On May 12, 2011 a video on Youtube surfaced about a “new” program called Florida Parade of Homes.   This “new” program would change the way builders would offer their homes to the public.  This new program would offer video, links to websites, and so much more.  On the surface, it seems like what Rethink Open House is doing.

Not Even Close

Although Rethink Open House is flattered that the HBA is embarking on something similar to our concept, there are significant differences.  Theirs is industry driven (for builders needs).  Ours is market driven (for buyers and sellers needs).   We give buyers what they want and by giving buyers what they want, builders will get what they need, buyers.  In addition, buyers, sellers, builders, designers, new home communities, and more get to play.  Before you watch their video and ours below, let’s look at some high points of their presentation.  Some points we agree with and some, not so much.

Florida Parade of Homes

“Builders are in the business of marketing their homes and this is an excellent way to market their product year round in a very dynamic process that is very high tech and very much draws on the technology that we are about today.”
Paul Thompson
CEO/Executive Vice President

Spot on, Paul.  We agree!  Are you talking about Rethink Open House?

• Powerful Marketing Tool
• Great Opportunity
• Showcase your product beyond the limits of the actual Parade of Homes

Al Zichella
President FHBA

The Parade of Homes has limits?  Really.

“Being able to deliver a product over the Internet to remote clients to sell homes in Florida…It’s gonna turn into something that’s gonna be really big I think”
Bud Swindell
Third Vice President, FHBA

Agreed Bud.  We know it will be big!

“The way our program is structured you must belong to a local parade of homes to qualify for our state parade of homes. This is to protect our local associations from erosion in their parade of homes programs someone just participating in our virtual parade.”
Al Zichella
President FHBA

We’re not sure what you mean Al.  Is this program to promote builders, or protect local associations?  What if the “virtual parade” is better for the builder?  They can always use Rethink Open House.  We don’t have any local associations in which they have to participate.

“Become a one person marketing program…with a $900 cost. That’s an incredible amount to do this much marketing”
Bud Swindell
Third Vice President, FHBA

Yes, it is.  We only charge $25 a month and you can cancel at any time.  $900, WOW!  Maybe we should charge more.

“This sounds like a winner all the way around.”
Al Zichella
President FHBA

For whom?  The HBA?

Time to Get Serious

Builders are being eaten alive in this market.  At Rehthink Open House we find it interesting the HBA is offering a solution that doesn’t exist from the HBA.  The site FloridaParadeofHomes.com isn’t up at the time of this writing.

Our Offer to the HBA

We have what you are proposing and it is available for builders today!  It is rethinkopenhouse.com.  If you really want to help builders, give us a call.  We would love to work with you to help your members.

Our Offer to Builders

If you are a builder and you really want to learn how to maximize using the web for your business, have a look around our site.  If you have questions, please ask.  We have created a site that will change how buyers find homes  that are built, to be built, or just in someone’s head.  Rethink Open House goes way beyond what Realtor.com does and what the Home Builders Association is simply proposing.  Although we are a new site, we really know what we are doing.  We are marketers.  You have to decide for yourself what is best for your business.  Please watch the video of their vision;then watch the video of our vision.  Enjoy!

Florida Parade of Homes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haEbRRf-bfw

Rethink Open House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdiRdVTpX4

If you don’t want an agent, but need a little help, we can do that for you.  Contact us and we can help with loading pictures, writing copy, etc.

Are you a little nervous picking a good Agent to sell your home?  We can help.  Contact us and we will find you an agent that best fits your needs.  It won’t cost you a dime.  We can negotiate the commission rate, make sure they know your area, and ask all the questions you don’t know to ask.  If you want to find one on your own, we have put together a little checklist.  Read on…

First things first.

What is the difference between a real estate agent and a Realtor?  All Realtors are real estate agents, but not all real esate agents are Realtors.  Why?  Realtors are part of the National Association of Realtors.  It is a private organization.  It has nothing to do with state licensing.  Real estate agents are licensed by their state to sell and receive commissions on real estate sales.  Most commercial real estate professionals are not members of the National Association of Realtors because they don’t need to be.  Today the primary reason real estate agents are Realtors is because of the Internet.  The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and Realtor.com  You don’t have to be a Realtor to be on the MLS, but you must be a Realtor to be on Realtor.com.

Search

Having said that, you should have a Realtor if you are selling a home.  So, how do you pick one?  We’ve included a search window below and we’ll give you some pointers.

