The Changing Real Estate Market Can Save You Money.  How? 

                                  Get a Rebate!

   You should expect rebates in this changing market and here are reasons why and what you should know…

Agents rarely drive clients around anymore.   The internet does all the driving.   When was the last time an agent knocked at every door in your neighborhood?  Agents don’t mail or deliver 1000′s of flyers anymore.  This has been saving Realtors money and time for several years now.  It  makes sense for Realtors to share those savings with you, right?   Yes, of course it does,  however that does not seem to be the case.

Today, buyers find they are competing with multiple offers on nearly every home.  

• Use your rebate to increase your offer and be #1 !   

• Use your rebate to cover any appraised value gap!

• Use your rebate for upgrade costs!

• Use your rebate for closing costs or anything else your heart desires!!

Just be certain your Realtor understands how a rebate can be used to help you!

 “While change can be difficult, meeting the challenge with enthusiasm will create a path for success.” -Rogue Agent

 

Common sense tells me to take advantage of the changing market and spend some of that ‘wasted time and expense’ to deliver better service.   Morgan Stanley reports that mobile devices are the consumers choice for nearly everything that is shopping related today.  Take a few minutes to read the Internet trends report from Morgan Stanley.   This report was the seed that helped me grow and develop a marketing and rebate strategy that has Real Estate agents shuddering.

 

Nationally, home sellers are experiencing an average cost to sell their home that can exceed 5% of the sales price.  Let’s use the average home in San Jose as an example of what you should prepare for.   Since the average sales price of a home for sale in San Jose was nearly $500,000.00 in 2011, we will use this number for our example.    Simple math tells you that a seller who pays the average commission will pay, approximately, $25,000.00 in commission to the cooperating Real Estate Brokers.   How much does it really cost today to sell a home?   Probably not $25,000.00. 

Today, home buyers are not found through old fashioned marketing techniques (see the Morgan Stanley Report).  The evident change in consumer habits and the tools they use will certainly continue.   Just a few years ago a Realtor would drive home buyers to dozens of  homes for sale to find that only 2 or 3 were even suitable.  We know those same buyers, today, are surfing the internet and identifying those same 2 or 3 homes beforehand.  We all just saved an entire day spent driving around.  This is not to mention the time spent setting appointments to create an itinerary for the home tour, the expense of printing page upon page of useless information and the high cost of gas to fill up the car.  Gas!   We will save that subject for another time.

Home sellers and their chosen Realtor are legally obligated to provide disclosure documents to potential home buyers to review.  It takes considerable time and effort to create the obligatory disclosure package and is an area where the Real Estate market has changed.  Take advantage of this and avoid wasting valuable time printing numerous copies, delivering them or making appointments to retrieve them.  A disclosure package should be in a portable document format (.pdf) and made available on 24 hour basis via the internet.  Time equals money and we just saved another day or 2.  Saving more money.

We can help you save money… CALL  (408) 505-5614

With these few changes we have saved money and a considerable amount of time.   Where does that money go?   Remember the movie Jerry Maguire?  “Show me the money!”   I would venture to bet it ends up in the pocket of the ‘old fashioned’ Realtor.  Not a very appealing outcome when you are trying to keep it in your pocket!

There are numerous other ways time can be saved.  Just ten years ago the most valuable tool was the facsimile machine.  How much of a rebate was offered then?  Understandably, not very much.   That was just the beginning and the savings were nominal compared to the time saved today.  Now we have email, text messages and PDF files to thank for much of the savings.   Mobile smart phones are taking  the time savings to a whole new level.

Open houses!  Like most everyone you have visited an open house or 2, right?  In my opinion, hosting an open house is a waste of an entire weekend or weekends, for that matter.   Numerous quality photos on a well placed internet listing are far more efficient and, I would argue, enormously more effective.  A MSN Real Estate article quotes a home seller who claimed “We had an open house five weeks in a row and never got a single person to come to our house,”.    How much time and money (time=money) was spent/wasted on those Open Houses?   That example seems a bit extreme to me.  5 weeks?   Maybe someone should have put a stop to that after week 2, seriously.  Most people who visit Open Houses can’t afford the home or they are just neighbors who are simply interested in comparing their home against the one you have for sale.  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, “I was just curious what it looked like inside…I could never afford to live in this neighborhood”.   Great pictures on the internet could avoid this all together.

Here is fun site that has page after page of  home listing pictures that should never have been taken.

Home listing flyers have been around for a long time and will continue to be the most effective marketing tool.  There is something on the horizon that will continue to make it the most valuable tool, however delivered in a different way, flyers are very important.

Welcome to the future.  The Home flyer will be delivered through the internet and viewable simply by passing your smart phone over the QR code.  What is a QR code?  They are the funny square with a jumble of black spots that you are starting to see everywhere. in them.  They are slated to be the bar code of the future.  Realtors are still required to spend a considerable amount of time creating a desirable marketing flyer that will be delivered to the new smart phones.    The time will be saved by not having to continually print and refill the flyer box with fresh flyers.   All the details for the home are available to the buyer whenever they are interested in learning what the home has to offer and the price that it is listed for.   The plus here is that there is an unlimited number of ways this tool can be used.

Let’s use the system I designed as an example.  It is designed to provide potential home buyers information about the features of a home and update buyers of any changes that may occur.  The buyer can now be notified immediately of price changes, contact info and any buyer incentives offered.   Additionally, a buyer can gain information for comparable homes that are nearby.  Home sellers benefit from reports that show what and how much interest is being gained from the marketing efforts.   This information helps determine what, if any, changes should be made to improve the effort.

Throwing around all of these ideas about where savings could be had reminds me that I need to explain where all the money comes from.  The simple answer is that it comes from the home seller.   Not directly out of their pocket, initially.  It comes from the proceeds of their home sale.  The percentage paid to the cooperating brokers is set at the onset of the listing contract.   The average commission that we discussed before would be 5% of the sales price and not the asking price.  Considering all of the changes in Real Estate that number will likely become significantly reduced over time.

When you started reading this you were probably asking yourself, “How can I get a rebate of $5000.00 or more?”   Ask your Realtor before you sign the listing contract.   The next question should be, “Will I still get full service and representation if I ask for a rebate?”   Only the Realtor you choose to work with can answer that question.  If your Realtor is one who embraces and excels in the new technologies I can see no reason why they would not.

I have studied the numbers and tested the principles and provide a guarantee to my clients.   Not only do they receive full service, they save a bushel of money and hours of precious time.

I can’t, for the life of me, understand why other Realtors aren’t doing this.

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• Expect to Save Money with Guaranteed Results.

• Whether Buying a Home or Selling a Home we always Save you Money and you should expect it.

• My client rebate program is results based.  A better result for you provides a better rebate.

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• Distressed properties can be another fantastic way buyers can save money.   Sellers who are experiencing challenges can be overwhelmed.   I guarantee to relieve all the anxiety with principled representation and applying the best practices.  I charge NO FEES!   

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