Assisting Sellers Selling your home? With the right real estate broker as your partner you can leave the stress and strain to her. If you're selling and showing your home, you'll need to keep it in "show condition", but here are some tips that will help alleviate inconvenience: 1. Make sure that all clients requesting to see your home have been pre-qualified in this price range. It's up to your agent to make sure all buyers coming through are qualified buyers?eliminating many who aren't serious about purchasing. 2. Make sure clients coming through have the capability to write an offer without the contingency of the sale of another property they own. If their home is already "under contract" I recommend allowing them through; but if their home is simply on the market, you could be wasting your time. 3. Ask your agent to arrange for certain hours convenient to you. 4. Pricing is the key. You may have your home on the market for many months if your property is even 10% overpriced. Listen to your agent: we're the experts. It's fine to start a little high but after 30 days with normal showings and no offer, a price reduction is in order. Interview at least three agents who are top sellers in your particular area and get a feel for pricing from all three. You'll see a pattern emerging regarding a fair price. 5. Make sure your home is posted on the web with many pictures. The web is quickly becoming a huge source of home sales. 6. When interviewing an agent, ask about the marketing materials they use, aside from what the underlying company offers. Most top agents use their own advertising and promotional materials. Make sure your home shows to its best advantage. You may need to stage your home with furniture. It's best to show the home as simply as possible without any clutter. Many things should be packed up before you start showing your home. Make your home look and feel comfortable, warm and cozy, not cold and sterile. Remember, most home sales are emotional! Assisting Buyers One of the biggest mistakes buyers make is not interviewing the agent. Sellers interview agents, so shouldn't buyers. Has your agent bought and sold property for him or herself? Has he or she built homes before? This helps your agent to be more knowledgeable about value and can make a big difference to you in your eventual resale! Remember that most buyers sell within 3-5 years. If you don't buy your property right, you may not make your money back when you sell. Does your agent know how their area is being affected by global events and financial markets? These issues all come into play when buying what will be for most people, the largest purchase of their lives! It is important for the agent representing the buyer to be aware of historical sales perspectives to give you some background on what type of annual appreciation you might expect, and which areas are rising faster than others. What negatives might be affecting the area, and how are these translating to sales? What positives are affecting the area and how are they translating to sales and possible appreciation? Remember that value is also a function of supply and demand. The smaller the supply the greater the price! Know how many homes are on the market in your price range, how many are selling, and how quickly. Find out what homes actually sell for, versus the listing price. This can be expressed as a percentage and can be invaluable when deciding on an offering price.