Your home may be your single biggest investment and may be one of the largest financial transactions you’ll ever make. So when you sell, you want to get the best price and the most favorable terms in the shortest period of time. There is much more to marketing a home than placing a classified ad in the newspaper and putting a “For Sale” sign in the front yard. There are many marketing options; legalities, negotiations, research and communication that go into the sale, from the time you decide to sell until the property is finally sold.

Submit Property Requirements

Because of the financial significance of selling your home, it is worth hiring a real estate professional. With someone to walk you through the process; help establish an appropriate market value; lead a marketing campaign; prepare the initial purchase contract; coordinate financing; have appraisal made and monitor the closing process.

It is important that a real estate agent listens well and takes what you have communicated into account to assist you is selling your property. This means that your agent’s experience must also be figured into your decision on who best to represent you.

Having a good knowledge of the market helps the agent assess how much your property might be worth and how much the market might be willing to bear. Such knowledge usually results in a more shorter listing period and a more accurate price.

A real estate agent should have an effective marketing and merchandising approach. Each home for sale requires a unique marketing plan, which includes creative advertising, many phone calls, a lot of negotiation, appointments, and being well versed in the use of modern technology.

Associated Realtors agents are trained to sell real estate, they do this every day and it is their livelihood. For this reason they are best qualified to assist you in selling your home.
Here are some other reasons why you should use the services of Associated Realtors.
• They know what buyers are looking for in a house and the financial incentives that encourage them to buy
• They have a pool of qualified buyers that are ready to purchase a house and are simple waiting for the agents to fined the right house for them.
• They are trained on how to use creative advertising and marketing to attract prospective buyers to view your house.
• They are trained on how to separate the qualified buyers from the rest of the pack. This saves you much time and inconvenience because your home will only be shown to serious potential buyers.
• They are trained on how to negotiate between you and the buyer so that a Win Win agreement is achieved.
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SOME TIPS TO HELP SELL YOUR HOME
Once your home is ready to show, we will begin marketing it to potential buyers and also other real estate agents on the island. Following are some helpful tips for selling your home.

Preparing your home for sale.
Make sure any necessary repairs to your home are made before showing it. This may include problems with plumbing, electric system any plaster cracks, roof problems, loose tiles etc, etc. You always want to present your home as best as possible so that you may be able to get your desired selling price. Noting is more detrimental to the sale of a home that having to explain to potential buyers the reason repairs have not been done. Remember the first appearance is still the most important one especially in such a large investment as the purchase of a home.

Besides repairs it may also be helpful to give your home a fresh quote of paint, as well as having any carpet professionally cleaned, fix up curtains, fix up closet doors, in general make sure that the house has a new look. Make sure that the yard is cleaned and all waste is removed and taken to the dump. Get a professional gardener to help you trim your plants, remove any dead or diseased plants and maybe even add a few more to make the home more attractive. In general you need to do a total mini-make over of your house. Once your house has a new fresh look you will notice that buyer interest will increase as well.

Get an appraisal made of your home by a reputable appraiser that is recognized by the local banks. Even though an appraisal report does not set a price for how much your home will be sold for, it will give you and the prospective buyers of your home an indication of price from which to negotiate. It is therefore very important that you use an experienced appraiser and one who’s integrity will only allow him/her to state facts as they are.

Associated Realtors agents can help in making suggestions to you as to what to do to make your house more appealing to prospective buyers and in finding reputable appraisers.

Associated Realtors agents also have a general check list that they use to walk-through the home to make sure that no details have been overlooked in preparing it for sale.

SOME HELPFUL TIPS WHEN SHOWING YOUR HOME
• Open all curtains to allow the sun light in, if at night turn on as many lights as possible so that the house is well lit.
• Remove all items from tables and bookshelves. Neatness makes a room seem larger.
• Tidy up rooms, including kitchen, living room, and especially bedrooms and bathrooms.
• Don’t pack up closets in an attempt to give a clean up appearance, this only communicates a lack of closet space.
• Children should not be running around, this may distract buyers from the showing.
• Put away items in the yard like garden tools, bicycles and toys.
• Remove pets. Take them some place else or keep them penned in the yard. Eliminate pet odors.
• Keep money and other valuable items out of sight.
• Turn the TV and the radio off. If possible have some nice back ground music playing on low volume.
• Do not engage in conversation with the prospective buyers, let the real estate agent do the talking. If possible take the entire family out; this will give the prospective buyers the chance to comfortably move around the house at their leisure and the freedom to ask questions.
• Remove an abundance of personal photographs.
• It never hurts to spray some nice smelling spray around the house. Aroma helps make the home seem a more pleasant home.

When showing your home it is important, above all to make visitors feel at home. They should not only feel they are guests in your home but they should be able to see themselves living in the house.
Your major goal in showing your home is make prospects feel at home with the house appearance and atmosphere. Do everything you can to create a powerful and positive first impression because it will a big difference.