The Blog

The ONLY 2 Reasons to Hire a Listing Agent

So there are only two reasons why you'll ever hire a listing agent to sell your home and neither reason is what the agent values your home at. That's actually one of the biggest mistakes sellers make. At the end of the day, the price you put on your home is decided by you. You're the owner. You're the decision maker. You're the one that going to put a price on the home, not the real estate agent.

The two things you want to make sure when you hire a listing agent is number one their negotiating ability. They need to understand how to negotiate. Now, I know this is really hard because you don't know what their negotiating ability is like until you hire them. Until you get a contract to buy you need to ask them questions. You need to look at their listing that they put up previously taken and look into them and look at some different things.

So let me give you an example of what I mean. This is pretty basic but this really holds true. When I list a home whether a seller tells me to give the buyer the refrigerator, the washer, the dryer even home warranty. I never put those on the MLS, never. A lot of times they'll say I'm going to give the buyer the refrigerator because that's standard in our area, in Tampa. Giving the buyer the refrigerator is normal. Not necessary the washer and dryer but what I'll do in the MLS. It will say including appliances and I'll put stuff obviously the oven, the dishwasher, the garbage disposal, microwave, stuff like that. I purposely leave out the refrigerator even thou it's in the contract but I leave out the refrigerator, I'll leave out the washer, I'll leave out the dryer even if they provide home warranty. I don't ever recommend that and here's why it's just not good negotiation.

The first rule of thumb when it comes to negotiation if you ever give anybody anything for free it's deemed to not have value. So you just go out and start giving your buyer you refrigerator, washer, your dryer. They're not going to put a value on this. It's not going to any leverage on negotiation. So I'll actually have realtors call me up once in a while. They say hey I was looking at the MLS and it doesn't look like your seller, not including the refrigerator, the washer, the dryer and I say well, if your buyer want it just have them put it in the contract and let's see what we can do because I want to negotiate it even if the sellers want it for free. You know afterward even before if they don't want it.

So I'll always use it as a negotiating chip and I'll never give it to the buy or suggest the seller do up front. Now there are only two reasons why an agent would ever do that. They don't know much about negotiation they are just willing to give everything for free. The second is they really don't care about your money. They don't really care about the negotiation. I don't mean to be blunt but those are the only two reasons. Think about it up front and see and ask agents that you are interviewing I'm thinking about giving the buyer the washer, the dryer, the ref maybe even the home warrant. Would you recommend that? How will I tell them that and see what they have to say? They should understand this again this is very basic negotiating. So that's number one.

The second it really comes down to marketing. It's very simple math. The more marketing equals more buyers equals more showings equals more offers equals higher price. It's really simple math. You need to understand what the realtor is going to do to market the home. Forget everything else. When you interview realtor and please folks, interview realtors. Statistically, 70% of all of the sellers go with the first realtor they meet and then they wonder why they have bad experiences. Interview realtors but focus on their negotiation and focus on their marketing. Pay attention to the type of marketing but not just what they market where they market and how they market. Everything is strictly important. I'll give you an example.

Anybody can take a picture, right? I could go out there. I could take my 4k camera and I could take great pictures. It's a phenomenal camera but I'm not a photographer that's isn't what I'm going to do. I'm a realtor, I'm a marketer. Marketing expert is what I am. I don't have the $3000 lenses and I don't have the equipment and all the stuff that make everything look great, whatever that is. I hire a professional but how many realtors take crappy pictures? A lot of them and I tell you what the number one buyers want are nice pictures. Look at some of the photos that the realtors took of some of the previous listings and see what types of photos they're giving. Because at the end of the day this is just the tip of the iceberg. You got to make sure the agent not only does stuff but does it really really good because we all have the same amount of tools. It's how we use those tools as realtors that separates a top producing realtor from not a top producing realtor.

For more educational real estate videos please go to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/Tampa2Enjoy 

Why Use a Realtor When Purchasing a New Home From a Home Builder?

The great answer is yes! In many countries, homebuilders encourage Realtor to sell their new homes. However, the real estate agent must be with you on your first visit to the site.

Because the site salesperson is representing the builder, not you! This disclosure is in the sales contract which you will be required to sign, acknowledging that you have no representation. Most home builders have pledged themselves to a 'Single Price Policy', which means that their published prices shall be the same whether sold by the builder or a real estate agent. You will not pay more when you use your own Realtor to represent you.

Additionally, the Realtor will represent you and their primary responsibility is to protect you and your interests. They can give you unbiased information on neighborhoods, schools, nearby shopping, dining, and entertainment.

Did you know the advertised price is not always the final price?

Depending on market conditions, new home prices are often times negotiable. This is even truer today because of the changing market conditions of the last year or so. Realtor must turn inventory and they are increasingly more flexible than ever.

Want slate countertops or marble floor tile for free?

