Rarely is it a good idea to use the same agent that sold your last house to sell your current house.  You should focus on finding an agent that is successful in your new neighborhood instead of using your old agent that was an expert in your old neighborhood.  Successful real estate agents focus on a targeted area and because of that focus, they perform better in certain areas than they would in other areas.  So the same agent that you used to sell your last house may not perform as well selling your current house.
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The real estate market fluctuates every year regardless of the state of the economy or the current condition of the real estate market.  These cyclical fluctuations have traditionally fallen along the seasonal calendar year.  Spring and summer are the best times to sell, fall is okay and the winter months are usually the slowest time of the selling season.  Another way to look at this cyclical selling season is by comparing it to the seasons of flowering plants and convertible cars.  The time of the year to sell your house is when plants are blooming and pretty, and when you have the urge to drive around in a convertible. Continue reading » »

Most people will tell you that real estate agents are all the same so it really doesn’t matter which one you decide to hire.  If you practice that philosophy, you are guaranteed to have a hard time selling or buying a house.

Top producing real estate agents know the market and know how to position your house to sell in that market.  They sell houses like chefs prepare exquisite cuisine in high-end restaurants.  On the other end of the scale are real estate agents that overprice their listings, don’t market them correctly and don’t aggressively sell their listings, relying solely on fate to sell their listings.  Bad agents are like cooks, shoveling greasy food in fast food restaurants.  Do you want to hire a chef (top producing real estate agent) or a cook (bad real estate agent)?  You should focus on hiring chefs. Continue reading » »

Not every real estate agent is worth having.  How can you tell a good agent from a bad real estate agent?  Here are the top 10 signs that you might have hired a bad real estate agent…

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Beware of the Inflatable Realtor

A real estate agent that inflates a list price beyond reality just to get the listing is deceptive and may be harmful to the sale of your house.  The deceptive practice of inflating the list price is effective because the client wants to hear that their house is worth a high price.  Bad agents are more than eager to feed into this delusion.  Good agents base their suggested list prices on real conditions so they will be lower than an inflated price.  If you want to get the most for your house, and everybody does, you’d naturally pick the real estate agent with the inflated price.  Now you’re falling victim to the Inflatable Agent’s trap.
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