Well, Sylvia, for starters, a good real estate agent is much more than a “salesperson”. A real estate agent represents your interests, provides you with advice and guidance in doing a job. The information highway (the Internet) has opened up an entirely new world for most of us – it provides us information that previously wasn’t available to us. The public is certainly much more savvy than they used to be. The data on listings available on the internet is almost current – but not quite. There’s many times when you need the most current information about what has sold, what’s for sale, and the details and complete history of a property. The only way to get this is with an agent. If you are selling a home, you gain access to many other buyers, through their agents, via the Multiple Listing Service. Only a licensed agent who is a member of the local MLS can get your house listed there. Also, the role of the real estate agent has changed dramatically over the past decade. In the past, agents were the only way home buyers and sellers could access information. Now, agents are evolving, too. Because today’s home buyer’s and sellers are so much more educated, expertise and ability are becoming more and more important. An agent is your guide – your hand-holder, so to speak, through the rather lengthy and tedious process of buying or selling a house.

Breaking a contract is called “breach of contract”. Did you find out the reason they want to break the contract? Is it something that can be easily fixed? Check with your real estate agent to find out what they suggest, and the reasoning behind it. You could certainly sue in a civil court of competent jurisdiction to enforce a contract – suing for damages – both actual and punitive. However, I would strongly suggest you consult with a civil plaintiff’s attorney so they can make sure there really is a breach of contract and, even if you do win, if there will be a collectible verdict. You may get a judgment against someone, but if they have no assets within which to collect, the judgment won’t be worth more than the paper it’s written on – again, find out the reasoning behind why they don’t want to buy your house. If the issues can be fixed easily, I recommend you do it. If the issues can’t be fixed, then consult a good attorney.

The fact you are asking me this question instead of your agent (assuming you have an agent) greatly concerns me that you agent is not properly doing their job. There is no set answer to your question. I wish there was. What makes you think your house is overpriced? If it just went up and there has been several showings for the first couple weeks, even though there hasn’t been an offer – I’d suggest waiting for two more weeks. If your house didn’t receive much response in the first to weeks, then I would definitely talk to your agent about running a comparative market analysis on your property. Quite frankly, your agent should have done this BEFORE they took your listing. The listing price should be based on the current market situation. It shouldn’t be based on what you owe on the house – or what you need to “net” out of the sale of the house; nor can it properly be based on how much money you actually spent on upgrades to the house that were important to you. For instance, you paid $10,000 to put in an in-ground sprinkler system – that’s great if you put it in because you wanted the convenience. It’s bad if you put it in thinking you were going to get the $10,000 back. A sprinkler system traditionally does not raise the price of a resale house for as much money as the system costs. I suggest a re-evaluation of the listing price of a house every thirty days while on the market. However, if your agent runs a comparative market analysis on it before 30 days, or the showings you have received have feedback from the agents saying it’s overpriced, then, by all means an immediate price reduction is called for. If you are thinking about putting your house on the market, or you have it on the market as a For Sale By Owner, I’d be more than happy to run a comparative market analysis of your home – no fee, no hassle. I’d also be happy to list your home for 5.5% My commission structure includes offering a high split (3%) to the Buyer’s agent to insure a high volume of buyers through your home. I’d love a chance to list your home!

