Knowing the Difference Between Appraisals and Market Value

Appraisals set the standard for the buying and selling process, and houses usually aren’t sold for more than the appraised value. When you need to sell your home, contact an appraiser first. Appraisals cost a few hundred dollars, depending on the size of your house and property. This will be a starting point for listing your property, and it doesn’t hurt to know what your home is actually worth.

 You’ve taken a job in another city and need to sell your home pronto, but you also want to make sure you are selling it for what it is worth. What should you do and where do you start? There are many factors that affect the value of your house. One of the first things you should do in determining the value of your home is to have it appraised.

Appraisal

Most people who are selling their houses have them appraised by an expert. The appraiser has guidelines when evaluating a home and looks at things such as the location, size of house and property, condition of the house and the surrounding neighborhood (Is it next to railroad tracks or does the neighbor next door have a junkyard for his yard?).

 The appraiser determines the fair market value of your house and provides an unbiased, professional evaluation. This not only helps you, but also the lender and buyer. Most lenders will require an appraisal before lending money to the buyer. This helps the lender make sure the borrower doesn’t ask for more money on a loan than what the home is worth.

Market Value

 Simply stated, the market value is what the buyer is willing to pay for your home. You may choose to list your house at a higher price than the appraisal. Say the appraisal amounts to $490,000, but you list it as $530,000 and someone is willing to purchase it at that price, the market value is $530,000.

 Market value can change over a period of time, depending on how long it takes to sell the house or if there are factors that affect the appraisal such as damages to the house or property. You may list the house at $530,000, but if it’s been several months and still isn’t selling, you may need to lower the price.

 Appraisals set the standard for the buying and selling process, and houses usually aren’t sold for more than the appraised value. When you need to sell your home, contact an appraiser first. Appraisals cost a few hundred dollars, depending on the size of your house and property. This will be a starting point for listing your property, and it doesn’t hurt to know what your home is actually worth.

Be a Top Agent

There are 40,000+ real estate agents in Maricopa County. That’s a lot of competition! You might be wondering how you can stand out as a realtor and get more leads—not to mention sell homes. It’s tough in today’s market with so much uncertainty. But you can do it!

According to The Cromford Report, it took 50 sales in 2017 to be in the top 1% of realtors. When people know that you can sell homes (lots of homes), they’ll be knocking on your door to sell theirs. And their friends. And their families. The more leads you get, the more sales you’ll get—it’s common knowledge. As an agent you want to make a name for yourself and gain trust from your clients.

Something to think about is whether or not you are in the top 20%, 10%, 5%, 1% or the top 100 agents in Maricopa County. It’s not only something to be proud about but it means you have experience--more than a ton of other agents! With all that experience it makes you marketable. Utilize it in your marketing. Place it on business cards, email signatures, social media campaigns, postcards and more. It may seem like bragging but it’s letting potential clients know with a lot of transactions, comes a lot of experience and that makes a difference.

Example of including your ranking on a marketing piece

It takes a lot of work and sacrifice to become a top real estate agent. But once you get to the top, there’s no going back.

4 Tips for Effective Real Estate Marketing

Want to be a successful realtor? It is all about how you market yourself. In today’s marketing world there are so many outlets and tools that can be utilized for selling real estate. Even the wording or phrasing you use can have an impact on your future clients. Check out these tips for becoming an expert real estate agent marketer!

Tip #1: Social Media is Your Best Friend

These days it’s all about social media, where you can stay connected with current clients, other real estate agents and potential clients. Make sure your posts are interesting and cause interaction from people. The more likes, shares and comments there are, the more your posts are seen. Show your personality and let people know you have a good reputation. Besides posting photos of homes you’ve sold, post about service you’ve done in the community or your favorite restaurant. People want to know you as a person and not just a real estate agent.

