Selling a Home in Mankato, Minnesota

Selling your home is an involved process that affects your family and your future. Before you begin this process, you'll want to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information. When should you sell? How do you get the best price? What kinds of renovations should be made prior to the sale?

These home selling reports will assist you in answering the many questions that arise during the home selling process. When you're armed with the right information, and an experienced real estate professional, you'll be closer to reaching your goal - selling your home fast, and for the best price.

Please contact me if you have any questions about selling your Mankato home.

Below, select desired reports and complete the form provided.

		Surviving the Sale Getting a good price for your home is important, but minimizing stress and simplifying the selling process can be just as essential.
		The Right Selling Price When you’re selling your home, the price you set is a critical factor in the return you’ll receive. Learn several factors to base the assessment of your home.
		Common Selling Mistakes Learn the top nine selling mistakes, and what steps you can take to avoid them.
		Selling Your Home Remember what first attracted you to your house when you bought it? What excited you about its most appealing features? Now that you're selling your home, you'll need to look at it as if you were buying it all over again.


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Two of the biggest mistakes home sellers make when choosing a listing agent are selecting an agent solely based on:

Highest List Price for Your Home
Lowest Commission

At first glance, a seller might say, "What? Are you nuts?" Because sellers want the highest possible price and to pay the least amount of commission. But those two criterion have very little to do with hiring a competent agent and, in many instances, are completely irrelevant. Let's look at why.

The Highest Suggested List Price

Agents can't tell you how much your home will sell for. That's a fallacy. A listing agent can show you comparable sales, pending sales and active sales. But YOU choose the sales price and a buyer will tell you if the price is right.

To get the listing, some agents distort the truth.

Since agents can't guarantee your sales price, the listing agent who suggests the highest price is probably untruthful. Ask the agent to show you numbers supporting that suggested list price. They probably won't have them or the home sales will be located in a different neighborhood.

Look for a listing agent who gives you a range.

There is always a price range. It might be apart $10,000 on the low-end versus the high, or the spread might be greater. Many factors determine the range, among which are location, temperature of the market and improvements.

Pricing is an art.

The best time for an offer is within the first 30 days on market. If the home is priced right, you'll get an offer. If it's priced too high, you might not get any showings at all; buyers will shun your home and you'll eventually end up reducing the price, leaving buyers wondering what's wrong with your house.

Should You Choose an Agent Based on Commission?

Real estate agents are not equal; each is unique. Remember about 10% of the agents do 90% of the business. Each has their own marketing techniques and advertising budget. By choosing an agent with a large advertising budget and company dollars to match it, you will gain greater exposure to the largest number of buyers, which is ideal. Reaching greater numbers of buyers equals better chances of a good offer.

Why would an agent willingly work for less than competitors?

There is always a reason why a broker or real estate agent would discount their fee. Sometimes it's the only way the agent feels it's possible to compete in a highly competitive business, because the agent can't stand apart from the competition on service, knowledge or negotiation skills.

If the sole benefit an agent brings to a table is a cheap fee, ask yourself why. Is the agent desperate for business or unqualified? Do you want to work with a desperate agent?

Sometimes full service agents will negotiate a lower commission under special circumstances such as:

You're buying and selling a home at the same time, giving both transactions to one agent.
You're willing to do all the legwork, advertising, marketing and pay for expenses related to the sale.
You promise to refer more business to the agent, which would result in multiple transactions.
You're selling more than one home.
You don't have enough equity to pay a full commission.
The agent accepts you as a pro bono case.
The agent will lose the listing unless she matches a competitor's fee.
The agent wants the signage (exposure to traffic) over charging a full commission.

If you are interviewing agents who offer similar services and can't decide between them, ask to see a track record of each agent's original list price and final sale numbers. Odds are the lowest-fee agent will show more price reductions and longer days on the market. The difference between an agent who charges 5% and 6% is 1%. Ask yourself how you come out ahead if your price ends up being reduced 2% because you chose a lower-fee agent who could not afford to actively market your home.

Tip: If your home is located in a hard-to-sell neighborhood, hire an agent who lives in the neighborhood / sells homes in that neighborhood. Don't hire an out-of-area agent who can't adequately tackle the challenge without first-hand knowledge of the area.

Importance of Agent Marketing

Beyond the expensive car or fancy clothing, a good listing agent lives and dies by marketing. Because marketing sells homes. Ask to review a complete copy of the agent's marketing plan. Precisely, what is the agent going to do to sell your home? Here is the bare-bones minimum you should expect:

Professional signage, including agent's cell phone number.
Lockbox
Daily electronic monitoring of lockbox access.
Follow-up reports on showings to the seller.
Broker previews.
Incentives for broker / office previews.
Staging Advice
Advertising in local newspapers.
MLS exposure with 8 to 12 professional photographs.
Virtual Tour
Distribution to major Web sites.
Flyers for buyers.
Direct mail to surrounding neighbors, out-of-area buyers / brokers.
Exposure at Board of Realtor meetings.
Feedback to sellers on buyer sign calls and buyer showings
Updated CMAs after 30 days.
E-mail feeds of new listings that compete.
Updates on neighborhood facts, trends and recent sales.

Remember, no single tactic sells homes. It's a combination of all those methods that sell homes.