- Mary Sheridan - Realty Executives Johnson City TN

Listing Presentation

Mary Sheridan

423-943-7655 (cell phone)

E-mail: Mary@MarySheridan.com

WEB SITE: www.TNTriCitiesHomes.com

Sellers' part in successful selling:

Choosing the right agent

Preparing your property to show well

Providing information to reassure buyers

Pricing the property properly

My part in successful selling:

Diligent, consistent, creative marketing

Years of experience and education

Reputation for fairness and cooperation

Single-minded loyalty to your best interests

Single agency for sellers or buyers -

"equal rights" in real estate services

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Home page of main web site (Links, experience, etc.)

2. Questions

3. Plans and Promises – Summary

4. Marketing Checklist – Details

5. Service Checklist – Details

6. Seller’s Part

7. FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

8. Reminders – Fix-up, inspections, warranty, etc.

9. Preparing your home for sale

10. Main points

See also:

Main web site: www.TNTriCitiesHomes.com

E-mail newsletter:

www.homeownersnews.com/c/marysheridan

Owner:

Address:

Date:

Phone (Home):

Phone (Office):

E-mail:
Fax:

QUESTIONS FOR NEW LISTINGS

What marketing was done previously? (Please give me ad samples if you saved them.)

How long was it on the market?

How many offers did you have? Why were they rejected?

Did you have a lot of agents showing it? From a variety of companies?

What kind of feedback did your agent give you on their comments?

What do you see as the strong points of the house and the area?

What are your plans when you sell? May I give you a no-obligation introduction to an experienced agent in the other area?

Time frame?

Are there others who need to be involved in your decision to list or to accept a contract?

Do you know anyone else who may need a real estate professional -

for buying or selling?

Mary Sheridan

Realty Executives

Dir: (423)943-7655

E-mail Mary@Marysheridan.com

PLANS AND PROMISES

INFORMATION:

Comparable Market Analysis to set price range

Information and answers, all the way

Updates on current competition, sales,

market conditions, my advertising, and

responses of agents and buyers

MARKETING:

MLS entry within 2 hours

Accurate and attractive fact sheet

Web listings and marketing

Eye-catching ads in picture magazines

Open house and newspaper ads as appropriate

Mailings to agents, neighborhood

Direct and Indirect Referral Program

Full cooperation with all agents, all companies

The synergy and creative ideas of some fine colleagues

NEGOTIATING:

Presentation and evaluation of offers

Counsel on strategies, alternatives

Absolute fidelity to my client

Confidentiality, full disclosure

I PROMISE MY BEST.

MARKETING

MARY'S GUARANTEED CHECKLIST

Compile a marketing plan individualized for your home.

Web listings in several sites, with several pictures, custom coverage.

Enter your property into the MLS immediately, so that all brokers have equal access.

Design a book of information about the property, schools, financing, etc. Make it easy to buy this one.

Keep a supply of attractive brochures in the home and in the brochure box.

(Please help by telling me before we're running too low!)

Hold "tour day" open house for agents. We hope they'll remember the home, although probably there won't more than a dozen or two agents. Lunch is a frequent "lure."

As appropriate, design advertisements using photographs of the exterior and interior.

Picture cards for other agents, target neighborhoods, etc.

Magazine display advertisements

Brochures which vary, depending on "target" (mailers, sign box, etc.)

Install yard sign and high-tech electronic lock box on your front door to allow qualified agents to show easily.

Mail color photocards or brochures to top agents, agents with comparable listings, etc., both at initial listing and as new properties are listed. (Taking them to other agents' open houses serves same purpose with personal touch.)

Hold open houses as appropriate.

Follow up by phone or fax with agents who show the property, for comments, clients' feedback, and reminding them of the property afterwards, especially when anything changes - price, condition, etc. Give you feedback on their comments, copies of all print advertising.

DIR mailings, neighborhood open house invitations, bulletin board pictures, housing office listings, etc. as necessary and appropriate.

SERVICE

MARY'S GUARANTEED CHECKLIST

Do thorough market research to establish range of value for your property, and keep you informed on changes in the market - new listings similar to yours, sales, expired listings.

Help you decide how to make the property show most attractively.

Help you decide how to make it easiest for agents to show (almost always, that is by using lockbox; pets are sometimes a challenge we need to talk about).

Call you personally at least once a week and return your calls promptly.

Work with you to develop DIR list for early mailing. Follow up by phone within a few days.

Encourage agents who show any interest, respond to inquires promptly.

Present all offers as quickly as possible, helping you evaluate strengths and weaknesses of offers and buyers and helping you decide how to counter if necessary.

Coordinate procedures from contract ratification to settlement to be as hassle-free as possible.

Help you find another home or another agent, if you decide to move to an area where I cannot serve you personally.

