Sell a Home, Not a House

One of the great ironies of selling your house is that you must get it in such great condition that you may ask yourself why you would even want to move out. Your focus right now may be on your own dream home, but consider your current house as someone else’s dream home, and start preparing it for them. Putting a little work into it now makes the entire process of selling your house much more profitable for you in the long run. Craig can provide you with information in both booklet and DVD form with many tips on preparing your house for sale.

Why choose Craig to list your home?

Any licensed salesperson can list your home. Craig will market your home, first by creating powerful sales messages (images, copy), then by actively promoting your home to targeted Realtors and potential buyers.

This is more that promotional puffery. In Iowa, Craig ran a successful one-man marketing consulting business. He served business clients by creating marketing materials that got results. In the course of this, he gained valuable experience in digital photography, image editing with Photoshop, video editing, and much more. What's more, he taught seven different marketing courses at Drake University a total of 22 times. He was also President of the Iowa chapter of the American Marketing Association. Craig knows his marketing, from the theory to the trenches!

Back to marketing your home:

How should your home be positioned, and to whom?  What are the most important benefits that your home offers? What kind of people will be likely buyers?

Based on the answers to these questions, Craig will develop a unique marketing plan for your property.

A great marketing plan starts with great images. Still images, panoramas and, sometimes, moving video.

Based on these images, accompanied by compelling copy, Craig will chose from many available marketing tactics. Typical examples in use for some current listings:

• appropriate signage on the property
• a lockbox on the property, so agents can show the property easily
• a professional-looking brochure, available at the property
• a virtual tour linked to the MLS and the various other websites
• "Just Listed" postcards to the community
• emails promoting the property to other leading Realtors in the area
• participation in "caravans" so other agents can tour your home
• featuring your property on this website
• posting your listing on craigslist,org, a popular online "classified ad" service
• adding your property "for sale" on zillow.com
• creating an enhanced listing on Realtor.com
• featuring your listing on worldproperties.com for international exposure
• developing a narrated video tour of the home
• installing a "talking house" audio tour, available to motorists near the home
• promoting and conducting a series of open house events
• advertising the property in local newspapers
• promoting the property in leading home magazines
• running TV spots for the property on Comcast's Real Estate Channel

While your property is on the market, Craig will monitor sales and price movement in the community and recommend necessary adjustments. He will also keep you informed about the results of these marketing efforts, such as feedback from showings, visitors to your virtual tour and page views on your listing on various web sites.

To see what recent sellers said about Craig's marketing activities CLICK HERE.

The CB Connection

This sales pitch would not be complete without mentioning the power of the Coldwell Banker brand.  This real estate leader has developed awesome technology tools to help buyers find their ideal house.  As part of the Coldwell Banker marketing system, your listing will be featured on FloridaMoves.com and ColdwellBanker.com. Through special partnerships, CB listings also appear on Google.com and Trulia.com. Some listings are also featured on the New York Times website.  
 
As a full service real estate company, Coldwell Banker offers a variety of services that can benefit the buyer and you, the seller. As you probably know, availability of homeowners insurance is a huge issue here in Florida. Coldwell Banker recently introduced a homeowners insurance program for Coldwell Banker property buyers. This could make it easier for buyers of your property to obtain affordable insurance. Coldwell Banker also offers an affordable home warranty plan. Sellers should consider offering a one year home warranty. For a small investment, this could make your property stand apart from the competition. Finally, CB offers a mortgage service with very attractive terms. List with Craig and these Coldwell Banker services could make a huge difference in accomplishing a successful sale of your property.

Timing It Right

When you are selling your home and buying a new one at the same time, your ability to juggle the responsibilities of both can protect you from headaches. Avoid having to handle two giant chores at once by starting early. Make a list of whom you need to notify about your change of address, including utility companies and credit card companies. Start packing the knick-knacks and off-season items you won’t be needing before the move. If you can start doing repairs around the home as early as possible -- even a full year prior to the sale of your home -- you will be able to avoid a huge bill right before the sale.

Lighten The Load

As you begin packing to move to your new home, the realization will probably hit you like a ton of bricks: You have a ton of stuff. Rather than packing it all and lugging it to your new house just to stuff it into the garage and closets, lighten your load and make your move easier. A garage sale is a great way to unload lots of your little-used items and make a little extra cash to spend on decorating your new home. You can also sell some of your rarer possessions on auction sites such as Ebay. You may get a pretty penny for old toys and books which might have sold for a lesser price at your garage sale. Also consider donating furniture and clothing to charity. You’ll be doing something good for yourself and for others.

For sellers with adult children, consider passing down some of the family treasures that you may have inherited from your parents. For memoribilia with particular meaning, this will allow you to explain it in person. When Craig and Amy moved to Florida from Iowa, they sent about 35 boxes of family stuff to their sons in addition to a small load of furniture from Craig's late grandmother. This really helped limit the amount we had to move, part of our downsizing for the later years.