Real Estate Advice for Home Buyers and Sellers

Thinking of Selling Your Home?

I’ve put together a few videos that explain how to market your home, how to get your home ready for sale, how to hire a real estate agent, and a brief description of closing costs.

How to Market Your Florida Home:

Hi, This is John Tanner, founder of Coleman Tanner Realty. In this video, I am going to answer the Big Question of “what are you going to do to market my home to sell it?” When it comes to selling real estate in the 21st century, there are three key elements to consider to get your home ready for sale: (i) PRICE, (ii) PREPARATION, and (iii) PROMOTION.

(i) Price: While sellers have often put a lot of money and energy into making their home ideal for them, the market always dictates the value of a home. Listing the sales price above the market will delay or freeze the sale of the home. Properties listed below market value will speed the sale (think, “wholesale” or “fire sale”), which is most attractive to real estate investors. The key is to meet the market value exactly where it is, then have buyers compete with each other to raise the offer above asking price.

Here are 3 Questions To Ask Yourself When Considering Pricing:

How much do I want to list my home for today?
How did I arrive at that value of my home?
If a buyer came in today, what would I consider to be an “acceptable offer” for my home?

(ii) Preparation: Have you ever walked into a model home at a new housing development? Did it make you feel so enamored with the place that you wished you could walk in with a suitcase and take immediate ownership of the home? We call this “turn key move-in ready”. That’s the image you should hold onto as you prepare your home for sale.

Here Are a Few Tips to Help You Showcase Your Home for Showings:

Use a professional photographer. Most MLS boards allow an agent to add up to 25 pictures per listing.
The more light, the better. Open your curtains.
Don’t offer home improvement advice to the potential buyers.
Tell the truth about odors or other nuisance issues with the home (such as passing trains, planes, or automobile traffic from a nearby highway.) The failure to report “External Obsolescence” can result in a lawsuit for fraudulent misrepresentation.
Make “painting” and “landscaping” a Top Priority!
Correct defects (or provide monetary compensation for them in the form of a seller concession.
Consider hiring a professional staging company. Most buyers do not have a fantastic imagination when it comes to interior decorating. A home staging company can transform your home from “just plain” Cinderella to “The Enchanted Princess” Cinderella.
Declutter your home. (Rent a storage unit for most of your personal belongings.)
Stage the furniture and accessories to increase traffic flow during showings and open house events.
Take down family photos.
Remove appliances.
Reduce bathroom items.
Thin the closets!
Empty the storage room and organize your closets to just the essentials.
Tone down all bedrooms.

(iii) Promotion: Position your listing to attract the right audience of buyers possible by creating a description of the home’s “most likely buyer” (look at city-data, the site to do business, and realtor property resource, as well as the U.S. Census demographics of homeowners in your area.) List the home’s best features and benefits of living in your subdivision, your gated community (amenities), and your neighborhood (recreation, entertainment venues, etc.). Your goal is to paint a picture of the lifestyle that comes with living in your home – and why the buyer won’t want to let your home go to anyone else.

Next, select all the media channels to get your marketing message in front of your target audience of likely buyers. Almost 95% of home buyers begin shopping for their dream home online. As such, we take every available opportunity to maximize exposure of your home’s availability for purchase in the marketplace. This is done strategically across multiple online channels, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest and Twitter, as well as the original online platforms of a dedicated property landing page and featuring the listing on our company website.

We implement an 8-Week Property Marketing Plan, and we highlight and showcase the best features of your home through creative storytelling and a talented video production team! To learn more about how we can help you sell your home, you can leave us a comment here or email us at sales@colemantanner.com. Or, we can also be reached at our office during normal business hours at: (786) 258-8877. We look forward to hearing from you.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

How to Hire a Real Estate Agent

Will Any Old Agent Do?

While any agent can list a property for sale, you need someone with experience to create a multiple offer scenario, protect your interests in negotiations, and present your listing to potential buyers in the best light possible, provide you with proper counsel, manage the transaction from start to finish, including challenges that oftentimes can derail a closing, and facilitate inspections during the due diligence period. Those are the hallmarks of a highly-skilled agent, not of “any old agent.” Put simply, you get what you pay for.

Questions You Should Ask When Interviewing Real Estate Agents:

How are you going to market my property?
What is the target market for my home? (demographics) Where are buyers coming from? (Ex: Friends and Family – within a 5 to 10 mile radius; buyers coming from California and New York.)
What tools do you use in your real estate business?
Do you have a team or do you work solo?

Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Interview Real Estate Agents:

Do you have chemistry? (Know, Like, and Trust)
Does this agent have a good reputation (or at least not a bad reputation)?
Does this agent have resources to sell my home?
Does this agent have experience and/or education in real estate?
Lastly, the most important question to ask yourself is this, “Is this agent a good fit for me?”

I hope this information helps you in your home buying or selling experience.

What Are My Closing Costs?

Some of us in the real estate industry say to calculate about 2% of the purchase price for closing costs. Others tell their clients to plan on 1% of the purchase price. I think it’s better to over-prepare than to be under-resourced. Here is a list of closing cost items that you can expect to see during and at the conclusion of your home buying/selling experience:

Loan Costs (loan officer commission – AKA loan origination fee),
Title Fees (recording, document preparation, lender’s title policy, owner’s title policy, closing ceremony, warranty deed preparation, abstract and title search),
Real Estate Agent commission (typically 6% to the seller’s agent, split with th ebuyer’s agent),
Home Inspection Fee,
Real Estate Appraisal Fee,
WDO Report and Pest Inspection Fee, and
Two Months of Escrow Deposits (Property Taxes and Homeowner’s Insurance).