If you are committed to getting top dollar for the sale of your home, you must also be committed to working with us to put forth the effort necessary to prepare your home for a profitable sale.  The preparation and work that you put into the property during the period leading up to the actual listing (sometimes as much as 6 months before) will ultimately determine the attractiveness and speed of sale when your home actively hits the market.

There are five contributing factors that determine how much your home will sell for and how quickly it sells.

1. Optimal Price Point
   
2. Property Condition
   
3. Presentation & Home Staging
   
4. Time of the Year
   
5. Outside Market Factors & Conditions
   

Lucky for you as homeowner, you have control over #1-4.  As your Real Estate Consultants, I will guide you through process of leveraging those factors so that you are attractive to buyers under any circumstances the market can throw at you.

- Determining Your Optimal Pricing Strategy

As your real estate adviser, I will take the necessary time to study the market trends in your area, tour the active competition and provide a detailed analysis of what is currently available (your competition), what has recently sold (benchmarks) and which listings expired or were withdrawn (unrealistic prices).  Together we will determine where we can position your house to sell within the next 60 days.

If it is clear that your home will need some repair or remodel work prior to listing, we can help you to determine exactly where you money is best spent to maximize profitability.  We have a network of responsible contractors that will guide you through the process of preparing your home for  sale.

- Property Condition

Condition of the property is a big contributing factor to both the appropriate list price and marketability of your home.   Property condition and Presentation go hand in hand.  If you are aware of work that needs to be done to the property (ie. siding repair, painting, fogged windows, hail damaged roof etc..) its in your best interest to take care of these issues prior to listing the house.  Otherwise you could be looking at costly repair requests from the buyer during the inspection process or worse yet, potential low ball offers.

You will be required to fill out a Seller’s Disclosure detailing the condition of the property based on your time of occupancy.  You will need to fill out the disclosure to the best of your ability & knowingly withholding information is unethical.  Therefore, its best to either deal with issues that you are aware of or face the fact that those issues will need to be reflected in a reduced sales price.

Here is a list of the Top 5 Property Fix-ups for your Dollar Invested.

As an aside to property condition, whether or not you plan to occupy the property or leave it vacant while it is for sale makes a big difference as well.  Its been my experience that vacant listings take longer to sell and usually sell for less (on average) than do those with owner occupants.  Reasons include lack of property maintenance, accessibility issues and lack of property staging for optimal use of space.

- Presentation and Home Staging

Assuming that pricing and property condition are #1 and #1A, then Presentation is #1B.  The way that you present your home during the sales process is absolutely vital to getting the necessary foot traffic to generate a profitable offer.  This includes but is not limited to: yard maintenance, interior  cleanliness, home staging and flexibility with buyer’s showings.

I have included a wealth of Sellers Resources for you to read through about how to present your home in its best light and prepare for buyer’s showings.

Prior to activating the listing, we will go room by room throughout your house and make suggestions on what you can do to make the spaces as appealing as possible for potential buyers.  A good place to start would be to read through and implement many of my Room by Room suggestions here.

***Remember that the photographs of your home are going to be the first impression that buyer’s have when they are introduced to your home online.  If your house shines and you have done everything else to prepare for a profitable sale, you have a good chance of getting a lot of buyer foot traffic.   If not, it could be an uphill battle all the way.

- Time of the Year

The real estate market is cyclical and somewhat predictable.  Its no secret that the months April – August provide the best opportunity for home owners to sell.  This is the time of the year when the buyer pool is most plentiful and qualified buyers are actively looking at homes (usually before the new school year starts).  On the flip side, this is the time of the year when most other home owners are trying to test the market as well, so the competition is stronger.

At other times of the year the number of active listings (competition) will be lower, but so will the number of buyers who are looking to purchase.  That being said, during the latter months of the year those who are actively looking to buy a house are generally more serious about getting something done.  Its important to factor theses seasonal differences into both our pricing and presentation strategy.

To get a feel for the cyclical nature of the real estate market in Austin Texas, visit the real estate market statistics section of this website.

- Outside Market Factors and Conditions

Unfortunately, there are always going to be market factors that are beyond our control.  As much as we would like to, we cannot control the credit markets, consumer confidence or the availability of buyer financing options.  We cannot control the economy and extenuating financial circumstances.

However, we can control the first four items on this list and if we do everything in our power to prepare your home to sell in the current market climate, you will be well ahead of the game.

I have always found that in any market there is a demand for nice houses that show well and are priced at market value.  Period, end of story.

Strategy to Get Your Home Sold

Selling your home is the ultimate team effort.  The process always goes smoothest when everyone is willing and able to step up to the plate to do their part to help.  Ultimately we are all working toward the same goal - A Profitable Sale.

As the Home Owner, you play an important part in achieving that goal.  We will work together to establish a strategy that allows you to achieve your sales objectives in the quickest amount of time possible.

In order to do so, you have to be willing to be a team player.  This means staying in constant communication with us, staying flexible with buyer’s showings, and helping out with our marketing efforts.

At the same time, you can put 100% of your Trust in the fact that my team is working hard to position your house to be the next one to sell in the neighborhood.  Much of this work will be going on behind the scenes initially as we prep for an efficient sales process.  That being said, you have my word that we will be in touch on a regular basis to keep you updated every step of the way.

- Positioning & Marketing

Positioning & Marketing your home TO SELL is a slightly different notion than strictly listing your house FOR SALE.  Each house will ultimately end up appealing to a specific profile of buyer.  It is our responsibility to predetermine who that buyer is and gear our marketing efforts toward finding him or her.

The chances are good that the new buyer for your house will be in a similar position that you were in when you purchased the home originally. We will welcome your insight into this process.  The more information you can provide about the home and what attracted you to it in the first place, the better off we will be.

While it is true that almost all of homes that sell each year through the multiple listing service do so involving a buyer’s agent representing the buyer, I still feel it is my responsibility to you as OUR client to work toward finding a qualified buyer rather than simply placing the home on MLS and waiting for someone else to sell it.  To that point, I have a systematic marketing and positioning strategy.  Send me an email if you would like to set up an appointment to discuss my sales and marketing strategy – ryan@betteraustinliving.com

Last, but certainly not least, I know you want to feel comfortable that the Realtor that you choose to work with on the sale of your home has your best interests at heart every step of the way.  I know you want to work with someone who has strong communication skills, who keeps you informed at all turns, and who will stand behind his/her performance instead of locking you up in a long term listing contract with no results.  These very characteristics are the Pillars of My Business. I stand by my service and as a result, I provide all of my buyer and seller clients with an Easy Exit Guarantee in the event that they are unhappy.

- Helping People on the Move

Some of my clients have been kind and supportive enough to share their experience working with me as their Real Estate Consultant.  I call it Helping People on the Move.