Moving On Up...

After 8 great years with the agency I started with in Real Estate, West Los Angeles Realty, I made the difficult decision of moving to a larger agency last week. It was a tough call, as the broker of my former company is more like family than a boss. On top of that, she taught me almost everything I know about being a real estate agent. I have not one bad thing to say about her or the company. I just felt it was time to move to a bigger office for a variety of reasons. After meeting with a couple of companies I liked from afar, I settled on Nourmand & Associates in the Beverly Hills office, and made the move. Nourmand is a great company, much like the situation I had before where the Broker/President is readily available for input, but on a larger scale. It has been around for 37 years, has 3 offices (Beverly Hills, Brentwood, and Hollywood), and is approaching 150 agents. There are some HUGE producers in the office, most notably Myra Nourmand, who currently has in the neighborhood of $60M plus in active listings! Don't know if I'll get to that level, but I am certainly going to give it my all both for myself and my new company. In the end this move should benefit my clients as much as myself, mostly in terms of marketing their properties for sale, as Nourmand has a plethora of resources to assist with "Marketing your property to the world." In the end as a seller that is what you need, to cast the widest net and create the most buzz to ensure that every potential buyer sees your property and it sells for the highest possible price. The world is getting smaller, and now I have the backing and resources available to put your property in front of any and everyone in any corner of the globe.

If you ever want to come down to Beverly Hills and see the new office and find out how the new company and I can be of assistance in helping you buy or sell in this highly competitve market, please feel free to contact us anytime 310.600.9172 or email smilayproperties@gmail.com. I would be happy to assist!

The Influence of a Techy Realtor

Guest Post by Parker Hill @ NewHomeSource.com

What’s important in selling a home? Is it asking price? Location? The status of your home? While all three of these are certainly contributing factors, they are by no means the most important aspect. As you may know, approximately 90% of all home sales now begin with an online search. So despite what you’ve heard about open houses and using print advertising, the most important part of selling your home begins on the internet. While some agents have yet to understand this, there are a select few who have embraced the internet and hold the tools to get your home from ‘for sale’ to ‘sold.’ These “techy” realtors are easy to identify and are the type of agent you want to work with. Here are things to look for in determining whether your agent makes the tech-friendly list.

A techy Realtor first and foremost should have a good website. This means its easy to find, easy to navigate and is an over all enjoyable experience. Keep away from Realtor’s with dated websites that lack contact information or websites that are poorly constructed. The rule here is: if you don’t find it pleasing, chances are homebuyers won’t either. And if you were to list your home with an agent who’s website gets little traffic, then say goodbye to your home’s internet exposure. Pick a Realtor with an accessible website, with well-displayed contact information and other helpful details.

On top of a good website design, your Realtor must have a good home search feature. As we mentioned earlier, giving your home plenty of internet exposure is crucial to selling your home in the modern market. If your Realtor is lacking in a home search option, you can bet that potential buyers will quickly move along and those who don’t head to the next website will have difficulty finding your home. A good web search will have either a map view, an ability to set certain search parameters, or both. Be sure your Realtor has such an option before hiring them!

Next to design and home search options, a techy Realtor could possibly have the following additions on their webpage. A frequently updated blog can be a fun and useful addition to a Realtor’s marketing arsenal. Likewise, a Realtor that encourages texting, video chats, or using smartphones apps is also helpful, although by no means essential. The two most important aspects are the design of the website and the home search. With these, you can bet you have a class act of a Realtor. The rest is icing on top. To work with the type of Realtor who will give your home the kind of online exposure it deserves, be sure to contact Eric Smilay, today!

