The Basics of Marketing Your Home
Your REALTOR®’s marketing efforts and considerations will include
advertising, showing the property, how long the house has been on the
market and whether you're buying another home. Your home should be
listed, whenever possible, through a Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
Advertising and Promotion
Properties are commonly advertised through real estate agent Web sites,
Internet home search/listing services, classified advertising and real estate
guides. Promotion efforts through office and MLS tours are a good way
of getting other buyer agents to view your home and to promote it to the
buyers they are working with.
Even with all these advertising avenues, " For Sale" signs on front lawns
are still remarkably effective. Many REALTORS® promote their Web
sites on the sign and use brochure boxes with the signs to market the
property. When appropriate, and with your permission, your REALTOR®
may send a mailing about your property to neighbors. Sometimes one of
them has a friend or relative who always wanted to live near them. You
never know how far reaching the benefits of word-of-mouth advertising
by friends, relatives and neighbors can be.
Showings and Open Houses
To prepare your home for viewing, make it as bright, clean, cheerful and
serene as possible. Always look at your home from the buyer's point of
view. Your REALTOR® will probably find a tactful way to suggest that
you be absent while the house is being shown to prospective buyers,
because your presence will inhibit their actions and conversations. They
won’t feel free to open closets and cabinets, test out the plumbing and
discuss their observations objectively as they walk through the house. It
goes without saying that your children and pets should not be on the
premises either.
If your REALTOR® has scheduled an open house, you may want to notify
the neighbors, and assure them that they'll be welcome. They'll jump at
the chance to poke around in your house, and sometimes they can turn up
a buyer among their friends.
Quick tips for showings and open houses:
Clean or replace dirty or worn carpets.
Open all curtains and blinds.
Replace any burned out light bulbs and turn on all lights.
Clear all clutter.
Clear all countertops.
Wash and put away any dirty dishes.
Set the dining room or kitchen table if you have particularly nice
linen or china.
Simmer a few drops of vanilla on the stove.
Put on soft music.
Burn wood in the fireplace on cold days, otherwise, clean the
fireplace.
Put fresh towels in the bathroom.
Take any laundry out of the washer and dryer.
Leave the house so your REALTOR® is free to deal with
prospective buyers professionally.
Put pets in cages or take them to a neighbor.
How Long Has Your House Been on the Market?
Professional appraisers sum up their entire body of knowledge in three
words: " Buyers make value." Your home is worth as much as a buyer
will pay for it.
If your home has been on the market for months, it’s a clear message that
the property may not be worth what you're asking for it. This is
particularly true if there haven't been many prospects coming to see it.
What you do at that point depends on whether you really need to sell, and
whether you're working with a time limit.
If you're not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait - years if
necessary - and hope inflation will catch up with the price you want. The
problem is that in that time, your home begins to feel shopworn. Buyers
become suspicious of a house that's been for sale for a long time.
If you really do need to sell, with your REALTOR® discuss a schedule for
gradually dropping your price until you find a level that attracts buyers.
There's no point in saying, " We simply can't sell our house." Anything
will sell if the price is right.
If You’re Buying Another Home
You may wonder what will happen when you're selling one home and
buying another – how will all the details work out? This is a common
situation and REALTORS®, lawyers, and title and escrow companies
have plenty of experience in arranging contracts and loans so that the two
transactions dovetail smoothly.
And should you sell your home first then buy or buy first then sell?
Ideally, it’s best to find a home you like and make an offer subject to
selling your current home. This generally works in a normal market.
However, in a “hot” market most sellers will not accept a “subject to sale”
offer. In this case you need to sell your home first and then buy a new
home in the interim period between selling and vacating your house.
If you find that you need to buy the next house before you've received the
proceeds from the present one, lending institutions can sometimes make
you a short-term " bridge" loan to tide you over between the two
transactions. Make sure you fully understand the exposure and emotional
investment before proceeding with this type of loan.
Buyer's Toolkit - Denver Real Estate and Denver Homes
Welcome to our Denver Division Buyer's Toolkit. We specialize in Denver Real Estate and Denver Homes.
Our tools allow you to review any real estate for sale in Colorado that is listed in the MLS/IDX. Please review or download our Buyer's Toolkit. We have over
70 Free Reports available for review or to download. Seller's Toolkit - Denver Real Estate and Denver Homes
Welcome to our Denver Division Seller's Toolkit. We specialize in Denver Real Estate and Denver Homes.
Our tools allow you to review any real estate for sale in Colorado that is listed in the MLS/IDX. Please review or download our Seller's Toolkit. We have over
70 Free Reports available for review or to download.
Neighborhood Information for Denver Real Estate and Denver Homes
Denver's vibrant metropolitan area full of cultural wonder and entertainment, as well as great
outdoor activities and recreation. Denver also has 300 plus days of sunshine we get each year, it's
no surprise at all, Denver Real Estate is something that everybody wants to own.
Well-Known across the world as the "Mile High City," Denver has been consistently rated as one of the
top places to live and work in the country. Originally built around the convergence of the Platte River
and the Cherry Creek River, Denver's outstanding lifestyle and great climate mixed with a wide array of
growing employment opportunities, have begun to characterize our city in the sky. Nothing beats our
spectacular Rocky Mountain views combined with the typical 150-mile visibility days. Home Owners in the
Denver Real Estate market feel fortunate to live in the beautiful "Mile High City".
Boasting more public parks than any other city its size in the nation, easy travel times to many great
attractions and an endless list of activities available, Denver has been attracting outdoor enthusiasts as
well as large corporations for decades. Six popular professional sports teams make the "Mile High City" home as
well as an award-winning Performing Arts Center complete with a theater and a symphony orchestra. Outdoor
recreational opportunities include world-renown skiing, mountain biking, hiking, fly-fishing, kayaking and
white water rafting, to name just a few. Denver also offers a diverse live music scene with multiple
entertainment venues from the Historic Red Rocks Amphitheater to the classic Fillmore Auditorium on Colfax Street.
The diversity of real estate options and locations in Metro Denver makes finding the right place to call home
easy as well. From the center of the city throughout each of the suburbs, Denver housing features include single
family and luxury homes to upscale lofts and condominiums.
Please allow me to assist you in your future real estate matters. I have up-to-date information available
on all of the Metro Denver Real Estate areas including Highlands Ranch, Cherry Creek, Lone Tree, Ridge Gate,
Centennial, Castle Rock, Castle Pines as well as the classic, more established areas of Denver including Cherry
Hills Village, Greenwood Village, Englewood, Littleton, Ken Caryl, Aurora, Parker ...and all other areas. Be sure
to check out the Interactive Subdivision Map too.
Corporate Office, Denver Colorado - 303 S. Broadway, Suite 200-278, Denver, CO 80209 sales@denverhomeliving.com (303) 816-9199 - Fax:(303) 845-9938, USA
Finding Your Colorado Home Office - P.O. Box 5136 Woodland Park, CO 80866 sales@pikespeakhomeliving.com (719) 216-2006 - Fax:(719) 213-2668, USA