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Through my years as a Florida Real Estate Broker I have taken the time to develop an organized and educated approach to the beach area Fort
Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Hillsboro Beach and Lauderdale By The Sea Real Estate markets. My direct and honest
demeanor with my clients has in itself created a logical set of results driven efforts that work time and time again. I am
passionate about what I do for a living and I know that it shows through the results I achieve for my clients.
Should you take the time to contact me, you will find my non-pressure, informative manner very approachable.
I look forward to potentially meeting with you in the near future and assisting you as you gather a variety of local
information for your potential upcoming Real Estate transaction.
As a Real Estate Professional assisting my Sellers in selling their properties, I consider it my
responsibility to keep my Sellers thinking strategically as they place
their property on the market. I make continual efforts to
keep them informed of present market momentum (pending sales and
closed sales) as well as their property's price positioning
among its Competitive Circle in the marketplace. If you
are thinking about selling your property now or anytime in the
near future I invite you to contact me to strategize the best approach for
you to properly place your property in a position to meet your goals in an opportune manner.
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If you thinking about selling or renting your property and would like to receive a "Competitive Search Analysis" providing you with an up-to-date
look the Local Real Estate Marketplace just send me a
Competitive Search Request.
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Real Estate is Local in Nature
Real Estate is the product of a number of local dynamics all working together to produce
the standing market. For instance, when examining the Beach
Area specifics of the Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Hillsboro
Beach and Lauderdale By The Sea Real Estate some of the
influences that immediately come to mind are not only the
full-time residents but also part-time residents, locally
referred to as “Snow Birds”. Even these part-time residents
fall into a number of distinct categories such as domestic and foreign
residents. Why is this important to you? Well, several
reasons. One reason is that seasonal visitors will only influence
the market at certain times of the year. Another reason is that
when the U.S. Dollar is weaker against the Canadian Dollar or
Euro Dollar then these potential foreign purchasers, which come
here locally in large numbers during the season, will have a greater
motivation to purchase despite the present state of the Real
Estate market. How do you use this information to your
advantage? By understanding that all because other Real Estate
areas are experiencing certain buying or selling trends, does
not mean that those same trends are being felt at the same
level here in our Barrier Island beach areas. Even if those Real Estate communities are as close
as just West of the Intracoastal. Those home communities are made up of a
separate group of demographics, most of which are raising
families (bedroom communities), not very mobile and stay in one place for longer
periods of time resulting in less market momentum as a whole.
This is a totally different group than the part-time seasonal Baby
Boomers or Foreign Vacation Owners that typically have a much more fluid
ownership dynamic. The point being made is you need to take the
time to look at the data surrounding your property so that you can
understand what is happening in the specific real estate arena that
pertains to your property and not the city, county or state as a whole.
Determining List Price
When going through the process of deciding a listing price for
your beach area Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Hillsboro Beach
and Lauderdale By The Sea Real Estate there are several
factors that should be considered to make sure you are staging
yourself to make the most of the present market. One of
the initial steps that should be completed is to have a firm
understanding of the competitive marketplace. For example,
if you are selling a condo in the Galt Ocean Mile of Fort
Lauderdale then your competitive marketplace would not only be
the condo complex your unit is in but also other condo units in
similar class buildings all throughout the Galt Ocean Mile.
Why? The reason is that if a buyer has say $500K to spend
on an Oceanfront Condo unit and wants to buy in the Galt Ocean
Mile area, a typical buyer is going to consider all of the Condo
units in the Galt Ocean Mile not just the ones in your building.
The same would be applicable if you had a Home in The Landings
of Fort Lauderdale. Not only would the typical buyer look
at Homes For Sale in the Landings but also in the Coral Ridge
Country Club or maybe even Sea Ranch Lakes. The point I am
making is that while figuring out price by how many square feet
your property is or what your neighbor sold their property for
last Winter might have some merit. The organized and
educated approach to the market will always weigh heavily on where
the competition in the marketplace is presently standing.
Let's face it, if you had $750K to spend on a Waterfront Home
your going to buy the best value on the market that falls within
your given criteria, plain and simple. Should there be
some room for price negotiation? Absolutely. However, the
larger you make that number the less buyers you will see walk
through that door. Your best position is to be
competitively priced and hold fairly firm. After all, if
they do not buy your correctly priced property what else are
they going to buy? The best value always wins the market
within a given buyer's criteria....unless they do not see it at
all because it was too overpriced!
The "Let Them Make Me an Offer" - Seller Mistake
When formulating the most successful strategy to sell your property just think about how YOU purchase
your properties. You probably contacted some sort of
advertisement whether it was a print ad or online website (these
are called "Lead Generators" in the real estate business because
they very, very rarely actually sell specifically advertised properties but instead
generate "Buyer Leads" for the Real Estate Professional).
Then, the Real Estate Professional you called asked for your
criteria and maximum price range. Next, the Real Estate
Professional looked through the MLS system and began showing you
the properties in the marketplace that fell within your criteria
and maximum price range. After you viewed this current
market subset of properties you chose the best value to you and
made an offer.
