5 Quiz Questions to Test If You’re Ready to Sell Your House
It seems like a simple process…
Put up a sign.
Take some pictures.
Put it online.
People come and see it.
Agree on a price, and we’re good to go.
Right?
Let’s make sure you don’t jump in blind.
Here’s a quiz I wrote to test if you’re ready to sell your home!
Explanations for each question and all the answers will follow.
Question 1: How can you reliably determine how much your house can sell for?
A. Look on Zillow.com, search for your home address, and find their “Zestimate” for how much it should sell for.
B. Although you should know the value of your home by looking online, consult a licensed real estate agent anyway.
C. Take the value of what you paid for the house, and add the cost of all of the upgrades you made to the house.
D. Look at what other homes in your area are being advertised for, compare it to your home, and estimate based on that data.
Question 2: How should I price my home to sell it as quick as possible at a fair price?
A. Under market value
B. At market value
C. Above market value
D. The value of what I bought the home for and all my upgrades
Question 3: Which of these is a mistake when buyers are viewing the home?
A. Allow the buyers to play with the loose family dog so the buyer knows this is a happy household.
B. Leave moving boxes in the home and rooms so the buyers know that the sellers are confident they are moving.
C. Leave up family pictures so they know this home belonged to a happy family full of good memories.
D. Cook a meal so there are inviting smells in the home.
E. All of the above
Question 4: True or False?
“Once the buyer and I can agree on a selling price, the rest is easy.”
Question 5: When should you use a real estate agent to sell your home?
A. When you are not a licensed real estate agent.
B. When you want to sell your home quickly.
C. When you want to make sure you’re informed throughout the contract and escrow process.
D. When you want to sell your home for the most money.
E. All of the above.
Explanations and Answers
Wrong Answers for Question 1:
Question 1: How can you reliably determine how much your house can sell for?
Q1 Answer A. Look on Zillow.com, search for your home address, and find their “Zestimate” for how much it should sell for.
Explanation: Why is this answer wrong to me? Doesn’t Zillow have accurate data? Sometimes they do. But not always.
Here’s my analysis based on the information they’ve provided.
Zillow claims, nationwide, on average:
- Their Zestimate is within 5% of the sales price 53.9% of the time.
- Their Zestimate is within 10% of the sales price 75.6% of the time.
- Their Zestimate is within 20% of the sales price 89.7% of the time.
- Cited November 9, 2016
Source:
What does this mean in real numbers?
For example, if your house would sell for $300,000…
This above diagram shows that if your home would sell for $300,000, the Zestimate would give you a number between $285,000 and $315,000 about 53.9% of the time.
The other 46.1% of the time, they would give you a number above $315,000 or under $285,000. So the Zestimate is off by at least $15,000 for a $300,000 home almost half the time.
This above diagram shows that if your home would sell for $300,000, the Zestimate would give you a number between $270,000 and $330,000 about 75.6% of the time.
The other 46.1% of the time, they would give you a number above $330,000 or under $270,000. So the Zestimate is off by at least $30,000 for a $300,000 home about a quarter of the time.
This last diagram above shows that if your home would sell for $300,000, the Zestimate would give you a number between $240,000 and $360,000 about 89.7% of the time, or 9 times out of 10.
89.7% of the time is great and all, but when the number provided 9 times out of 10 is “within $60,000 of the selling price”, that’s not very accurate information.
Overall, the Zestimate is an okay starting point, but I don’t recommend basing your sales price expectation on it.
Question 1: How can you reliably determine how much your house can sell for?
Q1 Answer C. Take the value of what you paid for the house, and add the cost of all of the upgrades you made to the house.
Explanation: Why is this answer wrong? To put it simply, the buyers don’t care what we paid for the home.
- Example: You bought a nice home for $500,000 when homes were really expensive, and put in a $50,000 pool complete with a waterfall and nice flamingo statues. Total cost of $550,000.
