Selling Your Calgary Home?

The process of selling a Calgary home is similar to the process of constructing it. Selling Calgary real estate involves many interdependent people and actions that must be managed. Like a general contractor oversees construction, a Realtor oversees and manages the sale. Whenever real estate is sold, certain steps must be accomplished. If we choose to work together to sell your home, you can expect swift action and marketing to ensure your Calgary home is SOLD as soon as possible.

Communication between the Realtor and Client

Having your Realtor communicate frequently with you and available when you have questions are priorities. I make myself accessible to my clients, other agents and prospective buyers seven days a week between 9 am and 9 pm, in person or by telephone. You can be assured that I am there when you need me. I will provide you methods to reach me after hours for urgent matters. My office and my electronic communications ensure that I am quick to respond to messages within the hour. This commitment to communications saves you time and stress.

Selling Real Estate Is A Team Effort

There are a lot of steps involved in selling a home. To manage these steps and ensure that each client is given equally high quality service, a large portion of my marketing efforts are based online. This allows me to make efficient use of my time. I also utilize various professional photographers, home stagers and measurers on a contract basis, along with our office staff to complete a portion of the work. I consider these people part of my team. This team includes:

• Barry Blick, Spinnermax Photography
• Jeff Andersen, Williams Moving & Storage
• Jordan Fowler, Home Measurement And Plans, Urban Measure,
• Marvis Olson, Mortgage Professional, Mortgage Architects
• Bill Fric, Real Estate Lawyers, Fric Lowenstein LLB
• Krista Hermanson, Designer, Home Stager
• Tracey Walker, Appointments, Call to View

Marketing Your Calgary Real Estate For Sale

Until recently, almost all properties shown to home buyers were found by their agent, through searching the MLS system. Now, however, homebuyers have become an integral part of that initial search process, doing their own research on the internet. Often times the buyer informs their Realtor of homes for sale they found online and would like to view. Odds are very high the Calgary home for sale they buy will be first seen on the internet or in an automated e-mail generated by the Realtor via the MLS system. This is a major change.

A strong online presence attracts the interest of homebuyers and keeps their interest longer, which increases the likelihood that we will get a showing. And that must happen for your home to sell. To create maximum exposure for your listing, the listing must have a high quality presence on the internet and within the MLS system. Your property will be listed on:

• CREB.com, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), promptly. All required information will be delivered to the Real Estate Board within 24 hours.
• MLS.ca, Realtor.ca, my company’s website within 48 hours of the property being listed on CREB.com. The opportunity to include up to 20 pictures is available and will be utilized when possible.
• HouseHunting.ca, Craigslist.ca, Bargaincity.ca, Kijiji.ca, UsedCalgary.com and Zoocasa.com will follow within 24 hours after that.

Photos Sell Real Estate

A key component in marketing real estate listings online is including pictures. Studies have proven that having more pictures is better than fewer. Listings with no photos performed poorly in the study, generating little homebuyer response and sales. Those that had one picture performed better, but not nearly as well as the sites that had 20 to 36 photos. In fact, those listings that had no picture generated 0.02 per cent of the number of listing views as compared to those with 20 or more photos.

Compared to listings with only one photo, those with 20 or more photos generated more than triple the number of ‘Detailed Views', more than double the amount of interest, and double the number of leads. Compared to listings with no photos, those with 20 or more photos generated more than 55 times the number of 'Detailed Views' and nearly 27 times the amount of interest.

• A professional photographer will take images of your property and its key features and I always place the current maximum 20 pictures on MLS for every property and more if permitted on other sites.
 

Showing Your Home for Sale to Buyers

Accommodating showing requests is very important. We need buyers to see your home in order for us to sell it. I ensure all requests for showings are responded to in a timely manner. In turn, if you can be as flexible as possible by allowing all showings along with having your home ready to show, we should never miss a potential buyer. I use the services of a company named, Call to View, which books all showings through you at times convenient to you. They also follow up the next day to request customer feedback on the viewing. All information is then posted on a website only accessible to you so you can track customer response throughout the sale period.

We will place a lock box on your property to allow access to Realtors showing your home to potential buyers. A lockbox is a secure electronic device, which only licensed Realtors can access. It tracks all openings and I code all lockboxes with an additional security code that can only be given by calling Call to View to reserve a booking time.

Open Houses: Do They Sell Real Estate?

A traditional method of selling homes has been the Open House. During an open house, we open your home to any prospective buyers for a window of time, usually on weekends. Data shows that Open Houses are not a prominent source of homebuyers. Open Houses are actually dead last among sources that produce a buyer (less than 1%). However, I am more than willing to host Open Houses if this is a service you desire.

Home Buyers Receive A Detailed Flyer To Reinforce The Features Of Your Home For Sale

When potential buyers view your home for sale we want to provide them a lasting impression of your property's features and attributes. Homebuyers will receive a multi-page color flier, which provides pictures, property data and specifications. By providing them a multi-page high quality flyer, they are more likely to refer back to your home listing and chances are improved of keeping it at the forefront of homebuyer's minds.

Let's Get Your Calgary Real Estate Sold!

I am confident in my ability to serve and guide you in accomplishing your goal of selling your home and now you know how I will do it. Feel free to refer back to this during our relationship and bring forward any feedback if you feel I am underachieving with any of these items.

I Look Forward To Working With You To Sell Your Home!