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Open Houses, Worth It or Worthless?

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Several hundred realtors in Orlando were recently asked if they still held open houses as part of the marketing strategy to get a house sold. From the dramatic response that was received, real estate agents were passionate about wanting to respond to the question about open houses.

The answer was [Drum Roll Please…] an overwhelming 58% said that open houses are a waste of time and don’t do them anymore. The other 42% said they were in favor of doing open houses and still used them as part of their marketing strategy. The survey also revealed another interesting set of facts, over 70% of participants hold between one and six open houses in an average month while the remaining 30% don’t do them at all.

As listing agents in Orlando, we do hold open houses for certain properties as part of our marketing plan, especially luxury homes. Planning an open house for an investment home or a teardown would be a waste of time as open houses are geared more toward the retail buyer.

It depends on the seller whether an open house will even be an option for marketing the home. Some sellers are very private and don’t even want their own neighbors to know that their home is for sale.

Other homeowners expect their realtor to schedule at least one open house in the marketing plan. These homeowners just want the property sold no matter what and couldn’t care less how many people parade through their house. Open houses are also great for getting buyer feedback about the property.

Promoting The Open House

The most popular way to promote an open house these days is obviously social media. The more friends and people you’re connected with, the better your chances of having a successful open house. Email campaigns printed materials, and even bandit signs with balloons are also used among most real estate agents in Orlando to ensure some activity at an open house.

Some realtors will even take things a step or two further by baking cookies, popping popcorn, and even hosting a wine tasting at the open house.

So at the end of the day, open houses are alive and well although the majority of agents don’t do them. I think whether they are worth doing or not depends largely on the listing agent and how good they are at marketing their open houses. If the agent can get a good crowd to show up, then it’s worth it. On the other hand, if an agent just plans on putting up a few bandit signs and balloons, then why even bother?

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Getting Ready To Sell? Update Your Kitchen and Bathrooms.

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

“Hello and Welcome everybody and if you’ve been here before, we’re glad you’re back! This is the podcast where we talk about anything and everything to do with real estate in Orlando.”

“Our listing clients always want to know what upgrades they can do to make sure they get top dollar for their home…”

“When selling your Orlando home to retail buyers, they don’t want to update, touch up, re-carpet, repaint,…”

The summary of today’s episode is below.  Just hit the “play” button to listen to the entire show.

“need to sell your home for top dollar,… then make sure that your kitchen and bathrooms are looking tip-top.”

“Let’s start with the kitchen…”

“The kitchen is a space where appearance and functionality are equally important….”

“90% of home buyers say having a nice kitchen is a huge factor when deciding on whether or not to submit an offer on a house….”

– “A full kitchen re-model usually doesn’t make sense when you get ready to sell…”

– “Start with some Painting- Slap on a fresh coat of paint to brighten up those dingy walls….”

-“Countertops- If you have the old school Formica countertops or old outdated tile, put down some…”

– “Fixtures- Get rid of those old chrome faucets you’ve had for the past 10 years and replace them with something…”

– “Cabinets- Getting new cabinets will cost you thousands, don’t do it if you don’t need to…”

– “You can make your cabinets look brand new by Staining them a different color or even painting them white…”

 Let’s talk about bathrooms.

– “Replace the toilet- Unless you can make your existing toilet look brand new…”

– “Vanity- think about staining or painting if you can…”

– “Same with the fixtures…If they look tired and worn out just replace them.”

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Don’t Let An Agent Do The Job Of A Short Sale Agent

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

I’ve heard it happen so many times, that a very good and well-respected agent was hired by the seller to short sell their home. The problem is that this agent was horrible at working with short sales and knew it!

This particular story made me very upset when I heard it. It was actually what we “short sale agents” refer to as a slam dunk… meaning a very easy deal as far as short sales are concerned.

It was a young couple that made a bad investment and they were now needing to complete a short sale on their home. The lender was SPS and there was only one lien to deal with. Short sale agents are accustomed to working deals with two to three liens sometimes. [as I said…this deal was a slam dunk!]

The couple researched top agents in Orlando and decided on a couple to interview. The problem was that they failed to include the keyword “short sale” in their search.

To make things worse, the agent accepted the listing anyway! Well, it wasn’t long after taking the short sale listing that the realtor realized she was way over her head. She had never experienced being bombarded by paperwork and other items that need to be addressed when completing a short sale.

Agents who aren’t used to the essential hardships of working with short sales will eventually start to flounder and give up… which is exactly what happened here.

By the time the sellers realized that the Orlando realtor they hired was completely lost on how to get a short sale approved, it was too late! The auction date was too close and the property was sold to the highest bidder. Now the sellers lost their home to foreclosure, still owe the bank a lot of money and they would’ve been eligible to get up to $10,000 back at the closing for relocation assistance if the property closed.

All of this happened because the agent thought they could easily do a short sale even though they’ve never done one before!

