Sell Your Home Fast and for More Money
Your home sold in 120 days, or we buy it!
(some restrictions apply)
Fill out the form below to get started selling your home. Be descriptive about the home you want to sell in the message so we are prepared for our first conversation.
Constant Communication
We’re committed to over communicating all of the details of the process in a way you will understand.
Solution Minded
We will proactively handle all of the issues that undoubtedly crop up during the sells process.
Knowledge & Experience
No one sells more homes in your area. Our experience in your market becomes your advantage in negotiating.
Maximum Listing Exposure
Multiple Media Channels
A robust marketing strategy will expose the property to a larger audience faster. The home will sell faster and for more money because of demand.
Radio
We’re have slots on local and national radio stations.Television
We have ads running on multiple television stations.Billboards
We lease several local billboards around the area.Print Advertising
Ads are run in magazines, newspaper and other print formats.Social Media
We have an amazing social media presence.Web Traffic
Our sites rank for local real estate oriented keywords.Pay Per Click
We run ads on Google, Bing and other search engines.Portal Syndication
Your listing will be seen everywhere including Zillow.Our Team of Real Estate Agents
Designated Realtors®
When we represent a buyer or seller we do it as a team. You are not working with one agent but a team of top performing agents. This includes all of the support staff that helps us execute on your dream home with precision and speed.
Tim Nye
Broker Associate
Cindy Guckenberger
Listing/Buying Agent/Realtor
Denise Tiedemann
Buyer's Agent /Realtor
Dan Sanford
Buyer Specialist
Frequently Asked Questions
We have Answers!
When selling a home, you want to use the experience of an agent to prevent issues (lawsuits), sell your home
for top dollar, and enter into a smooth transaction that does not flip your normal daily routines upside-down.
A real estate transaction is complicated. Buying or selling a home requires disclosure forms, inspection
reports, mortgage documents, insurance policies, deeds, and multi-page government-mandated settlement
statements. An agent acts as your educated guide through this complexity, which helps you avoid delays or
costly mistakes that can turn into tremendous headaches.
The process of selling a home is time consuming. National averages show that homes stay on the market for
an average of 60 days. Once off the market, the closing can take another 60 days to finalize, which means
during this time-frame, your undivided time is needed if an agent is not utilized.
Real estate terms and processes are unique. Like anything else, if you do not know the language or the lingo,
you place yourself at a disadvantage. Experienced agents – that you will face on the other side of the
transaction – will also recognize this. That fact becomes a major disadvantage to someone who does not know
the laws and requirements thoroughly.
An agent is aware of buyers’ taste during current market conditions. This means their evaluation of a
marketing plan and solutions to enhance the value of your home come with experience. This could amount to
thousands of dollars of lost profits, if you fail to understand the buyer’s needs and how to increase the homes
perceived value before it hits the market.
Real Estate Agents provide objectivity. Since a home often symbolizes family, rest, and security, not just four
walls and roof, home selling or buying is often a very emotional undertaking. For most people, a home is the
biggest purchase they’ll ever acquire. Having a concerned, but objective, third party helps you keep focused
on both the business and emotional issues most important to you.
An agent is familiar with writing the detailed contracts involved in a transaction and ensures that they are valid
and legal.
The buyer is often reluctant to share their financial status with the homeowner. Using an agent allows the
buyers to be more relaxed and upfront, preventing the homeowner from wasting their time with buyers who will
not qualify.
You don’t have time to leave your job during the middle of the day to help the buyers arrange financing, nor do
you have expert knowledge of the current loan market. The time and experience needed for a smooth
transaction can be demanding, which is why having a full time agent working for you is ideal.
Negotiations of price can make or break a deal. If you are not confident in negotiating or familiar with the
actual process, then you could easily under-price your home or are taken advantaged of by a smooth talker.
This could cost you thousands!
When people view your home, their level of honesty with the homeowner will not be pure. Instead they will
hold back comments and opinions. This means if a solution could easily be found for their underlying dislike,
you’ll never get to present it because they fail to share it with you. Human nature does not like to offend
people, especially when taste levels differ dramatically, so the interested buyer will remain silent.
You cannot “follow-up” as this will be interpreted as “you must be in a hurry to sell”. By keeping out of the
negotiations or follow-up process, your emotions and desire to sell are never seen. If they are seen and
anxiousness is present, then the buyer has the upper hand during the process, especially if there are only a
handful of offers on the table.
Many times homeowners make needless outlays to improve the property for selling. An agent’s experience
can save capital and reduce expenses by improving only key facets they know affect the buyer. This can
easily save you thousands.
An agent can successfully screen potential buyers. If this is not done, you can waste tremendous amounts of
time showing a home to everyone interested. Also, when the agent shows your home, rather than you, the
amount of time and energy you save by not being involved in the stressful process is worth its weight in gold!
