Assist-2-Sell Franchise

It's July - It's Hot Outside- Do You Know What Your Listing Looks Like?

 Note to real estate professionals – If it’s July, 99 degrees out, and you have a listing photo that has snow all over the yard it might be time for an update. What’s the saying?  A picture is worth a 1000 words. Forget the words; in this case a picture may be worth thousands of dollars. 

My first thought when I saw this picture was, good lord how long has this house been on the market?  I bet I could snag that house for a great price.  My next thought was to look at who had the house listed. The agent obviously didn’t care about the listing and what is looked like online or in the MLS. I can’t imagine what the seller and potential buyers think when they see this?  Come the find out it was a so called “full service” agent.

Customer service and satisfaction is about the details. Paying attention to the details and not letting anything “fall thru the cracks” can make a big difference to the value you provide your clients. What if someone is/was considering listing their home with this agent and they looked them up and found this home?  You think they would be impressed?

We are all guilty of getting busy and forgetting about the little things. The point I am trying to make is that it is not about what you charge. It’s about what you do and don’t do. 

Jd Power measures home buyer/seller satisfaction

Jd Power and Associates recently conducted their 2009 home buyer/seller study. The study measures customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers. The buyer experience was based on 3 factors, agent, office, and additional services. Seller experience was rated on 4 factors agent, marketing, office, and additional services. 

There is some interesting stats in this study but here a few highlights.

First time home buyers increase to 56% in 09 up from 44% in 08.

"The presence of more first-time buyers is encouraging, as it indicates that the real estate market is returning to more normal activity, with fewer speculators," said Howland. "However, real estate companies and agents must carefully manage first-time buyer expectations. Although these buyers may believe otherwise, they must still overcome the traditional barriers to purchasing a home, such as being able to fund down payments, closing costs and monthly payments. Solid advice and service from agents may assuage these first-time buyers' concerns and build customer loyalty."

Home sellers say on average 3.2 open houses were conducted in 09 for their property down from 4.5 in 08.

I find this stat interesting considering the market has been so tough. You would like agents would be doing more open houses trying to reach as many potential buyers and sellers as possible. Appears many agents don’t think open houses are worth their time?

One more interesting quote from the article.

For both buyers and sellers, the agent is still the most important driver of overall satisfaction. However, the importance of agents has declined substantially from 2008, while the importance of additional services has increased considerably-by 12 percentage points among buyers and 8 percentage points among sellers. In addition, actual usage of many of these services has decreased from 2008, likely due to cutbacks made by real estate companies in response to a depressed market. 

The importance of additional services has increased considerably by 12 percentage points, but the actual usage of these services has decreased?  That just doesn’t add up. Additional services are important but if they are not being used how important can they be? My belief is the perception of “extras” and “full service” experience is what consumers want? 

Assist-2-Sell Optimistic About New Homeowner Relief Program

Assist-2-Sell, the leading full-service discount real estate company, is encouraged by this week’s announcement that six of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders will reach out to homeowners most at risk of losing their homes through a new plan known as “Project Lifeline.” The Company is also pleased to see such strong support for the plan come from the White House, the U.S. Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Project Lifeline (www.hopenow.com) helps homeowners avoid foreclosure by temporarily suspending the foreclosure process for 30 days. The plan will initially involve Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Washington Mutual Inc., and Wells Fargo & Co. Homeowners who are 90 days or more behind in payments on any type of mortgage, not just subprime loans, can use the extra time to work with their lenders on more affordable loan terms.

Mary LaMeres-Pomin and Lyle Martin, co-founders and co-chief executives of Assist-2-Sell Inc., had these comments on Project Lifeline:

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