Search: Realtor Listing Agent (your city) (your state)

If you pick one of the ads displayed, you will find Realtors targeting the keywords you put in.  Since you put in your city and state there’s a good chance they sell property in your area.  If you go with organic results you may get national companies and that may take a little time to get to someone local.  Click on a few and go to their websites.  Write down phone numbers.  After you have a few written down call them.  Once you get a Realtor on the line, ask these questions:

Owner:
Hello my name is ?????, I am a homeowner looking for someone to list my home.

• Have you sold any homes in my community recently?  I live in  ???????????
• Do you do any additional marketing besides listing in the MLS and on Realtor.com?
• Do you provide pictures of my home?  How many?
• Do you provide a video of my home for marketing purposes?  A real walkthrough video?
  Important question.  Many Realtors provide a video that is just pictures moving around with music.  Buyers hate these.  See if they will do a real walkthrough video.
• What is your standard commission?
• Are you willing to take a reduced commission if I am willing to do some of the work like showing the property?
• Can I market the property as a For Sale By Owner as well?  What happens if I find the Buyer?  Will the commission be reduced?

These questions should get you started.  Ultimately you need to find someone you are comfortable with, and can trust.

Hope this page has helped. Good Luck!

Remember, we can find one for you.  Simply contact us.  It’s FREE.

Did you know you don’t need a real estate agent to sell your home?  You may want one, but you don’t need one.  This series will help you decide.

In this 4 part series “How to Sell Your Home” we will show you how to sell your home, period.  This is not a maybe.  If you do what we tell you, you will sell your home with or without an agent.  The series is completely FREE.  It has been written by a real estate agent who has sold homes exactly as described in this series.  He once sold a home to a Buyer who never set foot in the house before making a full price offer.  The Buyer only lived 20 miles away.

Rethink Open House techniques were the reason why.  We show them to you in this series.  You must get through the whole series to understand the process.  Take the time and reap the rewards.  The rewards are both monetary and mental.  There are few things as rewarding as knowing you can sell your home.  Saving $1000’s isn’t bad either.  Rethink how you sell a home.

If you owe more than your house is worth, this series could be highly beneficial for you.  Why?  You need to get as much as you can for your home.  Make sure and use an attorney to help you.  We show you how to find an attorney in Part 2 of the series.

To help you along, we’ve created a Rethink Open House Owners Guide to Selling Your Home document to help you gather information you will need to get your home sold.  Whether you use Rethink Open House or not, you will appreciate having it during your process.  Download, fill it out, and save the document for future referrence.  Or, if you prefer, download and print it out.

The series is broken into 4 parts.  No matter how strong the temptation, read them in order.  Don’t bounce  around.

They are:

Part 1:

How to Sell Your Home – Have the Right Mindset

Part 2:

How to Sell Your Home – Find the People You Need

Part 3:

How to Sell Your Home – Marketing Your Property

Part 4:

How to Sell Your Home – Getting it SOLD!

Conclusion

You really can sell your home.

There are very few homeowners that “want” a real estate agent to sell their home for them.  Most homeowners don’t know how to sell their home, so they get an agent to do it for them.  In this series we are not going to tell you whether you need an agent or not.  We are definitely not going to try and get you to “list” your house with us.  A real estate company does not own Rethink Open House.  We are simply going to show you how to sell your home.  If you don’t think you can do what is being taught, then we’ll show you how to find an agent.

If you think you can do it alone, you’re wrong.  You will need help.  Real estate agents don’t sell your home alone.  They need help too.  We’ll show you the people you need to sell your home.

Home or House?

The first thing you need to do in order to effectively sell your home is separate yourself from the personal attachment.  Is it your home?  Yes.  Do you want to sell it?  Yes.

It is now a house.  It is a piece of property.  It may be your home, but to a buyer, it is a house that may become their home.  Treat it as a product you need to sell, and not something that is priceless.  Does this mean you don’t show and sell the property with the love you have for it?  No.  But don’t think it is worth more than any other house because it’s yours.

If you are unable to do this, go to How to Find a Real Estate Agent right now!  You will not be able to sell your house effectively.

Think like a Buyer.

Want to sell your house quick?  Think like the buyer.  If you wouldn’t buy your house, why should they buy it?  This is crucial.  Having this understanding can be the difference between selling in weeks, months, or years.  If you want to get the best price for your house, you need to find the right buyer.  The way you showcase your property using Rethink Open House will help you find the right buyer.  We’ll talk about that later.

Think like a Seller

You can sell your house.  There are 1000’s of houses selling every day no matter what you hear in the media.  Some are selling dirt cheap, some are selling over asking.  That is reality.  Make it your reality.  Don’t let yourself talk about how bad the economy is.  The Buyer doesn’t want to hear it.  The Buyer doesn’t need to hear it.  They are getting ready to take a big step.