- If all the similar homes in your neighborhood this year sold for around $350,000, your home will likely not sell for the $550,000 you paid for the home.
On Upgrades: The money we put into the home is the cost of the upgrades. But that doesn’t always translate to value for the buyers.
Example: You may love your custom purple and magenta wallpaper put in by professionals for $10,000, but James, a buyer moving from California may not pay $10,000 extra for this house, will probably just see it as something he has to remove and repaint over.
Here are some examples of “upgrades” that don’t always increase the value of your home
This skateboarder themed room may have been expensive to put in. But that doesn’t mean someone will pay extra for it. It’s likely going to be seen as a cost to most buyers.
Same for this red and pink wall.
And this purple fireplace.
These look like custom cabinets and tile counter tops. It was probably expensive to put in, but probably wouldn’t be viewed as upgrades to most buyers nowadays.
Also, tile counters are no longer considered an “upgrade.” They were all the rage in the late 90’s, but most people are looking for granite/corian/quartz counter tops now.
This style of tile flooring was also considered an upgrade at one time. Not anymore~
Although built-in office desks are useful to the person who used it as an office, most home buyers who are looking for a “3 bedroom” really want to be able to use all the rooms as bedrooms. Sometimes they need extra rooms and may put an office in there. But most likely, they have their own office desk and don’t want to pay extra to get rid of an existing one.
Here’s another office desk. It looks nice, but usually doesn’t increase value.
Having shelving in the bedrooms is useful too. But most wall shelving is built to the needs of the person who put them in. These are usually not considered upgrades as well.
The general principle is, if they’re not wanted by most buyers and they’re hard to remove or replace, they just look like another hassle and extra expense to undo.
Question 1: How can you reliably determine how much your house can sell for?
Q1 Answer D: Look at what other homes in your area are being advertised for, compare it to your home, and estimate based on that data.
Explanation: Why is this wrong? Well, when trying to figure out what our house is worth, we need to use reliable data. We need to know what homes similar to ours actually sold for.
- Analogy: If we were trying to sell our 2005 Honda Civic, and someone on Craigslist was trying to sell a similar 2005 Honda Civic for $50,000, we wouldn’t just blindly think our car was worth $50,000 as well.
- We want to know what homes similar to our home actually sold for. The problem is, most people who aren’t licensed real estate agents don’t know how to look for the data, or interpret it properly.
Question 1: Correct Answer and Explanation
Question 1: How can you reliably determine how much your house can sell for?
Correct Answer: B. Although you should know the value of your home by looking online, consult a licensed real estate agent anyway.
A licensed real estate agent needs to understand how to perform a comparative value analysis. This is like a rough but technical estimate of value. Not an official appraisal. In real estate school, we’re taught what factors influence the worth of the home.
I don’t need you, the reader, to use me as your agent.
What I am saying is, before you list your home for sale and get excited about how much the home will sell for, it’s a good idea to figure out what it’s really worth.
If your home is worth $300,000 and you mistakenly assume it’s worth $350,000, and you need the extra money to do something else, you may waste a few months of your time cleaning and showing homes and be disappointed if no one comes along and offers $350,000.
Similarly, if you think it’s only worth $250,000 and advertised only on craigslist, and 1 buyer came, and offered you $250,000, you would probably take it. Then you’ll be sad later if you find out it was worth $300,000.
If you are buying a home, you also don’t want to offer too much above the comparative market analysis value unless you’re willing to pay the difference between appraisal value and your offer price.
Here are a few factors for estimating the value of a home that competent real estate agents and appraisers consider and analyze that the average person may not:
Floor Plan
The floor plan may be a factor
- Example: One home may be 2000 square feet and another 2050 square feet. Not a big difference, right? Same neighborhood. Same condition and upgrades. Will probably sell for a similar price?
- Sometimes. But if the 2050 square foot floor plan has a 3rd shower downstairs and better open layout, it may sell for much more than the 2000 square foot plan, simply because there’s more demand for that kind of home.