Keep on keeping on until the job is done. This may take a while, but I don't give up.

Give you such loyal and consistently creative and enthusiastic service that you tell everyone about me.

You have my unconditional promise that if you are ever not satisfied with my work, you can cancel the listing. May I have your unconditional promise that if you are really pleased with it, you'll spread the word?

SELLERS' PART

Provide a duplicate set of keys so that I can keep one and put one in the lockbox. (Lockbox greatly increases showings.)

Help me accumulate information about the property.

Floor plans

Plat

List of improvements, with dates if possible

Special features of house and yard

Neighborhood amenities - country club, day care, schools, etc.

Pictures at various seasons, indoors and outside if appropriate

Proofread the fact sheet draft and feel free to make suggestions then or later. Let me know well before the supply of fact sheets is depleted.

Provide information about your present loan. This will not be shared with anyone unless it is assumable and might help sell the house. This information will help me prepare a net sheet for you and may help me suggest financing possibilities - such as holding a second trust. Ask for details, and for the chart.

Stay ready to have your home shown at all times. This is inconvenient and I hope it won't take long, but we often do not know far ahead of time when buyers will want to see it. They may, for example, just be "scouting the neighborhood" without appointments. If the buyer says, "That one looks interesting," it would be a shame if they couldn't get in if the agent called you from the car phone. (It's your house and your life, however - you are free to say "no" or "later" at your discretion.)

When your home is on MLS, agents should always call before they show the property. If you're not home, they will assume they can use the lockbox to show it, and you should find a card near the fact sheets indicating who came. Please save me the cards. Once in a great while, someone will not show up and will not call. You will be greatly annoyed. Ask me why this happens.

PLEASE -

Call me with information about agents who showed the property and with whatever information you gathered if you were present - the sooner the better, since agents see a lot of houses and may otherwise forget which one I'm calling about. (I'll call them for feedback. Agents often do not call back unless the buyer is interested or there are questions. We get many calls every day, and the least important ones are apt to be those from agents asking for "feedback." What I do find out, I'll tell you.)

Hide, pack or remove from the property things that might cause you concern as being tempting to buyers (jewelry, guns, for example). I have never had anything disappear from a property, but caution is prudent. Besides, the more you put away or pack away now, the easier your housekeeping will be during marketing.

Read the sample contract and addenda and ask questions ahead of time. Then when an offer comes in, it will be easier for you to focus on the important elements. If you go out of town while the property is being marketed, take that folder with you, along with instructions for responding to an offer by fax or e-mail.

Don't leave home without telling me where you'll be and how to contact you. Offers have an uncanny way of occurring when you're out of town, especially if you're unreachable. I've presented offers by phone to Germany, England, Saudi Arabia, and Chile.

Don't try to negotiate with agents who show the property and don't answer questions that seem inappropriate. "Ask Mary about that..." can save a lot of problems. On the other hand, be warm and friendly in discussing the amenities of your home, the neighborhood, schools, child care, ages of neighbor children, etc.

Provide an answering machine at the property and, if at all possible, include in your message that agents wanting to show the property can leave name and number at the beep and show it by using the lockbox and leaving their cards.

Tell your friends and colleagues you're moving and invite their help. They probably know people who might be interested. Friends and neighbors will likely know soon anyway, as there will be a lot of advertising. We might as well solicit their help.

Call me promptly with questions, concerns, and marketing ideas. I am often away from the office, but I return calls promptly.

FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

How soon will things start to happen?

Many of the things on the “Guaranteed Marketing Checklist” will be done within the first two or three days. Within hours the listing will be in the multiple listing system. I’ll get a draft of the brochure to you within a day or two, and detailed marketing materials will appear very soon - books, brochures, pictures, sign, lock box, writing of initial ads.

How do you advertise to agents?

For some listings, I hold a lunch to get agents from many companies to preview. I send fliers and frequently get very good attention this way.

Within the first week, publicity to agents goes out by fax or flier service. This is updated as new comparable properties are listed, or as I have opportunity to visit agents marketing such properties at their open houses. This often gets better results than my sitting at an open house. I’m more concerned with getting it to the attention of a lot of agents as well as buyers than I am in which of us actually brings the buyer to the house. If a buyer reads my advertising and comes with his agent, I’ve still done my job for you, even if I make less that way.

Do you do a lot of networking?

Networking is important. I call agents and do mailings to other agents who have similar listings, or who have recently had properties which might have attracted buyers who might like yours, or who just sell a lot of houses. Agents know I tell the truth and play fair, so they pay attention to my listings.

Are you on the Internet?