Don’t live with your head in the sand.  If you are getting no calls on your house, lower the price until you start getting calls.  Just because you have your house available for a price doesn’t mean you have to accept that price.  Are we suggesting low balling people?  No, that is unethical.  What we are suggesting is find a price that gets interest.  If you find two Buyers, maybe you can create a bidding situation.  If you only get one buyer, seriously consider taking the offer.

Have a timeline

How fast do you need to sell your home?  Don’t ask yourself when you want to sell your home.  You want to sell it now!  Ask yourself when you NEED to sell your home.  You must have that answer clear in your head.  If you don’t need to sell right away, you can spend more time finding the right buyer.  If you need to sell now, price could end up being a big factor.  More about this topic later.

How to Sell Your Home Part 2:  Find the people you need.

Have you downloaded the Rethink Open House Owners Guide ?



This series was not written to cover every possible circumstance you may encounter in selling your home.  It is, however, everything you need to know to sell your home.  If you have questions/problems along the way, ask those professionals you’ve hired.  When all else fails, disclose everything.  If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.  And let the professionals handle all the money, period.  In most transactions evolving real estate people get in trouble hiding something, or doing something stupid with the money.

Once again, Rethink Open House is a marketing company.  We hope we have helped you in some way towards selling your home.  If you need legal advice, ask an attorney.  If you think you need a real estate agent go to our How to Find a Real Estate Agent page.

Happy Selling

You’re not getting any calls.  Why?

Our experience is that if you have your home on Craigslist you will be getting 100 or more visitors to your page each week.  If no one is calling about your home it is probably priced too high or is very unique.  Back to our earlier example, if you have a 3 bed,  2 bath, your priced too high.  If you have a 6 bed, 5 bath, there aren’t too many buyers in that arena.

It’s also worth mentioning depending on the price of your home; you may need to hire an agent.  Some multi-million dollar buyers always use agents because they don’t have time, or have too high a profile to be calling owners about a house.  Take this into consideration.

You’re getting calls but no offers.  Why?

You may be doing a great job but haven’t found the right buyer yet.  If you are getting calls, you are peaking interest.  It is possible you are priced too high, but you may just need to be patient.

Fast Tract Sale

Have you heard the ads from agents saying they will sell your house in 120 days or they’ll buy it from you?  Or, give you $1000, or something like that?

You can do the same thing they are going to do, too.  In most cases they will price your home “right” as they will say.  They might even price it a little higher than “right”.  But here is what sells your home.

If you haven’t gotten an offer in 2-3 weeks, you must drop it.  Maybe 2%-5%.  If it goes another 2-3 weeks without an offer, lower it another 2%-5%.  You better believe it will have an offer in 120 days.  You can do this too, if you like.  It isn’t any secret strategy.

You have an offer!!!!

That’s great news.  Hopefully it is what you would like.  Think long and hard about offers.  Don’t take any offers without a deposit commitment.  If you want to accept, call your Title Company, or Attorney and move forward to close.  Find out how they want the deposit.

This part can be the easiest if you did your homework in the beginning of this series.  Find the right professionals to help you and you’ll be fine.

Stay on top of things!

Once you have a signed offer and you are moving towards closing stay on top of what’s going on.  Make sure inspections are done on time.  Make sure the loan paperwork is going through in a timely manner.  Make sure and get a loan approval letter from the buyers loan company.  Stay in contact with your Title Company or Attorney.  Make sure they can get a hold of you if needed.

SOLD!!!!!

You can get here.  It happens every day.  Congratulations.

How to sell your home – Conclusion

Finding Buyers

The reality is you’re not finding buyers.  They’re finding you.  Let there be no misunderstanding, buyers are looking for you.  Over 1 million times every month “homes for sale by owner” or some version of that phrase is searched on Google.  All buyers are looking for is an owner who wants to sell their home for a reasonable price.  Yes, they think they’re going to get a better deal.  They are going to get a better deal, aren’t they?  By dealing with you directly they are going to save something.  It may not be what they hope, but the reality is they are dealing direct and it’s going to result in some savings.

Buyers want to find an owner who is selling their house professionally and putting forth a professional impression.  This is where Rethink Open House helps.  Buyers going to a Rethink Open House page to see a home are much more likely to be comfortable moving forward than a home on Craigslist with one picture saying call for more information.

