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At Home With Gary: Selling your home takes creativity and commitment, Part III

Gary Lanham • Oct 31, 2022

Selling a home in today’s market takes creativity, collaboration, and commitment. In the course of a few months, fast-rising interest rates and fears of inflation have halted bidding wars and over-asking-price deals. If you’re looking to sell a home or condominium, how can you stay calm while luring a buyer?


In this third installment of our series exploring the changing Fort Lauderdale real estate market, we’re reviewing strategies homeowners are using to improve their chances of selling their property.


We’ve written previously about how creativity, incentives and positivity can help. What we’ve made clear is that success comes by getting back to basics.


First, though, stay calm. Inventory is in short supply, but people are moving here in search of Florida’s low taxes and high quality of life.


Second, as we said in the last installment, get creative to incentivize your prospects to turn them into buyers. We discussed the 2-1 interest rate buydown, giving credits at closing, paying a few months or a year’s HOA dues, even turning repairs into improvements. In fact, a third of new home buyers were looking to avoid renovations.

We also discussed finding an eager realtor willing to put some skin in the game. This can include offering cash perks, partnering and marketing with other realtors, or employing other creative strategies.


Combine these strategies to encourage the homeowner and realtor to work better together. Some savvy sellers who can’t afford to offer buyers several percentage points toward closing costs are taking a different route. This may include offering to pay a bonus percentage point [or more] in incentives to the eventual buyer’s broker – on top of the commission, rather than to the buyer themselves.


Why? Over 90 percent of buyers who are ready and financially capable of buying a home in today’s market are represented by a broker. That leaves brokers to sort through sometimes hundreds of fairly similar listings to decide which ones to show a buyer any given Sunday. Working with your agent, offering a broker’s incentive can make your home stand out among all those listings to the brokers and agents who put property tours together. This can boost the number of buyers that view your home – in turn, boosting your home’s likelihood of getting an offer.


In fact, 24 percent of recent sellers offered incentives to move their properties, helping drive down the median time on the market to two weeks.


Heading back to the basics, driving prospective buyer interest requires you to . . .


Pretty it up


Invest in new paint, improved landscaping, and other upgrades. Hire professional photographers, videographers and drone operators for a second shot at capturing the home’s beauty.


Pay attention to “neighborhood living”


Nothing sells a community better than a drone shot of the streets, canals and waterways, parks, and proximity to shopping. This attention to “neighborhood living” brings your community to life and shows buyers what it would be like to call your home their own.


Practice extreme marketing


With your new staging, photography and videography in place, share your home across your social media. Ask your friends and family, especially those in key feeder markets, like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, to share your posts as well. 


This may also be the right time to assess your entire situation. Beyond engaging an experienced Realtor, talk with your financial advisor to see where your home stands as part of your overall portfolio. If your home is even slightly overpriced, it’ll spend more time on the market, with ongoing expenses like taxes, homeowner’s insurance, HOA fees and other costs, slowly chipping away at your nest egg.


If you’re selling, protect your retirement. If you’re buying, protect your future. No matter on what side of the transaction you sit, the right realtor can help.


Click here to read Part I. Click here to read Part II.


As team leader for the Gary Lanham Group at Coldwell Banker Real Estate Fort Lauderdale Beach Office, Gary is a veteran listing agent skilled in the most complex transactions. ​He knows how to get sellers the most money in the shortest amount of time, even in this changing market. Contact him at instagram.com/garylanhamgroup or call 954-695-6518.

