Woodfield Country Club Real Estate: August 2015

How to sell your own home

I have been involved with Real Estate in Southeast Florida for over 10 years now. Since 2005 I have been teamed up with one of Florida's, if not the United State's, top sales agents. Our typical production per year ranges anywhere from $25 million to the $40 million zone, usually landing in the high $30 million area. I'm not talking about overall brokerage sales like Coldwell Banker, I am talking about an individual agent. We have closed in excess of 600 buyers and sellers within this time and I have seen my fair share of showings. I have managed handling in excess of 50 active listings at any given time while juggling our pending and closed transactions. I wear many hats and am in the position to give good insight into how to sell your own home.

This isn't another FSBO canned message where I am trying to convince you to use a Realtor, but rather what happens when you are the listing agent for your own home. One of the top rules for a successful showing is to get the owners out of the house. A buyer won't emotionally connect to a home so long as the owner is there. If you have ever shown a home where the seller is home, the homeowner either decides to hijack the showing blowing any chance of a deal or they make their presence known, either awkwardly sitting in a room so they are still visible or in stalker mode following you around a house.

Fortunately in real estate, you can't force a buyer to like a house. Within the first minute of a buyer being in a home, you will know if they are interested or not. Just like in card playing, everyone has a tell. Either there is a real smile, a fake smile, or a stoic "I don't want to appear to excited." If a buyer comes in the home rolling their eyes, arms crossed, you are not going to persuade them to like the home. They either decided the lot is wrong, the curb appeal isn't what they want, the front door is on the side of home, it's a 2 story not a 1 story (or vice versa), they don't care for the style, etc… it could be any one or number of reasons.

Sometimes the buyer is honest when they don't like the home and leave within the first 30 seconds, even when finding out the listing agent is the homeowner. This is the ideal buyer because a) they don't want to waste their time and b) they don't want to waste anyone else's' time. I so much appreciate this. As an agent, if you have ever shown a listing and you know without a doubt the buyer hates the home, yet the buyer decides to still see the home and take their time, it's worse then fingernails down a chalkboard. It's one thing if the buyer says "hey this isn't for me, but let me take a quick look anyways," vs. the buyer that wants to prove something.

There are times the buyer comes in with an open mind and these are the few that you can try to convince your listing is the best, but it's this buyer that is probably seeing too many homes and won't remember one from the next or will become so confused they will never pull the trigger to buy.

One of the worst things is when the buyer's agent comes in and starts rattling off negative features right away. I feel these are the agents that are looking to prove their worth to the buyer before giving them a chance to see if they like the house or not. Why not start with the positives and see if your buyer likes the house? If you notice the buyer connect with the property, then gently (and not like a school teacher) let them know about things you might be concerned with as their agent.

Now that I have digressed long enough giving some insight into what listing agents try to cope with, it's time to get into selling your own home when you are the listing agent as well (owner/agent). For showings, I prefer listing agent accompany vs. putting the home on a lockbox. Lockbox homes vs. having a listing agent present gives a different sense that the property is more valuable instead of giving out random agents (and possibly their buyers) access to your property.

You always have to note if you are the owner/agent on the MLS in the special terms section. Also, the MLS usually asks for owner's name. I used to put my name, but find using 'withheld' is better option so long as you note you are the owner/agent. The worst thing that usually happens on a showing as the owner/agent is when the selling agent right off the bat says "and this is the owner, who is also the agent." That one line kills that majority of showings, so you have to work around that. Do you hijack the showing making the buyer feel awkward? Do you stalk the buyer and their agent? Do you get out of sight? What do you do?

Firstly, I notice buyers don't focus no matter if I am in sight or not. To help buyers focus, you need to get your 'Marketing 101" textbook out and instantly give a property flyer. Not a 8.5 x 11" MLS printout, yet a professionally designed flyer on heavy card stock on the largest size you can afford to do. If you are the owner/agent, do not put your contact info on this. Why? Because the buyer's agent will instantly take it away from the buyer because they do not want you putting your contact information in the hands of the buyer. I always make sure to say, "this is an unbranded marketing piece I have on this listing." Unbranded instantly tells the other agent there is zero contact info on their. Make sure to hand the flyer to the agent first so they give their blessing to the buyer that it's OK. This will help focus the buyer. Also, at the end of the day, if the buyer still has all their MLS spec sheets, the heavy card stock will stand out among the other listings which might help the buyer remember your listing.

Secondly, what do you with yourself? Do you hang out with the buyer and their agent? Do you disappear? I always find being courteous is the best way to deal with this. After handing the flyer to the agent, if they have not said the killer "and this is the owner/agent," I tend to stick around. If the "owner/agent" line is used, I ask the buyer if they prefer to look on their own or if they prefer a tour. This is where you have to watch body language and see what the buyer is really saying because this is somewhat confrontational if the buyer knows you are the seller. Is the buyer just being polite by telling you to show the house but want you to go far, far away? Does the buyer really want a tour by the owner, but says 'we'll look on our own?" Sometimes what they say is what they want and other times you have to assist as best as possible to understand what they want. Based on the response, I act accordingly. This comes from repetition. Not just repetition of showing your own home, but showing other listings. That is why I digressed above to give some insight into what we deal with as listing agents and especially how we deal with showing a home when the owner is present during a showing.

Lastly, if the buyer is interested, they will schedule a second showing or submit an offer. The most difficult question that arises on a showing as the owner/agent is "why are you selling." This is where you have to make sure to push your property yet not give the feeling you will be hard to negotiate with. The truth is always best, but make sure not to scare away potential buyers. If the property wasn't for them, you will probably get that feeling during the showing. Following up with the other agent can help adjust your current listing. Is the price right? Are you marketing the house properly? Are you reaching the right audience? Is there anything you can do to your home that will make it sell faster? Always listen, take note and implement the proper action.

Woodfied Country Club

Real Estate Market Update

Hope you are all looking forward to this upcoming season. With the rather cold winter last year, real estate in Florida remained hot (and is staying hot). We are seeing prices rebound within the mandatory membership neighborhoods, such as Woodfield Country Club, for renovated homes as well as desirable floor plans on a good lot. As of today, Aug 26th, there are 76 homes for sale in Woodfield Country Club.

Below is the current inventory of homes for sale within the Club including important details such as Living Area Sq Ft (this means the sq ft under a/c), bedrooms, baths, garage spaces, waterfront, private pool and year built. The list is broken down the by 20 individual neighborhoods in the Club and by price order within the specific subdivision in descending order.

You can view the sitemap for Woodield Country Club by clicking HERE

Some interesting stats regarding active listing (aka homes for sale) within the Club:

Least Expensive Listing: $149,900 in Kensington
Most Expensive Listing: $2,595,000 in Conventry (actually 2 homes are priced here)
2 properties are asking less than $200,000
5 properties are asking $2 million or greater
14 properties are asking between $1 - $2 million (please be aware there is a dupe property at $1.099 million)
24 waterfront properties on the market (always make sure to ask what's on the other side of the lake if you only see trees; that means it's hiding a main road such as the Turnpike or a School. There is nothing like screaming kids when you sit in your back yard)
22 properties have at least a 2.5 car garage and only 17 have a real 3 car garage
41 properties have 4 bedrooms, and only 20 have 5 bedrooms or greater
Only 11 of the 5 bedroom or greater homes actually have at least 5 full bathrooms (and only 5 of these are waterfront properties)