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Julia Vakulenko - Broker -

Guidelines to sell a home in Tampa - Tips for sellers

Guidelines

Test the listing agent you're contemplating on listing your house with. Call the agent, email the agent.

See how responsive he/ she is on returning your calls/ emails. This is the person who will be representing you and your property.

His/ her response time is crucial to making or breaking a deal. This is the person who the buyers and buyers agents will call to see your house.

Request CMA (comparable market analisys) for your property and see how quickly you will get a response.

Inquire about what kind of marketing techniques they will be using to sell your house. Inquire about the effectivity of these techniques.

Remember, you may be charged for some of these marketing materials whether they work or they don't.

Most Buyers start their search online. Does Realtor have a website? Is he/she member of MLS services and participating in online services to promote your listing all over the internet? Would Buyer be able to find it by typing your community name, or area?

Request a preview of the past and current listings they have had on the MLS.

Review how well it's written, how detailed the information they put in, read to see how well they wrote the remarks and specially the driving directions on each listing, see how well the property was photographed, how many photos were used and how photogenic the property looked.

Ask for at least 3 references: ask how often they got a feedback while their properties were on the market.

Commissions: don't just sign with the cheapest agent you can find. Find out what services you can expect to get. Focus on the results. The purpose of all this is to Find a Buyer. Without Buyer, nobody is getting paid. Property will just sit on the market, seller might end up spending money on mortgage and upkeep, and end up reducing the price over time. By offering commission to Buyer's agent, you are widening the "pool of buyers" coming to see your home.

TIP: Discuss with listing agent what is competitive commission to offer to Buyer's agent. In a slow market (Buyer's market) commissions tend to be higher.