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San Antonio Sellers – Do You Know Where Your Home Is?
Exposure, the internet, and you.
When you’re thinking about selling your San Antonio home, you have a lot to consider. Price, staging or not, different listing tactics (bonuses, allowances, residential service contracts, inclusions, etc.), and who your Realtor® will be. It’s a huge step in your life and getting it right is the goal. An improperly listed home can languish on the market and cause you more headaches than you want (who wants headaches?). One of the biggest functions of a Realtor® during your listing is getting your home noticed. With plenty of houses to choose from and buyers spending more and more time researching homes before they even contact an agent, your San Antonio home needs to be a stand out in order to sell quickly.
There are many ways to make your home shine and your Realtor® (and the internet) have a lot of great resources to help make your home stand out, but the one thing that will truly make your home stand out? Exposure. It may sound simple, but I see cases of it being overlooked all the time. You want to have your home out there, searchable and available to view on the internet, even at 3AM and believe me, based on Google Analytics, many people are looking at those hours.
Take a few houses that you know are for sale. Try Googling them. Can you find them? Can you find multiple sites that have info on the home? Any special stand-out sites with extra photos, descriptions, or video? The more you find, the better. Try different words for the homes. Don’t just Google the address, try the neighborhood. When you start seeing the home in multiple places, you can see how much easier it is for a buyer to stumble across it when they are searching in their pajamas.
We have tools, but not everyone uses them.
Not every agent is using the internet to the best of it’s abilities. Some of them don’t use it all (and still have great success), but many of us have embraced technology and are doing everything we can to make sure when someone hits Google, they find your home. Recently, while doing research on homes for buyer-clients and I tried Googling several homes, guess what I found? Nothing. Not even on sites like Trulia. When I finally found the home, it was exclusively on their broker’s site, but not on any of the major portals (and the agent’s didn’t have personal sites either). One place. That’s not much in terms of exposure. The broker’s site looked great, but if I had to spend that much time finding that specific home, what do you think a typical buyer would do?
Where is your home going to be when you list it? Will it be left to languish on the internet, never to be found? Or will it be exposed for the right buyer to find? Don’t let your home be invisible. Let me show you how.
image courtesy of Robert Couse-Baker
This post was originally published on September 13, 2009 on one of my other blogs, San Antonio’s Rockstar Turned Realtor®. In re-posting it here on RErockstar.com, I hope to encourage you to read my other blogs as well as bring some content to these pages that you may have missed.
Animal Defense League of San Antonio
Animal Defense League of San Antonio, Texas.
In light of my past post about the stray cat living under my deck and the response to it, I thought I’d write a little about my favorite place in San Antonio for pets and the care for the animals that get left behind. I’m speaking of the Animal Defense League. I had never heard of the ADL when I moved to San Antonio, but thanks to Mike Osterhage and KSAT12 News, I quickly became familiar with them. Every Thursday morning on “Good Morning San Antonio” at around 6:15AM, Mike sits down with Ian and his furry friends from the Animal Defense League and pulls at my heart strings with the various animals looking for a loving home. Its really hard to get dressed for work when you’re dreaming of howmuch fun you could have with the collections of dogs and cats paraded on your television screen at that hour.
A bit of history.
The Animal Defense League came to be when a group of individuals decided in 1934 to open a place “for the prevention of cruelty to animals; to promote kind and humane treatment of animals; and to aid and assist the enforcement of laws enacted for the prevention of animal cruelty.” From humble beginnings and a few chicken-wire cages, the ADL has become a big name in San Antonio’s pet adoption, protection, and care. They currently are located on twelve acres on Nacogdoches Road just north of Wurzbach Parkway. The complex includes a two acre pet park, a clinic, and an adoption center. They’ve been running a “no-kill” shelter since their inception and I applaud them for their efforts in pushing all of San Antonio to become “no-kill” as well.
My personal experience with them.
After my last cat, The Molly, passed away, my wife and I decided to drop off her unused food, toys, bedding, litter, and medicine at the Animal Defense League. We thought it might help another stray out in their quest to find a loving home (she was a stray as well). When we stopped in the ADL after work one night, the staff were very helpful and even helped us carry some things from the car. They were so thankful and appreciative of the donation and stopped to chat with us for a moment about our cat and why we had come. We even met Ian, who is the public face of the ADL on KSAT12 News’ adoption segment. He’s English (I seem to remember he’s from Wolverhampton) and my wife and him chatted for a few moments (she’s English as well) about life in the States. Everyone was friendly and seemed to really love what they do, which is important when dealing with so many animals who need loving homes – I remember being in a shelter once where everyone seemed miserable and the pets seemed depressed and miserable too. I left there feeling great that not only had I done something good, but that the people there were doing great things and loving what they did.