Your real estate agent should have taken the time to explain the normal process. Since he/she didn’t, I’ll be happy to. The “ibox” is an actual “computerized, secured key- holder”. Sellers should not be in the home during a showing of a potential buyer. You want the buyer comfortable in the home, free to look, ask questions and make comments. That is not going to happen if the owner is in the house. The buyer needs to imagine their family in the home – that’s nearly impossible to do when you and your family are sitting there. So, the invention of the “ibox” was a wonderful thing! It’s safe and secure. The only persons who can open an ibox are real estate agents who are members of the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Each agent’s password and software pager or palm “syncs” everyday (mine is set to do it every morning at 4:36 a.m.) with the MLS office via the internet. The ibox is also a computer. Each ibox is leased by your listing agent through the MLS office. Only the listing agent can “unhook it or hook it to the door – only your listing agent’s special “shackle password” allows it to happen. The ibox allows the listing agent and the MLS to download information like: what agent opened the ibox, and the date and time the ibox was opened. Each real estate agent has their own original password registered with the MLS to gain access to the key. This is the password they must use to enter an ibox. No agent is allowed to give their password to anyone else – not even another agent. They also must have the particular software (pager or on some plam/cell phone combos) which can only be hand loaded by certain MLS administrative employees. The outside of the “ibox” is blue. It’s usually put on your front door handle like a regular lock. The showing agent then points his/her electric pager or palm that has the software on it at the actual ibox, a computer check is then run and the inside container is released after the password is cleared. Then the agent is able to pull the key out of the inside container to open the door. The ibox keeps all of the information registered and recorded. Feedback can also be left on the ibox. For additional security, I now offer the “beacon” which allows owners to be informed as soon as the showing agent leaves the house. Technology is a great thing!! In summary, if you want to sell your home, you need to get the heck out of it when it’s showing. I urge you to discuss your specific concerns with your real estate agent. If you would like additional information, and aren’t working with an agent, give me a call at 210-4212 and I will provide you with additional security measures you can take.

Well, let me start by first referring to your current “home” as a “house” from this point on. Even though it’s difficult, you need to begin your emotional detachment. You want to sell your “house” to someone who is looking for their new “home”. Most “home improvements” aren’t worth nearly as much in value to the house as one might think. Additionally, they might not have as much appeal to a potential buyer as they do to you. You need to help the buyer look at your house and imagine it as their home. For example: remove all of your family photos off the wall. Clean out your drawers, closets and cabinets. Remove all of the clutter and personal items from the fireplace mantel. Clean out the attic, garage and any storage areas. If you want to keep some of the stuff – move it to a storage area for the time being.

Hire me as your listing agent! Okay, now having said that, David Lereah, who is the chief economist in the National Association of Realtors, agrees with you and says, “The cooling from overheated sales conditions in recent months is helping to bring inventory levels up to the point where buyers have more choices than they’ve seen in the last five years.” Simply put – there’s a lot of homes for sale out there. Get an agent that can make yours stand out – get an agent that is willing to do more than just stick your listing on the MLS (but make sure they do a great MLS listing, too. Have any agent you are interviewing bring some of their own listings – make sure the elementary, middle and high schools are filled in, make sure they have 10 pictures of the home. Do they have all the rooms of the house listed, along with the equipment of the house? All of these items are just as important as the “Remarks” section. They have specific search engines. Many people search an area by elementary school – if your agent didn’t fill that in, your house won’t come up! Does your agent have upgrades and feature spots on realtor.com? If not, they should. Over 73% of homebuyers search the internet for a home – at least in the initial phases of looking. Some other things that I tell my clients: Price it right. Listing a home for $290,000 when the comps in the area plainly show houses are going for about $265,000 is suicide in today’s market. “Testing” the market “just to see if it will possibly sell for more” doesn’t work in this market. I’ve also said this a hundred times before: Get rid of the junk – the fewer items in the house – the cleaner & roomier it looks. Rent a storage space if you have to, but get rid of all the knick-knacks and family photos, and extra furniture, or whatever else you have stuffed into the corners and closets. Less is more – really! Make sure your agent has a specific marketing plan for your individual home. What’s right for one home isn’t necessarily right for another home. Be creative – like, instead of lowering your price $20,000 – maybe offer a 2% closing costs assistance – do the math – it will be a lot less than $20,000, and it might be getting right to the heart of the real problem: people sometimes have a hard time coming up with closing costs. Make sure everything in your house is in working order. Did your roof leak? You got it fixed, but haven’t yet fixed the water spot on the ceiling? Do it – and right now! Make sure you don’t have dead plants and flowers outside – water your grass – make it green!

I think you’re both wrong! 30 days doesn’t give even the best agent (like me ☺) a fair enough chance to sell even the “for sure sale”. 6 month contracts are just too long. I would never ask or expect someone to sign a 6 month contract with me or any other agent. Many agents won’t take a thirty-day listing. Quite frankly, I don’t blame them. I think 90 day contracts are the best for both sides. There is one thing you need to take into consideration – you need to find out how hard it is to end that relationship should you desire to do so before the contract is up. With all my clients, if they want it ended for any reason whatsoever – it’s ended – period. Make sure your agent allows that!

