I have just put up a survey for sellers that have had their listing expire. I want to know why you, as a seller, think your home didn’t sell.
If you are in the Gwinnett County or surrounding area, and you are a seller that has had a listing expire, I’d love for you to take a moment to give me your thoughts. The survey is here.
I will keep you posted with the results of the survey.
We all know the old saying… If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But really… is that how we need to approach things? 
I don’t think so. I think that we (that’s spelled M-E) need to look over our systems and their implementation from time to time. While it is fun for the Jeep, it is crucial for the real estate business. On the Jeep, I took a perfectly good ’92 Wrangler and tore it apart so that I could build this crazy ’71 Jeepster/Commando.
I took a website that was just fine… if a bit boring… and turned it into this blog. I decided that my “real” website needed to be GarageHomesUSA, and instead of making another lame HTML site, I decided that I needed to make a dynamic Joomla based CMS (content management system) site.
I have a very good record with my past clients for service and results, but I have decided that I needed to step it up and take it to another level. I want to make sure that buyers and sellers that I work with have service that is second to none.
The place for complacency is real estate. There are simply more and better tools now than there were even just a few years ago. I have started to implement a paperless transaction system, which last year wasn’t possible. There are websites that are a “requirement” if one is going to effectively market a property that didn’t exist five years ago.
There are a lot of agents that serve the Gwinnett County and Atlanta area real estate markets in Georgia. Being good by the measures of last year, or three years ago isn’t enough. Now, to be effective, we have to push farther.
When you are ready for an agent that is ready for you… call me. I specialize in properties for auto enthusiasts. I understand garages and the automotive lifestyle. I also work with lake properties on Lanier.
That is the goal if you are a seller.
Yesterday, in the REALTOR® Magazine Daily Briefing there was a short report on the findings of a story in Baltimore. It seems that getting a house to sell fast in even a tough market (and Baltimore is a tough market) takes the same things it does at any other time.
Sure… At least that is how some circles are making it out. But, I wonder…
On the surface, it looks like it might be a good idea. There are a couple of compelling aspects to this. The first, and probably most important is that according to the agents in the area it has been tried, 68% of the test drivers offered on the property they test drove. The second is that it really does offer buyers the opportunity to sample the lifestyle of the target property.
There are a few drawbacks as well. To start with, there is security and privacy. Some sellers don’t like having buyers traipse through their home when they aren’t there. Obviously, if the buyers are living in the home for a day or three, there won’t be an agent locking and unlocking the door… and keeping the key. There won’t be a third party watching to try to make sure that drawers aren’t rifled through, and private information and valuables stay where they are. Next on the list would be bedding and baths… I know that my wife is a stickler at hotels… She isn’t going to just be any different in someone’s house. And then someone has to come back and live in their house again.
The questions are:
Can the obstacles be overcome?
Is it worth it?
If you were in the market for a home, would you want to stay there for a day or three?
What would it be worth?
I’d love to get some feedback about this. I’ve seen it “discussed” but agent talk isn’t the same as consumer opinion. I want to know what you would think of this as a buyer or seller. Don’t worry about buyer qualification, as we would definitely have to make sure that only qualified buyers would be able to use the program.
Let’s hear it.
I read a bunch of different blogs each day. One of those is by a marketing genius named Seth Godin. Today he had a post about the dumbing down of America. So many marketers, advertisers and service providers assume their clients/customers/consumers are just not that bright.
We see it in the news. I mean really IN the news. Newspapers are written for people with an eighth grade education. TV newscasts aren’t much better. I think they assume that viewers have the attention span of guppies. If they cover a story on the six o’clock news on Tuesday, if there is an update on Wednesday they have to repeat the entire story (even if it is a story that one would have to hide under a rock not to be aware of). And, in some cases it is worse…
A few years ago, during a multi-day event that had traffic tied up for a few days, one reporter flying in a traffic copter over a crowded Interstate actually said, “the red lights are the cars going away from us, and the white lights are the cars coming towards us.” Wow… the insight is amazing, no?
Seth’s point, and one that I totally agree with, is that if we look for dumb consumers we will find dumb consumers. After all, what should one expect if they put out a message trolling for an eighth grade education?
So, here we are…
I don’t want clients with an eighth grade education. I want clients that are a cut above. I may write a post to explain how something works, but that isn’t because I think I need to dumb it down. A good example, from the other side, is that I am building my website and blog. I don’t consider myself to be below intelligence, but I don’t spend all of my time designing websites. I need to learn a lot of the basics that people that build websites every day take for granted. I deal with real estate every day. I don’t assume that my clients do… but I assume that they can understand what I throw at them.
So, here’s to the better than average client. You know who you are. And I am so glad i don’t have to write content for eighth graders…