Thinking of how you can help?
There are many ways you can help the Animal Defense League in their mission to continue to provide quality care, love, and homes to the animals of San Antonio. They are always appreciate of gifts and donations, whether monetary or material items. You can check the wish list and special needs page.
Contact information for The Animal Defense League:
11300 Nacogdoches Road – San Antonio, TX 78217
Phone: (210) 655-1481 – Fax: (210) 655-4498
photo courtesy of ittybittiesforyou
This post was originally published on December 22, 2008 on one of my other blogs, San Antonio’s Rockstar Turned Realtor®. In re-posting it here on RErockstar.com, I hope to encourage you to read my other blogs as well as bring some content to these pages that you may have missed.
Why Many Agents Won’t Show You A Home “Right Now!”
It’s a common thing.
Back in September 2009, SarahGray Lamm wrote a post titled, “ADVICE NEEDED: Blogging Works. Now What…” The basic premise of the post was how to handle the buyer who calls and says “I need to see this house right now.” Not a client, but someone you’ve never met before. Every Realtor® I know gets these calls and everyone I know handles them a little differently, but the outcome is typically the same. I’m hoping to help San Antonio home buyers understand why many agents won’t show the home on short notice.
Time Management
To put it simply, we as agents need to manage our time. We don’t sit around lounging in the office just waiting for the next phone call to come in. If we did, we’d all be broke. With the internet and cell phones we are much more accessible, but we’re not necessarily free at the moment we take that call. We have a daily dose of inspections, paperwork, showings, closings, meetings, prospecting (the act of finding new clients), and the usual things – dinner, family time, rest, etc. Agents have schedules to keep. Even occasionally, I am free at the moment, but know that if I go show houses right this moment, I will miss my next appointment. Time management is a huge part of our daily lives.
Qualifying Buyers.
I know a lot of people that want to buy a house don’t like this step. I’ve had a prospective client ask me “What does it matter to you if I’m not pre-approved, I know I can get the loan.” I find this one of the hardest things for a prospective client to deal with. They often feel we are calling them into question – almost as if we were saying “That’s great, but I don’t trust you.” Because we don’t know each other yet, there isn’t a ton of trust between the two of us. We have to build that overtime. There’s a certain amount that we must take as a leap of faith and I am fine with that. But sitting down and qualifying a buyer isn’t just about a loan, it’s about getting to know the prospective client (and you getting to know your prospective agent) and getting to know what their goals our in buying a home. We want to help you find the right home, not just any home.
Paperwork.
If you like what you’re hearing and you’d like to work with me as your San Antonio real estate agent, there is some paperwork we should get out of the way now. Here in San Antonio we use a Residential Buyer/Tenant Representation Agreement. It lays out the rules of our work together and defines our relationship as that of buyer and agent. Making someone your agent creates a situation that allows us to offer you our advice and opinions and binds us to work for you and you to work with us. (I think I’ll write an upcoming post on the Buyer Representation Agreement).
Safety.
Let’s face it, there are some strange people in this world and there more than a couple of stories about agents going to a showing and being attacked. I’m sure you’re not a vicious killer, but let’s meet up first just in case.
Experience.
As an agent that started about a year and a half ago in the San Antonio real estate business, I know new agents. I even write about it at AgentGenius. I’m not here to say they’re bad agents, I mean, we all have to start somewhere. What I do know is that these are the agents that will typically jump at any chance to go on a showing. Why? Because they’re hungry. They have little to no business and will do anything to get more. What usually happens? They wind up chasing their tails and not selling any homes anyway. I know because I’ve been there. I spent my first few months running after everyone and selling nothing. As we mature a bit as agents we learn more about the other factors I’ve mentioned and we start practicing “smart” real estate in order to build our businesses and grow our client base.
photo courtesy of TheTruthAbout…
This post was originally published on September 14, 2009 on one of my other blogs, San Antonio’s Rockstar Turned Realtor®. In re-posting it here on RErockstar.com, I hope to encourage you to read my other blogs as well as bring some content to these pages that you may have missed.