Subdivision (Neighborhood) and Year Built
Competent agents are aware that the value of your home is influenced by your neighborhood and age of the home, and the selling prices in another part of town aren’t necessarily consistent with your neighborhood.
- Example: Selling prices for one home in a non-gated neighborhood built in the 1990’s should not expect the sell for the same prices as homes in the guard gated community built in 2015 a few streets over.
Recent Sales and Trends
Competent agents take into account the current state of the market.
- Example: Selling prices for homes in your area that sold 3 months ago have more relevance than the prices of homes that sold 3 years ago.
- If prices have been coming up, down, or staying the same for the past few months.
Square footage
A 1500 square foot home will usually not sell for the same as a 2000 sft of similar floor plan in the same neighborhood.
Number of Floors/Stories
One-story homes that are 2000 sft tend to sell for more per square foot than two-story homes that are 2000 sft.
- One story homes tend to take up more land, and be easier to live in, since there are no stairs to climb to access the entire home.
- This makes the home usable for elderly and handicapped people.
- This increases demand and subsequently, selling value.
Lot Size
The size of your land matters.
- A home with a 10,000 square foot lot of land will probably sell for more than a similar home with a 4000 square foot lot.
Position
The position of your home matters.
- A home backed up onto a busy street will not usually be as highly valued as a home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac.
- A home with a backyard that backs onto a desert or train tracks would probably not be as desirable as a home nestled within other homes.
The Value of Relevant Upgrades
We know that not all upgrades bring up your value.
- The $10,000 designer paint job that’s not a popular style is likely not worth that much to other people. It would probably be painted over and seen as an additional expense.
- Nice upgrades in nice neighborhoods also matter more because it’s consistent with the neighborhood style. A nice swimming pool with a waterfall in Summerlin may be worth an additional $50,000 compared to similar homes in that neighborhood with no pool.
- But the same $50,000 pool may not be worth that much when you’re buying a home in a neighborhood where the average selling price is $100,000. Someone with $150,000 to spend would probably just spend it buying a home in a $150,000 neighborhood. The $100,000 with a nice pool may sell for $120,000.
- If you’re going to spend money on unique stylistic upgrades, I would recommend to do it for your own enjoyment and not to try and increase the value of the home.
- If you want to try that anyway, here’s a nice article from HGTV
- HGTV – Which Home Improvements Pay Off?
The Costs of Buying or Selling a “Fixer-upper”
Some homeowners believe that buyers can “just buy their own” or “fix it themselves” after they buy the house. What people often fail to realize is if the home is in need of repairs, those usually translate to extra up front costs to the buyer that aren’t clear to the buyer. This tends to influence in many ways.
- The home will not sell for as much as a home that needs no repairs.
- Why would a buyer pay the same price for your home as the same home next door that’s ready to move in? I don’t think anybody would.
- Less people will look at the home, so less people can bid on it. It will sell for less and take longer to sell. Why? Here’s an explanation:
- Many buyers have just enough money for the minimum 3 to 3.5% down payment and a few thousand for closing costs. Just enough to pay to get in the house, and not much more.
- The buyers who can normally buy a house like yours will see those repairs as additional up front costs, that aren’t easy to calculate.
- Even if the A/C unit takes $150 to fix after it’s all said and done. In the buyer’s head, it can possibly be $3000 or more. No one can say for sure. But most buyers won’t risk buying that house if they feel they can’t afford the potential repairs.
- What does this mean?
- Usually since there’s less people who can buy the home, there’s now less competition of buyers.
- The home will get more lowball offers from the remaining buyers that think the repairs may be high and lower their offer accordingly. So even if there may be $3000 of repairs to do, buyers may fear it could be $10,000 and drop their offer price by $10,000.
- Cash buyers tend to haggle pretty hard too. And will probably pay less than a financing buyer.
- The average buyer can more easily buy a home that costs a little more but is ready to move in. Why?
