a case of everything going just the right way at the right time.  The Kennedys' had the right product; the buyer had all of the product knowledge needed to make a decision on the spot; and the seller knew exactly what price he wanted to complete the sale.  It was a mutual meeting of the minds; the Yin and the Yang, the Ebb and Flow of the Tide, Karma; you name it and everything went as planned and as it was designed to do.

Of course it helps that the sale was direct-to-the-seller's-agent, (which created a "dual agent" performance on Jeff's part), and no attorneys were needed....factors which can alter the course of a good real estate transaction, and sometimes rightfully so.  Yes, this was a good, old fashioned, simple, sign-on-the-dotted-line sale.

Not only was I intrigued with the speed in the signing of this sale, but the listing-type was unique as well. This property served no other purpose than to house other homeowner's luxury vehicles and 'toys' as opposed to being a residential property or even a second-home resort listing. 

Paulia explained, "Since the time of the sign going up, we've received about 3 calls per day on this property ... purely from the sign (as we didn't even have a chance to begin any marketing on this property).  This property is one of those one-of-a-kind properties that is in great demand.... a nice, clean 5,000 square foot metal storage building/warehouse priced around $300,000 ... complete with a 1,500 square foot heated/cooled apartment area which includes an office area, 3/4 bathroom, living room, and bedroom/ and about 3,500 square feet of heated storage space with electric roll-up doors on about 1.5 acres of cleared flat ground -- very secure with a full chain link fence with razor wire coiled along the top for extra security. It's in a well-lit area with a street light on the edge of the property, and conveniently located on Hwy 290 with easy access. With many homeowners in this resort area being second-home owners and it seems that many of these residents have lots of large toys such as boats, boat trailers, Sea-doos, four-wheelers, extra automobiles, etc.. However, their luxury waterfront homes do not have much extra space for storage of all of these toys. Needless to say, I wish we could find about ten more of these properties to sell.... there's lots of buyers out there that are looking for this kind of property."

So I ask, "How fast have you closed on a listing?"  Share your story with us!

Happy 4^th of July!

Regards,

Janine Gregor for Paulia Kennedy

Note:  The contract was signed in under 2 hours and the actual closing took place in under 2 weeks!

Hello Bloggers,

Happy 4^th of July 2008!  It's been some time since I've been on the blog as Jeff and I have been incredibly busy despite a slowing economy this past year. We've sold a little over $14.7 million thus far this year, which is almost double our sales volume for the year of 2007.  (Last year we did a little over $9 million.) We're also thrilled to mention that we're currently the leading agents in Hot Springs and Garland County, Arkansas. 

In order to manage this huge increase in business, we added a few others to our team this year. . .  Debi Jones -  another great Sales Agent; John Watson - our very reliable runner/handyman/custom-sign maker; and then my wonderful real estate virtual assistant - Janine Gregor.  Janine has really been a god-send, and has provided so MUCH to our services with her creative talents.  She also plans to assist us in maintaining this blog so you will note that some of the entries will be from her own real estate virtual assistant perspective. 

So  you'll 'see' more of me here. Feel free to jump in with any comments or questions. 

Paulia Kennedy

Wouldn't you rather have an agent that is more interested in YOU than in a commission???

We have one of the key attributes that buyers are looking for, while trying to find just the right home.  We have a large inventory of homes, and pride ourselves in having  really close and current contact with our clients.

There is Good news for all buyers; this is a buyer's market right now.

This is  truly  an opportune time to make real estate investments, buy that  vacation getaway , purchase your lakefront property, prepare to build in the future, or set up the perfect retirement home, as we currently have right price point!

It is so important to enlist the services of a Realtor who really understands the market you are shopping in.

So many people don't understand the difference between a Buyer's Agent and a Seller's Agent.  The Buyer's Agent works exclusively for the buyer in the "shopping mode".  Then the Seller's Agent works exclusively for the seller in marketing their property.  The Seller's Agent canvasses the market and researches homes that folks are wanting to sell.  They spends countless hours gathering the most information available to help buyers narrow their search, by presenting the seller's property with clarity, and accenting both the attractive and practical aspects about the home.

For those of you -- Fiftyish & older --  we invite you to visit an excellent site that is a hodge podge and fun site filled with information that is geared just for you:  http://www.ParadiseinHotSprings.com . 

If you've got the truck loaded, said your goodbyes to neighbors and constituates, IT IS REALLY TIME to contact us for the best selection and pricing in this market .