According to numerous surveys done by the National Association of Realtors, “Curb appeal sells almost 50 percent of houses generally.” Quite frankly, in the current local market, your house needs to look better on the outside to even get the potential buyer out of their car and up to your doorstep! A bit of landscaping – like a few colorful flowers, or bushes is a pretty inexpensive way to increase your curb appeal. I can’t stop here, though – an interior coat of paint is the quickest and most inexpensive way to improve the inside of your home – most especially in the entryway. It has been said, and I am a true believer of – a potential buyer makes a decision on your home within the first 45 seconds of them entering your house. If you spend a few hundred dollars right before you put your house on the market to do a few simple things, you will definitely get the money back out of it with a sale! Just be careful about spending money the right way (i.e., replace the carpet if it looks really worn and gross, but you don’t need to purchase upgraded plantation shutters – they may look nice, but you won’t be able to recover that money of approximately the $10k it cost you to put the shutters in; don’t ever put in a swimming pool to “increase the value of your home”. That doesn’t work in the Midwest – maybe California or Nevada or Arizona – but not here.)

Of course I’m going to say “good”, hoping you will give me a chance to sell your home! Aside from the obvious answer, I will tell you the “hottest selling time” is really here. May – August. The slowest or worst time of the year is end of December, January & February. So, if you are going to do it, do it now – don’t wait any longer. Obviously, there are people out there who get transferred and have to move during the dead of winter – and we are here to help! However, if you have a choice, I would suggest my personal rule of thumb – the nicer the weather, the more people are willing to go out and look. Houses usually have better curb appeal when flowers are in bloom and leaves are on the trees.

That’s a really general question! I’ll just go with what crossed my mind first. There’s three major points of impact in selling your home: Location, Price and Condition. I call these the Triple Play! You have to have a good location, priced correctly, and it needs to be in top condition. Even though according to Meatloaf (for all you young ones out there who are asking, “Who?” Meatloaf is a totally awesome rock band from my younger years!) 2 out of 3 ain’t bad – they certainly weren’t talking about selling a home! If you don’t have one of the three – the other two suffer. Since it is virtually impossible for the owner to be objective on these three items, I suggest you contact me and let me do a Comparative Market Analysis on your home and sit down and talk to you. One of the really important questions I ask my Sellers is: “What is your true goal?” Do you want to get a particular amount of monitary gain, or do you want to get your next home? Are you really serious about selling your home or are you just goofing around with the idea? Keep in mind, it’s usually a two-sided deal. You can get a better deal as a Buyer for the home of your dreams if your house is already sold and you don’t have to make a “contingent offer”. I know I sound like a broken record (for those of us old enough to know what a record is!), but make sure you price your house right to begin with – don’t wait to “drop the price” in 30 or 60 days. Trust me, in the end, you’ll end up getting less than if you had it priced right to begin with. I realize selling your home is a very emotional thing – I’ve been through it and I feel your pain. This is why I, the professional, need to stay objective, and show my clients the actual numbers and prices of the solds in their neighborhood. That’s what really counts – what have buyers paid for similar homes in the area in today’s market.

I’m a real estate agent – of course I’m going to tell you “For Sale By Owner’s don’t normally work”. Having said that, let me explain. You have about a 10% chance of selling your home as a FSBO. But here’s a secret you’ve probably never heard another real estate agent admit: The agent you select to list your home also only has about a 10% chance of selling your home directly. (meaning PERSONALLY bringing the buyer to your house). However, my chances of getting your house sold are really high – not just because I have a stylish black sign to put in your yard, and a $700 fancy software program that makes incredible looking fliers. I have two other things going for me that makes all the difference in the world. (1) Access to the MLS; and (2) My HUGE network of other agents. The MLS is much better than the other so-called “on-line sites” that allow FSBO’s to list their houses. The MLS has over 80,000 local real estate agents as members. Very specific information is placed on each MLS listing. It’s the “Big Kahoona” of real estate web sites and it’s a “members only” site. Licensed Real Estate Agents search for specific criteria on a home for their clients. That brings a lot of potential buyers for your house to the table. (2) I am personable and experienced in sales and marketing. That $700 software program I bought? I don’t only use it to put great looking fliers in the box in your front yard – I use it to design fliers for all the other agents in my office, in the Lee’s Summit area, and any other agent I have ever come in contact with while networking. I’m talking up your house to every one of them – every chance I get – in sales meetings, during training seminars, at lunch, all the time. I’m a salesman and I’m very good at my job. In turn, I listen to them when I have a potential buyer for one of their listings – it’s a two- way street. It’s the relationships I’ve developed in the industry. It works. I do much more behind the scenes that you, as the seller, don’t know about. That’s the big secret our “secret club” never wants to tell you about! It’s about networking! It’s who you know, and the knowledge of how to work it.

