Ryan Covino’s Home Seller |
www.NorthEastRealtyPartners.com(978) 657-7010 x344 |
Ways To Sell Your Home For More Money In Less Time!! |
(This report was desinged for realtors to show their prospective sellers but sellers can’t implement most if not all of the strategies! If you need help, give me a call!)
A Special Report:
Ways to sell your home more quickly, for more money, in less time….in any market
In order to talk about selling your home more quickly for more money, the first thing we need to work on for you is adjusting the way you THINK about listing your home.
Nothing drains your energy your spirit and your wallet more than a home that is sitting on the market.
A For Sale Sign isn’t worth anything. This home is “SOLD” signs are worth plenty.
First let’s start with the mindset of a successful listing SELLER…and then we’ll move onto the strategies.
- 1. Get Committed To Helping to Sell Your Own Home
The first and most important mindset is to start thinking as if you are going to sell your home YOURSELF.
Not that you are going to have your agent put it on the MLS and sit back and hope some ELSE shows your home and it sells.
Start thinking like a For Sale By Owner…with a deadline.
What would it take for you to sell in less than 30 days?
Why is it so important you sell your own home?
Well, for one thing…. a good percentage of the time, properties are sold by someone who knows someone, and your Realtor® needs your help to tap into that. If you assist your Realtor® your home will most likely sell much faster than the average sale.
One of the most important mindsets you can develop is the mindset of taking the most effective actions possible to reach a specific goal.
So the goal we are talking about today is selling your home in less than 30 days.
What would it take to sell your home in less than 30 days? The first step in achieving that goal (or any goal) is to believe that it is actually possible.
And it is!
The most important approach I’ve ever used to decide what the most effective action is to ask myself a life or death question.
Here is how it works:
Ask yourself one simple question…
What would you do if you HAD to sell your home in less than 30 days…or you would be BEHEADED?
When you ask a life or death question like that, you gain access to a different part of your brain…A part that cuts out all the garbage…and gets right to the heart of the matter.
Try it. Really get your mind to think like that…and you will be amazed at the clarity you have. It is amazing what you are capable of when your life is on the line. If your life truly was on the line you’d think a little differently about it; and you might not be so free in just putting your home on the market at any list price just to test the market.
The first thing I would do if MY life were on the line, is to be more discriminating in deciding whether to sell in the first place…I would want to make sure I wasn’t risking my life on a whim.
So, I’d recommend a second “life-saving” mindset….
- 2. From NOW We’ll Be “Five-Star Sellers”
This is a quality-control process to make sure your listing has the highest probability of being sold in less than 30 days.
Here are the qualities of a Five-Star Seller:
1) They are committed to selling the house.
When your life is on the line, you won’t have the urge to just test the market….You will want to be sure that you are truly committed to selling your home.
Committed or Not?
Uncommitted sellers might say the following to their Realtor®
“We’re not in a hurry….”
“If someone wants to give us OUR price we’ll sell.”
“We’re not going to give it away!”
“If it sells it sells….if not, it’s no big deal.”
“If it’s meant to be…it will sell.”
You need to really need to talk with your partner and decide if you are both really committed, to selling your home.
Sometimes “tough” talk is a put-on to hide the fact that you really do need to sell. If you are really committed to selling be sure to be up-front with your Realtor®. Make sure he/she knows all the facts involved in your decision to sell.
If you’re committed to selling…then you won’t have any problem with the next requirement….
2) You are willing to price the house AT market value.
If you are committed to selling, and you’ve realized the “pain” of not selling the house quickly, you’ve set the stage for getting the price right.
What would it take to make sure this house sells in less than 30 days? What would that price be?
Look to the reality of the market for your cues. What are the houses that are selling in less than 30 days actually selling for? How much above the market value are they listed?
In most markets, the 30-day price is no more than three percent above the actual selling price – the price you would take for the house if it could be sold tonight.
This is where you have to be really aware of what the true market is doing. If my life were on the line I would want a Realtor® , who would spend whatever extra time it took to make sure I knew exactly what the real market value of my property was.
The truth is…most listings that eventually expire, are expired the night the Realtor® took the listing. Most of the time, Realtors® know this when they walk out the door. They might agree just to get the listing away from the competition.
You are not doing yourself any favor by overpricing your home to test the waters, planning to reduce the price later.
With the help of your Realtor® you will want to get the price right FIRST. It is no use to do any kind of marketing until you have gotten the right PRICE.
No matter how hard you try…you can’t sell a $100 bill for $110 in a knowledgeable crowd, and homebuyers are certainly a knowledgeable crowd. The know value when they see it.
If you as the seller want a price higher than what you feel is the 30-day selling price, have the house appraised before you start marketing it, and then you’ll have a third-party, objective opinion.