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A major national magazine recently asked me about the definition and importance of digital curb appeal. My short answer was that it’s the way the overwhelming majority of home buyers start reviewing properties for sale. In fact, my answer understated the impact digital curb appeal has today. Digital marketing in real estate takes first impressions to a higher level (another level), don’t miss this opportunity. Whether on their smartphone, tablet or personal computer, about 97 percent of today’s home buyers are first attracted to properties online. As the internet and social media become the way many prospective home buyers see properties of interest, it’s critical that your home shines online. We all know traditional curb appeal. It’s the view of the house from the street, sidewalk or curb out front. Don’t think curb only means single-family residence. Condominiums, townhomes and duplexes also can benefit from digital curb appeal. How is digital curb appeal accomplished? Experienced listing agents encourage sellers to apply fresh paint to their house, or paint a contrast color on the front door. They’re told to manicure the lawn and garden to improve the home’s general attractiveness. This is all outside the home; it has nothing to do with the home’s interior. As buyers drive through the neighborhood, often on the weekends, what stands out are the houses that look like the place they would want to call home. It becomes the invitation to prospective buyers to “see more.” Digital curb appeal takes that presentation a step further to present the entire home to the world – from outside to inside the front door. When we list a home, we hire professional photographers, videographers, even drone operators, to capture the home in the best light. I mean that literally, as photography is shot when the sun shines best on the property. Areas of the home – the kitchen or bathrooms or the pool and patio deck – that have been upgraded or are especially alluring get special attention. This appeal translates to a warmth and charm the home radiates to the viewer. Tech-savvy realtors also routinely provide 3D tours, such as those provided by Matterport, EyeSpy360 or Cupix to show the home as if the viewer were walking through it themselves. How is that viewer found? Realtors versed in digital marketing work in concert with leading SEO partners who use keywords and phrases meant to elevate the property and specific community or neighborhood. We write engaging copy, full of rich details to tell the story of the home, the neighborhood and the lifestyle that could be enjoyed by the buyer. The result is that digital curb appeal allows buyers to “drive” the internet anytime, 24/7 to find properties of interest that coincide with their living/lifestyle requirements. Think of it as a vetting process; they have an earlier opportunity to review the exterior and interior of a house. They can learn about neighborhood assets – parks, restaurants, schools, churches, retailers, even hospitals. The buyers then can take a list of homes or neighborhoods they’ve discovered to their realtor to help guide the search. “This is what I like,” they can advise. “But don’t spend time looking at this area.” That’s why the listing agent must capture the attention of prospective buyers browsing through hundreds of listings. This digital curb appeal becomes the seller’s online chance to make that critical first impression. This is the first in a series of articles exploring the importance of presenting your home online. The next article will explore the strategy behind staging the home and shooting the best photographs and videos unique to the given property. As team leader for the Gary Lanham Group at Coldwell Banker Real Estate Fort Lauderdale Beach Office, Gary Lanham is a veteran listing agent skilled in the most complex transactions. ​He knows how to get sellers the most money in the shortest amount of time, even in this changing market. See Gary’s digital promotions of his listing and contact him at instagram.com/garylanhamgroup or call 954-695-6518 .
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It’s getting cold in the Sunshine State. Buyers with homes under contract are getting cold feet, and Florida had four of the nation’s top 10 markets with the highest cancellation rates in the past three months, according to CNBC.  Rising interest rates, still-high home prices and uncertainty about the economy have buyers thinking twice about inking the contract or closing the deal. Yet in Fort Lauderdale, including Wilton Manors, Oakland Park and Pompano Beach, listings have increased. If you’re a home seller, what creative incentives can you offer to improve your chances for a sale? Consider the 2-1 buy down . This seller incentive can help lower the interest rate during the first two years by the seller agreeing to “pay points,” or award the buyer a certain number of percentage points of the sales price, which will, in turn, be paid to the buyer’s lender as discount points that bring the buyer’s interest rate down. Rates revert to the contracted rate for year three and for the duration of the loan. If they sell the home, any leftover buy down money reduces the principal; it is not lost like if the mortgagee paid points to reduce the rate permanently. This incentive decreases the pressure buyers feel to guess the right day to lock in their interest rate [a common source of serious stress among buyers] and sends the message that if they buy your home, they’ll automatically beat the market rate. Seller-paid points are usually tax deductible to the buyer. Closing cost credit . Many buyers trying to break into the market while prices are low are already scraping the bottom of their savings account barrels to come up with their down payment money. With most home loans, the buyer will have to come with anywhere from 3 to 6 percent of the loan amount, in cash, on top of their down payment, to cover closing costs like loan fees, escrow services and title or mortgage insurance. Some sellers [and their agents] include in their home’s listing and marketing materials the offer to pay a credit from 3 percent to 6 percent of the home’s sale price at closing to defray the buyer’s closing costs. Turn requested repairs into improvements . By showing repairs to the air conditioner or roof as improvements or offering a home warranty or applying an allowance for such repairs at closing, you’ll boost buyer confidence and help them win over their lender. HOA dues credit . If you are selling a home in a homeowners’ association [HOA] that charges monthly or annual dues, paying those for the six to 12 months or more can help defray significant costs for the buyer. Talk with your agent about how to do this in a way that will offer the maximum lure for buyers but will not run afoul of any guidelines for seller credits imposed by the buyer’s lender. Then, find a realtor who is as eager as you. Will they offer perks like lunches and cash giveaways from a drawing with business cards from open house attendees; partner with another brokerage who has a listing near or in the same neighborhood – and perhaps split the expense by one house offering cash give away for attending; or connect with realtors who have had recent sales in the neighborhood to bring the house to their attention? Will they change up the MLS entry data, or allow any broker to advertise their listing, or increase the commission to the buyer’s agent from 3 percent to 4 percent? These incentives can create an audience for any brokerage where you can assure those agents that you have a property that can compete effectively. If you’re eager to sell your home, the right incentives from you and your agent can prove you’re serious – and win over your buyer. Click here for Part I. As team leader for the Gary Lanham Group at Coldwell Banker Real Estate Fort Lauderdale Beach Office, Gary is a veteran listing agent skilled in the most complex transactions. He knows how to get sellers the most money in the shortest amount of time, even in this changing market. Contact him at instagram.com/garylanhamgroup or call 954-695-6518 . Gary Lanham is a New Pelican advertiser.
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“Think of the tax dollars” As we celebrate 30 years of surviving Hurricane Andrew, Broward County Commissioner Tim Ryan, in another viewpoint, has a good idea concerning the need for a Broward County Mayor. I bring in Andrew because the media that descended upon South Florida did not know who to grab for a sound
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