FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How will Corona Estates market my home to ensure that my home is presented to the maximum amount of potential buyers available and interested in purchasing my home?

When you choose to work with Us at Corona Estates, you are hiring a team of luxury home specialists to market your home, not just list your home on the market hoping it will sell.

Our plan is two-fold.  First, we employ sophisticated tried-and-tested over 25 years, marketing techniques to expose your home to a wide variety of buyers who are able to purchase your home.  Second, we market your home aggressively to the broker-agent community which reaches not only the local and national real estate agents and their markets, but their vast clientele as well.

We want very much for you to choose US to handle your real estate needs, but in case you are currently researching agents and areas, here are ten questions we suggest you consider asking any real estate agent you may consider interviewing:

1. How many years have you been in the real estate business? We have over 25
2. How many homes did you sell last year? We have participated in the succesfull closing of over 5000 homes!
3. How many homes do you have under contract to sell right now? This is important because your home requires full attention and a Team Effort.
4. Do you work personally with more Buyers or Sellers?
5. How do you screen other agent's buyers and your own before showing my house? An agent without Real Estate Finaning background is not neceserally a terrible thing but it shows the clear dependancy on another party, and that is just to get things rolling.
6. Do you have a website? and if so, does it work internationally? Prove it?
7. Can I see samples of your marketing plan and program?
8. Do you have a staff that prospects full time for buyers?
9. Walk me through from listing to close with your team, what should I expect?
10. Can you tell me what is going on in my local real estate market? We email you a complete Market Snap shot within 15 minutes of your request for a home evaluation.

If your agent answer all these questions to your satisfaction, great! You have found yourself a knowledgeable agent.  Now that you have gather all that information, please compare it with our 5 star marketing program, couple it with our decades of experience, dedication, proven track record and of course sense of humor and you have your self a Real Estate Team that takes pride on what we do. 

How to Avoid the Five Most Deadly Mistakes When Selling Your Home!

Mistake #1 - Incorrect Pricing of the Home

Every seller wants to realize as much money as possible when he sells his home.  But a listing price that is too high often gets the seller LESS than a similar home that is priced at market value. If your house is not priced competitively, people looking in your price range will reject your house in favor of other larger homes for the same price.  At the same time, people who should be looking at your house will not see it because it is priced over their heads! Overpricing usually increases time on the market and that adds to the carrying costs!  Most times, many overpriced properties sell below market value and the process of getting the home sold is frustrating, laborious and not in the best interest of anyone -- client or agent.

Mistake #2 - Failing to Showcase your Home in the Best Possible Condition

Buyers look for homes, not houses, and they buy the home in which they would like to live.  Owners who fail to make necessary repairs, who don’t spruce up the house inside and out, touch up the paint and landscaping, and keep it clean and neat chase buyers away as rapidly as Realtors can bring them.   Buyers want homes to be neat, clean, fresh, light and bright.  Anything you can do to freshen your home at a reasonable expense or effort should be considered with the help of an experience real estate agent. If your circumstances are special, then we will be happy to explain a different process and a customized marketing campaign, to meet your needs.

Mistake #3 - Hard Selling During Showings

Buying a home is an emotional decision.  People like to “try on” a house and see if it is comfortable for them.  It is difficult from them to do that if you follow them around pointing out every improvement that you have made.  It may even have the opposite effect by making them feel like they are intruding on your private space.  You must try to resist the temptation to talk the entire time the buyer is there.  The best possible scenario is to let the agent do the selling while you are out of the home.  Buyers want to see the home as their home -- not your home -- because that's where they will be living once you move out.  We are seasoned, experienced professionals that can gauge the type of buyer, buyer's representative and skills required to properly handle that experience. 

Mistake #4 - Ignoring Unpleasant Feedback

This is your home and you love it. There is an emotional tie to our homes that we cannot deny.  Potential buyers do not have an attachment to you home and often see things that sellers do not.  In order to help overcome this inherent weakness, we provide you with showing feedback to help you pinpoint items that can be improved on the property.  After each showing of your property, we call the showing agents to get feedback from that agent’s buyer about the showing quality of your home.  It is much easier to get an honest opinion of the property from the showing agent because they are merely repeating the concerns of the buyer. Please understand that the buyer is viewing many properties and that your home is competing with all the other properties they have seen. If you can fix the items of concern for the buyers, your next showing will be more successful and could garner a deal. Sometimes, agents in other offices are not good about returning calls, so don’t be disappointed if feedback is not given each and every time your home is shown.