Price is a BIG deal. Get it right and then make sure….
3) There are NO OBSTACLES or handicaps to selling.
“We don’t want the neighbors to know…”
“We don’t’ want a sign.”
“We don’t want a lockbox.”
“We don’t want you to show it without us here”
“We need 48 hours notice to show the house.”
“We don’t want you to put our house on MLS.”
You can’t have one hand tied behind your back when your life is on the line.
To sell a house in 30 days you have got to give your full cooperation to your Realtor®. Discuss how to overcome any of these obstacles with your Realtor® and get them taken care of right up front.
4) You are WILLING to stage the house to sell.
Model homes are what sell NEW homes.
People love model homes, because they present an idealized vision of what it would be like to live in a house.
Clutter, obvious minor repairs and things that need some cosmetic attention can distract buyers, and they will always overestimate the cost of repairing even simple things.
Things like removing clutter can make a house seem bigger and let buyers see what it would be like for them to live there.
Making minor cosmetic improvements can make a house show in its best light. A committed seller would make these improvements. Ask your Realtor® what you should do to prepare the house for sale, and once agreed stick to the plan.
Now we’re getting somewhere. So far you are a pretty committed seller. IT is time for the final piece….
5) You are willing to HELP find a buyer.
A truly committed seller would want to do everything they could to help get the house sold.
There are plenty of ways for a seller to get involved in selling their home. We’ll talk about some of them a little later,
If you would like to assist your Realtor® ask him/her what tools you will need to succeed.
If you are a seller that passes all five of these tests, you are a Five-Star Seller, and nothing can stop you from getting that house sold in less than 30 days.
We haven’t even started marketing the house yet, but we’re more than half-way to a successful sale already.
Now we can turn on the marketing. Here is how to get started…
3. Overcome Possible Buyer Objections Up Front
If the house needs to have anything of any seriousness done to it, investigate it up front. Find out how much it would cost to get new carpet, a new roof, new windows, a new furnace or air conditioning.
Whatever it is…if it’s obvious…don’t hide it. Overcome it. If you leave it up to the buyers, they’ll way overestimate what it costs to make even the smallest change.
Model homes dot it….so could you!
4. Stage the House BEFORE You Start Marketing
There is no disputing the value of staging a house to sell.
Clean uncluttered, well-lit, good smelling homes sell for more money quicker than messy, cluttered, dark stinky homes.
Have your Realtor® do a “Room-by-Room-Review” of your home to make sure it shows its very best.
Look up to your Realtor® for leadership, and remember any comments are all about getting your home sold in 30 days. You will appreciate it, especially when your house sells quickly for more money.
Remember…the goal is to get the house SOLD in less than 30 days, so every advantage you can get will help.
This is a very important step….and every ounce of effort here will pay off in the end.
Okay, let’s catch up here. So far, we are committed to selling this house in less than 30 days, you are a bona-fide Five-Star Seller and we’ve staged the house to show its absolute best.
Now it’s time to start thinking about the marketing.
The most important lesson I’ve learned about marketing any product or service is to…
9. Signs….Signs….Signs
Now that we’ve got most of the elements in place to launch a powerful marketing campaign, it is time to start getting your message out to the market.
Let’s start from the house itself and go from there. The first indication that a house is for sale is when the sign goes up. It’s the first thing that people in the neighborhood see, and it often comes as a surprise.
A new for sale sign set off a chain of events that could find a buyer for a house right away.
There once was a horse farm outside of Toronto for almost a million dollars and the Realtor® sold it to a friend of a neighboring horse farm in less than a week because the neighbor took one of the Info-Box Flyers to their friend.
Right now in your neighborhood where there may be a neighbor who has been put on notice by a friend to “let me know if anything ever comes up for sale in your neighborhood.”
Now if we just put up a sign in front of the house, that’s going to notify the neighbors that the house is indeed for sale, and they may even call their friend. But what are they going to say?
“HI it’s me…you know that white colonial across the street from us? It’s for sale!”
“You’re kidding how much?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are they selling?”
‘I don’t know….”
Now I know we can do better than that.
A sign alone is not going to get the job done. We need to equip those neighbors to help us sell the house.
So let’s add some…
10. Info-box Flyers
I think these are a fantastic idea.
You’ve got to imagine the scene in front of your newly listed home; as a neighbor or buyer drives by.
In scenario #1, they drive by and notice a real estate company for sale sign and nothing else.
They’re interested…and they don’t know how much he house is…or anything about it. Just that it’s for sale.
In Scenario #2 they drive by and notice a real estate company for sale sign. Another sign pointing out the free information about this house, and an Info-Box with flyers about the property.
