“Selling Your Home for More Money and Faster”.  Everybody want to know about the faster part of selling.  We went over the first three phases of selling your home.  This part 4 of the 7 part series.  If you missed any of the steps you can review them quickly by selecting the link to the blog post below.

Part 1 of a 7 part series.  

1. “Finding the Right Real Estate Agent”
2. “Pricing Your Home to Sell”, understanding the competition.”
3. “Stage Your Home to Sell Faster”, box, pack, stack and store.”
4. “How long?”   
5. “Making Your Home Squeaky Clean”
6. “Nose Check”, no scary smells
7. “Price Adjustments that Work”, dropping your sell price.

How long is it going to take to sell your home depends on the market, and marketing.  Some other

How Long will it take you to sell your home?

factors play into your sale as well.  Condition and location, will impact your home selling time.  

One of the other issues you can do to help you sell your home.  Keep your home for sale listing looking fresh.  Most Multiple Listing Services show how long a property has been on the market.  Real estate agents can see the number of days you have been trying to sell your home at a glance.  Most buyer’s think about how long you have had your property on the market but will not know how to look for the “Days on Market”, as real estate agents call the listing time.

“One way to combat a listing that is starting to look old, expire your listing

and re-list your home for sale.”

This does two things for your ability to “Sell Your Home”.

1. The listing of your home goes off the market for a short period of time.  Two or three weeks, is best.
2. Then re-list your home on the “Multiple Listing Service”.  It looks like a “NEW” listing and going out in front of all the agents and buyers as a new listing.  This may bring your listing in front of real estate buyer agents that didn’t notice your home for sale before.  It also show up in the face of buyer’s looking in your area that may not have seen your home, in the past.

This is one of key factors in keeping your listing fresh.  This is also a good time to review your competition and make sure your selling price is still competitive with other homes listed for sale.

You can also use the feedback from open houses to update, paint replace carpet or other features that are easily renovated to create excitement over your home.  Your goal is to sell your home for the most money as fast as possible.

Marketing Exposure go hand in hand with selling your home.  You can select the right real estate agent, price your home right, stage your home and never get an offer if you are not marketing your in front of buyer’s wanting to buy a home like yours.

Gary L White is a real estate broker that has had homes featured on the Barbara Corcoran Show.  Real Estate Consultant. 616-784-2360

Sell My Home For More Money Faster!

Part 1 of a 7 part series.  

1. “Finding the Right Real Estate Agent“
2. “Pricing Your Home to Sell”, understanding the competition.”
3. “Stage Your Home to Sell Faster”, box, pack, stack and store.
4. “How long?”   
5. “Making Your Home Squeaky Clean”
6. “Nose Check”, no scary smells
7. “Price Adjustments that Work”, dropping your sell price.

Don’t skip a room or a closet when you are cleaning and packing up extras.

Selling Your Home using Professional Real Estate Selling Skills can help you sell for more money and faster..

 Magazines, books, collections and pictures all need to be viewed with a critical eye.  Your idea of cozy and the “average” buyer may be completely different.  I have a staging certification with years of home sales experience.  What works and what doesn’t is why people hire me to help them!  Open space means roomy in a buyer’s mind.  If you have too much buyer’s look at your stuff not the home.  They look at the great photos of your family on vacation and miss the master bedrooms features.  Pack off-season clothing into and store.  If you must rent a small storage unit it will be the best few dollars you have ever spent!  

Sell My Home For More Money Faster!  Sounds like every seller’s dream but how many times does it really happen?

This is part 2 of the 7 part series on “Selling Your Home for More Money and Faster”.

Part 1 of a 7 part series.  

1. “Finding the Right Real Estate Agent”
2. “Pricing Your Home to Sell”, understanding the competition.
3. “Stage Your Home to Sell Faster”, box, pack, stack and store.
4. “How long?”   What to do if my home doesn’t sell in the First 60 Days?
5. “Making Your Home Squeaky Clean”
6. “Nose Check”, no scary smells
7. “Price Adjustments that Work”, dropping your sell price.

Next on the list is one of the most important aspects of selling your home for more money and faster!  Pricing your home to sell. Remember, as the homeowner, you have complete control over the sell price place on your home to be marketed to buyer’s.  Real estate agents make recommendations.  Agents provides you

Selling Your Grand Rapids Area Home using Technology that Attracts Buyers!with the facts and make suggestions based on their knowledge and history of sales in your area.

