Recently I went on a listing appointment and the first question the seller asked me was, “What’s your secret? How do you sell homes so fast?” There is no magic involved, just good old hard work. The first and most important part of the home selling process is actually answering the phone. Many agents today never answer their phones! No matter the time of day or what is going on I make sure to either answer all calls as they come in, or if I’m in an appointment then I return the call within an hour or two. If a request to show your house goes unanswered until the next day or two you have lost that buyer. Buyers often make one trip out to look at homes and if yours isn’t available the day they want to see it, then you have missed your opportunity to sell to them. Everyone now functions on a last minute schedule. Agents will call at 9 for a 10 showing. If that call goes unanswered until 5pm then you have missed that opportunity!
Another important factor is keeping track of every person who comes through every home I have listed for sale and keeping track of what they liked or didn’t like. This way if they did not like the particular home they saw I can try to help them find another one that meets their needs, even if they are not my client. Sometimes two buyers will like the same property but only one can have it. By keeping track of these people I can try to match them up with someone who hasn’t even listed their home yet. Then it becomes a very quick transaction once the listing agreement is signed.
Yard signs are another important factor. We get a lot of calls from the yard sign. We may not sell it directly from the yard sign, but a neighbor or a visitor in the neighborhood may see the sign and tell someone else who is looking that the home is for sale.
Another very important aspect of selling homes quickly is to have the home registered on every home related website (Trulia, Realtor.com, Hotpads, Zillow, etc). We get a lot of buyer leads from these sites. Today’s buyers are very computer savvy individuals who do a lot of their own searching before they ever contact an agent.
As for the seller who asked this question, I got him a contract the day we signed the listing agreement! If you would like more information about how I can help you with a quick sale please give me a call at your convenience.
