A recent study shows that more than 2/3 of By-Owner sellers (FSBOs) end up listing with an agent. Marketing and selling a home is like any business; if you are not immersed in it day-to-day, you won’t have the knowledge, experience or resources to do it well. Moreover, you won’t know what you don’t know. This reality can be costly in terms of both time and money. These are the top six reasons why FSBOs fail.
The Haunted House Disclosure Dilema
A fun, but interesting question in the Halloween spirit: If your house is haunted, are you legally required to disclose the haunting to a prospective buyer?
A High-Level View of Aerial Home Photography
When thoughtfully incorporated into a photo-marketing strategy, professional aerial (drone) photos can showcase a home or capture a perspective that ground-based shots just can’t. Gratuitous or poorly thought-out aerial photos, on the other hand can actually hurt the home marketing effort.
The Three A’s to Consider in Choosing an Agent
Name recognition or un-vetted referral are too often the criteria for hiring a real estate agent . There’s a lot at stake in buying or selling a home; deciding with whom to place your trust and confidence warrants digging deeper and demanding more. ACCESS, ADVISE and ADVOCACY offer a meaningful framework for evaluating a real estate agent.
Smile – You’re on Camera!
If you are a buyer touring a home, be careful of what you say and do; the seller (or the listing agent) may be watching, listening or recording. That’s right, the nanny cam, security camera or other audio and video devices may be active in a home during a showing, watching and listening to what […]
Understanding Seller Disclosure Requirements
Anyone who has bought or sold a home in Georgia is familiar with the Seller Property Disclosure Statement. This multi-page checklist is designed to help sellers disclose to buyers known property defects, as required under Georgia law. The comprehensiveness of the form gives the impression that Georgia imposes a high disclosure standard on Sellers. The disclosure […]
Atlanta Ranked Third in Failed Real Estate Contracts
A recent Bloomberg article, citing a Trulia report, ranked Atlanta as third in the nation for real estate contracts failing to close. The Report indicates that, in 2016, nearly 11% of Atlanta real estate contracts fell through. This is nearly three times the 3.9% national average (the rate for Sage clients is less than 5%) […]
Avoid Real Estate “Over-Share”
I saw a Facebook post late last year showing a photo of a house along with “Love this house! I put an offer in today. Hope I get it!!!” In addition to the dozens of “likes,” the comments revealed how the poster (not our client) had lost out on two other homes that she had […]
The Guaranteed Sale Program Gimmick
Most of us are familiar with Realtor ads that go something like “I guarantee I’ll sell your home in 60 days or I’ll buy it from you.” Everyone reading this post intuitively knows that these guaranteed sales programs (or GSPs) come with fine print. So what’s the deal? A GSP is, in reality, a lead […]
How Accurate is a Zestimate?
All of us are familiar with Zillow.com; perhaps the most popular real estate information web site. In addition to showing active home listings, Zillow shows publically accessible information (such as age, size, taxes and features) on homes not on the market. Included with this information is a “Zestimate” – a home value estimate derived using […]