- Because they can put most of it into the loan and it won’t be an up front cost.
- The $3000-4000 you put into new paint and carpet can easily come back in increased selling price of $5000+ and a faster sale.
My Advice on Repairs?
If you have the money, it’s best to try and make sure the home is as “move-in ready” as possible.
- Major Systems: Make sure the major heating, air conditioning, and water systems work.
- Appliances: If you have really old appliances, you can replace them with clean basic ones that match the house so that any buyer looking at the home won’t factor in an additional $3000 to get new appliances.
- Kitchen Cabinets: If they’re a little worn, you can probably have them sanded and repainted and attract many more offers. Clean looking cabinets are worth it in my book. It’s a $3000+ expense the buyer doesn’t have to think about.
- Floor and Walls: If you really need new paint or carpet, it may be well worth it since it runs around $1 or less per square foot to get a home painted, and a little over $2 a square foot for carpet and installation.
- If you need to get some estimates with some contractors I have used, I list them here:
- Air Conditioning and Heating
- Frank Lee @ 702-528-0753 (text ok)
- Landscaping
- Rigoberto (Rigo) @ 702-773-9759 (text ok)
- Painting
- Hector @ 702-980-6407 (text ok but calling is best)
- Carpet Cleaning
- Website:Zerorez
- 702-903-1300
- Parts and Labor for – Kitchen – Cabinets – Carpet – Tile – Laminate – Wood Flooring
- Website: Cabinets Now Plus
- 4375 South Valley View Blvd., Las Vegas, Nevada 89103
- 702-220-6688
- Handymen
- Andy’s Handy Services @ 702-265-2028 (text ok, he’s pretty busy but great and has a team and contacts with various trades)
- Bill Mack’s Handyman Services @ 702-236-1565 (text ok, he’s not as busy as Andy)
- General Home Inspector
- Roger Johnson @ 702-285-1399 (text ok but calling is best)
- Air Conditioning and Heating
Wrong Answers for Question 2:
Question 2: How should I price my home to sell it as quick as possible at a fair price?
Q2 Answer A. Under Market Price
Explanation: If you underprice your home, it’s true more people will come see it. But what if everyone bidding just bid near the low list price or only a little higher, and not the price you were actually looking for?
Sometimes it works. Sometimes you get the market value price.
But rarely do you get more for the house than it’s worth.
Even if someone overbids, when the appraisal comes back, they’ll probably be denied the loan. I’m just not a fan of this marketing tactic.
It’s like saying I’m selling my car for $1,000, and when people come by the droves and offer $1,000 for it, I turn them all away because I really wanted $2,000. Legally you do not have to accept the low offers that come in. But this tactic usually doesn’t work so well and just doesn’t sit well with my conscience.
Question 2: How should I price my home to sell it as quick as possible at a fair price?
Q2 Answer C: Above market value.
Explanation: Why is this a bad idea? This has the opposite effect of underpricing your home.
Very few people will come to your home. The few that do, will often think that after a while you’ll get desperate, and underbid you.
If you’re stubborn and don’t accept an offer that’s close to what the home is actually worth, you’ll probably sit on the market for a long time.
This technique is usually worse than underbidding, because not only is nobody willing to give you the price you want, less people will see your home even if they would have paid market price for it.
For example: If your home is worth $200,000 and you price it at $210,000, anticipating that “people will lowball me anyway”, you’re right.
- But what you may not realize is that when people get lists of homes from their agents, they often don’t see homes that are outside their price range.
- If a buyer can afford up to $200,000 according to their lender, and that agent sends them homes priced up to $200,000, they will not even see your home on the list.
- If you wanted to sell it for $200,000, you wouldn’t even be visible to those buyers because you priced it so high.
Agents also may advise the buyers that the home is listed higher than its actual value, and that the owner is looking for more than it’s worth. Those buyers may not even bother looking at the home, even if they saw it on their list and would have paid market price for it.
Question 2: How should I price my home to sell it as quick as possible at a fair price?
