Trick or Treat ?
Sunday, October 29th, 2006Is it a trick or is it a treat?
When a Realtor uses marketing techniques in order to sell a home in a buyer’s market ?
The difference: When a home isn’t getting the activity it should it’s time to do something about it, you can’t just say ”it’s the market”.
There’s a multitude of ideas however the property and the Seller can dictate which course of action the professional realtor takes. Creative advertising and attractive direct mailings to ”could be” buyer’s for that property are good, but may not be enough.
Enter, the ”deal” philosophy: Market the deal and not the real estate... with that in mind you need to appeal to the buyer. The Buyer has only one thought in mind…what’s in it for me. Example: The Seller agrees to reduce the price by $10,000, does that really motivate the buyer? Not necessarily, the buyer probably thinks it’s not enough.
Introduce the ”treat”, Offer the buyer $10,000 cash at closing towards his home improvements (kitchen) or his new plasma TV (this sounds a lot better than offering him the money towards his closing costs. Obviously the buyer could do whatever they want with the dollars, the purpose of the ”treat” is to sell the property.
Why is this so much better for the Buyer than the reduction off the price? A $10,000 price reduction saves the buyer approximately $63 monthly (calculations based on a 30 year, 6.5% loan) at that rate it will take well over 10 years to realize the $10,000 cash had the opportunity been made available at closing. Keep in mind there are many alternative ”treats” and each transaction may have situations attached.
Remember, buyer’s market… appeal to buyer, and always use an experienced, professional realtor.