Thursday, February 12, 2015

Who's Eating My Cupcakes?

Real estate agents can be a gullible lot.  Last week a major franchise held their annual meeting in Orlando and that's great--  all companies do that.  Now at this meeting the company proclaimed that it is the biggest in the country "by agent count".  Heh? What?  Is that how companies measure success  -  by agent count!   I know, I know - this company has a plan where they pay recruiting bonuses but that's a story for another day.

Here's today's story.  Real estate agents have "Herd Mentality".  Wherever the herd is heading they'll go along and even encourage their friends to join them.  But what I don't think they realize is that there are only a certain number of buyers and sellers in the market at any given time.  So brokers have their agents all pumped up about the company and tell them to bring their friends in to complete against them.  Duh!  Really!  Let's look an example:

Today is Sweet Little Margie's birthday and her mom sent her to school with enough cupcakes for her whole class to celebrate including the teacher.  But when it came time for the cupcakes the teacher went across the hall and invited another class to join them.  Now Sweet Little Margie and her friends realize there are not enough cupcakes for everyone so they'll have to take less.  And they're not happy!  Even though they're just kids they know they just got screwed!  It makes me wonder why agents feel happy in an office of 20, 40, 75 and more when they're competing against each other!!

Happy recruits head out to brand themselves with cards, ads and more to the delight of their brokers who know that the majority of them won't be around in a year.  But they may have sold a house or two so the broker won and, since regulations in most states require ads to have the brokers logo and contact information on them, the washouts spent the year building the company brand.  That's agent oriented real estate for you!

Here at Help-U-Sell things are different.  We're consumer oriented offering the same programs as other brokers but at a savings to the consumer by keeping our administrative costs low and a system that has worked  since 1976.  And our agents do well because they have no marketing expenses and much less competition because we don't pack the house.

It doesn't take a genius to know that if there are fewer people at the table there is more for those who are.
But don't ask Little Margie.  She's not that Sweet right now -- she's pissed!  Why aren't you?

Contact me or any Help-U-Sell office and we can tell you more about our expanded opportunity, how to spend more time with your family and more -- but that's just icing on the cake.







 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

TO STAGE OR NOT TO STAGE??

Should I stage my home?  I hear that question every month and my answer is "Yes, stage your home but don't over do it.    When you think of it, vacuuming the rugs and putting toys away are basic staging.  Getting rid of clutter and packing away items that you won't be using until after the move is also staging.  And so is painting, especially rooms with non traditional colors.  Those are all tasks that sellers can do themselves at little to no cost.

Model homes are beautifully staged  with lots of "extras" but have a professional sales staff to sell the upgrades.  Resale homes that are vacant are candidates for some sprucing up so they won't appear cold. And if time is not on your side professional staging MAY help the home sell faster but not necessarily bring a higher price.


But what about hiring a professional staging company for a whole redecorating?  Now this is grey area and only worth while if you are sure the money spent can be recouped.  Remember that you won't be taking the "staged" items with you and most importantly the buyers mortgage company will order an appraisal and the appraiser will give little or no value to those items.

What it comes down to is making the home most appealing but at market price.  Plan your move wisely.