Q2 Answer D: The value of what I bought the home for and all my upgrades
Explanation: Why is this not correct? I explained this concept in the explanation for Question 1 Answer B, but the likely selling price of the home is based on what the market (buyers) are willing to pay for it.
Two things that are not a factor of selling price are:
- What you paid for the home
- What you paid for what you put in the home.
I know you want to make back your money, but wanting something back and expecting people to pay unrealistic prices are two different things.
Question 2: Correct Answer and Explanation
Question 2: How should I price my home to sell it as quick as possible at a fair price?
Correct Answer: B. At Market Value
Explanation: Why? Well, when you advertise something for what it’s actually worth, what happens?
First, the people coming to view the home are under the assumption that if they put in an offer of that value, and they’ll get the house, as long as there are no other buyers.
What does this mean?
Since you didn’t underprice it, it means you won’t have an extra 20 showing appointments per week with the majority of the people expecting to get it at a low price. It also means those same people won’t waste your time with mostly low offers. And you don’t have to clean the house as much since there’s less unnecessary foot traffic.
Since you didn’t overprice it, people who can afford your home will actually see it show up on their list they get from their agent.
You don’t waste as much time with unqualified buyers, and you don’t have your home sitting on the market for many months. You get the best of both worlds 🙂
Wrong Answers for Question 3
Question 3: Which of these is a mistake when buyers are viewing the home?
Q3 Answer A. Allow the buyers to play with the loose family dog so the buyer knows this is a happy household.
Explanation: Any pets or children crying or running around may distract the buyers from paying attention to the home and/or falling in love with the home.
If you have buyers visiting the home, it’s best to keep Fluffy outside or have someone take him for a walk. Same with babies or children that would otherwise distract the buyers.
You want them to be able to experience the house and the house alone so they won’t accidentally be turned off with negative emotions associated with fear or annoyance when they walked through the house.
Question 3: Which of these is a mistake when buyers are viewing the home?
Q3 Answer B. Leave moving boxes in the home and rooms so the buyers know that the sellers are confident they are moving.
Explanation: Sometimes sellers want to start moving ahead of time. That’s fine. Packing up boxes is great. Because there’s less stuff in general out there. But putting them in the living room or a bedroom is usually not ideal.
When buyers visit a home, they don’t see the home as “what it is”. They see it how it is at that moment and it’s hard to imagine a home that’s open and full of space and possibilities if there are boxes blocking an otherwise open view of a living area or bedroom.
If you’ve started packing, it’s best to put moving boxes in the garage or in storage, so the buyers can feel the full space of the home without so much physical and obstruction to their view.
You should also try and remove as much clutter as possible.
Compare the following 2 photos and you’ll see why.
Which of these looks better?
Which is more inviting and shows off the space?
Which of these looks ready to move in?
For me it’s clearly the clutter-free one.
(Granted, they staged the home by adding a couch and a different painting and little cute knick knacks, but you don’t have to do that to achieve a similar effect)
If it feels nicer to be in, it usually sells faster and for more money 🙂
If you take some time to tidy up your home, I promise it’s well worth it!
Question 3: Which of these is a mistake when buyers are viewing the home?
Q3 Answer C. Leave up family pictures so they know this home belonged to a happy family full of good memories.
Explanation: Why is this not okay? This is a factor that most people aren’t aware of at first. We either don’t think about the family photos everywhere, or we may display them on purpose to show how distinguished or happy our family is.
That’s a great idea in our head, but in practice, when a buyer walks through a home full of someone else’s family’s pictures, it makes it hard for them to imagine their own family living there. Most buyers aren’t aware of this either.
My advice? It’s best to put away the family pictures. You can still leave up nice paintings or something that looks nice but doesn’t psychologically show that someone else’s family lives there.
Question 3: Which of these is a mistake when buyers are viewing the home?
Q3 Answer D. Cook a meal so there are inviting smells in the home.
