subject: Honest Help To Buy A Home [print this page] Looking to buy a home? Looking to buy a home?
Hire an experienced real estate professional who will be honest with you and offers the knowledge necessary to get the job done. Call Greg Howard with Metro Real Estate Group to help you buy or sell property in Colorado Springs and South metro Denver. Hes always available by cell phone at 719-445-9515.
Interviewer: Thanks for joining us with Metro Brokers TV; Im here with Greg Howard with Metro Real Estate Group. Greg thanks for joining us today.
Greg Howard: Nice to meet you.
Interviewer: So tell us a little about what an experienced agent, like yourself, does for their clients?
Greg Howard: Lets talk about the sellers at first. One of the things that we need to do is number one we need to get a listing with them to make sure that they are happy with what we are going to provide.
Then we need to start looking at all their documentation- What does the buyer want? Ultimately when a buyer comes and wants to make an offer on the property. We might look at surveys; we want to make sure that survey matches the property. We would look at appraisals to make sure everything is, zoning, to the taxes. Weve gotten in several situations where weve actually received offers, actually made offers on property where the zoning didnt match, so therefore the appraisal didnt match and it was a long lengthy process.
Some of the other things that we want to do is may be talk about pre-inspections, maybe a pre-appraisal so that they have higher expectations and they see the worth of the property, so we can make a realistic price.
Interviewer: Definitely, well what would you say are some of the other things that you do upfront to make sure that, that things go well, go smoothly?
Greg Howard: We have the tough conversations. And the tough conversation is what it takes to sell a house- its the right price. The aesthetic value of the property and being able to communicate to them that their $500,000 house expectation may be only $450,000 and that the wallpaper is pretty ugly and the colors dont match and the brass fixtures arent really what a buyer is looking for.
So those conversations have to take place, as well as, when youre setting the price you need to give them a very clear idea of how price can affect the bottom-line. For instance if youre asking $110,000 for a $100,000 home, youre probably not going to get it, not in the beginning anyway. And if you do get it, its going to be after a reduction to $105,000 and then its going to be a reduction to $100,000 and then at that point somebody is going to say, its been three and a half months on the market, they are desperate, lets offer $95,000. Whereas, if theyd started at $100,000 in the beginning or somewhere in that neighborhood, they are more likely to cut the time down and increase their bottom-line.
The other thing is, is when they are making the price adjustment. Lets say they do on a $110,000 for their home, why do they want that and is there a way for us to get to that, that may be the time when we have to bring in a stager to have a tough conversation to say, I know the carpet is only 25 years old, but it needs to be replaced, and for a $1500 maybe we can get a return of $2500. It may be that eventually get you up to the $110,000 range. So the tough conversations are about price and the aesthetic value of the home.
Interviewer: So do you think those are the most difficult things to communicate to a seller?
Greg Howard: Absolutely, I mean there are not many agents- I need to be careful of saying that Lets just say that its a very hard conversation for an agent to have when somebody says my house is worth $150,000 and youre looking at it and you know deep inside that its only worth a $125,000 and you cant commit to the conversation that says its really not. Its not in their best interest for you to hold back.
If I have a fault its going to be the honesty. Im honest to a fault on being able to get these things done, if we go six months on a listing because I wasnt able to come to the table and tell them the truth, they are going to be frustrated, they are going to be mad, they are not going to refer me, and then the next agent has a huge foot up because they are going to come in and they would have already heard the story at least once, now its the second time, and theyll make the adjustments and sell the houseand they wont be happy with me.
Interviewer: Now you work with buyers too right?
Greg Howard: I do, buyers are a whole different ball game. You basically have to protect the buyer and you need to make sure that the documentation that they have is worthy and the key for them is protecting them at all costs, I want to see their loan docs, I want to make sure that the loan is the same, you can get a 3.5% loan, with one guy and a 3.5% loan with another guy- but they are not the same loan. They might be but they are not and theres ways to evaluate that. Look at appraisals and things like that to make sure they are in the right area, and school districts, just listen to them.
Interviewer: So, Greg how can customers reach you?
Greg Howard: Im on my cell all the time- its 719-445-9515. My website is Greg Howard Realtor. I sell homes both in Colorado Springs and the south side of the Denver metro area.
Interviewer: Thank you so much for joining us today, for more real estate related videos please join us online at Metro Brokers TV.