Now they can get all the information we want them to have at their fingertips, and tell them everything they need to know.
Info-Boxes are so rarely used it’s almost funny.
And the ones that are used are never used effectively.
I’m looking out my window right now and one of my neighbors is selling their house. I see the sign. I’m curious about how much it is, but I don’t know how much it is because there is no Info-Box Flyer.
Imagine if you could sit on the lawn of your home 24 hours a day…and as people drove by, they could stop and you could tell them all about the house, the great financing, the open house this weekend…and all about why you are selling.
Wouldn’t that be great?
Well, an Info-Box Flyer is the next best thing. Ask your Realtor® for a Info-Box with flyers.
11. Flyers
You don’t just have to limit your Info-Box Flyers to the actual Info-Box. You can post them all over town. Everywhere someone might stop to look at a flyer.
Mentally take a “walk” through your town, and see if you can’t come up with at least 10 places you could put flyers right now… Is there a…
- Coffee shop
- Grocery store
- Convenience store
- Library
- Community college
- Restaurant
- Deli
- Laundromat
- Copy shop
- Dental office
- Chiropractor’s office
…I’m sure there are at least 50 places you could post flyers.
18. Pay Attention
Now that you’re selling your home, you are going to notice that everyone in the world seems to be selling their house too. And everyone seems to be talking about real estate.
Ask your Realtor® for the tools you’ll need to harness that energy you are going to be tapping into.
One of the first things you can do is to think of the people you know who would love to help you and choose…
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19. 12 Disciples
In everyone’s life there are probably about 10 to 12 people who make up the core nucleus of our relationships. These people would be willing to help us anyway they could.
Our local family members, our best friends, our golfing buddies, church friends,
These people are another great way to get the word out about your listing, and they would be more than happy to help if your sellers only asked them.
All of the things we’re going to ask the sellers to do, we can also ask their 12 disciples to do.
Things like…
20. Carry Business Cards with Their House Info On It
Remember how we said they’re going to start noticing all the conversations going on around them that have to do with real estate?
This is the perfect opportunity to hand someone a business card about their house…with an offer to call the free recorded message to find out all about the special financing and the open showing the next weekend.
Everything we do should have the single purpose of getting interested buyers to call your free recorded message to get all the information.
Another thing we can do is ask the sellers to…
21. Take a Flyer to Work for the Lunchroom Bulletin Board
This is a very powerful strategy for both your sellers and their 12 disciples. For virtually no money, you can get access to an otherwise unreachable audience.
Don’t underestimate this…everyone who sees this flyer has a job and you never know who may know someone who knows someone.
It’s all about the cumulative effect of all these things working together that will have hundreds of prospects calling your voicemail every month.
Next…you’ll want the whole “team” carrying…
22. Flyers to Drop Off Around Town
Remember how we talked about the power of low-cost flyers, and how there are tons of places to put up these flyers all over town?
Well what we want to do here is multiply that effort by having your sellers and disciples carrying flyers to drop off everywhere they go in the course of their day for the next couple weeks.
If everyone could commit to dropping off, or posting up just two flyers a day this week, that would be over 150 flyers all around town. Total cost: less than $5.00.
We can get the power of that network on the Internet for us too by tapping into the power of…
23. Buddy Lists
Your sellers and their disciples have an instant way to get the word out about their house, and it won’t cost them anything to do it.
What if your sellers sent out a brief message to their buddy list that said something like this?
(Let’s use Tim and Darlene from the ads above.)
Hi Dean:
Darlene and I need your help.
We need to sell hour townhouse this weekend and we’re willing to sell it for $5,000 below market value.
We have always wanted a house in the country and we found one we fell in love with (and o on to paraphrase the story in the ad above and ask them to pass this message on to their Buddy List).
Are you starting to see how the one story you develop can be used again and again in all these formats?
Leverage. That’s what we’re looking for!
You’ll be surprised at how the word can spread like this, especially when friends of friends start helping out.
24. Neighbor Letters
One more source you and tap into, in addition to the postcards you send to the neighborhood, is a letter and a “care package” for the neighbors your sellers have a special relationship with.
In every neighborhood, there are people your sellers are going to have a closer relationship with than the others, and if you get the sellers to send or drop off a letter explaining the situation and some tools like business cards and flyers to help out, they’ll be more than happy to do it.
Now here is how you leverage this situation even more…
25. Ask Them How They’re Doing
You’ve enlisted the sellers to help you…you’ve given them the tools to do it…you’ve trained them to pay attention…now it’s time to ask them how they’re doing.
Every time you have an update conversation with them, tell them what’s been happening, what you’ve been doing… and then ask them. “And how did you do today?”
