It had been a seller's market in Laramie, Wyoming for perhaps the last 15 years...  Now we've found what appears to be a Buyer's Market and things just aren't the same.  It used to be easy to sell a home, you could practically just stick a sign in your window and it would be sold.  This is not an exaggeration!  I remember just four years ago, searching for a home with my wife and we found this cute little cottage on Rainbow.  A tiny "For Sale" sign in the window, barely visible, was all this seller had done to market his home.  We looked it over, and spoke with him for a while and then went to dinner.  We discussed it and decided to make an offer and came back to talk with him.  When we told him we wanted to offer (perhaps 3% under his asking price) he quickly informed us that he already had a higher offer.  We really didn't want to make a decision under pressure and he had a contract from the other buyer the next morning. 

This sort of thing was typical.  And this is also why many buyers drive around areas they like to find prospective homes.  Ultimately, we found one we liked better, but that home too had a line of several buyers waiting to pay full price.  Those were the days! 

Now even the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is not enough in my opinion.  One needs a Listing Agent who provides superior service.  The average days on the market for residential listings has about doubled.  I remember just two years ago it seemed to average between 75 and 80 days.  Now it is typically around 150 days, just two years later!  And of course, there are also almost twice as many houses on the market at any given time.  Ultimately the grocery lines for sellers are just twice as long, and many are feeling the effects of this.  I like the grocery line analogy, I think it is something I picked up in a CRS (Council of Residential Specialist) class I took.  And ultimately one CAN "cut" in line. 

So how do you cut in line?  Personally, I think it requires a lot of knowledge and piles of work; it is not easy.  First, it helps if you have a "good" product, in other words a house without any major flaws:  A hashed roof, a poor layout, a bad location, hazardous stairs, and so on. 

Next it better be marketed properly.  What does this mean exactly?  Well, this one is subjective but there is a lot of data that reveals certain truths.  For starters, your product (house) better have a strong internet presence.  I don't want to elaborate too much on this point as I wouldn't want to train my competitors for free!  However, the internet marketing should include A LOT of pictures, all the details and certainly virtual tours.  It should also include accessibility, this means in addition to the local MLS site, it should be on every Real Estate Web Site that buyers use.  Personally, I put my listings on nearly 20 different web sites.  And the most important of these in my opinion is the one DEDICATED to the product itself, a good example is www.3428altavista.com.     Some of those sites are crucial, some of them are "just in case" web sites.  I figure, why leave ANY stone unturned. 

All I know is that most of the buyers who contact me, do so from the internet, either from my own web site, the site I build for the listing, or one of the bigger sites.  I rarely get calls off the local newspaper ad, which is actually MUCH more expensive... how ironic.  I still advertise in the paper, because some sellers still believe in it, and I really advertise in the paper to let them know I exist.  As that is almost the only benefit I see from it.  I ran a huge $550 ad one day, it was pretty, colorful, loaded with good pictures and marketing "hooks" and NOT ONE CALL.  Well, I suppose as a Real Estate Agent, I AM a "fisherman", I just don't catch a lot with newspaper advertising.  And considering all the marketing classes I've taken, and how well my internet marketing works, I do not think the issue resides with HOW I advertise in the paper, just that it is PAPER.

The only exception to this rule in my opinion is "open house" ads as they are the primary way to advertise an open house and I doubt that will change any time soon.  But for the majority of my advertising, I'd prefer to spend those dollars online, where the buyers are.  While the newspaper is expensive, I think proper marketing dollars include 75% of the entire budget to be in online advertising. 

I do also believe in OTHER forms of "Paper Advertising", such as yard flyers, mailers, and personal letters, and so on.  They work, I've tried to test every medium there is.  I look forward to the day when I really don't use the newspaper at all, I imagine it won't be long... 