You may accept an insincere offer and then spend months in litigation, to free your property in order to put it
on the market again. You may find buyer and seller personality conflict, thereby losing a good sale. The agent,
as a third party, can diplomatically negotiate and consummate the sale.
The agent will enlist the services of fellow real estate sales people, giving the owner the advantage of his
entire local and national sales market.
An agent has the ability to sell your home with comparison factors. By knowing the market and what homes in
the area have sold for, he or she can use this towards your advantage. Also, when a buyer comes to look at
your house and mentions the other homes they have already looked at or plan to look over, the agent can
easily give them a comparison and educate the buyer on what makes your home ideal.
The agent will price the property to sell at a fair market figure, using figures that agents can only get their
hands on easily. The average owner overprices when they initially place their home on the market, then after
failure to sell, they accept a price far below the market value.
You are ready to sell your house and want to know if selling your home on your own is the best solution. The
truth to this question can come with a bias, so I will provide both sides.
If you do sell your own home (known as a FSBO – for sale by owner), you’re incurring a lot of responsibility,
but can save a fair amount of money. Generally, the seller pays between 5-8 percent of the sale, to the agents.
Selling your home without an agent will save you that 5-8 percent. And since the majority of buyers have an
agent, you will have to cover the 2-3 percent for the buyer’s agent, meaning you save around 2-3 percent on
average. This is around $4,000 – $6,000 dollars on a $200,000 home. You can only speak to buyers that do
not have an agent, but then you are quickly limiting your potential customer base. If you do find an
unrepresented buyer though, immediately your savings rise dramatically! This is the juicy part of being a
FSBO. But let’s examine the reality of selling your own home.
First and foremost, let’s stand in the corner of common sense. Being an FSBO can save you money. But, if
this approach saves significant cash, why do only a small percentage of FSBO’s exist? There are many
reasons.
If you sell your home, you’re responsible for learning everything. However, learning is only the first stage; you
also have to do everything, including taking the responsibility for marketing your home. The marketing classes
you took in college will now pay off. The downside, as you may have guessed, are cost options of advertising
funds. Plus, your competition consists of experienced agents who are adept at catching the attention of
buyers. To get around this issue, I suggest you mimic ads that catch your eye – and learn from their
experience. Depending on the market, you could easily spend anywhere between $100- $200 advertising per
week.
*A note to remember – when advertising, you have to abide by certain state laws. Be sure to speak with an
attorney or an experienced agent who is willing to give you free assistance.
Lets not jump the gun here, though. First, you need to price your home. You can do this with a pre-appraisal or
by paying for a Comparative Market Analysis, called a CMA. Although the CMA will not provide the exact
amount you should charge, it will give you a ballpark price. We always suggest starting slightly above your
ideal target, because the buyer will try to negotiate and get you to lower your asking price.
Here is where agents can practically pay for themselves. Agents have access to key data for identifying
market trends and experience in pricing your home properly. Over or under pricing can have a devastating
affect on your result as a FSBO. This is why most people use an agent. Those who fail to properly price may
end up getting less than possible (even after commissions) if they had used an agent.
As a FSBO, though, you’ll find that you will get less traffic walking through your home, especially if you have
not paid to be included in your local MLS (multiple listing service). You can do this for an inclusion fee, which
varies with MLS. The fee will range between $300-$500.
If you fail to get good results from the MLS and advertising, the risk of lack of potential buyers looms. This
means your odds of getting a strong asking price are reduced. If you have an agent, the agent will do the
majority of negotiating for you. This is where their experience shines: They know how to deal with the other
buyer’s agent, as well as any concerns arising from the transaction. If you are a FSBO, you have to deal with
this process and we warn you, a seasoned agent might take advantage of your lack of knowledge and
pressure you into doing more than you need too.
To combat this, we suggest hiring an attorney. Let him or her look over the paperwork and ask for his/her
presence at the closing. Without an attorney, you’re really taking the risk of missing something. Therefore, if
you sidestep an agent, make sure your attorney becomes your friend. Depending on their involvement, their
cost will run a couple hundred dollars (to look over the contract), to a thousand dollars (being involved during each step to the closing). If you take the FSBO approach, be careful to find an attorney that peruses the
documents.
Another aspect you will need (as a FSBO) is flexible time. When someone wants to look at your home, you
need to be ready to show it and be there! This means you have to meet the buyer’s needs. Whereas working
with an agent, he or she will take care of this and will work with the buyer’s agent, reducing your involvement
dramatically.
Once again, we run into another legal issue. When you work and show your home with the buyer, by law you
are required to take certain steps and provide the buyer with specific disclosers. Again, we recommend that
you find a good real estate attorney to tell you what things, by law, have to be disclosed to the buyer prior to a
sale. It’s imperative that they read any contracts, and ensure you do not inadvertently discriminate against
potential buyers.