My listings are on the Internet on several sites, including my own personal sites, Realtor.com, the company site, pages in professional organizations I belong to, and the sites of the various magazines and newspapers in which I advertise. I do a lot of business by e-mail, with buyers responding to my advertising, agents from across the country sending me clients., etc. If you check e-mail regularly, we may use that for quick correspondence. The most important thing about the multiple sites is that people aren’t just looking for a house; they are looking for an agent they can trust who will help. Obviously, if my listings are at all appropriate, those are what they see first and what I concentrate on.

How about open houses?

Open houses will depend on location, condition, available time, and results. Most agents know that the main purpose for open houses is to meet buyers and that qualified buyers are usually already working with agents who can show the house at any time, whether or not there is an open house. Open houses can be advertised in a variety of ways.

Announcement on MLS

Fliers to real estate offices near your property

Invitations by phone, mail or door-knocking in the neighborhood

Calls or faxes to agents who have comparable listings

Newspapers and picture magazines for homebuyers.

Open houses in some neighborhoods have about the same results whether or not there’s an advertisement. I’ve tracked it by asking buyers and agents what brought them to the house. The weather has more influence - and anything that draws people past our sign. You can even hold open house any time you’re home, whether or not I’m around, and I’ll follow up on every contact you get, which is less restrictive for you than either leaving because I’m having an open or having me “invade” your privacy if you stay home. If few come when you do it, you haven’t lost anything because you were going to be home anyway.

What other advertising do you do?

A color photo ad in Real Estate Book gives me reprints which I use on bulletin boards and carry to pass out every chance I get. I’ll “let” you and your neighbors and friends help with this - people like to be helpful if you let them know how.

Frequent ads in Homes Magazine. Repeats depending on response. Attractive properties get full page ads and I prefer larger ads rather than lots of little ones on a page. I put notices with color picture on several bulletin boards.

I’ll keep you informed of these and other advertising. Your suggestions are welcome.

What happens when you or I are out of town?

When I am away, which is seldom, a trusted colleague will help you with anything that comes up, and if it’s an offer, I can be in on the negotiating by conference call. My co-worker will have seen your property and will have a detailed file including property information, recent advertising, possible action, and how to get in touch with me quickly.

When you are out of town, you will have with you a copy of the standard sales contract and likely addenda, all of which we’ll have talked about so you are clear about the implications. You’ll have with you also a clear form on which you can write down what I give you over the phone if we get an offer and I can fax or e-mail the offer to you if it’s convenient, along with a summary of what you’d net, pros and cons of the offer, etc. Adds a little excitement to all our lives, and happens surprisingly often.

REMINDERS - Fix-up and others:

Fix-ups:

I'll probably give you a "to do" list. Please don't be offended - you could give me a longer one, I'm sure, for my own house. But over many years with dozens of buyers, I've learned what they remember and comment on, positive and negative, and I can hep you decide which changes might make the most difference for the least cost and inconvenience. Especially for things that need repair for function rather than appeal, you might as well do them before a building inspection requires them anyway.

Sometimes, instead of making major changes, it makes more sense to be able to show the buyer estimates of the cost of the project so they can have more choice, and so they won't expect too much of a price reduction if the counter top, for example, isn't upgraded. Some buyers, however, just don't want to have any work to do when they move in.

Building inspection

This would reassure buyers, give you a chance to address any possible deficiencies before they're a negotiating issue, and get us to settlement more quickly because the buyer might not require another inspection. "Pre-inspected" helps. (This might also include radon inspection - we might as well know now as later.)

Warranty

Again, this is reassuring particularly to first-timers, when we can't brag about relatively new HVAC, etc. If the building inspection is clean enough, we may not need this.

Lease with option

Talk to your financial advisor about this. You do need to time your sale so that you will have lived in the property for two of the last five years, for tax reasons, but you may well want to offer this as a possibility. Weigh management costs, upkeep, possibility of vacancy and/or uncooperative tenants and/or negligence against possiblity of more net if market improves, tax aspects of investment property, etc.

Other helpful information
Recent appraisal if available.

Latest statement from tax office.

Any information you have about the school, babysitters, children, etc. - any such information that comes from sellers is warmly welcomed by buyers.

PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR SALE

How to make a good first impression:

Try to look at your property through the buyer's eyes. The following ideas

will help to increase the appeal of your property to potential buyers.

The first thing a buyer sees... your home from the street.

Upgrade front door and screen/storm door if they’re not attractive.

Paint or stain the front door to look fresh and inviting, if not replacing it.

Polish hardware; replace if worn or unattractive.

Mow lawn and clip shrubbery.

Sweep walks. In winter, keep walks free of snow and ice.

Examine the exterior paint and window frames; repaint or touch-up as necessary.

Inspect the roof, and clean gutters and downspouts.

Keep decks and patios free of clutter; store any toys or bicycles in the garage.

Inside your home - the cleaner the better: