Bradley REal Estate proven marketing plan
Choose the Right Broker and REALTOR®
The most important decision you will make in the marketing of your home is choosing the right real estate brokerage and REALTOR®. You want to hire a brokerage and REALTOR® that has:
- A reputation for high integrity and a strong work ethic;
- A clearly defined and detailed plan for preparing your home for sale;
- A comprehensive and proven advertising campaign that can be tailored for your specific property;
- A strong business acumen and experience with negotiations in real estate.
Bradley Real Estate is dedicated to hiring and training real estate professionals who maintain these attributes. We take pride in providing all of our clients with the superior level of service.
Pricing Strategy
Competitive Pricing for Maximum Exposure
Pricing your home is critical. The key to pricing in most markets is to maximize the number of qualified buyers who see your home with the initial listing price. If your home is priced too high, many of the target buyers may never see it. Setting a realistic price from the start generally helps in facilitating a quick sale at the best price to the seller. As illustrated below, an over-priced home may sell much later and for much less than it would have had it been priced right from the start.
COMPARABLE MARKET ANALYSIS
Pricing real estate is not an exact science. This is especially true in Marin, where so many of the homes are custom built and situated on uniquely sized and topographically shaped lots. However, our agent’s experience and local market knowledge will help you in choosing the appropriate asking price for your home. Our agents will present to you a range of suggested listing prices based on recent sales in your area, market conditions and the uniqueness of your property. Ultimately you, as the seller, will determine your asking price for your home.
30 – Day Action Plan
Our 30-Day Action Plan is designed to get your property listed and sold quickly.
* This is a hypothetical sales plan. The exact timing of selling your home may vary. An action plan will be cusomized for your property and individual needs.
Preparing your property for sale
Call A Bradley Real Estate Agent
Before you begin preparing your home for sale, call Bradley Real Estate. Our agents are expert consultants when helping you prepare your home for sale. They are happy to help you, make recommendations and refer you to professionals that will assist you in the process of preparing your home for sale. (Click Here to contact Melissa Bradley Real Estate now!)
Curb Appeal
Giving buyers a good first impression of your home is very important. Your home should appeal to a potential buyer driving by your house. You may want to consider planting some colorful flowers or adding some plants to fill out the landscaping. Be sure that your lawn and bushes are trimmed, weeds are pulled and any excess refuse is removed from the premises. Also, be sure to check that all light fixtures and bulbs are working. During the rainy season, check your gutters to ensure they are clean and properly draining through the down spouts. On a daily basis, you should sweep your walkways and clean your entryway of any accumulated dirt, leaves or spider webs.
Have a Handyman Make Small Repairs
Making small repairs will make a big difference for potential buyers. If potential buyers notice little things that are not fixed, then they may believe that there are many other problems with the house that they are unaware of. Ultimately, these little problems may dissuade an otherwise interested buyer from making an offer on your home.Bradley Real Estate will recommend a handyman to go through your home to fix minor problems like loose doorknobs, sticking and squeaking doors and windows, and other minor flaws that will detract from your homes value and appeal to buyers.
Paints and Carpets
Unless you are selling a home as a true "Fixer-Upper" or you have recently painted or replaced your carpets you may consider painting the interior and replacing the carpets in your home. Faded walls and stained or worn carpets reduce a homes appeal. These two improvements give homes a quick rejuvenation that is appealing to many buyers.
Clean Out the Closets, Garage and Other Storage Areas
Neat, organized and sparsely populated storage areas will show that space is ample in your home. Conversely, messy and unorganized closets will make the space feel small and more crowded. Remove all unnecessary accumulations from closets and the garage. If your closets are full and contain important, necessary items, then consider boxing up some of these items and moving them into temporary off-site storage. By taking these steps, not only will your home show better, you will also be more prepared for your upcoming move.
Staging Consultation
As with over packed closets, your home may contain excess furniture that will give it a crowded feeling. Upon listing your house with Bradley Real Estate, our agents can arrange for a professional staging consultant to assist you in repositioning or removing furniture and other household items in a manner that will help present your home in a favorable manner. Sometimes minor redecorating is recommended if certain elements of your home are dated. For example, shag carpet, foil and flock wallpaper, etc., can be turn-offs even when the rest of your house is terrific and updated. Our staging consultants will suggest quick and inexpensive ideas that may greatly improve how your home shows to potential buyers.
Cleanliness Attracts Buyers
Put a little sparkle and shine in your home and it will pay off. Make sure that your carpets are vacuumed, floors mopped, furniture and fixtures dusted and your home is otherwise neat and tidy. You may even consider displaying arrangements of colorful and fresh flowers for open houses to make your home feel more charming and inviting.
Let the Sun in and Turn All the Lights On
Open all shades, shutters and drapes to give your home maximum exposure to sunlight. Turn every light on in the house, even during the day. Be sure to replace all burned out bulbs and to repair or replace broken light fixtures.
Three is a Crowd
Most buyers prefer privacy when being shown through a house. Whenever possible, let agents show potential buyers your house. Take your pets with you. Not all buyers look favorably on having cats, dogs, birds or other animals at the home, so take “Bengi” and “Tweety” with you. Being alone with their agent will allow buyers to feel more relaxed when discussing the potential of buying your home. If it is necessary for you or your family members to stay at the home while being shown, do not discuss terms, price, etc., with the buyers or their agent. This is your agent’s role and responsibility and will make your transaction go a lot smoother.