Then….be quiet. You’ll only have to do that once and they’ll know they’d better be prepared for the next time you ask that question.
Lead by example, and then ask how they’re doing.
Something we haven’t talked about yet is the power of the internet to help find a buyer for your listing.
Let’s talk about some of the best ways to take your efforts online….
26. Use a Realtor Update List
Do you have an email list of fellow real estate agents you can email every time you get a new listing… to give them a head start?
I’m not talking about spamming every agent on your MLS. I’m talking about the real estate agents you have a closer relationship with. The ones you enjoy working with, and tend to work with more often.
Remember how we talked about setting up a “system” to sell your listings in less than 30 days?
This is one of those things you can do one time and have a tool you can use again and again.
27. Build A Single Listing Web Site
One of the most valuable things you can do online is to create a single Web site specifically for your new listing.
It can be on every piece of marketing you use in your marketing system. Every postcard, Info-Box Flyer, client business cards…your voicemail…every piee pointing to a single Web site where all the information is available.
28. Virtual Tours
Virtual tours are still a pretty cool thing. Most people are excited about seeing their house in a virtual tour…and really like to show it off.
It’s the perfect thing to link those buddy list messages to…and it’s a very easy way for people to see your new listing…and spread the word.
29. Get a Unique Domain Name
Did you know that for $8 you can register a unique domain name for a new listing and point it directly to the page on you Web site where someone could see only information about that house?
It’s true. You can register www.134CoreyCircle.com and use that domain name in all the promotion you do for that listing.
Imagine using a sign or sign rider that says.
Take a Virtual Tour at
Later in the program, I’ll show you how to use this exact concept to get more listings.
Once you’ve got a unique Web site for your listing it’s time to start getting the word out there…and going where the buyers are looking for homes like yours.
A good place to start with…
30. Optimizing Your Listings On Realtor.com
If you’re using Realtor.com at all, it’s a good investment of your time to learn exactly how to optimize your listings as they appear when people are searching for homes, and making sure that your home stands out above the rest.
Sometimes just adding additional pictures and a little better description can make a big difference.
Take a look around your account and get familiar with the options for showcasing your listings.
The truth is a LOT of home buyers are searching for homes on Realtor.com, and it’s not that difficult to get an edge over all the other listings they’ll be seeing.
Do a quick search on homes for sale in your area and pretend you’re a buyer.
There are some other easy-to-implement ideas you can use to get more visitors to your listing Web site, starting with…
31. Yahoo Classifieds
Go to Yahoo.com and click on the real estate classified section.
Do a quick search for homes in your area. Notice how many of your competitors have figured this out. If none of them have, you’ll have a big advantage.
Lots of people use Yahoo! as their source for finding everything…and you’d be surprised what a single listing on Yahoo! classifieds can do for you.
It’s not very expensive to test, and a listing is good for 21 days. Check it out.
32. AOL Classifieds
Something like 25% of the people who are online, are with AOL. That’s a very big audience. Their real estate search function is powered by HomeStore.com, which is populated with Realtor.com listings.
One more reason to make sure your listings at Realtor.com are optimized.
Of course the very best thing you can do to help you sell more of your listings faster is to have a really effective…
33. Lead Generation Web Page
If you have a way to generate leads for buyers that doesn’t depend on your having listings to do it, you will constantly have a stream of new buyers coming is to your sphere every month, and the buyer leads you generated six months ago may turn out to be the buyer for today’s listing.
If you haven’t already done so, enroll in myWebLeads and see how you can start building an overflowing pipeline of new buyer leads.
The most important thing your lead-generation Web Page can do is to help you build a database of….
34. Prospective Emails
When buyers come to your myWebLeads page, are at least 20% to 30% of the visitors leaving their name and email address?
If they are, you’re building a very valuable asset.
A list of buyer prospects who are looking for a home in your area…that you can email updates every time you list a new home.
One of the things you should be doing with that list is sending them an email about your new listing and linking them to the special Web site you set up for your listing.
Later in this program, I’ll show you how to use this asset to get more listings.
If you want to really go all out…here are a few final things you can do to get the work out online…
36. eBay.com
I’m sure you’ve heard of the online auction site eBay.com They have MILLIONS of members…and people from all over the United States and Canada buy and sell all kinds of things on eBay.
I did a search for Orlando homes and there were seven homes being auctioned off there. Check it out. It’s another great way to get exposure for your listings.
Finally, start thinking like a FSBO and check out some of the…
37. FSBO Sites
Lots of sites are available for sellers to list their homes free of charge…and there may even be one in your town…and it may be run by your local newspaper.
Check it out…and post the house on those sites.
Whew!!! That was a big one!
Lots of great information though….and maybe a new way for you to think about selling your listings.