Attention Orlando Real Estate Agents!

Don’t accept a short sale listing, unless you know what you’re doing! It’s not OK to play with someone’s biggest investment and potentially their biggest loss. Short selling a home for someone is serious business and if you’re not experienced at doing short sales, at least be honest about it. Sellers should be allowed to make decisions about what realtors they choose to short sale their homes based on facts, not fiction.

As real estate agents, we all have our strengths and skills and it’s important for both you as an agent as well as a potential client to know what they are. If you find yourself struggling with a short sale listing in Orlando and don’t know how to proceed, give me a call at 407-902-7750. I’ll be glad to help you out!

As Orlando real estate agents, we took an oath to do what was in the best interest of our clients. Sometimes that can mean stepping aside and letting the experts handle it.

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Beware Of Agents That Talk Big And Come Up Short

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Beware of Realtors Who Tell You They Can Sell Your Home For Higher Than Market Value

Any Orlando real estate agent promising to sell your home for higher than it’s worth is probably lying or just doesn’t have the experience to know what they’re talking about.

 This is a shady tactic referred to as “buying the listing”. Agents do this with the goal of luring the seller in with a much higher selling price than other competing agents. Then once the agent has the signed listing agreement,  they will suggest that you lower the listing price after a few weeks of your home not selling. 

Meanwhile, you’ve just lost a lot of valuable time on the market. Even worse, a potential buyer might see how long your house has been on the market and offer less than what they were going to offer originally.

If you’re a homeowner looking to sell your Orlando home, don’t fall for this trap. Talk to several real estate agents in Orlando and get property valuations from all of them.

If one of them suggests a listing price ten thousand dollars higher than the rest, then you can be sure that something’s wrong. You would be wise to only work with an agent that can show you up-to-date real estate statistics and good comparables for your home.

 

Interviewing An Agent Who Promises A Much Higher Price

  • Ask for comparables justifying the price they are suggesting.
  • Ask them to provide at least 3 recently sold references, then call each one.
  • Find out about the agent’s recent sales. Where there big price reductions?
  • How long did they sit before selling?

 

Real Estate in Orlando is a very competitive business and unfortunately some agents have no problem resorting to using dishonest tactics to try and get an edge on their competition. These types of realtors usually have very short careers in real estate because it doesn’t take long for their fraudulent ways to be found out. Once the cat is out of the bag it’s usually only a matter of time before they drop out of real estate all together.

What A Top Orlando Realtor Will Do For You

  • Prepare A Free CMA [Comparative Market Analysis] on your house. With a CMA in hand, they will help you to determine a realistic selling price.
  • Give you suggestions on how to make your home look it’s best for potential buyers.
  • Prepare a high-quality presentation including, photos and HD video.
  • Promote your home on all major listing sites in addition to the MLS.
  • Promote your home with a massive social media campaign and on their company website.
  • Install a lockbox and sign once the property’s ready to list.
  • Hold brokers’ and agents’ open houses.
  • Keep you up-to-date on everything that’s going on as it happens.
  • Stick with you every step of the way until the closing.
  •  

If need to sell your Orlando home for the highest dollar amount, then come see our Orlando listing specialists. Over the years we’ve developed relationships within the community as well as with other brokers and agents which allow us to reach the all of right people within minutes.

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TOR 022: Loan Modifications Exposed!

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Loan modifications have helped tens of thousands of Orlando homeowners to keep their homes in recent years. However, with Loan Modifications, you have to be aware of the fine print and know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

Sometimes…terms of a loan mod are much worse than the original mortgage. They just try to sugarcoat it to make it look good.

Here’s a recap of today’s episode. Hit the play button to get the full scoop!

 5 things you should watch out for when negotiating a loan modification:

 1-“Your lender’s in charge of the loan, which means they have the option of dropping all penalties against you. Don’t be bullied….. “

2- “This may sound funny but it happens. Sometimes lenders try to get you to agree that if they lose the original loan docs, you must assist them in reproducing them….”

3- “Don’t agree to step by step rate increases or balloon payments…..”

4- “Don’t agree to payments you can’t afford. The whole purpose for doing a loan mod is….” 

5- “Don’t agree to an interest rate that can automatically adjust based on an index over which… “

” An Orlando Short Sale maybe your best option!”

  “By doing a short sale you’ll be free of your lender forever, and you can get enough cashback from the sale to get a fresh start.”

“If you’re interested in getting more information about loan modifications or short sales call us or visit our site to set up a free consultation”

“we’ll meet with you to discuss the details of your situation to come up with a plan of action that works best for you.”

“I hope this information was helpful to someone out there. If so, please take a moment to write a review and rate the show on i tunes, it would be greatly appreciated.”

“Please keep those questions coming, just visit the ORC site to submit a question or topic and we’ll do our best to talk about it on the show.”

“Thanks for listening everyone, we’ll see you next time!”

 

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