Archive for the 'Working With Realtors' Category
Overpricing Homes - Sellers Can Lose Out In The Pensacola Real Estate Market
November 14th, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Market Data, Working With Realtors
In my previous article on home prices in Lake Charlene I shared some information regarding pricing of homes in this West Pensacola subdivision. A couple of days after writing that article, I wondered how many of those homes had dropped in price since being put on the market for sale.
Click here to read my previous article on Lake Charlene
Here are my findings:
Of 10 homes for sale, not including the lakefront homes, as they skew the numbers:
Average Original Price when listed: $205,360
Average Price Per Square Foot when listed: $97.64
Average Current List Price: $188,660
Average Current Price Per Square Foot: $90.03
This shows that the average price reduction on homes in Lake Charlene is $16,700. I’m sure this is typical of the rest of the Pensacola real estate market.
Of all of these 10 homes in my test market,
- 9 had downward price adjustments
- The largest price drop was $50,000, and it still hasn’t sold
Now what does all this data show in regards to its impact on home sellers in Pensacola? My previous article showed that 8 homes sold in Lake Charlene for $89.51 per square foot in 2007. While these homes were selling, the overpriced homes at $97.64 per sq ft were sitting on the market. They are still sitting on the market, and the market has gotten worse for sellers during 2007.
So sellers on the market now who have reduced their price would have had a much better chance of selling their homes at around $90/sq ft if they had originally priced them to be competitive in the Pensacola real estate market. However, they tried to “test the market” and as a result their homes are still sitting, and they will likely end up having to either sell at less than $90/sq ft or take their homes off the market.
Lesson: Pensacola sellers, please listen to your real estate agent. The agents know the market and know how to price your home. Just make sure you get a good experienced Pensacola real estate agent to ensure your home is priced to sell. The agent should be able to show you the numbers by providing a comparative market analysis. In this market, the numbers don’t lie.
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If Your Realtor Is CAPPING Your Listing, You May Be Losing Prospects For Selling Your Home
November 10th, 2007 Categories: Working With Realtors
If you are listing your home, you want your prospects to read every detail in the Pensacola MLS description. You want them to feel like they must see your home. Do you think they will feel this way if your agent is SHOUTING at them? 
Note that this is meant to be an educational post. I am not trying to criticize anyone, only improve the quality of everyone’s real estate experience. This agent who blogs on Activerain is a little more emphatic about it.
Here is an excerpt from another article about using ALL CAPS. Thanks to Dave Casali from readMedia in Albany, N.Y. for this simple tip about writing in upper case:
“Nothing kills a reader’s momentum quicker than a section of text in all caps. Blocks of capital letters are extremely difficult to read, and tend to immediately turn readers off.
On average, upper case type is read approximately 13 percent slower than lowercase text. The reason for this is simple: Readers are used to lower case type, and actually view words as pictures, allowing them to put sentences together ahead of the point they’re reading. Using large blocks of capital letters cause readers to focus on individual words rather than taking in a whole sentence. Don’t let your message get lost in capitalized text!”
The use of ALL CAPS when typing online is considered shouting. It is also very difficult to read, especially when the description of a home is 30 lines long with no breaks. You can pretty much guarantee that no one is going to read the whole description.
And who gets hurt? YOU, THE PENSACOLA HOME SELLER.
If no one can stand to read about the details of your Pensacola home for sale, do you think they are going to want to come take a tour? Maybe they will look past the shouting, but maybe not. Do you want to take that chance?
I wasn’t sure how prevalent ALL CAPS was in the Pensacola MLS, so I did a little experiment. I picked an area in Pensacola and searched for all active listings in that area. Then I looked at 20 of them, in numerical order.
Of the 20 Pensacola MLS entries I checked, 6 of them had descriptions written in ALL CAPS. That’s a 30% CAP rate. Must have been a fluke I thought. So I tried some other areas of Pensacola. I even went across the bridge (figuratively speaking) into Gulf Breeze. Now I was impressed by the Gulf Breeze listings. Only a 15% CAP rate. But I couldn’t stop there. I just had to check out Milton.
NO! It couldn’t be! Milton had a 35% CAP rate! 
Now these results really mean nothing statistically. But they do show that some real estate agents need to become a little more internet savvy. Maybe an E-Pro certification could help. My Tomato buddy Jim loves those E-Pro certs. More on Realtor certifications in a later post.
And remember, along with the description, good pictures are extremely important.
