The Sherman Realty Group Difference

Selling a home in San Diego can seem overwhelming.

Our job is to work with sellers to make this process as simple as possible. We do this while obtaining the highest price possible in the sale, and limiting the time the house is idle on the market. All Realtors® have most of the same tools. We all have the MLS and cooperate with other agents. The Team Sherman Homes Difference is we have an aggressive marketing plan. We will communicate the benefits of your home to the public, but more importantly to the other agents who are working with the qualified buyers.

When choosing an agent to sell your home check to see if they have the following:

• A website.
• If they have a website, is it easy to browse?
• Is there a search function for potential buyers to find homes?
• Does the agent have a featured listings page to showcase your home?
• Avenues for marketing your home
• What type of listing presentation do they have?

If the agent you are considering does not have any of the above you probably will not see results.

It is surprising how many agents still do not have a presence on the internet. The internet is one of the most powerful marketing tools a Realtors® has. If the agent you list with isn’t advertising listings, you won’t see results. A buyer can’t buy a home that they don’t know about.

A good listing agent will follow up on the showings of your home and provide you with tangible feedback.

Some agents use computerized systems to get feedback, an automated system that sends an email asking for feedback. We believe in the old fashioned way of talking to people. We have found in our experience if you ask someone to write something out they will generally write the minimum; but if you ask them for you to write it out they will give you more information. For example, a client goes with their agent to your house and the automated message is sent out, they type their responses, such as just didn’t like the house. If we call the agent not only will they give me that info but they may tell me exactly what it was they didn’t like which might be something you are able/willing to fix. Here are a couple of things we suggest to seller’s before listing their home. We can’t say we thought of these techniques but we do feel they are valuable suggestions.

The Termite Report

It is customary to have a termite report completed when a home sells. In most offers, the buyer will request that the seller provide this report, and pay for active infestations.

A good listing agent should have the termite report completed before the home ever goes on the market .

However, most agents do not have it done until the property is in escrow. Since you know the termite report will be your expense and the cost to fix the infestation will be your expense, it would be a good idea to have the report done so you know how much work will be necessary before pricing your home and before signing a legally binding contract for the purchase of your home. Take this scenario. You place your home on the market at fair market of $350,000. An offer comes in and you accept it along with the terms of paying for the termite report along with repairing any infestations. While in escrow you pay for the termite report and the results of the report comes out to $20,0000! Now this is very extreme and unusual but wouldn’t it be in your best interest to know the cost of the repairs before you sign the legally binding contract?

Pre-Listing Disclosures & Physical Inspection

Most transactions in California are intended to be “as-is” sales.

This rarely happens. Buyers are usually fine with defects they know about before writing an offer. However when new defects come to light after the home inspection, they usually want to renegotiate, have the seller make repairs, have the seller provide a credit or even back out of the deal. All of which can result in either holding up the escrow or ending the escrow.

For this reason, we often recommend that sellers conduct a pre-listing inspection.

This way you get a professional report that will anticipate the findings that would show up in the buyer’s inspection. With the pre-listing inspection in hand, many times sellers can make minor repairs before the property goes on the market. And for items they may not wish to repair, the inspection serves as a disclosure document to make potential buyers aware of these conditions before they write an offer. This may dramatically reduce the amount of renegotiation that happens during escrow, and therefore increases the chances of the transaction closing on time with everybody happy.

Our job is to get you the best buyers by exposing your home to both the agents who are working with the qualified buyers, and to the buyers who do not yet have agents.

We will tell you what we can do, and also make recommendations as to what you can do to get your home sold. We will not make promises We can’t keep such as telling you we can sell your home for an unrealistic price. We will do everything in our power to negotiate the highest and best offer possible.

Contact me today, and give me an opportunity to tell you how we do business.

You will see for yourself that there is a difference. Our goal is to sell your home for the highest price, with the best communication, and least inconvenience to you.