Searching For & Recognizing Value in Today's Real Estate Market

[flickr size="small" float="left"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/42659427@N02/3931867083/[/flickr] In todays economic, and specifically real estate, environment every buyer/leaser wants to negotiate. No matter what the price is, people want to offer less, just because they feel like they can. There are many instances when homes are priced well, and are deals at the asking price. I would caution against missing out on a deal, while trying to negotiate a steal. That is very important. I understand the concept of buying low and selling high as well as anyone, so trust me I get it. Negotiating on behalf of my buyer client’s is on e of my favorite parts about being a real estate professional. In some instances one can negotiate much lower than the asking price, but in others they may just lose out on the house they really wanted. The thing is, every seller on the market is not necessarily desperate, and with a plethora of information available, Los Angeles is one of the most knowledgeable markets in the country in terms of people knowing what houses are worth in the areas they are looking. Let me give you a specific example.

Recently, I represented buyers on a purchase of a foreclosed property in the Hollywood Hills. The asking price was $700,000 and the listing described it as a “fixer”. The listing agent for the bank told me he never even visited the property. I knew the house very well having previously met the original builder, as well as leased out the home twice for the investor /buyer that eventually foreclosed. It needed new carpets, but was not a fixer at all, and had designer baths, imported stone work, and a gourmet chef’s kitchen. It also had the roof engineered to be a deck, but did not have stairs to go up there; nobody could have known that but me, since I met the original builder when it was first completed. I told my client’s that I am not a hard salesman type, but this is an absolute deal and if you are interested, you will need to act quickly as this will sell fast. That was not just salesman jargon, but a real fact. They recognized the value and called me 20 minutes after we saw it to make an offer. We ended up offering $720,000 (yes, $20,000 over asking price) as there were 7 offers in a matter of days. Some of those offers were under asking, which is my point. We got it, and the property appraised by a bank at $850,000. Banks are conservative by nature, so the home is probably worth closer to $950,000. While some were negotiating off the asking price trying to get a steal, my client’s knew I was telling them the truth, recognized the value and offered over asking and got an amazing deal!

Beyond the basic dollars and cents of the deal, it is also not like buying stock, and if it is the home where you want to live, that has intrinsic value in and of itself. In closing, definitely use your negotiating power as a qualified buyer/leaser in today’s market, but when a deal arises, don’t miss out on it thinking you can negotiate it down even lower. If you find the house you like, it is priced well, and you want to live there with your family for years, then take advantage of historically low interest rates, lock it down and enjoy.

Agent & Seller Interests, Are They Aligned?

I was speaking to a client yesterday regarding the sale of a property, when they said something that made me think as well as kinda bothered me a bit. I am paraphrasing, but they said something to the effect of, I understand you want to reduce the price as you just want to make the deal regardless, while I as the seller want to maximize the highest possible sale. I understand where they are coming from on the surface, but had to disagree. Obviously, the real estate agent only gets paid when a deal occurs; thus, the incentive is to make the deal. I get that. That being said, I believe both parties interests should be, and with me at least, are aligned. I want to get all my client's the highest possible return on their homes, period! Nothing else makes me happier. In fact, I really don't like having the "we need to reduce the price" conversation with any of my sellers. Sometimes though it is just plain necessary, assuming both parties have the same objective--selling the home! Often, this conversation stems from seller's wanting to list their homes higher than suggested from the start. Unfortunately since real estate exploded into the mainstream consciousness in the past few years, and so much information available, everyone feels like an expert. That coupled with the emotional connection/bias that many have to their homes, and the recent decline in values, always makes pricing a somewhat contentious conversation. It is an accepted fact that if there is no interest from the market, a price reduction to attract a buyer's interest is usually necessery. If nobody is calling for appointments to view the property, either it is not a great product, or more likely the price is too high. Now, if a seller just wants to swing for the proverbial fences and if they get their number great, but if not they are content to stay, this is a different story. In this instance, I would say the objectives may be different. As an agent the profession is to adequately represent and inform their client in order to get the highest amount possible, but at the end of the day get it sold for their client's at an acceptable price. If a seller calls me to sell a property for them, I would think they would want my professional advice, and to sell the property. What good does it do either party to have a listing that doesn't sell?

The bottom line is, at the end of the day in a good faith business transaction, both parties interests should be exactly aligned. We are on the same team and should be working towards the exact same goal.