What Do Realtors Do? Why You Need a Realtor Traverse City Realtor Answers Questions

to talk a little bit about what exactly do real estate agents do. What? What? What? Say what? If you're thinking about selling your home in Leelanau, Grand Traverse County, or really anywhere in the state of Michigan, it's really important for you to understand exactly what value a real estate agent brings to the process. The number one is marketing your property. It is all about the number of eyeballs that an agent can bring to your property, the kind of exposure. Any agent can stick a sign in the ground, put the home on the MLS. In fact, you can do something akin to that with listing it for sale by owner on Zillow. Also, almost every agent uses professional photography, drone, virtual tours, online listings, open houses. Advertising in various social media platforms. But if your agent hasn't spoken to you about target marketing, how your agent will target specific buyers who fit the demographic buyer profile for your property, then it's likely that you're going to have to settle for less on price and the terms of the sale. And I'm not settling for a penny less. What sets agents apart from the crowd, what sets me apart from the crowd anyway, is how I'll market that, how I'll use target market to that specific buyer profile that brings additional buyers to the process. Let me tell you, the negotiation when you have more than one interested buyer is wildly different than when you only have one. So you want to set your part— your property apart from every other home. Okay, number 2, property valuation and pricing. One of the most important tasks for a real estate agent tackle is evaluating the property's market value. This involves assessing the condition of the home, its location, recent sales of comparable properties, including, you know, near your home, obviously, and whether that's in Leelanau, Grand Traverse County. Based on this analysis, they will help you set a competitive price and a realistic asking price. I like to give my clients a range Wow! Because no situation, no seller situation is exactly the same. So I like to give my clients a range of prices that then they can tailor to their specific circumstance. For example, if I'm representing a seller who's relocating and they really can't afford to carry two mortgages at once, don't want to be an absentee landlord, then they're probably— the best strategy for them is going to be to list near to the lower end of the range. That would be different from someone who's inherited a home who does not have to sell. There's not the burden of any carrying costs, and they can take their time. In that situation, they would list at a different place on that range of prices that I give them. Okay, sometimes it may be tempting to just hire an appraiser. My own father-in-law says, why would I use an agent? Why would I use an agent? You need an agent? Yeah, I said don't. Just hire an appraiser for $500 and pay the appraiser $500 and sell it for the appraised price. Well, let me tell you, buyers out there would love if you did that. And if you're thinking along those lines, I want you to check out the video that I've put in the description where it talks about a seller who almost did that with a property on Little Traverse Lake. And could have lost about $400,000 by doing it that way. You see, appraisers, they only look at the lagging indicators. They're only looking at the past. They have to, by nature of their license, only look at past sales and the condition of the property, obviously. But they are not active in the market. They don't know what's going on right now, and they're certainly not forecasting into the future. And that's the value that a real estate agent brings. Agents have the same access to the past sales that appraisers have, but an agent that's actively doing lots of deals will have that feel for the market that an appraiser simply cannot have. You know, I'm only the appraiser. You know, you only get one bite at the apple. You only get to sell the house once. So think about that and how important it is, and you might want to check out that video about how lucky that seller got that they didn't just go with what the appraiser— check out that video. I put a link to it in the description. Okay, number 3, negotiating offers. When offers start coming in, your real estate agent will be your advocate in the negotiating process. They will review offers, help you understand the terms, and provide guidance on how to respond. For example, if in a multiple offer situation, I put a matrix together that really helps my clients compare the various offers. Their goal should be to secure you the best possible deal, the best possible deal for you. Deal! Best deal I ever made. That's really important, and negotiating is a huge part of a real estate agent's role, and they, they should have lots of more experience than you doing it. So when you're interviewing agents, you want to ask them about their negotiating experience. Experience, what qualifications they have. Have them tell a story about how they have helped their clients in a tough negotiation. Next, handling paperwork and coordinating with loan officers, real estate transactions, etc. There's a substantial amount of paperwork that's