IMPORTANT:

Buyers are interested in saving time.  They don’t want to call every time they want to see pictures of a home.  This is one of the reasons they don’t like agents.  Agents only want to show a limited amount of information about a home.  An agent’s goal is to get the buyer to a house.  Sounds good, right?  Wrong.  Buyers don’t buy that way in the 21^st Century.  They are used to finding what they want online and getting as much information as possible.  If you want to get on their short list, give them as much information as you can.  Give them lots of pictures, a walk through video (if you can), and even a video of the community features.  The more you give, the more excited they will be when they get to your home.   What if there are 100 other houses like yours for sale?  What puts yours on the short list?

Let us be very clear about this because it gets to the very core of selling a home online.  There are two positions.

1. Show teasers and get them to the house.
2. Show everything and let them fall in love with your house.

As an owner you want #2 because you want to sell your house.  An agent likes #1 because the want to sell “a house”.  If it’s yours great, if not, that’s ok too.

Doesn’t it make more sense to get buyers to your house, which love your house from what they saw online?  It will save both you and the buyer a lot of wasted time.  91% of a buyer’s first impression of a house is online.  Make it a memorable one.

Where to market your home.

You really only need to be on two sites to sell your home.  There are a lot more but these two are the top of the list.

1. Craigslist
2. Realtor.com

Craigslist

Getting on Craigslist is easy and free.  Regardless of what any agent says to you people are buying and selling homes on Craigslist.  Are there scammers on Craigslist? Yes.  Are you going to be scammed?  No.  Why?  You are not going to give anyone any money.  And you are not going to show your house to anyone who is not serious.   If someone wants to see your home, get their name, phone number, and call them.  Don’t set up appointments via email.   This is a home you’re selling, not a candy bar.  Never, never, never show your home alone and never leave anyone alone in your home.  Don’t let people wander your home while you are showing it.  Keep them together and you’ll be fine.  All money goes through your Title Company or Attorney, period.  No exceptions.  If the buyer wants to do something else they are SCAMMING YOU.  Be smart and you’ll be fine.

You are limited to listing your home on Craigslist once every 45 days.  You can, however, change your listing a little to try and get around this.  Some even use different emails to get around it.

When you post your listing be as descriptive as possible.  Try to think of the words a buyer would use to look for your home.  Put city, bedrooms, baths, swimming pool, community information, etc.  Only put one or two pictures.

Of course, in the listing put: For pictures, video, and more, see this home at Rethink Open House.com ID # ????

If you want your listing to have a direct link to Rethink Open House put http://rethinkopenhouse.com and it will put a link automatically.  Don’t forget your property ID.

Realtor.com

Getting on Realtor.com is a little different.  You have to list through a Realtor to do this.  You may not need to do this.  Give a sign in your yard and Craigslist a chance first.  You’ll be surprised the results you’ll get.

If you decide you want to be on Realtor.com you have a couple options.

1. Hire a Realtor
2. Pay to have your home listed on the MLS and Realtor.com

Hire a Realtor

If you decide to hire a Realtor, you don’t have to give them an “exclusive right to sell” agreement.  You can hire them to list your home on the MLS and Realtor.com and if they find a buyer you’ll give them a commission.  If they don’t, you won’t.  They aren’t going to like the arrangement but these types of arrangements happen all the time.  It gives them a “listing” and it gives you exposure on Realtor.com.  You can use the search window below to find a realtor in your area.  Simply type “Realtor (your city) (your state)” in the search window.

Pay to have your home listed.

There are a lot of services out there that will list your home on Realtor.com and the MLS.  Below is another search window.  Here’s what to search:

Search:  List on Realtor.com

You will find plenty of places.  They will ask you to offer a commission for buyers agents.  Actually they will require it.  It is a requirement to be listed on the MLS.  What should the commission be?  Agents like 3%.  2% is becoming more common.  There have been commissions as low as $200.  That’s right, $200 was all that was offered.  You decide for yourself what you want to offer.

Custom Search

Continued….

How to sell your home Part 4: Getting it SOLD!

Creating a Great First Impression

Rethink Open House

Can you believe it?  It took this long to get to our sales pitch.  We hope you have learned some valuable information thus far.  Now we’ll show you why you need us.

The most important part of marketing your home is putting it before buyers in the best light.  You want your first impression to be great, not just ok, sufficient, adequate, or acceptable.  Get the picture?  With a Rethink Open House page you can show pictures, a description, videos, and link to social media like Facebook, Twitter, and others.  You can also show the location of your home if you like.  Buyers will also have the ability to contact you.

And we’re easy for you to share with buyers.  Whether you have an add on Craigslist or a sign in your yard, all you have to say is:

Go to RethinkOpenHouse.com  ID # ???? to see pictures, video and more of this home.