Hiring an experienced Realtor, one who has a successful track record, can help negotiate a better price, discounted upgrades, and more. In actuality, upgrades are not free, but it is possible, with a good negotiator, to get a lot of them thrown in as an incentive.

Realtors Can Help!

Realtors can guide you to finding the perfect home just for you. By using a process that is very intentional and proactive, Realtors are able to fine-tune their searches to enable us to find the home most suited to your needs.

You are moving to a new city. If you're moving to a location that you aren't familiar with, it's usually a wise idea to get the assistance of a Realtor for finding your home. Your Realtor will be able to answer questions about the different neighborhoods as well as let you know about its proximity to schools, public transportation, and area things-to-do. These things can take a while to research on your own so you may save time (and heartache) by using a Realtor.

Once you've found the home of your dreams, let someone that isn't emotionally attached does the negotiating. In a Realtor's experience, they will be able to get better results from a new home builder salesperson negotiation session than you, by yourself, and un-armed. Your Realtor, on the other hand, comes fully prepared with neighborhood selling trends and statistics, an un-emotional and un-attached attitude, and the ability to walk away. Do yourself a favor and make use of this free service!

Hiring a Realtor will not only save you money, they will help provide you peace of mind too. Give one a call today.

For more educational real estate videos please go to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/Tampa2Enjoy

Lennar Homes

I needed to give you our fair survey about Lennar Homes in Tampa, my encounters with them and what you have to pay special mind to. Here's a concise history about Lennar Homes. Lennar Homes is a national home building organization offering new homes in numerous significant urban areas crosswise over America. Established in 1954, the Lennar Corporation is headquartered out of Miami, Florida and is one of the main home manufacturers in the country

Presently leading before I begin what I need to do is disclosed to you four unique sorts of a manufacturer. I break developers at the distinctive classes.

1. So class number one would be you're only your genuine volume developers. Manufacturers like KB Homes, Syntax, Pulte, DR Horton, and so on.

2. Your level two would be mid-level your custom manufacturers. Say Cal Atlantic Homes, Lennar Homes, and so on.

3. Your level 3 would be your semi-custom kind of manufacturers who will do little changes to the floor design and they'll kind of modify it for individuals. These are manufacturers like Cardell Homes, Homes by West Bay.

4. And then you have your custom manufacturers like Rutenberg or Avalon Homes or Bakerfiled Homes, developers like that.

So Lennar Homes is a level 2. They're a mid-level manufacturer, there a volume developer. Presently I've by and by sold many Lennar Homes and I've claimed 2 Lennar home myself, so with regards to an audit for Lennar, I truly have a considerable measure of good things to say in regards to them. I think Lennar is a decent manufacturer. If I somehow happened to take you in a Lennar home and walk you through its entire procedure. Going in, in the sheetrock, before the sheetrock was there, after the sheetrock was there, their vitality effectiveness, how they fabricate homes. You would be exceptionally inspired by this. Presently the one ruin on Lennar is they essentially don't give you a chance to construct the home you need on the part you need. They go in advance and they pick everything so in the event that you need a specific home, they're going to reveal to you what part to put on. What's more, they're likewise going to have the outline bundles as of now picked, which is really something worth being thankful for in light of the fact that they're enabling you to pick certain bundles that an expert inside decorator has picked so you're not going to a planned studio and totally got exploited by every extraordinary sort of estimating. This is exceptionally bizarre for generic manufacturers. Obviously, they likewise have the "Everything's Included" so you essentially move into a home and everything's there. The washer, the dryer, the fridge, the visually impaired. However, I would state with any home manufacturer, Lennar Homes or any other individual unquestionably get a land operator to speak to your business, your best advantage whether it's myself or another land specialist. Get somebody who truly knows the new development process in light of the fact that toward the day's end you're not going to pay any more cash or less cash on the off chance that you get a land operator. A for my situation, and presumably 90-95% of the cases I could show signs of improvement bargain for you with the developer then you can't get without anyone else in light of the fact that:

1. I've sold many homes.

2. I know the developers.

3. I know the developer reps

4. They know me.

5. And I make them a great deal of cash.

What's more, I would likewise say, in case you're taking a gander at purchasing another home, look at the video to the correct that I've done. I completed an extremely broad video on new development. It doesn't genuine have any effect where you are in the process-whether you're purchasing starting with no outside help or whether you're purchasing an officially finished home. It'll walk you through everything from start to finish. Like how to differentiate between a quality and an amount manufacturer, how to differentiate between a quality and amount subdivision, how to profit, how to spare cash, how you could get the Builder to fix and repair real guarantee things years after the developer guarantee lapses. So look at the video to one side and in the event that you have any inquiries, in case you're searching for a decent, learned operator to work like a pit-bull for you and get you the best arrangement on another development home, call me. I would love to help. I wish you the good luck.