from Christine Forgione

So your home is up for sale, the listing agent has your home listed on the local MLS, you have the sign in the front yard, you have prepped/”staged” the home (IE: finished all minor/major repairs) and lets assume that the home is priced is right.  Why hasn’t your home sold yet?  Lets look at some possible factors of why the buyers are not making offers.

2- Leave your Christmas lights up all year long.

3- Follow every prospective buyer around making sure they don’t miss any of the homes unique features, especially the windmill in the front yard.

4- Feaux finish a different color and texture in every room.

5- Have different color carpet in every room.

Click Here For The Remaining 5 ways to prevent the sale of your home.

It’s a matter of what you like:

10 Reasons to list with a flat fee broker.

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1- I like being charitable: This way I can add to the flat fee’s paper route income.

2- I like being an author: my first book, the hazards of being the seller with no agent advice after the listing is signed.

3- I like being a locksmith: the flat fee guy won’t take the lock box off the door and the new buyer is threatening me. PS: It’s 3 weeks after we closed the deal.

4- I like taking signs down; same timing as number 3 above.

5- I like supporting office pools; that’s where the flat fee’s office is likely to be.

Click Here for the other 5 flat fee broker list

1- I love answering the door at 11PM, in my PJ’s.

2- I love people stealing my treasures.

3- I love receiving 50 offers at 6% below my asking price.

4 l love people peeking into my bedroom window at 8 AM Sunday morning.

5- I love having my neighbor ask if I will finance his cousin; the one that just finished bankruptcy.

6- I love the idea of trading my home for a junker.

7- I love the realtors that drop in to pitch me on using them.

8- I love having realtors spouses telling me I should meet a real pro, the one who I refer to in #7 above.

9- I love making signs and flyers.

10- I love telling everyone that drops by the 100 fine features of my home.

Bonus: I love finding out I sold my home at 17% under real market value.

Larry Cragun

All too often people list with the best marketer of themselves rather than the best one to market their properties. They are sometimes overwhelmed by the pitch and seeing an agents name everywhere. She is on TV, the supermarket basket, and your neighbors golf cart. Her professional name is not Lilly, It’s Listing Lilly. Listing Lilly is the marketing queen, at least in marketing herself.

The naked truth is if you pick Listing Lilly you may be picking the wrong agent for your home. In a normal market, perhaps the one we are entering, it takes marketing efforts to sell your home for top dollar and in a speedy time period. Rather than putting a sign in the yard and listing your home in the MLS, selling your home may take some effort.

As an example, I am amused at how consistant busy agents say open houses don’t work. Sellers usually, and rightfully, want their home held open. If you have listed with an agent with too many listings, how can they hold your home open? Or how often? Once? Twice? Thrice? (Sorry)

Have you ever heard the line, open houses don’t sell your house, they just find buyers for someone elses house? I will translate that for you. Its translated meaning is: I have too many listings to hold your home open.

Open houses do work. Especially if held when people are coming home from work, or even on Saturday when they have time to take a look. How many people rent in your vacinity, people that like the neighborhood? Maybe your buyer lives in the area because it is their favorite place or close to work. He or she just needs to go through your home.

Hold the home open, people may drop in. Have a lender or mortgage info there. Encourage them to see if they qualify if they like the home.

The naked truth; this is just one example of an important marketing tool, that is neglected when you list with Listing Lilly. Another, keeping the flyer box full.

Goodness, I hope there isn’t someone out there that has coined that name. If so, let’s talk.

To not be accused of something bad, please change Listing Lilly to Listing Larry.

If being pitched by Lilly or Larry, make sure you pick an agent that will seriously market your home.