Category: News and Information

Deciding to sell a home is a big deal! It may even be one of the most important decisions of your lifetime.

Choosing the best Orlando Realtor for the job is equally important. You’re looking for someone you can depend on, get along with, and most important…. Someone that will help you achieve your goal of selling your house for the highest price and in the least amount of time.

The problem is… even when you try your hardest to find a good Realtor, you could still end up with someone you’re not happy with. Whatever your reasons may be, you may want to fire your agent.

So…how do you go about it?

Unfortunately, we’ve had dozens of people ask us how to break up with their realtor because they’re not happy with them.

Perhaps you made the mistake of hiring your nephew who just passed his real estate exam last week? Or maybe you hired your friend from the gym who does real estate part-time when he’s not selling memberships?

Whatever the case may be, it’s now become crystal clear to you that you need to end your relationship with your agent…

You should be aware that firing your agent isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve already signed a listing agreement with them. Most listing contracts are legally binding which means that the realtor will have to agree to release you from the contract.

Firing your Realtor isn’t like firing your hairdresser because they took too much off the top. When you hired your Realtor, you signed a contract that legally binds you to that Realtor. You and this licensed real estate professional agreed to certain terms which guarantee that you will use this agent exclusively to sell your home.

Hopefully, you signed an “Easy Exit Listing Agreement” which allows you to end the relationship if you’re not happy like the one we use here at Orlando Realty Consultants. However, most contracts don’t work this way and your agent has to agree to release you from the contract.

Most homeowners fail to realize is that not all agents were created equally. For example, you don’t want to list your home with an agent that specializes in working with buyers. By the same token, you never want to hire a listing agent to find the house of your dreams either. Most people just assume that an agent… is an agent… is an agent….BIG MISTAKE!

Top Reasons To Fire Your Realtor

There are fantastic realtors, horrible realtors, and a whole bunch of average realtors in between. Anytime you take a chance on hiring somebody new in any profession, there is a much greater chance that something will go wrong….or nothing will happen at all.

Some real estate agents will only do the bare minimum to get your home sold. They’ll plop a sign in the yard, list it on the MLS and then cross their fingers and pray for a contract.

These are some of the most common reasons people want to fire their agent:

Communication Breakdown

I know It’s crazy!… but this is by far the most popular reason why people are unsatisfied with their agents. For a homeowner, selling a home will be one of the most important decisions they’ll ever make. That’s why homeowners should be kept in the loop about everything that happens during the process. Like feedback about showings… Did they like it? Did they hate it? Did they think it was too much money?

An experienced listing agent will request the buyer’s agent’s feedback from every showing and pass it on to their clients, good or bad.

Sadly, for some Realtors, selling your home may not be a top priority for them for whatever reason. Maybe they have other, more expensive homes they’re focusing on first to get a bigger payday. Some people are just bad communicators and chose to be in the wrong profession. Whatever the reason may be, they just don’t communicate…

Lack of Skills

It won’t take you long to discover if your Realtor is incompetent or not. Chances are they might not know how to price a home accurately, market a home correctly and be bad negotiators. You may also realize that your agent priced your home too high just to get the listing from you!… This is a tactic used by shady agents who will let your home sit on the market until you agree to a price reduction. This was their strategy from the beginning…

Poor Marketing Plan

The 1^st time you met with your listing agent, you probably just assumed that the agent would do a good job marketing your home. Now, several months have passed and still no offers….so now you start to get curious and do some research. You check out your listing on the MLS only to find that the few pics of your home are not good… Besides that, you find out that…

• The agent never bothered to make brochures
• The agent never made a video of your home
• The agent never promoted your home on social media sites
• The agent doesn’t even have a decent website?!!

A good listing agent will know how to promote your home aggressively using multiple platforms until it gets sold.

Other Reasons To Fire Your Realtor

• Unprofessional behavior
• Avoiding agent duties
• Overpricing on purpose
• Liar liar, pants on fire
• Breaking the law

Every situation is different and should be treated as such. However, none of the things mentioned above should be tolerated by a true real estate professional.

Selling an Orlando Home? Keep Your Feelings In Check!

One of the biggest events in someone’s life is selling a home. It’s also a very emotional time for a homeowner knowing that they have to say goodbye to the place they’ve called home for so long. These feelings and emotions can tend to create state-of-mind in which the homeowner is no longer thinking clearly.

There are a lot of misconceptions or myths that exist about putting a home up for sale. Some sellers actually believe that selling their home will be super easy and there isn’t any preparation involved at all. Sellers that feel this way while their home is on the market never end up getting top dollar. They either end up settling for less money or just change their mind about selling at all.