Pricing your home to sell is a very important part of selling for more money

Pricing your Home Right Creates Buyer Interest and you Sell Faster for more Money!

and faster.  Buyer’s search in price increments.  For example, if a buyer wants a $200,000.00 home, their search may be from $190,000 to $210,000 for location, features, square footage and market comparisons.  Most buyer’s start in the search stage long before entering the home buy stage.  The search stage may be months or weeks depending if they have a home to sell.  Other influences to buying can be relocation requirements for employment.  This can require a much faster home purchase.  

Every home seller wants to know how to sell their home for the most money possible in the shortest amount of time!

Part 1 of a 7 part series.  

1. “Finding the Right Real Estate Agent”
2. “Pricing Your Home to Sell”, understanding the competition.
3. “Stage Your Home to Sell Faster”, box, pack, stack and store.
4. “How long?”   
5. “Making Your Home Squeaky Clean”
6. “Nose Check”, no scary smells
7. “Price Adjustments that Work”, dropping your sell price.

Selling your home for more money faster, may seem like the number one goal of every home seller.   Across the nation a consistent home selling theme emerges.  Home sellers are provided the information and then ignore the advice given to them by their real estate agent, they selected to represent them.

The reasons for hiring someone to help you sell your home, then not believing their advice provided, may lead us to some not so obvious reasons for ignoring professional advice.

1. It may be because seller’s don’t trust their real estate agent’s advice.
2. It may also be because the seller has a friend, that knew a friend, and is providing counter-advice which is more trusted by the seller.
3. It may be as simple as control.  The seller want’s to control the selling process and only wants the agent to do the paperwork.
4. Lack of knowledge on the home seller’s part, translates into going slow in the selling process, a way of not making a mistake.
5. Confirmation of the information provided by the real estate agent before doing as suggested.
6. Greed, seller thinking they can always come down but “can never go up if home is priced to low”!

This is just a few of the responses when asked about homes that didn’t sell.

Marketing Your Home correctly will help buyer's find Your Home First!

 “Selling your home faster for more money” is a marketing and business task blended into a single result.  Many sellers make mistakes even though they have been given the information on how to avoid these mistakes by their real estate agent.

Retaining the best agent for you, is a personal choice just like a doctor, mechanic, plumber or home repair professional.  The difference, a real estate agent can make or lose you thousands of dollars when selling your home.  As a result many home sellers are wary of their real estate agents.  The fact is you can and should be comfortable with your real estate agent or you have the wrong agent!  Barbara Corcoran of “Shark Tank” fame, says choosing the right agent can be critical to your sale so get the best agent available to represent you.

So what does that mean?  Best means a couple of things but different to everyone.  In other words best is a bit subjective.

The agent must be:

• Active in the market you wish to sell your home.  That means is selling homes.  Don’t pick an agent that is a commercial real agent to sell your home.  Just like you would not get a plumber to fix your car.  Real estate is not real estate it is  specialized like most professions and utilizes different marketing methods and advertising techniques to sell residential real estate versus commercial real estate.
• Marketing plan, how is your home going to be marketed?  Does the agent want to see your home or just tell you what it is worth and sign here!  Some agents have a one size fits all marketing plan.  Your specific home sale isn’t the goal.  The agent uses a broad personal marketing program that meets his or her income needs.  Meaning your home is a listing among many.  The real estate agents goal, sell a home any home that produces a commission.  The more listing the agent has the better his chances of something selling.  It may not produce a sale for you but it produces commission for the agent with lots of listings!
• Market Knowledge, does the agent really know the competitive homes selling in your area?  Some will tell you it doesn’t matter.  If your home has special features that are not readily seen from the outside it could matter greatly to your home selling faster.  Photos, descriptions, virtual tours and more are part of the marketing plan, not the marketing plan.  Nobody expects a real estate agent to know every home but if they are going to maximize your sale they have to do research just like a doctor when you are sick.  They ask questions, look at x-rays, listen and diagnose.  Top real estate agents do the same thing in their own field.  They ask questions and look at your home to compare it to others in the market.  They listen to what buyer’s and buyer agents say after seeing your home and diagnose options for a faster sale.
• Commission is always an issue for sellers.  In Michigan commission is negotiable  but that does not mean that real estate agents can or will negotiate their commission.  If you are looking a your selling costs totally based on real estate agent commission your should consider a discount broker.  This also means you may be asked to do some of the work normally done by the real estate agent to save on commission costs.  Your marketing program may have options, based on the services you ask the agent or broker to perform.