involved in a real estate transaction, and a real estate agent can be really helpful in just making sure everything's done, that you have the right disclosures, inspections, the necessary legal paperwork, etc., etc. That attention to detail is going to be very important to make sure that you have a smooth and legally compliant transaction. You know, sometimes when I'm representing a seller, I have to penetrate into the buyer's situation in order to really advocate for my client. For example, I'm working with a seller right now in Interlochen and that the buyer of that home, the lender really dropped the ball recently. What you did was drop the ball, probie. And my seller is, the reason they're selling is that they're moving downstate to be closer to family. Well, this lender drops the ball on ordering an engineer's inspection on the manufactured home that my client has listed for sale, and now closing could be delayed as a result. The delayed closing really puts my seller in a bind because it, it has serious consequences for my seller. If the closing is delayed, they're at risk of losing the rate lock, the interest rate lock that they have on the home that they're purchasing downstate. And then in order to really meet the deadline, the closing date, and not lose that interest interest rate lock, they have to have rush charges on an engineer and a structural expert to come out and address some issues that the engineer found in that process. Well, that's where I've come in. I had to get on the phone, penetrate into the buyers. Sometimes as a real estate agent, I have to do other people's jobs, and I had to get in touch with the buyer's lender, not my client, but still advocating on behalf of my seller get in there. Ended up having to go to the regional president and just saying, hey, you guys dropped the ball on this. This is no fault of my client or, or me. You have to bear the brunt of the cost associated with getting these rush charges and getting us to closing. And even if we can't close on time and my client is going to— is at risk of losing this interest rate lock, then you need to pay for the rate lock extension, the cost of the rate lock extension. Got him to agree to that. Got that regional president for the lender to agree to that. Oh, congrats! As long as it's not an inducement or sort of like a bribe, they can agree to do those things as long as I can prove that. That's why you need an agent who is strong-willed and yet adept at communication and who understands how to navigate corporate bureaucracies, and basically just has that drive to be able to really advocate strongly for you. Okay, next, providing guidance and expertise. Throughout the selling process, your agent really needs to provide you with valuable guidance and expertise. They can answer questions, address concerns, provide advice on how to prepare your property for showings and inspections. And that's really where my wife Shannon comes in. She has that artistic eye and that professional degree in interior design and architecture and brings a huge amount of value to my sellers about how to prepare their property for showings and for those professional photographs and drone photography without spending a ton of money or obsessing over every little detail. She's really got this key eye to come in and just say, no, if you just do these, these few little things, it'll make all the difference in the world. So that's another value that I bring to the table on behalf of my sellers. Number 4, closing. As you're approaching the closing date, your agent will be coordinating with the other— the buyer's agent involved, lenders, and the title company. Any attorneys that might be involved, whatever it takes to, to ensure a seamless and as stress-free as possible closing for you as a seller. In conclusion, a real estate agent plays a pivotal role when selling your home, whether it's a charming property in the Traverse City area or Leelanau County or anywhere in the state of Michigan. One other thing that you should expect from an agent representing you as a seller are different net sheets. These are easy for any real estate agent to prepare and give you, and they give you a real look at— net sheets give you a very close approximation to what you will net at the end of the transaction after you've paid all the closing costs, real estate commissions, etc., etc. It can't be exactly precise until there's an actual date certain set for the closing, but it will get you very, very close so that you understand how much you'll have in case you need that money for your next, uh, transaction. So ask your agent about net sheets right away. And that's one reason among many of why I've named my brokerage Net Real Estate. So there's an awful lot of, uh, an agent can do for you. I've just touched on a little bit here. If you're interested in the particulars of target marketing or other things that I do that set myself apart from other brokers in the area, the big box bureaucratic brokers, or the agents that work for them, send me a, a message, make a— leave a comment, or shoot me an email, and let's sit down and discuss how I, as an agent and broker at Nett Real Estate, can really differentiate and set my services apart from what other agents can do. Thanks a lot for tuning in.