What is it that really sells a home?

I think I wanted direction most of all. I wanted my agent to feel comfortable enough to say, "You need to list your home for $X, instead of $XX" or "this stuff has to be cleared out," or things along those lines. I expect the expert to have opinions based on experience and research, and I want that information to help sell my house.

Meedwards    what process did you use to select your agent?

I wanted some one to be perfectly honest about pricing--comps, what the house needs or doesn't need, and for me to keep me informed.  If I have a showing, call the realtor and get some feedback or call me and tell me you have called the realtor but haven't spoken to them yet.  I would rather know that you don't know, than to think that you are just not calling.  One more thing, please don't try to speculate about what you "think" the market will do--we all know it is horrible right now.  If you don't know don't guess!! 

I hope this helps.

I expected my agent to do the marketing.  That includes the MLS access, open houses, having contacts, etc. etc. etc.  I didn't need her to tell me how to decorate or clean up (yeah, I watch HGTV too!).

To be honest Prosper, I want my agent to look at my specific situation, and they are all different, and be the professional that walks with me through the sales process.  It does start with pricing the home right, and being quick to fix anything that is wrong with the listing up front.  As homeowners we do not always see the obvious for several reasons:  we are emotionally and financially vested in a property, we have lived with our best buddy dog for so many years that the stench is not obvious to us, our furniture sucks, our yard needs help, or maybe we are so old that we need the realtor to do a great deal above and beyond duty.  I believe in a realtor doing everything they can to help their seller.  The problem is that overall my experience is that I have been left out of whatever loop the realtor has in selling my home.  They don't call with updates (good, bad, or indifferent), and the seller is left to guess if they have a good realtor that is advertising and promoting well, or a bad realtor that just got the listing and that was where the work stopped.  I have had a realtor call me when I have mowed my entire property and worked to get ready for an open house, to tell me that they are going to relax in Las Vegas for the weekend, nice........I will work with a one-armed paper hanger if they are at their desk kicking a.... every day.  I want that type of realtor.  So in a nutshell communication and professionalism rise to the top of what I want/need in a realtor.

Double Domes- I see the same things in this industry from this side of the fence.

One common problem I am having with sellers and pricing are recent appraisals they have paid for. In one case the home was appraised for $286,000 in  December. Now the home is on the market for $239,000 without any interest from buyers. The original list price was $259,000 in January.

I have run into many sellers that have their own price for their home. When the home does not sell they blame it on advertising. Buyers are very educated on home prices due to internet access. All the advertising in the world will not sell a home that is over-priced.

As for repairs-  It is best to have the home inspected by a  home inspector and have all repairs done before listing the home. Even if you live in the home you may not know every detail.

Some sellers have become surprised to find out the have mold in the attic during a buyer's inspection. Surprises like these during a transaction will hinder selling the home.

Camty2525-  I wish I knew what the market was going to do. Historically property values have always been on the rise. I would say that in the future property values will rise. As to the next six months or year I really don't know. All I can do is watch the market daily and stare at the comps. I have never found any pattern to the homes that are sold. What is very important to one buyer has very little importance to another.

I had used this same agent when I bought the house four years ago, so I don't remember exactly how I selected her then. But I really liked the way she helped me then, so I wanted to hire her again. And she's giving me a discount on her commission as a repeat customer (but I didn't know that at the time I wanted to hire her this time around).

I don't know if you saw my post under another topic, but I put my house on the market on April 17 and got an offer on April 21 after the Open House a day before. I did a lot of work getting the house ready, the stager did a great job of setting it up, but the agent also gets credit for her role, too. I think it was a team effort, though only one of us gets the commission out of it!

Meedwards- How much do you think your agent will make from the commission you are paying?

It is likely that they will actually make @1/4 of the commission. Most of us are paying fees just to be in Real Estate. The tools and advertising we use are not always paid by the agency.

Meedwards-It sounds like it was a team effort. You hired her to assist you in selling your home. However if she did not sell the home she would not be compenstated in any way for her efforts and would be out the $$ for the stager and the open house advertising.

I don't begrudge her commission. I was just kidding. For the work she does, she deserves everything she gets and more. I have heard stories of other agents who made a much higher commissions who apparently didn't do the same amount of work. My agent is great!

Meedwards- I could name them, but I won't.

I think part of the problem has to due with lenders being skittish even with people who have good credit-- 730+.  Add that to the fact that people are afraid to buy, extremely high gas prices which are forcing people to cut back on everything, and you have a situation that the only people who are buying homes are either corporate moves, investors loaded with money, or people forced to downsize.

Jelelis- That is true depending on where your current market is. The issues that you stated are affecting a percentage of buyers everywhere. As to what percent is varying on the market conditions in their area.

This brings an interesting question-  When property values were on the rise was there a percentage of those purchases by buyers that were not well informed? Did 0 down financing and easier terms make buyers just want any house without considering the future? These ARM loans were signed by someone and they did understand the consequence in the future. Is it fair to say that if the sub-prime loan programs did not fail we would have had a more serious problem in the future?