In series 2, we will discuss “pricing your home to sell”.

Gary L. White is a real estate broker in Grand Rapids Michigan who also offers real estate consulting services for home sellers and home buyers.  616-784-2360  

One of my passions is racing sailboats.  Sometimes I do well other times…it’s racing!  The Grand Rapids Yacht Club sponsors a MC Scow racing regatta each spring called the “Spring Shakedown”  May 18-20, 2012 is the date for the MC racing event this year.  This MC Scow regatta includes a on shore and on water clinic host by Melges MC Scow Sailboat Guru Eric Hood and his equally talented son Justin Hood.

This time of the year offers the opportunity to get your boat tuned and ready for the sailboat racing season. Nothing is better than racing at Reeds Lake in East

Grand Rapids Michigan.  It is challenging, offering some of the best wind shifts of any inland lake in Michigan. Come early take part in the MC Scow race clinic, test your recognition skills of wind direction and have some fun.  The video below will give you a feel for what you can expect.  You can register on line at MCScow.org or you can Contact the Grand Rapids Yacht Club MC Scow Fleet Captain: Peter Wenger  email: pworder@comcast.net

Beautiful 5 Bedroom Home For Sale in Grand Rapids Michigan.   Walkout basement, main floor master suite with private bath and double sinks.  Professionally updated in 2004, includes new roof, replacement windows, tile floors, furnace, hot water heater, central air.  Set back on a deep 800+ foot deep wooded lot.  Enjoy privacy and natures wildlife including deer in your backyard!  Professional landscaping with owner touches added to give you the feel of a park like setting.  Paved drive with large parking areas too.  2.5 stall attached garage, and large 8×12 foot shed.

Take a virtual tour of this beautiful home.  The location is conveniently located between Leonard and 3 mile road.  Close to shopping, movies at Knapp’s Corners including easy access to the expressway system.

Home Selling in the Spring Housing Sales market can expose your home to more buyers. Home Selling is done year round in Michigan.  Springtime is when most people try to sell their homes.  The reason most people prefer to sell their home in the spring and summer months is more buyers looking for homes.

More home buyer’s search in the spring and summer months because they would like to be settled before fall.  This means buyer’s have to find a home, buy it and move into their new home, all by September.

Don’t wait to get your home ready for sale.  You can start doing some of the preparation for the Spring Home Selling Market in Michigan right now.

Starting preparing the inside of your home early can reduce stress and allow you to take a bit more time getting your home ready for sale.  Michigan weather is unpredictable.  We don’t know if it is going to snow or trees and flowers are going to start budding.

We have created a quick helpful home selling preparation list, to get you started. You should add your own items to your preparation list as you review your home and get ready for selling your house.  Want a more complete home Seller Checklist?  Go to our website or use this link and a list will be emailed to you.  Get your “FREE SELLER CHECKLIST”, download now from Flexit Realty Grand Rapids.

Exposing your home to the widest range of buyers when you list your home for sale. Live in the Grand Rapids Real Estate Market? Thinking of Selling Your home? Call: Flexit Realty "Flexible Home Selling Solutions" 616-784-2360

1. Review one room at a time, making notes as you go.
2. Start at your homes entry or foyer first.  Open the front closet door.  Does it need cleaned out?  Go through your home room by room, closet by closet.
3. Create closet space in each of your homes closets.  Pack everything you don’t need or use in Storage boxes.  If you do not have storage space an small storage unit might be a good option until your home sells.
4. Declutter your home.  Do you have knick Knacks, collections or other items that could get broken when your home is shown for sale?
5. Clean and polish.  Bathrooms will need to sparkle so this would be down the list a week before listing.  If you have leaky faucets or slow running drains now is the time before you clean and polish to get these issues repaired.
6. Painting and touch up.  Inside work like painting can be done now, which is the perfect time.  You can’t do any outside work.  Your home will still smell fresh as though it was freshly painted when you list your house for sale.
7. Basement and Garages must be cleaned too, including cobwebs
8. Attics with walk-up accesses, make sure it doesn’t look like a museum of forgotten and discarded items.
9. Furniture, do you have rooms stuffed full making them look smaller?  Review your furniture needs, open floor space makes homes appear larger than they are, when space is used correctly.
10. Floors, inspect your flooring and carpets.  Sometimes it is wiser to offer a flooring allowance than replacing carpets with the wrong color!  Ask your agent their thoughts on the condition and how it could affect your sale.
11. Lights, make sure you do not have any burned out lightbulbs inside or out.
12. Kitchen draws and cupboard must be cleaned too.  This room must be spotless.  Deep clean your stove and refrigerator too.