Sellers that are aware of what it takes to make their home more desirable to buyers will be in a much better position to sell for a higher dollar amount.

After 12 years in the real estate industry, we know what it takes to sell your Orlando home for top dollar no matter what the situation.

We’ve come up with a list of the 5 most common myths about selling a home in Orlando

•   Any Orlando Realtor Can Sell My Home

Let me start by asking you a simple question. If your nephew just passed his exam to become a real estate agent two weeks ago, would you trust him to sell your home? Or would you seek out an Orlando Realtor with years of experience and a proven track record? Hopefully, you picked option 2.

Picking the right real estate agent to represent you in the sale of your home is crucial. It’s also the 1^st step in the route to a successful sale! One of the biggest myths in the Orlando real estate industry is that all real estate agents were created equal. This couldn’t be further from the truth and sellers who ignore this could end up losing thousands of dollars on the sale of their homes.

The truth is that every Orlando Realtor is different, and the way they market their listings is probably also different. Old schools realtors rely strictly on newspaper ads while other, younger agents, will only rely on social media and other online advertising.

So how do you know which realtor to choose? This is where knowing how to interview a real estate agent properly comes into play.

Sellers should ask certain questions when interviewing a realtor to sell their home. These are some basic questions to ask when determining which realtor is right for you.

• How many homes have you sold within the past year?
• What’s your marketing plan to sell my home if I give you the listing?
• Are you a full-time real estate agent?
• Can you provide me with references of your most recent listing clients?

• All Homes In Orlando Sell Fast

Far too many people in this world rely on gossip to get their information. They’ll tell you about their neighbor down the street who sold their house in one day… for the full asking price! Stories like this are unrealistic and probably aren’t true.

The truth is that not all Orlando homes sell fast with little or no effort. If this were the case, Realtors would be obsolete and I would be doing something else for a living.

There is a multitude of variables that factor into the amount of time and effort it takes to sell a home in Orlando. Like if a home is situated across from a public landfill, it’s highly likely that it will take more time, effort, and creativity in finding a buyer that doesn’t mind the smell of garbage twenty-four-seven as opposed to a home in a quiet neighborhood with a waterfall and rainbow in the backyard. Although this example is extreme… you get the idea.

The point I’m trying to make is that your home may take some time to sell. So don’t get discouraged if your home’s been on the market for 3 weeks and still hasn’t sold.

• Overprice The Home So You Have Plenty Of Room To Negotiate

I’ve seen homeowners make this mistake over and over again… A homeowner will price their home unrealistically high thinking that they are leaving themselves some wiggle room to negotiate a fair price. DON’T DO THIS!

When a house is priced correctly from the start, it will generate a ton of interest, especially in the first few days of it being on the market. This tends to create a multiple offer situation and maybe even a bidding war…That’s what you want!

• No Need To Have The Home Looking It’s Best

By pricing a home too high you’ll get a lot less interest and some buyers won’t even go see it thinking that the home is out of their price range. Consult with your Orlando real estate agent when it’s time to determine a listing price.

If you’ve shown as many Orlando homes as I have, you’d know the difference between showing a home that’s “show ready” and one that isn’t and how it affects a potential buyer.

A seller that takes the time and effort to make sure their home is looking its best before listing will surely come out ahead of a seller that doesn’t make the same effort. It’s like the old saying “you only get one chance to make a 1st impression”. Whoever made up that saying was probably a listing agent because it definitely applies to the residential real estate industry.

Preparing a home for sale isn’t that hard to do and doesn’t even cost that much. There are so many little things that you can do to your home that could mean the difference between getting an offer… or not getting an offer.

Here are a few basic tips to get your home ready for sale:

• Fresh paint
• Clean all surfaces
• De-clutter
• Ensure all light bulbs are working
• Remove excessive personal items

• Zestimates Are Accurate

A Zestimate is an auto-generated home valuation from the popular website Zillow.com. This site as well as many other sites that are similar provide homeowners with what they think their home is worth within seconds….that’s right,…seconds not even minutes!

The problem with these sites is that the home valuations that they provide are never accurate. These are not local sites… So how can a company based in California give me accurate information about how much my house is worth in Orlando?!… They can’t!

Sellers that believe these auto-generated value estimates get a rude awakening when a local Orlando real estate agent prepares a CMA [comparative market analysis] for them and it’s $15,000 less than their “Zestimate” and sometimes even more!

If you are looking to sell your Orlando home, don’t allow yourself to be guided by these popular myths and misconceptions people spread about selling a home.

Consult with an experienced Orlando realtor so that you have the knowledge to move forward intelligently and sell your home for top dollar!

For an accurate valuation on your home, GET A FREE CMA PREPARED BY A TOP ORLANDO REALTOR