Thursday, February 11, 2010

List your home with Kathy Pineo Barrett

Selling your home can be a very stressful time for the entire family. I would welcome the opportunity to take a bit of that stress off your hands and work with you to sell your home. I am a full time, award winning Realtor and will work diligently and professionally on your behalf.

It is important to list your home with a full time REALTOR® for a number of reasons which I will cover below.

A REALTOR® is educated on how to market your home properly. Most people do not realize that there are mandatory courses Realtors have to take on an annual basis to enable them to renew their license each year and be up to date on all market requirements and changes. These courses are not only expensive but also very time consuming. We know what questions to ask and what answers to look for on your behalf. We as "REALTORS®" are mandated to follow the "laws" of The Canadian Real Estate Board, The New Brunswick Real Estate Board and the Fredericton Real Estate Board.

If you list with a non-member of a "discounter", they are not responsible to you or the law for anything that may go wrong with your sale or purchase. We are mandated under the law and are responsible for acting on behalf of our clients. We pay for the right to do so - work and negotiate on behalf of our clients. If we do not - we will be taken to task by the Boards that mandate us and/or in legal court. There are a large number of by-laws we have to work within ethically amd morally!

Re/Max is an International Company. Their resources are widespread. Re/Max Group Four Realty Ltd. has offices in Fredericton, Oromocto and Woodstock. Re/Max is widely known as "Canada's # 1 Negotiators". Re/Max Group Four Realty is the major sponsor of "The Re/Max Relay for Life". Personally on every closed sales transaction I give a donation to The IWK Miracle Network and Breast Cancer Research as well as the "Pay It Forward" grocery gift certificate initiative I started in the spring of 2009! It was an honour for me to be invited to join the Re/Max team in 2002 and I did so without hesitation. I have never regretted that decision!


If you list your home with Re/Max and myself, your home will be shown on numerous websites including Re/Max Group Fours local site, Re/Max.ca, Homes Across Canada, ICX.ca, Realtor.ca. With my present clients, I have also agreed to put their homes on Kijiji Fredericton. The "for sale" sign installed on your property will hold a rider that states "Miracle Home" and "Breast Cancer Awareness". Plus you will become part of my "Pay It Forward" initiative. My main goal is whatever works best for my clients.

Why is a full time Realtor so important?
The best example I can give you is one I have experienced myself. I had a military family in town for their maximum 6 day house tour. While we were out viewing, we spotted a new listing that had not been on the system when we made our decisions of which homes to view. I tried to reach the Listing Sales Associate, receiving no responses to my numerous calls. Early that evening, after my clients had made their decision and put an offer in on a home we had been able to view - I received a reply from the Listing Sales Associate - her response to me was that she works full time and is a part time Sales Associate and unable to answer her phone at work, so returns all calls received during the day after 4:30 PM. This may have lost a sale for the owners of the home we wanted to view. Do you want to risk that?


Why shouldn't you try to sell your home on your own?
The number one reason is because there are buyers who are not willing to do the negotiations on their own. They are unsure of how to do that to make sure they are fully protected. This is where a Sales Associates education comes into play - we are trained negotiators. PLUS you will never get the exposure I can offer you on websites, newspapers, open houses AND a search engine for buyers exclusive to the Realtors. Our Filogix website gives us access to a search engine that has the ability to email buyers on our behalf, the minute your house listing comes on our system (homes that are within that buyers personal criteria) - 24 hours before it goes to the MLS system. It just can't get much better than that! There are over 200 Real Estate Sales Associates in Fredericton and surrounding areas - if just half of them use our Filogix contacts email search engine as it was set up to be used, then the possibility of 20-50 emails being sent out to prospective buyers will definitely have an impact on the exposure of your home

As Real Estate Sales Associates, we know what is required on an agreement of purchase and sale. i.e.
-in rural areas a water test is required by a bank or mortgage company
-in rural areas we would request that the septic be cleaned prior to closing
-we have the owners complete a property disclosure statement answering questions that may be a concern to a buyer
-we put a limited time frame for financing to ensure the sale of your home is not held up without proper financing in place
-we put specific "terms and conditions" in the contract to protect both the seller and the buyer
-what inclusions stay with the house
-has anyone arranged a pre-closing inspection to make sure everything agreed to is in place
-did you remember to put on the agreement that the buyer and seller each require their own personal lawyer to search the title, transfer the monies, etc.
A Real Estate Sales Associate is educated and trained to make sure there are no mistakes made prior to closing.


Should I ask a Real Estate Sales Associate or work with a Real Estate Sales Associate who is willing to reduce their commission?
As an employed, salaried person, would you be willing to allow your supervisor or Company to reduce your salary without good cause. If you were told at work your salary was being reduced it could only be for a couple of reasons:
- your hours were being reduced to part time and your salary was being reduced to facilitate the change in hours
-your were not working to your full potential so your salary was being reduced to comply with your abilities

If a Real Estate Sales Associate is willing to give you 110 percent of their professional knowledge, no cutback on the hours they will work marketing your home with viewing available on numerous websites, providing signage, holding open houses, being available when someone wants to view your home, advertising your home, capable of returning phone calls in a mannerly fashion to procure showings for your home - is a Full Time Realtor, they deserve their salary.

Someone agreeing to reduce their salary knows they are not working to their highest potential in my opinion.

Real Estate Sales Associates work days, evening, weekends and some very long hours especially during the busy seasons. The big question you have to ask yourself is "if a Real Estate Sales Associate is willing to lower their commission - are they also willing to lower the services you have the right to expect and deserve?".

Real Estate Sales Associates have very high expences, we not only pay for our own gas, vehicles,signage and advertising we also have to pay our fees to our local francise office, the international office, NBREA, CREA, to renew our license each year, the mandatory courses we are required to take, etc. Our commission enables us to do the best possible job for you on a fulltime, professional basis.

Should a Real Estate Sales Associate answer their phone during their appointment with you?
This is a huge debate among Sales Associates. I for one do not answer my phone during showings or listing presentations. I return all phone calls as soon as possible when I am finished my appointment. I personally feel that my clients are entitled to my undivided attention during our appointment. We receive a large number of phone calls coming in on a regular basis - being interrupted while with my clients is not acceptable to me. My full focus at that time is with my present client. Not to be disrespectful to anyone trying to reach me but to be respectful to the person I am presently with. As I mentioned, I will definitely return all calls as soon as possible.

Working with a Realtor
It is important that you work WITH your Real Estate Sales Associate to sell your home. The Sales Associate will meet with you, possibly give you some pointers on what to do to highlight certain areas in your home and mention a few things that may need to be tidied up or removed prior to listing your home to ensure the home will be shown at its very best.

How do I determine the best price possible for my home?
This is another important area where a Real Estate Sales Associate will be most helpful to you. We have at our disposal all homes in your neighborhood that are available for sale presently, have sold in the past or have expired on the market. We will put together a "Comparative Market Analysis" to help your determine the most suitable price for your home. This is something we would do together, the most important factor. An overpriced home is a mistake a large number of homeowners make when selling their homes. Once the house sits on the market a bit too long - buyers start asking what is wrong with that house, why isn't it selling?" Market value pricing is priority when listing your home.

I personally call any Real Estate Sales Associates that have shown my listings for feedback. If the feedback tells us that the house is priced too high - then it is decision making time. You may have the time to wait for a while, or you may want to move quickly. The decision is one you will have to make for your own personal needs.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me on my mobile phone at 506-470-9888 or email me at pineok@nb.sympatico.ca. I look forward to working with you in the very near future.

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