You didn’t tell me why you wanted to know. The most common reason homeowners want to know what their home is worth is because they want to move. Give me a call. You don’t need to pay an appraiser. I can run a comparative market analysis for you – free of charge – to let you know what I believe I could sell your home for. Appraisers and real estate agents define market values differently. Appraisers focus on using past data – like previous solds in your area. Real Estate agents look to the future. I look at comparative sales, days on market, pending sales, list prices, today’s market, how many similar houses are available at that time, some appraisers will argue with me, but experienced ones know it’s true. For these reasons, it’s normally better to get a qualified real estate agent to give you a true comparative market analysis of your home to determine the real value. Of course, if you are refinancing, you will need to allow your bank to have an appraiser of their choosing do an appraisal of your home. However, if you are planning on selling down the road – don’t make the mistake of thinking that appraisal is accurate in today’s real estate market.

You’re kidding, right? My first recommendation is to give yourself better odds – call me – or another qualified real estate agent – to sell your home. For Sale By Owner’s have less than a 10% chance of selling their home. Check around – don’t pay more of a commission than you need to. I charge a “variable” commission rate – 4.5% if I bring the buyer, or, worst case scenario, 5.5% if, because of my marketing plan, I get another agent to bring the buyer. Also make sure your agent is willing to give the high split of the commission rate to the “buyer’s agent” – which is 3%. This assures a high volume of potential buyers through your home. For more details, give me a call. I’ve got about 30 minutes (or about 10 pages) of why to use an agent, and will explain to you how using a real estate agent will normally net you at least as much, if not more, than if you try and do it yourself.

I call it the “Gruesome Twosome”. First, DON’T put your house on the market before it’s ready to go! For example, if the carpet or flooring is disgusting, change it out before you put it on the market – not during! If it needs paint – either interior or exterior – make sure the painting is done before it goes on the market. First impressions are everything so, obviously, all the work needs to be done before a potential buyer sees it. Second, hiring a real estate agent based on things other than business. For example: pick your agent because they are a professional real estate agent, with expertise and knowledge of the area and the industry. Check out their references. Are they an “informational resource” for all associated with real estate? (i.e., do they work with mortgage brokers, roofers, inspectors, appraisers, etc.) Don’t hire them because they are a relative or a friend – actually it’s best to stay away from those – your house is your most expensive asset, in most cases, treat it as such.

Horse pucky! Would you have your baby born without an obgyn? Would you go to court without a lawyer on a serious charge? Then, why on earth would you think you would be better off selling your house without a real estate agent? For most, it’s the largest investment of your life! If you’re afraid of paying the outrageous commission rate of 6% or 7% (I feel that is too high), then find an agent that will list your home for a lower rate. If you’re still thinking the commission rate is too high – next time you go to a fast food joint – remember that soda you paid $1.69 for? It costs them about 9 whopping cents! Their commission rate is like a gazillion percent! Then figure you’ve been doing it since you were say – “knee high to a grasshopper.” I bet you’ve paid more commissions for your sodas than you will for having a real estate agent to sell your home. Still don’t see it my way? Remember – I have access to the MLS – and you don’t!!!! Are you afraid I will tell you to do things you don’t want to hear – like – replace the blood or grape juice stained carpet with a neutral carpet – or repaint your lime green kitchen with a nice neutral color? A good agent is going to tell you what to do and what not to do – It’s part of my job. Don’t forget, most people who look at FSBO’s are looking for a bargain basement price. Statistics show FSBO’s take much longer to sell, and you normally don’t net any more money. Figure in your time, cost of signs, advertising, wrong listing price. As a real estate agent, I can run comparative market analysis, meet with you, go through your home, and help you come up with an appropriate listing price for your house. It’s easy to find a real estate agent to do this for you at no cost or obligation.