Everything you do will help you sell faster and for more money.

This is a quick list for a “Free Home Selling Checklist” Click either link above.  A fast and simple download of the “Free Seller Checklist” is available by clicking the “Flexit Realty Grand Rapids” link above.

Don’t Live in the Grand Rapids Area?  Send me an email and I will refer you to a professional offering great service in your area.

We have published a guide “12 Easy Steps to Selling Your Home”

Our first step is helping you “price your home for sale”.  We show you how.  Click on the link see for yourself.

Thinking of Selling Your Home in the Spring Home Sales Market, start now to prepare your home for sale!  

For a confidential home price analysis Call Gary L

White 616-784-2360

Who is Gary L White Grand Rapids Michigan?  Sometimes people need to put a face with a name.  We do not always easily remember facts, names or where we meet people.  I have been blessed with one of those memories that never forgets a face.  At the same time it can be a real curse!  I remember minute details of events that nobody in their right mind would remember.  I can recount details on little events from TV programs, sporting events or chance meeting.  Yeah, I still lose my keys too!

I see people at the post office weeks months or years after I have seen them and say hello.  They look at me with the look, you know the one,”who are you”!  I introduce myself and find out they were my checkout person at Walgreen’s 6 years ago or someone that helped me at a car wash and I briefly told them which wash I wanted for my vehicle.  They are astonished and I am, let’s say, wondering what possessed me to remember that little event.

Being in real estate as a real estate broker and owner of Flexit Realty in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a memory for faces that can be both a curse and a asset.  The problem, I do not remember names!  But I have a great pen and I always make note of names.  I just gave away my secret, so don’t tell anyone.  Sometimes I can snap a quick photo and put it in my phone with my client’s phone number.  I always answer clients and friends by first names.  I know I need to write names down and I have become a master at recording details.

Watch the video “Who is Gary L. White, this will help you put my face and name together.  The next time you see me out and about in the Grand Rapids Real Estate Market or see a Flexit Realty sign you can say I know that guy!  He is Gary L White Grand Rapids Real Estate Broker who helps client’s buy and sell homes.

Thinking of buying lakefront property?  Don’t wait till spring to buy, you’ll have competition and the prices will likely be higher.

Looking for for something special?  Flexit Realty is the West Michigan Lakefront home specialists.  We will advertise your needs and have buyers call us for you. Search “FREE” on our website Flexit Realty

We have lake access homes for sale too.  Pay lower taxes and enjoy the use of the lake at the same time.  Want the water at your doorstep?  We have waterfront homes for sale or we can help you find one with our extensive data bases available of lakes and sellers.  We have lakefront listing for 18 West Michigan counties.  If you live outside our service area we will refer you to one of our affiliate brokers for personal service just like Flexit Realty offers each and every client.  Here is a video on lakefront or lake access properties.

Call Your Lakefront Property Specialists 616-784-2360

Thinking of Selling or Buying a home in the Grand Rapids real estate market?  Flexit Realty is a local real estate brokerage with local agents helping buyer’s and seller’s meet their real estate needs.

We offer easy home searching methods at our website including Virtual Tours on homes we list to help buyers peek inside. www.FlexitRealtyGrandRapids.com

Having a professional on your side with a local real estate brokerage using the latest technology to help you in your real estate transactions gives you confidence and a great result.

Need a Real Estate Broker in the Grand Rapids real estate market?  View our video, it outlines some of our services for home buyer’s and seller’s.  We earn our living by creating trust and great results for our clients.

“FREE” Buyer Checklist and Seller Checklists, Download Now.   Call 616-784-2360