The Eagle's View

Real estate agents like my self sometimes "farm" a neighborhood. In other words, we pick a community and target our marketing efforts on that one area. It's more cost effective to be an expert of a unique community rather than a broad area.

My farm area is a neighborhood on the south side of Highlands Ranch called Firelight.

I selected Firelight because I actually have lived there since 2001 and have watched the neighborhood grow with lots of new construction. I pride myself on knowing Firelight home values better than anyone, even other real estate agents.

I know that's a lofty claim but one I feel justifed in making.

In additonal to my neighborhood newsletter every other month called Smoke Signlals, I have just completed the most aggressive analysis of the Firelight real estate market you'll find anywhere. The Firelight Real Estate Historical Data Analysis tracks every model of home sold in Firelight from 2003 to the present. If you live in firelight you'll find this a tremendously valuable piece of information.

You could price your home below market value and most likely someone will pay you what you're asking. A better way to get full asking price when you sell your home is to have a through and complete competitive market analysis completed before you list your home.

Having a detailed CMA serves two purposes, 1) you'll easily see what your home should sell for, which helps you determine your asking price and 2) if a buyer makes an offer that's not full price, you simply show them the CMA to justify your price. If the CMA is done correctly, the buyer won't have an argument to support a low-ball offer and he will quickly realize that you are simply asking for the reasonable price that your home is worth.

Just like any negotiation, it helps to have documentation to support your side.

You decide it's time to move and you want to sell your home. Now comes the hard part, preparing your home for sale.

Look around your home. Are there little projects that you've been putting off? Maybe some broken grout around the sink that needs fixed, a door that doesn't close all the way, a light switch that doesn't turn on or off anything. These things should be corrected before you ever put your home on the market. They may seem small and insignificant, but selling your home is all about first impressions.

Research suggest that buyers make a decision within the first 20 seconds of walking into a home. This means that the first thing they see, smell and hear need to be good. But even if those three things are taking care of, it's the small details that can seal a deal or turn good to bad. Here's my top 10 commonly overlooked items you should take care of before listing your home:

1) Lime buildup on faucets makes a home feel old and dirty
2) Cobwebs on light fixtures don't impress anyone
3) Caulk any cracks in walls, along stairways, around sinks and countertops
4) You'll be amazed how many dead flys might be at the bottom of your windows
5) Clean windows inside and out, it'll let in more light and make a difference
6) Remove pictures from the refrigerator, they'll distract buyers
7) If your stove has those metal pans below the burners, are they clean?
8) Take a close look at your whitewalls...see any black marks?
9) Wallboards collect lots of dirt
10) Check those intake vents that lead to the furnace, black and dirty or white and clean?

When you list your home with me, I'll walk through your house and make a list of everything that should be addressed to make the home as presentable as possible.

For Sale By Owner, or FSBO (pronounced FIZ-BO) and the real estate industry calls it is something people tend to do for one of two reasons. Either they have a home that's so incredible that they know it will sell very easily without much marketing, or the seller wants or needs to save the real estate commission.

Being a "do it yourself" type of person, I can understand why someone would want to try to sell a home without professional representation. But over the years I have learned that doing so is similar to going to court without a lawyer. The "Unrepresented Seller" more often than not is doing himself a disservice.

Like I said, if you have a home that's incredible -- maybe incredible views or location or condition -- you may be able to sell it just by spreading the word that you want to sell.

For the rest of us, selling a home takes savvy marketing knowledge and experience. From setting the correct price, to advertising in the right places and in the right ways to negotiating a contract. These things take time and money.

Professional Realtors have established systems in place to sell homes. We know what does and doesn't work. We usually have partnerships, assistants, programs or something along those lines to effectively and efficiently sell a home from start to finish.

Personally, I have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours learning, practicing, developing and maintaining my home sales system. I EARN my commission and help you achieve your goals. The facts don't lie, seller's who hire a Realtor sell faster and for more money than those who take the FSBO route.

I know from selling my own properties in the past, paying that commission to a Realtor at closing hurts. It's usually the biggest line item on the settlement sheet. But I also know that if I didn't pay a Realtor's commisssion, the agent would never have brought a buyer and it would have taken me much, much longer to sell.