So you’re thinking about selling your house, and you need to find a highly qualified Realtor to help.
On one hand, you want to work with somebody who’s going to give your house as much attention as you do. After all, this is your home – the place you’ve shared thousands of memories with your family and personalized with your own style. Your Realtor should love your home, show off its highlights, talk it up, and make everyone else love it as much as you do, right?
On the other hand, aren’t all Realtors mostly the same? Yeah, yeah – they put the house in the MLS, wait for an offer to come in, and show you where to sign the paperwork. It doesn’t matter whether you call the girl who used to work in your office, the guy you saw in a magazine, you sister-in-law’s best friend, or the guy who sold the house down the street, right?
Uh, wrong.
If you interview more than one Realtor, you’re doing better than most people out there. Even then, though, most Realtors sound very similar. They’ll all tell you they provide excellent customer service, post your home all over the internet, know how to get you the highest price, and have a buyer already in mind.
Ask to see a MLS Portfolio
Anyone can TELL you all the great things they do, but their actual MLS listings may say otherwise.
Photos
The single most important part of your listing. Potential buyers are out there, sitting at their computer (or smart phone), devouring pictures of homes. They’ll decide they like a house, or dismiss it out of hand, within seconds of seeing a couple pictures. And yet, a large percentage of MLS listings have less than stellar pictures.
- dirty or cluttered kitchens
- messy bedrooms
- terrible lighting – too dark, too bright, or a flash bouncing off a mirror or window
- multiple pictures of a small closet or narrow hallway
- people or pets in the pictures
- and worse!
Why would you trust your home to someone who has publicized bad pictures in the past?
Description
If a potential buyer gets through your pictures and hasn’t dismissed your home out of hand, then next thing they’ll do is read your description. You want your home’s description to be compelling and honest, and to highlight the great things a buyer will love about your house. You don’t want:
- misspellings and typos
- ALL CAPITALS
- boring copy
- over-the-top exaggerations
Maybe the Realtor isn’t a very good speller; maybe the Realtor just doesn’t pay attention to details. Either way, if their past listings have descriptions that turn you off, what makes you think yours will be any different?
Details
OK – the photos were great, and the description copy was compelling. Now the buyer is looking at the details – the final cut. This is where accuracy and attention to detail can make the difference between “we really want to see that one” and “it’s not right for us because of xyz”:
- number and state of bathroom so you might want to consider some bathroom renovations with bathroomexperts.ie
- square footage (of home and of lot)
- school district, and local school
- HOA information
Bottom Line
Statistically, it’s impossible for everyone to be better than average – half of all the Realtors out there fall below the median! Every Realtor you talk with is going to tell you all the great things they’ll do to sell your home. But take a few minutes to look at their prior work and you’ll see that actions speak louder than words.
It’s your home; it’s your choice. Ask to see an MLS portfolio.
” (a great read by the way). Needing a new book, I 
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— but who knows.
The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...