Choose Your New Home Upgrades Wisely
Upgrades, upgrades, upgrades.
If you’re building a new home in San Antonio, you’ll eventually get to the point where the builder sends you to their showroom and you will be dazzled, delighted, and amazed at all the choices for upgrades. Everything from carpet to tile, trees to shrubbery, architectural details to number of bedrooms, faucets to toilets – you name it, there’s an upgrade available for you to purchase. With all these choices available to you, how do you upgrade your new dream home without breaking the bank?
When purchasing a home that is yet to be constructed, you are faced with many choices. Each choice comes with a price tag. Although many builders in San Antonio will give incentives in order to encourage you to upgrade some of the items in your home, wise choices of what to upgrade can save you a lot of money and give you room to upgrade to some of the more premium choices.
Upgrade now or later?
Because builders have a pretty good mark up on their upgrades (it’s where a lot of the profit in new home construction is), most things you will add-on are going to cost you more than if you did them yourself or had a handyman or contractor do them for you. That faucet you love so much in the showroom? It might be a lot cheaper to stop by Lowe’s and pick it up and install it yourself. Think about the things you can do on your own. Are you handy enough to switch out a light fixture or faucet? Then you might want to consider saving those upgrades for later and doing them yourself.
Focus on the big ticket items as much as you can. Flooring, adding extra rooms, architectural details, adding a fireplace, adding outlets, adding a hose bib to the front or back of the home. Anything that might be covered up by drywall during the building process – outlets and cable hookups are always a good example. If you don’t want vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms, upgrade to tile. Pay that extra for thicker padding under the carpet or softer “premium” carpets. Add wood flooring – these are all items that are costly and can inconvenience your family while being done at a later date.
Think of your plan for living there. Can you live with the cheap faucet in the kitchen for a few months until you decide to spend the money and go buy a new one that you install over a weekend? Try and think of your future resale too. Although you like the TV on that wall, would someone prefer it on the other wall – the one without the outlet? Even if you’re not putting in ceiling fans, maybe you should have the switches wired for them – just in case you do want them or the future buyer of your home wants them. These are the new home upgrades you should be purchasing now.
We all want to move in to our perfect dream home and not have to lift a finger and there are some who can afford to upgrade everything and not even blink an eye. Most people don’t have a limitless supply of cash though, so knowing what to upgrade in your new home can save you money and help you create sweat-equity in your home in the long run. By making smart choices today, you can avoid high mark-up costs and work on building your dream home – one faucet and light fixture at a time.
photo courtesy of mel0808johnson
7 Must Read Articles For Home Sellers.
As a real estate blogger, I read a lot of other blogs.
Although all real estate is local and every market has its own trends and peculiarities, the fact remains that many great agents out there are giving solid advice that can be used in any market. Although some of these posts specifically point out markets many miles away from us here in San Antonio, they are posts that you can glean information from when selling your home. Of course, no list would be complete without something I wrote (since I’m here in San Antonio), so the list is actually eight articles, not seven.
I hope you enjoy reading these articles and the style of each of the writers. They’re people I read regularly and I have spoken to personally as I grew as a real estate agent. They’re people who I learn from everyday. They’re people who I would trust to help my own clients, should they ever decide to move to one of these agents’ local areas.
Bill Gassett – Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Massachusetts Home
The Somers Team – 5 Steps in Choosing a Realtor to Sell Your Property
Lane Bailey – The best agent to use is the one that tells me the highest price…
Missy Caulk – Roadblocks to Successful Closings in Ann Arbor
Kristin Moran – Options for homeowners in Foreclosure
Stephanie Edwards-Musa – The Affordability Ranking ~ A Tip For Expired Listings And New Ones
Dale Cumbley – Isn’t The Market Horrible?
Matt Stigliano (me) – Ten Tips For Selling Your Home.
If you enjoyed any of these writers, take a moment to say hello to them and tell them what you think. Realtors® love feedback and knowing who has stopped by our blogs. So leave a comment for them or send them an email. They’ll appreciate it.
photo courtesy of stevoarnold
This post was originally published on April 12, 2009 (it was originally nine articles, but several blogs are no longer there) on one of my other blogs, San Antonio’s Rockstar Turned Realtor®. In re-posting it here on RErockstar.com, I hope to encourage you to read my other blogs as well as bring some content to these pages that you may have missed.