Well, where do I start? Contact me directly to get some specifics about how much money you will most likely end up saving at the end of the year by becoming a home owner instead of a renter, but in general terms, here are some positives: Simply put, in America, the most common way to acquire wealth is to own real estate. The National Association of Realtors recently conducted a survey; on average a homeowner has $50,000.00 in equity in their house. This is also called “unrealized wealth”. Furthermore, families with incomes over $75,000.00 have an average equity in their homes of over $100,000.00. Some of this equity obviously comes from paying down the mortgage, but much of it comes from appreciation of your home’s value. Over the past year, an average home increased 7.1% in value. An average home is approximately $153,000.00. Do the math. This means $10,884.00 accumulated in “wealth” or “equity” of the home. In order to “tap into” this equity or wealth, homeowners will need to refinance their house or sell it. Additionally, let’s not forget good ole Uncle Sam! He helps homeowners out by allowing us to “write off” or deduct what we pay in mortgage interest on our taxes. HUGE savings for us! This is where you will see major differences in renting as soon as you file your first tax returns. If these don’t convince your wife, then tell her you won’t have to hear your neighbors above or on the other side of the wall! Privacy – it’s a great thing! Having been both an apartment dweller for several years until I saw the light and became a homeowner, trust me, it’s a wonderful secure feeling for “maintenance people” and “leasing agents”, etc. not having a key to your dwelling so they can enter any time they want. It’s also great to be able to have a yard for your kids to play in, and to know your rent isn’t going to go up every 12 months! The best thing about being an apartment dweller was having access to a swimming pool. Look around Lee’s Summit now – many neighborhoods with homes associations now have neighborhood pools for the homeowners! Give me a call. We can go through some specifics and run some numbers so your wife will feel better about it.

Well, first of all – I want it on the record, when I ask for a showing I have never asked (and won’t) ask for more than an hour. In actuality, I usually ask for a 30 or 45- minute window of time. Before I got my real estate’s license, I, too had my house on the market, listed with an agent. I totally feel your pain! Two small children to get ready and get into the car – then drive around for hours at a time – quite frankly, it was awful. Unfortunately, there are agents out there who don’t particular care how rude it is (and, yes, I do think it’s a bit rude), or, let’s take the high road for a minute so I don’t complete tick off the entire real estate industry. . .by way of explaining why that sometimes happens, let’s assume the agent is not just being rude and thoughtless. . .maybe they have an out of town buyer and have only one day to show that buyer as many houses as they can, and the agent is not very familiar with the Lee’s Summit area, they have no idea Ashton at Charleston Park is about 3 minutes from Oak Tree Farms, or from Hawks Ridge. So, they want to play it safe and allow enough time to get to each of the houses they want to show their clients. Okay, having said that, because that used to happen with my clients whose houses I had listed. I fixed the problem! There is a brand new service being offered to agents willing to pay for it (and I soooooo am willing & did - cheerfully). It’s called a beacon. I give a “beacon”, which is a pager-like device, to my sellers whose house I have listed. I program it to work with my ibox that I put on their door. When the buyer’s agent brings a client and removes the key from the ibox, a transmitted signal will go to my client’s beacon (that they are carrying with them, of course) and notify them the agent just entered their house. That way, if the potential buyers had asked for a 2-hour viewing window, and it is only 10 minutes into the two hours, the beacon goes off and you know you can go back to your house, and don’t have to wonder if the agent has been there yet or not! Pretty cool, huh? Make sure the agent you select to list your home utilizes the beacon system – it will save you hours of frustration – and, quite frankly, with the price of gas the way it is today – you will save money so you don’t waste gas driving around and around for two hours when they had come and gone within the first fifteen minutes!