Tip #2: Blogs are Always a Good Idea

Have you ever considered posting a blog on your website? Well, you should. Not only are they informative and entertaining for your current or future clients, but they are indexed in search engines, which bring traffic to your site. By keeping an active blog and consistently posting, you are opening windows for more readers and more business. Always post your blog on your social media sites. This also helps your SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Tip #3: Relationship Marketing

Building meaningful and long-term relationships with your clients is not only gaining trust with them but opening doors to potential clients. If they find you trustworthy, then so will their friends and family. Start by sending them a thoughtful closing gift and a nice note. Then keep in touch with them from time to time. Maybe send an annual Christmas card.

Tip #4: Give Good Listing Descriptions

The words you use and how you use them can have an impact on catching someone’s interest. List things that are relative to what people are most interested like nearby schools, square footage, amenities, description of the neighborhood, etc.

How to Start a Real Estate Blog

Blogs are big right now. They are a way to provide useful information about your business and keep people engaged. As a real estate agent, it’s important to keep clients and leads informed about the real estate industry and what you’re up to. So you’re likely asking yourself as a realtor, how do I start a blog?

That’s easy! First of all, you need good content. Since you are a real estate agent you want to present information related to real estate (obviously). You’ll want to know who your audience is so you can taper the content to their specific needs and interests. Most likely you’ll be reaching out to home buyers and sellers. So what do buyers and sellers want to read?

Here are some topics to get you started on your blog journey.

Provide information about events happening in the community. New home owners typically don’t know much about what to do in their neighborhoods when they move into their new houses. Once a week create a “what’s happening” blog and highlight different events in the community, as well as fun activities for families.

Market update. Let people know what’s going on in the housing market. Present the numbers and also explain them. Not everyone knows and understands how the market works.

Flipping houses. It’s a popular trend to flip houses and make a profit. Create a blog post specifically for people who flip houses. Let them know where to start, the costs involved, when to sell, etc. Providing examples of successful house flipping also helps people who are just starting the endeavor.

Buyer’s checklist blog. It is helpful to give buyers advice on what to expect when buying a house, especially if it’s their first time. Help them understand things such as escrow and the inspection process.

DIY renovations. Write a blog (or several) about what people can do to renovate their homes before selling or after buying. Give tips about landscaping renovations or remodeling kitchens. There are endless ideas for DIY renovations and you could feature a new topic once or twice a month.

Provide helpful tips for selling and buying. Focus on one tip a month that can educate both buyers and sellers. One blog could be tips about a successful open house or the best way to close on a house.

These are a few ideas to get you started on your real estate blog. Once you post several blog posts, share them on your social media sites and website. Get the word out about your amazing knowledge of the real estate industry.

A Different Approach to Just Sold Postcard Content

You’ve just sold a house and want to get the word out about your awesome accomplishment. Typically you send out postcards to homeowners in the surrounding area showing that you’ve sold a house, so if they ever need to sell their homes, they’ll know to call you.

This is great! Your postcard will have all the basic information. Address, what the house sold for, photo of the house, photo of you and your contact information. But have you ever thought of shaking the content up a little bit? Maybe adding something more personable to the postcard to get people’s attention.

The first thing for revamping your postcard content is the use of names. Try adding the names of the couple whose house you helped sell. “Bob and Linda just sold their home yesterday!” The neighbors down the street will recognize the names of their neighbors and immediately think that the real estate agent who sold their house must be trustworthy. It’s a different approach that can help you sound more credible.

For the body of the postcard, try writing something like this:

“Bob and Linda’s home sold for $300,000! Want to know if your house is worth more? Call me today for a quick analysis!”

You can also include a photo of the family (with their permission) on the postcard to give a more personal touch. People respond well to recognition, and a photo of the owners with a proper headline will be the icing on the cake.

This is definitely a new approach to postcard marketing, but worth a try. People like to see something that is familiar to them. Instead of selling real estate to real estate, sell to the consumer. And selling to the consumer means giving them something they can relate to and trust.

Source: “How to Properly Leverage ‘Recently Sold’ Postcards for Seller Leads.” Steven Trice.