Step by Step Marketing plan for getting the most for your home

1) Prepare your home for sale:

•    reduce clutter in your home (uncluttered rooms feel larger)
•    start packing things you won't need
•    walk through your home as a prospective buyer
•    make a list of things that first attracted you to your home
•    do a thorough cleaning of everything in the house
•    paint the trim and front entrance
•    put away some family pictures and personal items (potential buyers can visualize the home as theirs much easier)
•    take care of any minor repairs such as leaky faucets
•    get the carpets shampooed
•    keep the lawn mowed and the bushes trimmed outside for great curb appeal

2)   Call Christy Mangano's team to give you a market evaluation of your  home to discuss the Best listing price  

• We will talk with you about what the current market conditions are and how they will affect the sale of your home.
• If you are ready to list have prepared for the appointment your tax information, a cop of the survey if you have one, a key to your home, and monthly utility bill information.
• we will take measurements of your home and ask your questions to get accurate information about your property for potential buyers
• In addition to the listing information sheet we will ask you to fill out a SPIS otherwise known as a seller's disclosure.  The information you provide on the form is for your protection against any future lawsuits.  On this form you MUST provide honest information  about what you know about the property.  If you don't know the answer, mark it unknown.  Buyers can therefore make eduacated decisions about your home.  DON'T TRY AND HIDE SOMETHING THAT IS WRONG.  This can only hurt you in the long run so please be honest.  Every home has something that is not perfect and buyers are aware of this, but hiding problems can turn into costly lawsuits well after the sale is done.

3)   Feature Sheets will be designed for your home displaying it's best attributes

• we will drop off some of these sheets to your home for buyers to take with them during showings.  This will ensure your home is remembered as when buyers are looking at several homes, it can start to become confusing and homes start getting mixed up.

4)   Your home will be added as a feature property on www.homesforsaleinlondonontario.com

•    We believe that using the latest technology is a pertinent necessity for selling homes.  80% of buyers are shopping for their home on the internet.
• we keep detailed information as to how many times your listing has been viewed.  Every seller has their own login which you can view and see the statistics on your property.  If you don't have e-mail we can print these reports and send them to you weekly.
• Ask for a full detailed list of all the websites that provide access to your home.  As a strong believer in the need for internet adertising, we allocate much of our advertising budget towards getting our listings properly shown on the internet.  Anyone can have a great website but the inportant thing is making sure the right people and a lot of people see it.

5)   We will arrange for a photographer to come out to do a virtual tour on your property

• virtual tours are an excellent tool for showing your home without the hassle.
• your home is displayed 24 hours a day 7 days a week and you have less intrusions
• many sellers get concerned because they think they get less showings when there is a virtual tour but you must consider that you are getting more QUALITY buyers through your door and less LOOKERS.  Many people like to go look at homes because they are just curious as to what it looks like inside, for that many sellers scramble around cleaning, leaving the house etc just for someone who really isn't that interested in buying.  With a virtual tour, lookers can view the tour and appease their curiousity and you can stay home and live in your house more often.  You can be assured then that the showings you have are SERIOUS buyers.

6)   Your home will be exposed to thousands of buyers on the MLS system

• our office sends your listing over as soon as it is listed and your home is immediately exposed to thousands of buyers through www.mls.ca In addition, we Realtor's have our own mls program call celerity. on the day it is listed, it is displayed on the bulletin page for all realtors to see the newest listings.
• Any buyers that are on the listing notifier with their agent and their criteria is met by your home, will have your listing e-mailed to them.
• this is why the first 2 weeks are the most important days of your marketing

7)   Realtor's will make appointments through us to set up convenient times to show your home

• during the listing appointment I will ask you how you would like your property shown.  A lockbox is an important tool to use becasue it will ensure that you don't miss out on showings.  Although I will always check to make sure showings are ok with you before anyone goes through, making your home accessible is the only way to sell your home. Many buyers are from out of town and relocating, and are only here for a small window of time.  Missing out on out of town buyers can be a very costly mistake.  They usually look at less homes and spend closer to full price than local buyers 

8)    A colour ad in the centre spread of the homes section of the London Free Press will display your home as a new listing

• Re/Max Centre city has the centre spead of the homes section on a weekly basis. Your home will be advertised as needed in the homes section and always to introduce your home.

9)   Other advertising vehicles will be decided on a property specific marketing plan

• Not all properties need to be marketed the same and that will be decided on a property specific plan.  Eg.  A horse farm will be advertised in the Canadian Horse Trader magazine whereas a income property might be advertised in the Western news or even the Toronto Star.
• We take a look at what kind of buyer is going to buy your property and we gear the advertising that suits the property.

10)     Proper signage will be properly diplayed and maintained

• nothing looks worse on a property than a sign that has been vandalized and neglected.  It gives the impression that the property is "stale" on the market and forgotten about.  From the first day of listing your sign is placed promptly and is properly maintained.
• Please inform us right away if your sign gets damaged and someone will take care of it the same day.  We do not use sign companies that take several days to get to because of long lists of properties to reach.
• Your sign is an important marketing tool because several buyers drive the areas in which they wish to purchase in and specifically look for sale signs.  We receive several calls and sell several homes just from the sign alone.

11)     Negotiating Offers

•  Absolutely the most important aspect of selling your home is having a qualified professional be able to negotiate offers on your  behalf.
• This process is most critical and can mean the difference of thousands of dollars in your sale price.
• We do our best to ensure that every possible offer is brought to the table and is handled with top professionalism.  In many cases, especially in a sellers market, muliple offers are presented and need to be addressed very carefully.  Working on your behalf you can be assured you have your best interests being handled to get you the most for your most valuable asset. 
• We make sure that every potential buyer has the chance to bring an offer, regardless of whether there is already an offer on the table.  Many sellers make the mistake of taking the only offer they have and neglecting to have others present as well.  Please talk to Christy about how your offers will be handled and learn about how specific examples have cost thousands of dollars.

12)   After the Offer

• After the offer has been accepted we ensure that the closing will go smooth as possible.  Follow up with lawyers, waivers, ect right up to closing we will ensure that your sale is being handled efficiently.

13)   Closing Day

•    We will check with you on closing day to make sure that everything is running smoothly.  If you need anything, just ask.  We are here to make your move and enjoyable experience!