Mistake #5 - Open Houses and Newspaper Ads Sell Homes

The two most obvious marketing tools, open houses and classified ads, are only moderately effective.  Surprisingly, less than 1% of homes are sold at an open house.   Agents use them to attract future prospects, not to sell the house.  Advertising studies show that less than 3% of people purchased their home because they called on an ad.  And, if a machine answers, most callers just hang up without leaving a message.

Featured Listing

How does the Corona Estates team time the marketing of my house? When will it go on the market? How soon after that will it go into Multiple Listing service and how many MLS's will my home be exposed to? or be offered to the rest of the community? Showing a home while withholding it from the open market constitutes a “pocket” listing. Our Home Specialists specify a “showings start” date, and stick to it, giving every buyer an equal opportunity to see your home. Many MLS systems require that listings be entered into the system within 24 hours of a listing agreement being signed.

Weekends are prime time. If a home if off-limits until a Sunday open house, (a common ploy), you are losing a tremendous marketing opportunity while giving the listing agent a chance to sell your house before other agents know it is available. Our team of home specialists will take control of the game plan to maximize your success. Only when every potential buyer has had an opportunity to see your home can you be sure you have received the best price.

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How does Corona Estates schedule appointments for showing my house and how will other brokers gain access?

Forget “location, location, location.”

Three things will sell your home: price, exposure, and access.

If your home is priced fairly and marketed aggressively, access is the final key. Don’t let an agent control showings unless there are special circumstances such as elderly residents or scary dogs.

Having the listing agent accompany others’ showings is a very bad idea ( we know that you may not like to hear this, but it's true). Buyers are uncomfortable with a second agent in the home and scheduling is a nightmare. Holding keys in the listing office is nonsense. Lockboxes are safe, reliable, and fast. Relocating customers may have a weekend to find a house and five towns to cover. Their agents will gravitate to those homes that are easiest to schedule and show. Having people pop in and out of your home is painful, but one or two weeks of inconvenience trumps months of “controlled” showings.

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Why have you suggested a higher list price for my house than other agents I consulted? Can you substantiate that price with comparable sales? Are you confident enough about this price to commit to it throughout the listing period?

Don’t be fooled by agents who promise to achieve a higher price. This is called “bidding for a listing.” When the meter starts running (advertising costs money, open houses take time) those agents will be requesting a price reduction. By then the sales momentum may be lost.

Deliberately over-pricing a listing is the worst crime an agent can commit. It is unethical, but sellers seldom realize that they have been taken. Many “top producers” have made their careers by purposely overpricing homes and their competitors get caught up in it, feeling they too must woo you by suggesting a higher price than they otherwise would. Take price off the table. Hire an agent you are comfortable with and then discuss listing price. You will get more honest answers and more importantly, a better result.

Is the commission you propose on a par with most in this area? If it is higher, what is the added value you bring to the transaction? If it is lower, are you cutting only your commission or also the “split” offered to cooperating agents? If you are obligated to pay a referral fee, who will actually pay it?

Listing agents split their commission with the agent who secures a valid buyer. This is usually a 50/50 proposition, but doesn’t have to be. Theoretically the selling agent could be paid $1.00, but then why would he show your house? Agents are human and, all things being equal, are going to show the listing with the higher split. If an agent cuts commission to obtain your listing, insist that the discount come only from his share, so that cooperating agents are offered a commission competitive in the area. Where the prevailing commission is 5%, an agent willing to list your home for 4.5%, should take 2%, offering 2.5% to cooperating agents.

Referrals from relocation companies or out of area brokers require a referral payment of 25-40% of the agent’s commission. The agent accepting a referral should absorb those fees, not pass any part through to the cooperating agent. As stated before, a lower “split” is a disincentive to showing your house, and realistically, why should anyone else pay your agent’s marketing expenses?

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If we receive competing offers for my house, how will you handle them? What will you do if one or more of the offers are yours?

YES! when the home is properly priced, even in today's market, Multiple offers can be a happy reality for the seller, but they are heartbreaking and difficult for unsuccessful buyers and their agents, and can wind up being a potential source of litigation.

Every listing agent should have a strategy for handling and responding to multiple offers.

When the listing agent is also writing an offer, however, there is only one acceptable approach: he must recuse himself and call in a manager or other disinterested third party to handle negotiations for as long as his own offer is in play. Some agents see nothing wrong with wearing two hats, claiming they represent the seller with his best interests at heart. Others will draft a fellow agent to write and present the offer. Both approaches represent distinct conflicts of interest. A listing agent with his own offer should not be advising his seller during negotiations nor should he know the details of competing offers.

Know who your agent is really representing. A good and ethical agent is more than worth the commission he earns, just be sure you are actually hiring one, at Corona Estates We take extra care whenever a situation requires Us to represent both parties.