Inspections
Our agents will order the inspections required by local and state laws to ensure you comply with your legal obligations to the buyer of your property.
Paperwork and Disclosures
We have standard forms for disclosures and all the other associated paperwork required for the sale of your home. Upon listing your house with Bradley Real Estate your Realtor® will lead you through the process to ensure that all the appropriate disclosures and paperwork are completed.
Advertising Your Property
When you hire one of our Realtors® to market and sell your home you can expect the highest level of service and attention to detail. We are marketing masters. Each property is unique and will have an advertising campaign tailored for the specific property's individual needs. Listed below please find some of the vehicles we may use to market and sell your fine home.
Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
Your home will be placed on the Bay Area MLS. This is a sophisticated online computer service used by Realtor® members. Agents in Marin, and other agents in the surrounding areas can access this data. Your home information, as well as photographs and virtual tours will available to agents and their clients. Bay Area MLS information is also made available on many public web pages. This access allows all buyers searching for property in Northern California to access the information, photographs and virtual tours of your home. With up to 70% of homebuyers starting their search for property on the Internet, the MLS is a highly effective way to expose your home to the most potential buyers. (Click Here to search the MLS from our web page).
BROKER'S OPEN HOUSES
In order to sell your home it must be exposed to the Realtors® in Marin and surrounding areas. To facilitate this we will hold broker's open houses. Your first broker's open house will be held in coordination with your homes first week listed on the MLS, and will be hosted by your Realtor® provided your home is ready to be shown at that time. Your Realtor® will distribute full color property brochures professionally designed to show and describe your unique home. When applicable, the first broker's open house will be catered with food for the agents to eat while they discuss the great qualities of your home.
PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE
Exposing your home to the public via open houses has proven to be an effective and efficient way to show your home to many potential buyers. We are able to get a large number of buyers through your home in a short period of time. Thus, cutting down the amount of appointments necessary for the weekly showings. Public open houses are held Saturday and/or Sunday until your home is sold. However, if you prefer to hold Public open houses less frequently, then we will accommodate your preferences and hold open houses as you prefer.
COLOR PROPERTY BROCHURES
We take pride in providing you with high-quality, professionally designed color brochures for your property. We use glossy and thick card stock paper and include color photographs and a description of your property. Brochures will be displayed at your property, at all open houses, at each of our real estate offices, and, when applicable, in our brochure boxes located at local super markets.
Signs
We will post a distinctive and visible For Sale sign in front of your home. This notifies neighbors and passerby that your home is for sale and you have hired Melissa Bradley Real Estate to sell your home.
Weekly Newspaper Ads
Your home will be advertised in the Marin Independent Journal. The Marin Independent Journal has a circulation of approximately 40,000 daily, and its average reader has an annual income of $95,300. We will advertise your home in the Real Estate section of the Sunday addition. We use large ads with photographs of your home that attract the attention of buyers. We may also advertise in a number of other periodicals such as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Marin Scope, The Ross Valley Reporter, The Twin Cities Times, The Ark, The Novato Advance, The Nob Hill Gazette, The Mill Valley Herald, The Point Reyes Light, The San Rafael News Pointer and others. Each home is unique and will have a specific target audience that will be addressed. An example of our Marin Independent Journal ad is provided below.
Magazine Ads
Full color magazines are used to market and sell your home. Some of the magazines we may advertise your home in include Real Estate Marin, Marin Homes, Marin Market, Distinctive Homes, Real Estate San Francisco, Homes & Land of the North Bay, Pinnacle, The Robb Report, Luxury Homes Magazine, and more. Some of these magazines target a local audience while others are geared toward the luxury buyers and target the national and international markets.
Internet
Your home will be advertised on the Internet as a featured property. Some of the websites you’re your home may be found on include, MelissaBradleyRealEstate.com, Realtor.com (the #1 visited real estate website nationwide), Globalhomes.com, Greathomes.org, Circlepix.com, MarinIJ.com and LuxuryRealEstate.com. Most websites will include the photos, description and virtual tour of your home.
Virtual Tour
Virtual tours provide buyers searching for properties online with a 360° view of each of the rooms in your home as well as outside areas. This advanced technology allows buyers a more detailed view of your property than traditional photographs alone, and is an effective marketing tool allowing prospective buyers to view your unique home. Your virtual tour will not only be made available on our website, but may be viewed on any of the numerous websites of other cooperating real estate brokers and real estate websites.
Color Photos
We will arrange for high-quality digital color photographs to be taken of your property. As applicable, these photos will be used to create color brochures and post cards for your property as well as be displayed on the internet and in the pages of periodicals for advertising purposes.
Direct Mail Campaigns
We send out weekly mailers featuring our inventory of homes for sale. Mailers include color brochures or postcards featuring color photos. Direct mail is sent to specific areas and targets potential buyers of your home. Potential buyers are targeted by geography, income and other relevant demographics.
Negotiations
In today’s real estate market it is crucial that you have a highly skilled negotiator working for you. Our Realtors® have been professionally trained by Melissa Bradley in negotiations and receive ongoing training from Melissa to keep up with the latest market conditions and emerging legal requirements. This ensures that our Realtors® will be prepared for any situation that may arise during the sale of your home. When there are so many dollars on the line it’s no time for gambling—your safe bet is to have the Melissa Bradley Real Estate team on your side.