Explanation: I expect most people to understand this is a bad idea to cook while buyers are viewing the home. First, the smell distracts them from focusing on the home. But also, it makes them feel like they’re intruding on someone else’s meal and that they should leave soon.
My advice? Don’t cook or eat something that makes the house smell like that food when someone is coming to view the home.
Also, to add a pleasant smell, you can use air fresheners or nice fragrances to make the home smell extra nice. I like apple cinnamon.
Question 3: Correct Answer and Explanation
Question 3: Which of these is a mistake when buyers are viewing the home?
Correct Answer E. All of the above (hopefully this was obvious)
Explanation: Hopefully it was obvious that the first 4 answers are all mistakes.
- Don’t have pets or children running around.
- Don’t clutter the house with moving boxes.
- Don’t leave lots of family pictures up.
- Don’t cook or eat in the house when people are viewing the home.
Additional Advice / Pro Tip: It’s a good idea to leave the home or go outside when the buyers are viewing the home with their agent.
The most self sabotaging thing a homeowner can do is follow the buyers and agent throughout the home or try to give the buyers a tour of the home.
Nobody likes a seller or salesperson breathing down their neck.
You don’t enjoy when a car salesman is peaking over your shoulder at every moment trying to sell each part of the car and its history. You’re just trying to see how you feel in the car and ask questions about features and pricing only if you like the car already.
Similarly, most people don’t like when a seller gives them a home tour and hangs around. Sellers think the buyers won’t know and love the home unless they’re told and shown every little thing, but sellers actually hurt themselves by not allowing the buyers to experience the home on their own.
From my experience, if the owner was very clingy or too “sell-y”, the buyers usually bad-mouth the owner and complain about it afterwards.
If they would have bought the home, they probably won’t buy it after that kind of experience.
Lockboxes
Sentrilock Electronic Lockboxes can only be opened using a Realtor’s Electronic Card or by logging into their app on their phone.
Most listing agents will provide this for your sale if you like. These can hold multiple house keys and records who opens them and when.
Access
You can choose how you want Realtors to access them. You can set times that they can open the box, or make it so they cannot open the box unless your agent sends them a one day code that can only be used that day.
If you leave the house:
- If you have a secure lockbox (pictured above) on the home that holds a house key, then you can drive somewhere or take a walk around the neighborhood and come back later. If they have questions, they’ll call you or your agent later. The agent should be able to lock up the house securely with the extra house key.
- If you’re always home and will be home every time a buyer comes by, and you would rather wait in the front yard or right outside, then it’s easy to tell when they’re done looking and you can come back in.
How to get out of the way, so buyers can have the best showing possible.
When looking at a home, most buyers want to feel out the home for themselves first. They have their licensed agent with them, who is responsible if anything happens to the home. So normally the agent is careful about making sure nothing is out of place or damaged when they leave.
What do buyers want?
- To be able to move freely throughout the home and explore for themselves, back and forth without being herded around like a tour group
- To be able to talk to each other while they’re in the home, make comments, good and bad, and be able to discuss their opinions freely without fear of offending the seller or having the seller there to make more comments.
- To be able to ask their agent’s opinions on strategies, repair estimates, and what to offer on the home, while they’re still in the home and able to visualize it all.
Answering Questions after the Showing
When the buyers are done looking at the home, they may have questions for the homeowner after they’re done looking.
If you’re just outside, they can ask you questions afterwards. Or if you left somewhere, they may have their agent call you and ask questions like:
- When did you buy the appliances?
- What kind of counters are these?
- I noticed you have a security system, how is it?
- Are there any other features we missed?
When they ask you questions after they’ve already viewed the home freely, you get to be helpful and provide answers when they’re ready for the information, and you won’t be annoying them.
What if they don’t ask questions?
If they saw everything and aren’t asking questions, they probably aren’t excited or in love with the home.
If they’re quiet, you can ask, “Did you guys have any questions?”, and if they don’t have any questions or comments, it usually means they don’t like the home or just want to go to the next house and think about it later.
