This is how we roll - helping sellers and keeping buyers informed

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Long and Foster agent tour homesIn an incredibly tough market like this, you have to be on your toes. Use your time wisely and productively. As a real estate agent, one of the key things you need to know is the inventory in your area.  What are the average days on the market? What is the average list to sale ratio for the neighborhood? And you have to know the inventory… What do the houses in the neighborhood look like compared to mine? What condition is the house in right now? The Mt Airy Long & Foster Office real estate agents cover four counties; Frederick, Howard, Carroll and Montgomery.

We are getting back to basics at the Mt Airy Long & Foster Office. Once, sometimes twice a month, we schedule a LARGE caravan of our real estate agents to preview our listings. This has a twofold affect… One; the agents get to see new homes and get first hand knowledge of the condition, location and layout of the them. They are able to talk more intelligently about the neighborhood and provide their buyers valuable time saving information. Two; there are multiple agents previewing the home to provide feedback to the seller. They know what their buyers expect out of the homes in today’s market. The seller might not have noticed that wrinkled carpet, but the buyer will. Maybe the paint job is not that complimentary and needs to be neutralized. When you live in a house there are a lot things that kind of disappear into the background. A discerning buyer will pick up the littlest item and might cause them to reject the rest of the beauty the home has to offer. The inventory is too high not to be best in show. When you are selling a home you have have to have an open mind to the suggestions made with feedback. Granted, you are not going to be able to address all the items, nor will you really want to. But it is best to know what other think about your house, because it will help you position yourself as competitive as possible. In this market you should consider staging your home to increase your appeal.

Some agents believe the caravans or home tours are a waste of time…my question? What information are they providing to their clients? It sure isn’t anything about your house! And besides, what else are they doing with their time? I can think of two instances that an agent on tour immediately called their buyers to inform them of the house they were previewing. This lead to scheduling a showing for that seller. Both agents said they would have never known the beauty of the house if it were not for the tour. Sometimes, pictures and words on the internet don’t do the property justice.

Speaking of pictures… I still don’t understand why agents only put ONE picture of the home on the internet… That’s another day’s rant blog.

December 12, 2007 · Filed Under Buyer, Frederick MD Real Estate, seller

Comments

9 Responses to “This is how we roll - helping sellers and keeping buyers informed”

  1. Sarah Cooper on December 12th, 2007 12:44 pm

    I wish our local office did this. When we sold our first home, the office full of agents came through and left us a sheet of feedback. As I REALLY wanted to sell my home, I appreciated that and took their suggestions. I felt it was a big help in selling our house.

  2. gotbob on December 12th, 2007 12:47 pm

    Feedback is critical. It gives you multiple sets of eyes to look at your home.

    Glad you sold Sarah.

  3. Annie on December 12th, 2007 4:13 pm

    I agree about the picture thing. As a potential buyer browsing homes on the Internet, the listings with the most pictures get more of my attention.

  4. gotbob on December 12th, 2007 5:23 pm

    Straight from the horses mouth…Annie, thank you! It has been proven that homes with multiple pictures are viewed more than those without.

  5. Real Estate Shows Blog » Show Us How You Roll on December 14th, 2007 2:10 pm

    [...] of Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. Bob recently posted on his Focus On Frederick blog about caravan tours. His company still does the “old fashioned” caravan tour once or twice a month to view the new [...]

  6. Ashley in Albuquerque NM on December 15th, 2007 2:35 am

    Bob what a great way to show off the home to many agents at once. Our office does this weekly not to mention the numerous title tours. I remember many years ago my parents selling our home and all the agents that came by for the tour. We might be going high tech but old-fashioned tools still work well!

  7. Karen Rice, Pike County PA Real Estate on December 15th, 2007 8:04 am

    Our office caravans 3 times a month, weather permitting, usually on Tuesdays. I look forward to it, and I love getting into the homes.

    Great blog!

  8. gotbob on December 16th, 2007 9:58 am

    Thank you Ashley…title tours??? Please explain. Yes as we go “HiTech” we still have the traditional marketing that works very well today.

    Karen, That’s great, I do too. Especially the historic ones!

  9. Albuquerque NM - Ashley on December 22nd, 2007 8:35 pm

    Bob all of our local title companies do tours. The schedule one area a week usually and invite about 10 agents with a house in the area to tour as a group. We get to see more than just our office this way and expose the listing to other offices as well. Most will schedule one for a listing on the fly if needed. No having to wait a month or more for your area to come up in rotation.

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