After looking at your approach to purchasing real estate you can obviously see that if a property
did not fall within your maximum price range then you never even viewed the property. That is why keeping your price higher than
your "Competitive Circle" in the marketplace and having the "Let Them Make Me An Offer"
approach does NOT work...Buyers purchasing in your Target Selling Price Range never even view
your property! They do not even know it is for sale! The viewings that are occurring are probably Buyers looking for
properties at the next level up in features and amenities where your property does not compare.
Through the years the most successful Seller strategy has always been to price your unit so that it is
competitive in the market, even if that means holding firm on your price when negotiating. At least potential Buyers
will view and consider your property for purchase. Other strategies just leaves you out of the market wondering why your
not getting offers.
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If you thinking about selling or renting your property and would like to receive a "Competitive Search Analysis" providing you with an up-to-date
look the Local Real Estate Marketplace just send me a
Competitive Search Request.
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The Most Frequently Asked Seller Questions?
I am already competitively priced and not receiving offers? Should I lower my price?
No, if you are already priced competitively and none of your competition has sold either, then
the best thing to do is just be patient. Some Competitive Circles in the marketplace only get one actual Buyer per month and
some even less than that. You cannot make Buyers appear in the marketplace. Just be sure to position yourself so that
you will be the best value when they do arrive.
My property is competitively priced, was shown several times, but still no offers? Why?
Several common reasons are that sometimes buyers do not see what they had hoped to at a given price
range and either decide not to buy at all or move their search to a more affordable area for them. Another common possibility
is that they decided to raise their price range to suit their personal tastes and/or requirements.
Either way, just be sure that your property is truly priced
competitively or you will just wind up not achieving your goals
in an opportune manner.
Property Availability is Key
Selling a property is a team effort when it is owner occupied. If the property has
been priced competitively and it has been entered in the MLS
(the best real estate selling engine to date) correctly.
This would include making sure it has been entered with Up to 16 clear
wide-angle digital photos, FULL database criteria filled out
properly so it can be searched correctly by other Real Estate
Brokers and a well written detailed fact-filled description (you
should ask to see the MLS Printout). The
only thing left to do is actually show the property to the
Buyer's when they are ready! I know that sounds logical
but too many Sellers and Real Estate Professionals don't keep
their eye on the ball. I know it is the most convenient
scenario to have 24-Hour notice but best effort should never
give way to placing obstacles in front of Buyer's when trying to
sell your property. Time for an example... A Real
Estate Broker is out showing property to a Buyer and at the end
of the showing set the Buyer, who is only in town for the
weekend, realizes that they are not seeing what they would hope
they would in the given price range. At that point it is
only 1pm and they tell the Real Estate Broker to raise the price
range by a given amount. Then, out of some miracle the
Real Estate Broker and the Buyer sitting at the computer bring
up your well appointed and entered listing and it clearly stands
out as one of the best values in the listing group. The
Real Estate Broker looks at the showing instructions for your
property and Listing Broker Remarks Area and hopes it does not say "24-Hour Notice
Required". As luck would have it, the showing instructions
say, "Best Effort Will Be Given to Last Minute Showings, Just
Call". The Buyer sees the property, loves it, and there is
another happy ending being told. The truth is sometimes
showings just won't work out because of birthday parties or
whatever. The point is though, make best effort to show
your property and you will most likely wind up with your own
happy ending. How do I know? I have played out that
scenario and have been the selling Real Estate Broker and/or listing agent
more times than I can remember!
Responding to the Offer
Well, there has been quite a few showings and finally an
offer has arrived. The one thing you must keep in mind is
that this is a potential Buyer attempting to communicate with
you for the very first time. The potential Buyer is merely
stating initial interest in your property, nothing personal.
At this point you should look very carefully at all the rest of
the terms in the contract. Terms like Closing Date, who
pays for the Title Insurance, Inspection Periods (is this an
AS-IS with Right to Inspect Contract?) and any Financing
Contingencies all come into play and should be negotiated at the
same time as price since they are all important and could make
or break the deal. However, for now lets stay focused on
price. If the offer is lower than you would have hoped for
or expected, so what, let's not get emotional. You have a
very good idea what your property is worth, you have done you
homework in advance, that's why it is priced where it is, right!
All the potential Buyer is doing is trying to measure your
motivation and figure out what the REAL SALES PRICE is so that
they can make a decision, based on the rest of the market, if
this property is the best value for them. All you should
have to do now is negotiate the price delta (which should not be
a very large percentage) from where you listed it at to what you
know the property is worth, your bottom line. This should
not be a very stressful scenario, after all, you know where your
competition is and you are priced to sell based on the current
market conditions. If the potential Buyer walks away from
the deal then they either could not afford the property in the
first place or there really was something else out there that
was a better value to them. Should you re-evaluate your
Listing Price? Maybe...Maybe not. If after taking a second
look you still clearly feel your priced to sell based on the
rest of the market then just hold your position. Besides,
that potential Buyer still might come to their senses and come
back around...It happens all the time.
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