Read my article about the importance of pictures here:
How Important Are Pictures For Your Listing
For fun, check out this site on Bad MLS Pictures. I wonder if we have any of these in the Pensacola MLS. If you want to find out for yourself, you can go Search The Pensacola MLS.
Click on Pensacola Real Estate News for a complete list of articles indexed by category.
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7 Ways Referrals Can Make Your Move From Pensacola A More Pleasurable Experience
October 27th, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Sellers, Working With Realtors
If you are relocating from Pensacola to another city, getting a referral to a Realtor in your destination city can make the entire relocation experience much easier. Here’s why.
1. You are assured of an experienced and qualified agent at your destination.
All real estate agents now should be doing extensive networking on the internet and in person. If they are not, they are falling behind in the level of service they can provide to their clients. I regularly network with Realtors all over the country and have gotten to know many top notch professionals. 
2. Big name real estate companies have plenty of inexperienced agents.
If your plan is to call one of the major real estate offices in your destination city, you will likely speak to the person who is scheduled for floor duty at that time. Floor duty refers to the time an agent sits in the office and takes phone calls. How many truly successful agents would you expect to be taking floor duty? The successful agents are out in the field working with clients. It’s the new and inexperienced agents that are most likely to be at the office taking phone calls and hoping for leads.
3. The real estate agent knows they better take good care of you.
If I am referring you to a real estate agent in your destination city, I have already told that agent that you are extremely important clients and they know to take good care of you. I follow up on all referrals to ensure quality service. These real estate agents want more referrals, so they want me to hear only praise from my clients who I send to them.
4. You just made the best contact you may ever make at your destination.
When moving to a new city, who you know can make a world of difference in the quality of your experience. Where can you find: an honest mechanic, the best hair stylist, a good accountant or attorney, trustworthy childcare, and the list goes on. A quality real estate agent will be a rich resource of information for you, not just while looking for a new home, but for years after buying your new home. These quality agents live on referrals and they want to be there for you when you need them.
5. The real estate agent is a motivated winner.
How do I know the real estate agent I refer you to is a motivated winner? Because I meet my contacts through forums that are only frequented by agents who insist on consistent growth and continued education. They are on the forums to learn and improve their skills and expand their networks.
Many of my contacts come through the Council of Residential Specialists, a group of real estate agents furthering their education through the CRS program. Others I meet through educational forums and blogs. I know from their correspondence and feedback from their clients that they are experienced and ready to do the best job possible for any referrals I send their way. These are the winners who are out growing their businesses, not the whiners who sit at the office and talk about how tough the real estate market is for agents.
6. Reduced stress on you.
You have enough problems to worry about when moving. At least you will know that you have a good real estate agent when you reach your destination. I have already made sure of that.
7. Time savings.
If you planned on interviewing several real estate agents and hoped you would connect well with one, you just saved hours of time by getting a referral.
If you are relocating from Pensacola Florida to another city, I highly recommend that you Contact Me for a referral. I will find a top quality real estate agent for you that will help you settle in at your destination with the assurance you will be well taken care of.
Put another way, a referral ensures that you have someone in Pensacola and someone at your destination that truly care that your relocation is a complete success.
Click on Pensacola Real Estate News for a list of articles indexed by category.
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How Important Are Pictures For Your Listing?
October 23rd, 2007 Categories: Pensacola Sellers, Working With Realtors
If your agent tells you that pictures are not that important, find a new agent.
There are plenty of professional qualified agents in Pensacola who can take great pictures.
Pictures are VERY important. If there are 5 houses a prospective buyer wants to see, and that buyer only has time to see 3 homes on a given day, wouldn’t you expect that those three homes would be the ones with the best features and pictures. Maybe that prospect will visit your home on another day, but maybe that prospect already found the perfect home before ever seeing yours, because the other home had pictures in the MLS listing.
Remember the old expression: You don’t get another chance to make a good first impression.
Without pictures, your only impression may be an entry in the Pensacola MLS and not the home tour you are hoping for. 
Most people are very visual creatures and need to see pictures to truly spark their interest. The more good pictures, the better.
Now I have to say that if your home is ugly, cluttered or downright trashed, pictures may be a bad idea. Don’t ever display a picture like this one.
Want to see more really bad pictures (not from the Pensacola MLS). Click here to see some truly bad MLS photos from around the country. This guy has a great since of humor.
For a complete list of articles on Pensacola Real Estate News, click here.
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