Back to the point at hand, you also need your product to LOOK it's best.  This means you really not only need someone outside; some objective person, but certainly a specialist.  This means "staging".  This is incredibly common in some places, in California, it is rare that a house is put on the market without some sort of staging service.  It won't be long before the same is true here.  We all know a few things of this nature, like clean the litter box, or mow the lawn.  But there is much more to it than that.  I highly recommend an ASP (Accredited Staging Professional) Real Estate Agent to market your home.  Or hire a stager directly, they're out there, and not too far away.  When you see what they charge and mix that with the fact that they're still in business, you'll find it MUST be worth a lot to do it.  Again, I'm not going to say too much on this point either as this entry is not designed to train but rather to inform.

Lastly, one has to be POSITIONED properly.  Yes, we're talking about the "pricing point" and it is crucial folks.  Why did one house sell in 3 weeks, and another took 6 months???  Well ultimately it's a combination of all 3 things (positioning, staging, marketing), but if all else is held equal and only prices are different, clearly that is where one went wrong and one went right.  And what some sellers do not get is that the initial price just being a little too high can cost them at the end.  First, that sense of urgency is very crucial to getting your best price, so it should look like a relatively good deal from day one.  Second, if it doesn't sell, the price drops begin and the "best buyer" was probably lost in the first 30 days if not sooner.  That means you're getting "scraps", bargain hunters or buyers that won't pay the best price as they too are compromising by buying YOUR product.  It is the same for buyers in a sellers market:  They begin to take what they can get because the pickings are so slim.

Now of course I am oversimplifying, there is a lot more to selling a house than these 3 crucial issues.  Negotiation is a huge issue for example, and you or your agent better be trained as this is a major part of getting the best price.  However, the point here is not everything an agent can or should do, the point is how to get those offers in the first place while your neighbor's house sits.  I could write a much longer article on why one should use a REALTOR® and not just any agent, or try it FSBO (For Sale By Owner), but this goes without saying. 

In such a relatively tough market, I think it would be insane to go it alone (FSBO).  The more competitive the market, the more you need a true specialist.  For example, if I have a simple tenant-landlord case I might go it alone, and not hire a lawyer.  It seems simple enough.  Now what if I need to sue someone for negligence who maimed me?  Would I even consider going it alone?  No, because the latter case is much more complex and $1,000s are at stake, more likely $1,000,000s.  Frankly, I still hire an attorney for the simple ones too.  Why?  Because I am not specialized in legal issues and I'll pay for the service.  The same is true in Real Estate. 

So there is no question you should hire a specialist.  So the only real question remaining, is WHICH specialist?  So be prepared to ask many questions on the above issues and ask about strategies and HOW they are specialized.  I always recommend interviewing several agents.  First, specialization is key and clearly all may be specialized, but in different ways.  So you need to find one you feel fits YOUR needs and YOUR product.  Also, chemistry is certainly an issue, you should feel comfortable with your agent and their knowledge base and level of specialization.  It IS a job interview, so treat it like one:  Ask a lot of questions, ask about their statistics, take notes, ask about their specializations ("Do you have any designations?  If so, HOW do you use them?") and so on.  Then discuss it (if there are two or more sellers) and make a decision.  THEN, get out of the way and let them do their job.  You're paying them a lot of money for their service, so let them give it to you.  Try to take their advice even when it is difficult.  A cooperative seller always nets more $ in the end.  For example, if I were to prepare your house to look its best and two days later you mess it all up right before a showing...  well you are now cutting off some of the service you paid $1,000s for and ultimately the result will be a thinner wallet for you. 

I hope this process sounds a bit more complicated than you originally thought, because it is.  Personally I work up to 100 hours a week and take approximately 80 hours of classes every year to be specialized in what I do.  Do you really think you can offer yourself the same service as I can?  I hope not because it would be a shame.  Your whole goal is to make more $, and the best way to do that is to hire a specialist.  So don't go it alone and make sure you get a value from whomever you may hire, don't assume all agents are the same.  All doctors are not, all lawyers are not, all carpenters are not, and neither are Real Estate Agents.  So do the homework on AGENTS, it may take a few hours of your time but it will be well spent. 

11:00 a.m. July 2, 2008.  Copyright © 2008  Brendan Murphy, Raving Real Estate, All Rights Reserved,.