In my experience, if they are ready to move to the next house, an extra 10 minutes of showing off the features usually just annoys them and wastes both their time and yours.
Asking for Feedback
There’s always that one homeowner who thinks they can convince someone to love their home, but it’s probably a better use of time to ask for honest feedback on what they liked in the house and what they’re looking for. Sometimes they need a different floor plan, bigger rooms, or something repaired.
If you ask for honest feedback like that, you can better figure out:
- If you should change something
- If that home just isn’t a right fit for them.
If you find out you need to change something because everyone’s saying it, then that’s great and you can adjust! If that home just isn’t the right fit for them, you shouldn’t feel bad about it and should be patient. The right person always comes along if you didn’t overprice your home.
Question 4: True or False?
Once the buyer and I can agree on a selling price, the rest is easy.
Answer: False.
It’s not rocket science. But it’s not something the average person is trained to handle smoothly.
The following are the different aspects of selling a home that most people don’t understand.
Negotiating and agreeing on the terms of a purchase contract. Which includes:
- Amount of earnest money deposit
- Escrow/title company to be used.
- If the seller is responsible for repairs and if so, up to what amount?
- Who pays what fees associated with the sale
- Transfer tax fees
- Title policies
- Escrow Fees
- Fees associated with the HOA transfer
- Inspection Fees
- Appraisal Fees
How long the deadlines are for:
- Due diligence
- Escrow itself
- Appraisal
- Loan approval
If you already understand the above concepts well, that’s great!
For the average person, it’s not common knowledge though.
I wish it was easy for everyone to buy or sell their home.
But there’s a lot of little things that should be addressed before signing a purchase contract. It’s too easy to get tricked by buyers or their agents nowadays if you’re a homeowner going it alone.
On most contracts, it’s not always clear how much you’re going to end up paying in fees.
Example: The contract may say you (the seller) will have to pay the transfer tax, but the buyer will pay for the appraisal fee.
- What does that mean?
- How much are those?
- What’s normal in the industry?
- What’s reasonable or unreasonable?
If you do have an agent, don’t be afraid to ask them what each term means and what fees you need to pay in the sale before you sign a contract.
Sometimes your agent may not know the answer off the top of their head, but they can ask their broker (like the CEO of the company, usually more experienced). They can also ask a trusted escrow officer or their other industry contacts who can advise better.
Oftentimes even if an agent doesn’t know the answer to everything, they can still provide value because of their contacts.
Wrong Answers for Question 5
Question 5: When should you use a real estate agent to sell your home?
A. When you are not a licensed real estate agent
B. When you want to sell your home quickly
C. When you want to make sure you’re informed throughout the contract and escrow process.
D. When you want to sell your home for the most money
E. All of the above.
This one should have been way more obvious.
The correct answer is E. All of the Above
Why?
Competent agents will protect you from rookie mistakes that the average citizen will make. They’ll do thorough market research so you price your home properly.
They’ll help advise you through preparing your home for showings.
They’ll get good photographs and advertise your home well to maximize the number of qualified buyers coming to see your home, which sells your home fast and for the most money possible.
- Your home won’t sit on the market for months when you wanted to move asap.
- The house will sell for a higher price than if you tried to sell it yourself.
In my opinion, it’s not important to use any specific agent to sell your home. I’m not asking anyone to use me. But it is important to make sure you can trust your agent and they can guide you through the process.
Here’s a few tips I would recommend for making sure an agent is good for you.
Tip #1 – Make sure your agent actually listens to you.
This should be obvious, but I need to stress the importance of communication. With poor listening comes unwanted actions or no action when you needed something to happen.
For example, if you tell your agent you need an extra 15 days to move after the 45 day escrow period and he or she doesn’t make sure the buyer understands that before going into contract, you could be pressured to move faster than you expected, because your agent wasn’t really listening and just chasing a quick contract and sale and commission. If you say the refrigerator and washer/dryer aren’t included in the sale, and they offer it to the buyers online, you could have confusion there as well.
