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Deciding to Sell

How to maximize profit & generate multiple offers using a proven repeatable system in 10 steps.

1. Initial Phone Call and Meeting – This usually takes about 30 minutes. I use this time to better understand your real estate needs, what your timeline is and how I might be able to be of service.

After this I will come out to your home to walk through your property so that I can give the best possible recommendations. This also allows time to go into further detail about:

  • Your timeline.
  • Your desired outcome and your next step.
  • The current market conditions.
  • What I can do to help sell your home and what the next steps will be.

2. Pre-listing home inspection – There is great value in doing a pre-listing home inspection. Would you rather know the condition of your home now, or wait until a buyer has your home under contract and can renegotiate? That’s when the buyer has all the leverage. Other agents don’t understand how to fully leverage this technique to their advantage.

  • Homes marketed with the pre-listing home inspection model that are priced right are selling with more offers than those without an inspection.
  • If there is no pre-listing home inspection provided to the buyers, many won’t participate in a bidding war. It’s too risky. But if a full inspection is given to them by the sellers, many buyers under those circumstances are willing to submit an offer and often are also willing to waive their right to doing their own inspection. If they waive their right to an inspection, they are also foregoing a possible second round of negotiations with you as the seller!
  • Buyers are also experiencing burnout losing out in multiple offer situations. Many of these buyers are tired of paying for pre-inspections to make competitive bids adding an additional out of pocket expense. Providing a buyer with a pre-listing inspection gives a hesitant buyer an opportunity to get involved without the expense of purchasing another costly inspection on a home they may not win.

3. Pro-active repairs and updates – After a home is pre-inspected, if there are repairs that should be made, we’d have the opportunity to fix those items before we hit the market, drawing buyers to your home rather than them possibly being scared away.

  • 94% of my listings sell without a building inspection contingency that are marketed with the pre-inspection model and have sold for an average of 111.29% of the list price to sales price ratio in 2021 (the other agents averaged 103.80%). One was even 34% over list price!

4. Presentation – How your home presents matters. This might include changing out wallpaper, some fresh paint, deferred maintenance repairs, new carpets or carpet cleaning, etc. Selling a home is kind of like dating, we have one chance to make that first impression. If they don’t like what they see they’ll move on and won’t come back.

5. Staging Consultation. If we are considering using your furniture to stage, I will come and go room by room, making an itemized list on what you need to do to get ready. If the home is vacant (or we decide to not use your furniture) we can bring in a professional stager.

  • The cost of staging is ALWAYS less than the first price reduction.
  • 82% of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as their future home. (National Association of Realtors)
  • A professionally staged home spends 73% less time on the market compared to those without staging. (Professional Staging)

6. Professional HD PhotographyThe photos matter!!! Listings with professional photos sell on average 32% faster than those with amateur photos. Photos make a HUGE difference. Along with this, I’ll provide a 3D tour and for certain properties a video, or aerial photos. I pay for all the professional photography with every listing.

  • Only 35% of agents employ a professional photographer for their listings.
  • Listings with at least 20 images sell faster than those with fewer images.
  • Listings with professional photos sell on average 32% faster than those with amateur photos.
  • According to a recent National Association of Realtors study, 87% of buyers said that photos are among the most useful tools when searching for properties to purchase.
  • This is why viewers spend 60% of the time checking images and only 20% on the description.

89% of buyers start their search online. And the first showing, whether it is to an agent or buyer, is ALWAYS online. Having the right photography of a home that has been staged and utilizing the correct websites is crucial.

Bottom Line: Homes marketed with professional photography sell faster and for more money than those without.

7. Promotion (how I market) – I won’t just throw your home on the NWMLS and leave it at that. My marketing incorporates:

  • All the local brokerages and agents.
  • Over 350 non-brokerage websites.
  • Promoting your home internationally in 130 countries and in 19 languages!
  • Social media advertising.
  • Postcards to the neighborhood and my past clientele in case they know someone who might want to move to the area.
  • A Custom property website specifically for your home.
  • Captivating print materials: Flyers, list of upgrades (when applicable) and high quality “silent talkers” throughout the home to highlight its features.

8. Positioning – Where WE set the expectations. By following this program, in this market, we’re anticipating multiple offers. To maximize a multiple offer situation, you set an offer review date on the front end, usually about 2-5 days out. This allows time for buyers to come see your home and you won’t be rushed if you get an offer on the first day, wondering if you could have received more offers from someone who hasn’t had a chance to see it yet. In general, we want them to believe we are anticipating multiple offers to build competition. <

  • Using this system, in 2021 one home received 23 offers!
  • Another sold for 34% over list price!
  • In 2021, homes utilizing my home selling system sold for 111.29% of the list price on average!

9. Pro-active approach: Provide the Home Selling Packet & Instructions to Buyer Agents – This includes everything a buyer needs to make a decision to purchase: pre-inspection, bids, repairs, offer instructions, title, HOA documents, etc. Having this information upfront will allow a buyer to do their due diligence ahead of time and write a tighter offer with less contingencies or reasons to terminate.

10. Profit – We’ve done everything to guarantee the home looks as good as possible online, on-paper, and in-person. Now it comes down to negotiating to get you the maximum value for your house. I’ve been doing this for over 17 years and have gained the Master Certified Negotiation Expert designation. Less than 1% of agents have this designation! When negotiating, experience counts and who you work with matters. I have a system and plan in place to negotiate on your behalf when dealing with multiple offers to procure the most profit possible. Even if there were to be only 1 offer, my system provides a way to avoid having an inspection contingency and thus avoiding a 2nd round of negotiations.

To hear more about the system, contact me at 206.579.5650 or you can email me at KurtNystrand(at)kw(dotted)com.

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