The Savvy Realty Advantage for selling your home
Techniques for marketing Hawaii real estate are ever changing and and we're here to help you present your property in the best way. Most buyers begin their search for homes on the Internet.
Three Important Factors for selling your home
- Photos and video play a large part. 99% of home buyers who searched for a home on the Internet found photos to be among the most useful features of REALTOR® websites according to the National Association of Realtors. We include high quality photos of the properties we sell in our MLS listings.
- Pricing. Hawaii has been buyers market for several years. Every buyer is looking for a bargain! Pricing a property too high will keep the buyers away. When a home is priced to sell, the agent will get a flood of calls for showings. Customers visit the home and after a week or two the seller should have offers to review. Properties priced too high will get few inquiries, sitting on the market for months, even years - and not selling.
- Staging. First impressions are important. The door and entryway should be clean, painted and polished. Clutter is a major issue with owner and tenant-occupied homes. Personal items all over the house give buyers the impression that it's not big enough.
The Savvy Marketing Plan
Fees - We charge 2% commission vs. 3% most full service realtors charge. We recommend paying 3% to the cooperating broker (the realtor representing the buyer) for a total of 5%.
Most Realtors charge a full 3% commission to sell your home and give another 3% to the Buyer's Agent for a total cost of 6%. Sometimes they charge 2 1/2% and pay 2 1/2% to the cooperating broker. We work harder for a lesser fee and recommend the 3% commission for the cooperating broker as an incentive to show your home instead of someone else's.
Craigslist - We will advertise your property on Craigslist with photos and links to our website. Craigslist is a great site for buying property and has thousands of viewers scanning the listings daily. We post your listing 2-3 times per week every week until it is sold.
No Hassles - There is no up front charge and you can cancel at anytime with no notice and without penalty. When your home sells, we are paid through escrow on the day of closing.
Contract Negotiation - Purchase contracts are complicated. You don't want to go to a closing with some doubts. You will have the full benefit of our experience and knowledge for a smooth and successful closing.
Disclosures, Inspections, Escrow - We will make sure you conform to all Hawaii statutory disclosure requirements. We will also inform you of any inspections that you should consider having done ahead of time to smooth the negotiating process with buyers, and to ensure a successful escrow and closing.
Qualifying Buyers - Buyers have their own timelines, which might not be yours. We make sure they don't waste your time by qualifying them as to their real ability to afford your home.
Communication - We will keep you up to date at all times. You will always know what is happening with your property and understand the various steps we are taking to sell it.
Yard Sign - We will setup a nice yard sign so people driving by can contact us to get information on your house.
Open Houses - At your option we will do one Broker's Open House and one Public Open House. Many clients do not do a public open house because it is mostly for curiosity seekers and very few homes are sold during an open house. With the internet people that are interested in buying your home will call to make an appointment when they see the home online.
What price should I list my property for?
We will help analyze the comparables with you using Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) reports.
When looking at comparables be sure to keep in mind Days on Market. For example, if some one is asking X dollars for a property similar to yours, but they have been on the market for 250 days, then they are probably asking too much so you should not necessarily think that would be the right price for your property. On the other hand, when looking at Sold comparables, if someone sold at over asking price in only 1 day on the market than they probably listed it too low, and you could think about going higher.
Also, you want to see how many Active listings are available that will be competing for the same buyer as your listing, and how do you compete in terms of price, location, and overall value. Try to put yourself in the buyer's shoes and think about what property you would purchase if you were ready to make a purchase.
Also study the In Escrow and Pending listings. These are properties that have just gone into escrow. You won't know what they sold for until the escrow is completed but you do know what they were asking and that a deal was reached. This is current information on asking prices that are actually selling and it is very helpful.
Do you show the property?
Yes. We show the property if we represent the Buyer. If another agent represents the Buyer then they would show their Buyer your property. In that situation the Buyer's Agent would prefer not to have the Seller's Agent there so they can take their client through themselves. Either way, there will always be a Realtor showing your property. Optionally, you are welcome to personally be at any showings.
Do I sign a contract?
Yes and you can cancel it at anytime. We do ask for a 30 day protection period so if someone viewed the property while we had it listed and submits an offer within 30 days after you cancel we would still get paid.
Do we need a lock box on the property?
It is very helpful but not required. If you do not have a lockbox then you have to have a reliable way to let Buyer's Agents into the property to show their clients. If you want to put a Lock Box on your property we will supply one. Lock Boxes are very helpful as Realtors can still show your property even when no one is available to let them in. We only give out the Lock Box code to Realtors and all Realtors are cross checked with the Honolulu Board of Realtor database when we enter them into our Showing Tracking System.
Will you show it to someone who is not using a Realtor when they call you?
Yes. We will show it if someone calls us who is not using a Realtor. We would then end up representing them and yourself, which is called Dual Agency. In this case as mentioned above we would keep the buyer's commission for representing the Buyer plus our fee for representing you. This is because there is additional liability to represent the Buyer and we need to get paid to take on the additional liability and the additional services required.
Will my property be on all MLS websites?
Yes. After we add your property to HiCentral MLS all the other websites download from this site and will show your property. For example, Realtor.com, Yahoo, Honolulu Advertiser, Oahumls.net, Coldwell Banker, Prudential, etc.
I have someone who might buy my property but I still want to list with you.
If you are currently working with someone who might purchase your property we can exclude them on our contract and if they buy it you do not need to pay us anything.
What are my approximate closing costs?
60% for standard Title Insurance
50% of the Escrow fees
Conveyance Tax
Termite Inspection (Approximately $500) and Tenting (Approximately $1,000 if necessary)
Survey - (Approximately $1,000)
Provide Condo Docs if a Condo (Approximately $300)
There are other miscellaneous closing costs but the above costs are the largest. If you want even more details Title Guaranty has a closing cost calculator.
If I have a tenant in my property do I have the right to show it?
Yes, you have the right to show your property to buyers by giving a 48 hour notice. However, if your tenants are not cooperative it can make showing the place difficult. If they don't want a lock box installed (which many tenants are not comfortable with) then they need to be home for all showings. We can coordinate showings with your tenants.
Find out what my home is worth
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