Make sure what you’re saying is getting through to the agent. Watch for signs of inconsistency and don’t be afraid to call them out on it or find another agent if they’re not really listening to your needs.
Tip #2 – Make sure your agent is willing to teach you.
I dislike when someone is trying to get my business or sell me something without explaining to me what’s going on when I ask.
If you ask what something on a contract is and he or she says, “Don’t worry about it. Just sign here. Everything will be fine,” that’s a bad sign.
An agent is not just a transaction coordinator. Good ones are teachers and guides. They should want you to feel comfortable and informed before, during, and after the sale process. With that mindset, they should be willing to teach you what they know and their mental processing and not hide their knowledge. If they’re hiding knowledge you should be aware of, it’s usually for a malicious reason.
Tip #3 – Make sure your agent has experience, or is being guided by someone experienced, and is willing to learn
If your agent has not sold a home before, make sure he/she is at least guided by someone who has sold a home. When I sold my first home, I had to ask my broker and office manager everything. Nowadays, I rarely need to ask for any advice from them. But back then, it was better for me to admit to my client that I haven’t sold a home, but my broker who has been selling for 20+ years will be guiding us through the process. That’s best for everyone, and makes us all feel safe.
Similarly, make sure your agent has either sold a home before, or is guided by someone who does. You want someone who doesn’t have so much pride that they won’t ask for help or guidance when they’re not sure what’s going on. Making sure the client feels safe and in good hands throughout the process must be a top priority.
Tip #4 Make sure your agent is willing to admit when he’s wrong or doesn’t know something.
Humility is important. To me, it’s more important than acting knowledgeable. No one really knows everything off the top of their head. Or if they do, they should at least be able to explain why something is that way.
If your agent pretends he/she knows everything when they don’t, they’re more likely to ignore important issues they should be paying attention to. It means they’re blind and they’re trying to lead you. That’s dangerous to me.
If you ask about the safety of a neighborhood and he says, “yeah it’s safe”, without double checking the crime rate or advising you to check it out online for yourself, that’s a bad sign. Similarly, if they don’t know something, instead of guessing, they should say, “I’m not sure, but I can check with xyz”, or “I can look it up for you.”
If you catch the agent making a mistake, he/she should be able to admit the mistake and apologize immediately. He/she should detail a plan of action to avoid future mistakes like that and they should have enough respect for you to understand if you don’t trust him/her as much after that.
Tip #5 – In regards to selling a home, make sure he has a marketing/advertising plan.
Make sure your agent can explain to you what they’re going to do to advertise your home and why. The why is important. Newspapers aren’t as effective anymore. Neither are the thousands of small sites that say they’ll help you sell more.
There are a few main ways people become aware of homes for sale.
- Realtor MLS (Multiple Listing Service)
- Zillow
- Craigslist
- Signs on your front yard
Tip #6 – Make sure your agent can show you a good photography portfolio of past homes that were sold.
Good pictures are crucial to selling a home. A great home with bad pictures just makes people run away from your home faster.
Although the physical home tour and purchase terms are what ultimately sell the home, beautiful photos are effective at bringing more people to view the home. Most people look at homes on their phones nowadays and the pictures are one of the first things they look at to help them decide if the home is worth considering.
You don’t need everyone to buy your home. You just the need the one person to fall in love with the home and pay the right price for it. The more people who come see the home, the higher the chance of that happening, and happening quickly.
For reference,
Here is my real estate photographer’s album:
AC Photography’s Real Estate Album
Contact Info:
Andrew M. Cheung
E-Mail: ACPhotographyLV@gmail.
Cell: (626) 822 – 8668
I hope this quiz and the explanations for the different answers were helpful to you. If you have any questions at all, feel free to e-mail me at lengsellsrealestate@gmail.com or give me a ring or text at 702-343-2670.