What if it took 10 years for this to happen and property values dropped 50% nation wide? What could be done if that happened?

Right now time will fix the current market. It may not happen as quickly as people may hope but it will happen.

I chose an agent who knew the section of the city where I lived, which is near the historical district. Comps can be tricky. A million-dollar home can be next-door to a 2-bedroom starter. This is one of the agents and real-estate firms that lifelong residents (or from longtime families) go to when they might be ready to buy a home if a good one in that area pops up on the market.

These buyers aren't actively looking for ANY home. They know which agents are aware of which homes in this neighborhood might be coming on the market in a few months. So they call them. Conversely, these agents have access through memory or writing them down, the names of someone who is downsizing, or someone's son or daughter getting married or having a baby and wants a home of a certain size or price range.

Lucy- What city do you live in? Does it have a high population density?

Prosper:  What I look for in an agent is:  Communications, integrity and most of all, honesty.  The agent I am listed with right now is giving me a great deal on the commission as a repeat customer; and is definitely doing her best to get the house sold.  We are in Snohomish and a little remote; so the street traffic is not the highest.  We are contingent right now; it expires next week and we are meeting to strategize the next 'release' of the house to the MLS as active.  New pictures; this time with things in bloom; fresh bark in the yard, fresh paint on the trim.  My idea of a poor agent:  Failure to behave in a business like manner and failure to follow up to calls made by a sellers agent to find out how the showing went.  We had one call last week; semi-hysterical to tell my agent and my husband her clients were all cash buyers, had relatives int eh development; had to move by 1 June.  She also mentioned her clients were 'flaky and demanding'.  Needless to say, they cancelled the showing (at least she called then); rescheduled for the following evening never showed and would not return my agent's call.  She didn't think it was 'necessary' when my agent finally did get a call in to her.  What agent would describe her clients in such a manner?  I guess the kind that doesn't think she needs to follow up with a seller's agent.  Follow through and more follow through; that is what makes a good agent to me.

Prosper,

I lived in a city that is next to one of the largest  U.S. Army posts (in # of people) in the world. It's a tricky market for a newbie.

Knowledge of which neighborhoods turn over repeatedly (lots of For Sale signs) and those that don't (stable in terms of turnover - officers in positions unlikely to be transferred and lots of civilians) is crucial for a buyer who wishes to have any sort of equity in real estate in five years. School district is also everything in terms of resale. Among the longtime permanent residents and professionals, they want their kids and grandkids near them, so they cluster more toward the older neighborhoods.

A big issue here is "infill" development where charming cottages are torn down for McMansions in older neighborhoods to suit granite-loving, three-car garage coveting owners. So do the professionals who want to live.

In the meantime, the brand new homes are selling slowly these days, and equity rises at a slower pace in newer homes than it will in even older homes in what are considered the best school districts.

Ignore the half sentence that starts "so do the professionals" - I tried to edit out before posting, but it must have reappeared after I posted.

And a caveat: That's how it used to work. In the Mortgage Crisis, I haven't a clue how things will go. And I'm guessing that no matter what city or size, there will always been firms that seem to be more knowledgable in one part of a city than another - or minimally, equally knowledgable about all, but that a long-time firm with experienced agenbts may have more knowledge of past buying patterns in historic areas and also of people interested in buying there when the right home pops onto the market.

So how did everyone meet their agents? Was it from a yard sign, newspaper, or internet?

I met mine when I visited an Open House she was showing 3 years ago.  Guess we had good chemistry and have been 'together' ever since.  She sold our previous home, helped us buy the one we are in now, and is also listing this one.  She is outgoing, honest, and very technology savvy.  She has a feature called the Settlement Room that lets us see how many MLS hits, feedback from showings, etc.  It also allows us to send and receive e-mail just from her.  Most of all, she doesn't pull punches, she communicates and responds....

I am guessing that those of you on this site are very good at finding what you want on the internet. Do you believe that news print is what sells a home? Is the internet a better resource? I have found that the newspaper is the best way to impress sellers with advertising. The internet seems to draw the buyers to the home. Is this true? Is news print just a source of wasting money and not actually selling the home?

I'm currently deep into a house search, and I never look at newspaper listings. I find everything through Realtordotcom and my agent's website, which has a link to the MLS. Interestingly, my agent has yet to bring a house to my attention, but that's a topic for another thread!

My friend bought his book about selling a house in this enviroment of foreclosures. He said it was basic and easy to read but gave hime a lot oo information. I checked the website, but you have to buy the book to go inside for more information Go to www.americasbestagent.com. there is a lot ofinformation about foreclosures and scams

in that book he said to interview 5 agents before you pick to work with My friend said the guy who wrote the book was right because out of the 5 he called only 1 knew what they were talking about - I would be careful about buying a house now because the prices are coming down so fast - I put an offer in and then took it bacj because I chickened out at the last minute I was right because 2 more house came up on the same block the next week Be careful

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