It seems too simple, doesn’t it?  It is simple, but very powerful.  You want to control how and where a potential buyer receives their first impression.  By sending them to your Rethink Open House page you are doing this.  You control what’s on that page, and you can change it whenever you like.  You can change the pictures, the price, the description, anything.  Your Rethink Open House page is also all about your house.  There aren’t any distractions like competing properties rolling across the screen, or an agent’s picture.  It’s all about your house.  We call it your “Selling Hub”.  Everything about your home happens here.  If you use this “Hub” it’s all you need to change.  You don’t need to change every site your on, just one.  Try doing this on Realtor.com.  You can’t.

This technique is very powerful.  Don’t believe us?  Here is a quote from a Rethink Open House customer:

“Hey Rethink Open House….Chuck & Nancy Z. here just letting you know that you are fabulous, again! We received a few inquiries only a few days after being on your terrific site. This is the 2nd time Rethink Open House has come through for us, they’re fantastic! Thanks Rethink Open House!”

This couple has tried selling their house twice.  The first time they got a buyer, got a deposit, and the buyer backed out.  But the owners kept the deposit.  They had to do it again.  And, it worked again.

If you think Rethink Open House is a listing directory, you have missed it.  We are a tool not a directory.  In time, we may have a large enough visitor count to call ourselves a listing directory.   But for now, all you need to know is do what we are telling you and you will sell your home.  We’re sorry if it sounds arrogant, but it’s true.  We know it works.

After you have finished this series go to “How to Get a Rethink Open House Page” to get started.  We recommend you finish this series first.

Continued:

How to sell your home Part 3: Finding Buyers

There are three main elements to marketing your property.  They are:

1. Establishing a price.
2. Creating a great first impression.
3. Finding Buyers.

Establishing Price

You must find out what your home is worth.  Depending on the type of home you have, this can be difficult.  If you have a pretty ordinary 3 bedroom, 2 bath single story home with a 2 car garage it shouldn’t be too difficult.  However, if you have a 6 bedroom, 5 bath, 2 half bath, with swimming pool, tennis court, 7500 square foot estate, on a lake, it will take a little more effort.

The more unique your home is the more difficult it is to establish its value.  You could have an appraisal done, but it may not be necessary.  The easiest way to establish a homes value is to search tax records to see similar sales in the area.  Once again we have included a search window below for your convenience.

Search:  (your county) (your state) Tax Appraisers Office

Custom Search

It should be easy to find.  Hopefully your local tax appraisers office has Internet search capabilities.  First, access their system.  Second, find your home.  Third, look for the button that shows similar sales.  Write down the addresses (or better yet, print the tax record) and drive by the homes to see what they look like.  Keep in mind the new owners may have made some changes since their purchase.  If you see a home that seemed to sell for a great deal and then you drive by and it looks pristine, the new owners may have done some improvements.

Use these homes as your guide.  They are not cast in stone.  Be realistic.  Is your home as nice as the ones that have sold?  Is their location as good as yours, or better?

Next, look at homes online in your area for sale.  You really only need to go to two places:

1. Realtor.com
2. Craigslist.org.

We’ll talk about how you use these Internet sites to sell your house later in another section.

If a house is for sale and not in one of these two places, it must be a For Sale By Owner hoping someone will see the sign in their front yard.  Again, right down addresses and drive by.  Keep in mind these are houses for sale, not sold.  Be aware of this fact when evaluating the price.

Once you have done these two things come up with a price.  Remember, regardless of what price you come up with, a buyer will only pay what they are willing to pay.  And there is no guarantee the price will hold up to an appraisal.  If you really do a great job marketing your home and you find the right buyer.  You may get a price higher than what it will appraise for.  If you do, be prepared to come down on the price at the closing table in order to sell your home (Sound crazy? It happens).

Continued

How to sell your home Part 3: Marketing your property – Creating a great first impression

Additional Resources

You may also want to find the following people.  It is not essential, but could make things go a little smoother.  We have included these on your Rethink Open House Owners Guide for you to fill in.

Home Inspector:

Typically buyers would find their own home inspector.  You may want to put together a list of three inspectors in your area to give the buyer.  At the very least it shows you are willing to help make the process as easy as possible for the buyer.  Getting a home inspection is not required to sell your home, but most buyers will want to do it.

Termite Inspector:

You may not need a termite inspection depending on where you are located.  Usually one will not be needed unless required by a lender, or if the home inspector finds something.

Mold Inspector:

A mold inspection is usually uncommon outside areas with high humidity.  And, like a termite inspection, the home inspector usually recommends it.

We have included a search window for you below.  As with the other searches we recommend you try to find a business rather than a referral website.  It will make your search a little easier.

Custom Search

Now for the fun part.

How to sell your home Part 3: Marketing your property