1. Maximum Value. It's important your agent understands all the components that can get you the most amount of money for your home. It takes experience, research and planning to get top dollar in today's market, but I guarantee you, it works and it will be worth it. The reality is, people buy what they see. It may take anywhere from a few days of simple clean up to a few weeks of fix up, light painting and "staging" to squeeze more money out of your home. But if all it takes is a little extra effort, I say go for it. I've had clients where all I've said is, "do nothing, your house looks great" and it sold right away or homes where we had to work with a full crew for six weeks in order to get top dollar. Whatever the case, I can advise you how to get maximum value.
2. Plan the Work and Work the Plan. Once you've met with your agent and they've taken detailed notes on your home, they should come up with a suggested list of work that needs to get done to squeeze out those extra dollars. You can be involved as much or as little as you like, but nothing happens without someone who is experienced and involved to steer the project to get the job done. Read my seller testimonials for more on my own track record, but your agent should be able to help anyone from people who live next door to clients who live across country. I've dealt with both scenarios and enjoy it. Last year, I sold the home of Dr. Scott Kelley in Tiburon and he never even had to fly back to Marin from the east coast. I did everything for him and had fun with it. I have been around construction and real estate my entire life and like being involved in any kind of project (my Dad was an engineer, if that helps explain it). Again, ask my clients, not me, but I love going the extra mile to get the extra money for you.
3. Contacts for Fix Up. A good listing agent has long term relationships with painters, landscapers, plumbers, electricians and anyone else you need to get your home ready to sell. It's perfectly natural to tell your agent, "could you call the landscaper and tell him what you want?" They should be able to help you with that as it's part of our industry and we are constantly talking with these other professionals on a weekly basis anyway. A good agent knows what to ask the electrician for and how to stretch every dollar of your budget to get you the maximum in return. 4. Effective Communication. Your agent works for you and they need to work around your schedule, it's as simple as that. They should be well connected with often twice-a-day phone calls and constant emails to document the progress of your job to get your house ready. And that should continue right through and during the sale process. Not all agents work full time, though I've never known how they get by with that. If you need to reach me, I'm available seven days a week by cell, including evenings. This is a lifelong career and full time job for me and I treat it that way.
5. Experience. Whoever said, "There's no substitute for experience", is right. I agree and have lived by that same motto thoughout my career. When I first started out back in 1985, I was inexperienced and didn't feel I could do a good enough job for my clients, so I partnered with an experienced agent on any listings for the first two years. True, I only made half the money (we split any commissions, even after splitting with the company) but as I didn't trust my own knowledge, it seemed like the best thing for the client. Today, agents now sometimes partner with me. It doesn't cost you any more and it's the right thing to do. So do yourself a favor, don't trust the sale of your home to an agent with less than five years of top selling experience. If you know an agent who is relatively new to the business, I may be willing to partner with them in order to have you avoid the minefield of forms and practices common to our county.
6. Local Knowledge of Marin. Quite a few of the top agents here are native to this area and know quite a bit about Marin and most of northern California, including me. This probably has less to do with getting your home fixed up for top dollar and more to do with how local trends and patterns affect your value and pricing (more on that in the next paragraph). MarinCounty has a variety of weather patterns that can greatly affect values. We also have some of the best schools in the state. Your buyers (and your agent) need to know that your home may be located in one of our award-winning school districts to help with the value of your home. There are also dozens of great parks and thousands of acres of open space that can help if they are close to your home. Your buyers need to know where these great public areas are located.
7. Knowledge of the Market for Accurate Pricing. There's another old phrase in real estate: "At one price the buyers look at what's right with it, at another price, they look at what's wrong with it". Again, I agree. Your agent should be able to advise you in great detail how to pick the right price for your house. This can mean a study of recent sales in the neighborhood to what is for sale today. Are you in a buyer's or seller's market in your area? I wrote an article for the Marin Independent Journal newspaper recently that tells you how to determine which market you're in ("Do the Math"), but as you can probably guess, if you ask too much, you might scare buyers away. Ask too little (or don't do any of my suggested fix up work) and you may leave money on the table. Your agent should also know what the current asking prices are throughout the county and in your area. It may take me a few hours of research and maybe a night or two to think on it, but together you should come up with a suggested best price that you can realistically get for your home.
8. Experienced With the Web. In Marin County, over 75% of the buyers now start their home search on the web. This is up a staggering 10% in just two years. At this rate, we'll have 95% of home buyers using the Internet within five years. Your agent needs to have an informative website, featuring information on the area and home listings in all price ranges. The site should generate good traffic and be well known by other agents in the industry, both in Marin and around the country. I pride myself in having one of the busiest, best websites in California, if not the United States. My marketing includes putting you on this web site, which will market your property all across the county, the state, the country and the world. Your home will appear on Yahoo Real Estate, Microsoft MSN HomeAdvisor, and other top national sites. I can place your home on my site within a few minutes and start getting traffic instantly. This is easily one of the busiest real estate sites in the country according to my web management team. Allmarin.com was recently voted the Top Real Estate Website in Marin County.
9. Contract Knowledge. Once you're ready to accept offers on your nicely fixed up, well-priced home, any buyer and their agent are going to write their own Purchase Agreement. And they're going to write it to benefit them, not you. Ironically, here's where being a top buyer's agent has also helped me be a successful listing agent. Any agent fluent in both types of agency can help you avoid the pitfalls of the 8 page Purchase Contract, along with the number of Addendums and Release forms that go with the escrow. These vary from county to county, so make sure your agent is full-time, local and experienced.
10. Top Agent Network. As in most other parts of the country, it's also true in Marin that "10% of the agents sell 90% of the homes". Your agent should definitely be in this top 10%, if only because of the momentum that is generated by someone who sells a lot of homes. They also say that "business breeds business" and they're right. The Top Agents of Marin is a network of agents who do business together all the time. We trust each other's high code of ethics, experience and integrity. This can only benefit you. And the best part is, the selling expenses are the same if you use a Top Agent or a beginner. Which one would you rather choose?
11. So Why Choose Me? I'm currently in the top 3% of all Marin agents and have been as high as in the top 1%. I was the #1 agent for Frank Howard Allen in 2006 and 2007. But the reality is, all the experience in the world doesn't mean much if you don't feel comfortable with your agent. There are a lot of good agents here in Marin. I know, because I've worked with many of them since 1985, and like them, I've tried to build a career and reputation that helps get your home sold. To say I'm the best at anyone would be too subjective and would be disrespectful to my colleagues. A lot of them have the same qualities I'd be looking for if I were in your shoes: they're honest, experienced, trustworthy and they follow up. I'm just one of the agents out there. If you think I can help, I'd like the opportunity to speak with you. We may not see eye to eye on some things and we may not elect to work together. But I'd at least give you my opinion on how to get maximum value for your home and you have no obligation to use me when you sell. I promise.