These are some plus and minuses in entering the FSBO world. Although we are obviously biased to using an
agent, there have been many successful FSBO’s transactions. Therefore, if you take this approach, just be
sure to hire legal advice to keep you on the right track.
If you are going to sell your own home, still feel free to contact my office. I can assist you in some areas. Here
are some other facts about FSBO’s to take into consideration.
For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Statistics
Did you know?
The typical FSBO home sold for $145,000, compared to $175,000 for agent-assisted home sales.
FSBO Methods Used to Market Home
Yard sign 72%
Friends/neighbors 27%
Newspaper ad 61%
Open House 41%
Internet 20%
Most Difficult Tasks for FSBO Sellers
Getting the right price 19%
Understanding paperwork 30%
Preparing / fixing up home for sale 26%
Attracting potential buyers 7%
Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale
When you have your home on the market, it needs to be ready to show at all times. Of course you won’t have
someone showing up at 7:00 a.m. or 10:00 p.m., but during reasonable hours, your home could be shown
multiple times throughout the day and evening.
Have your agent put a lock box outside. This will allow them easy access without bothering you. Lock boxes
contain a house key, are completely secure, and only licensed agents will have access.
If you have indoor pets or some other situation where a lock box wouldn’t work, agents can schedule
appointments, which give you advanced notice. Keep in mind that they could call 10 minutes before a
showing, although usually you will get an hour or two notice. Therefore, the best plan of action is to be
prepared at all times. If an agent requests a showing and you refuse, instead of rescheduling, more than likely
the potential buyers will just move on to the next house, meaning you’ve lost a possible sale. You never know
what showing will turn into a contract.
Stay away
If possible, don’t be home when agents show your home. This allows the prospective buyer to look around at
leisure and ask questions without pressure. If you’re home, for example, in the middle of cooking dinner, stay
out of the way and don’t volunteer any information unless directly asked a question. Otherwise, let the agent
do the talking.
Environment
If your home is being shown in the summer, make sure your home is cool on the inside – just as you would
keep it warm in the winter. You want to do everything possible to make your home feel like a home, which is
what appeals to potential buyers and leaves a lasting memory.
Cleanliness
Your home doesn’t have to look like it was just featured on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens, but do
your best to have it clean and tidy. Make sure there are not papers scattered about, the sink is empty of dirty
dishes, toys are picked up and put away, furniture and items are dusted, and rugs are vacuumed.
Lighting
When you know someone is coming, ensure appropriate lighting. At night, this would include flipping on front
and backyard lights. This provides a cozy feeling and makes your home more inviting.
Repairs
If you notice rooms or areas that need paint touch-up or complete repainting, this is the time to do it. Make
sure there is no torn wallpaper, gouges in the wall, etc. These types of things should all be fixed prior to your
home going on the market.
Fragrances
Try to avoid scented sprays such as room fresheners or carpet deodorizers. Even if you use these products on
a normal basis, to the buyer, it might appear as though you’re trying to mask some other type of odor. If you do
want to have a nice fresh fragrance, consider fresh cut flowers, potpourri, or a soft-scented candle. A great
home remedy is to mix one tablespoon of each – nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and pumpkin spice. Pour all into a
small saucepan filled with one cup of water, blend well, and simmer. Another option is to place a couple drops
of vanilla extract directly onto the stove burner and heat quickly. The aroma is wonderful. Either option will give
your home the fragrance of a nice home-cooked meal. Don’t use anything too overpowering; the potential
buyers might have allergies.
Visuals
Set a bowl of colorful, fresh fruit out on the kitchen table. Drape a soft throw blanket over the back of a recliner,
fan magazines neatly on the coffee table, or light candles that glow in the bathroom. These charming touches
make your home more cozy and inviting. Take a quick look around each room and see if there are things you
can do to add a nice, finished touch. If you need more ideas, look through some home decorating magazines
for quick tips.
Trash
Make sure all trashcans are kept emptied, especially in the kitchen where food items are thrown. Check
bathroom trashcans that might contain personal items. When people look at your home, you want to leave a
positive impression. Seeing overflowing trash is derogative to a sale.
Don’t forget the garage
Make sure you don’t forget the garage. Keep your tools and storage items neatly arranged. If there are oil
stains on the garage floor, use sand and newspaper to wipe it up. This is considered another room of the
house and should get the same level of attention.
Pets
This can be a little tricky. Make sure your listing mentions that you have pets. First, you don’t want them to
accidentally escape and second, you want people who might have allergies or are fearful of pets to be aware
they’re in the home. If possible, remove your pets prior to the showing. If you can’t do this, try to put them in a
kennel, the backyard, or garage where they will be out of the way.
The fair market value is the amount a buyer will pay and the amount a home seller will accept.
If you’re not completely satisfied with our customer service or marketing efforts, you can cancel the listing and pay nothing, hassle-free.