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Following are the essential elements of the consultation, support and services I provide my seller clients.

I request that you review this information prior to my initial visit so that our time together can benefit you with a meaningful return on your time.

Download printer-friendly version, Acrobat file with links

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Index for this page:

• Preparation for Marketing

• Market Research, Establishment of Marketing and Pricing Strategy

• Initial Marketing Activities

• On-going Marketing Activities

• Internet Marketing Plan (related page)

• Purchase and Sale Agreement Negotiation

• Agreement Implementation: Repairs, Transaction Management, Closing

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Preparation for Marketing:

1. Preview and analysis of your home's readiness for the market. My initial walk-through of your home familiarizes me with the pertinent details of the property and enables me to offer you advice on how to best position the property in the marketplace.

2. Review of pertinent documents. I request that you locate your "file of the house" for my initial review. These include HUD-1 settlement statements from the time of your purchase and any refinances. The file may include old appraisals (useful for property measurements, to reduce your liability for incorrectly stating square footage), as-built surveys, subdivision covenants, homeowner association information, and Municipal tax data. I don't ask that you spend any time sorting this material: my expertise will cull what is of current value for marketing purposes. I will make hard copies and digital reproductions, and return all originals to you promptly.

3. Staging and merchandizing. As a marketing professional, my expertise goes to work for you to advise how to present your home to the market. Surprising as it may seem, the highest return for your time and effort in the form of dollars in your pocket at the closing table is in this activity. You will choose how much effort and expense to invest. I will be a rich source of information in identifying the various choices available to you.

4. Preparation of required disclosures. As a risk-reduction strategy, few activities surpass a properly-prepared seller's disclosure package. "Get it off your chest," and transfer the responsibility to the buyer to verify and accept every fact about the property. I will assist and advise you in your duties in this regard, show you what the law requires -- and what you don't have to disclose. To the extent that you can further protect yourself with full documentation, I will assist in locating this information. Because the law carries a continuing duty to disclose new information -- including the results of any buyer's inspections -- I will further advise you when these additional obligations occur and help you meet them fully and correctly.

5. Relocation company advice and assistance. Many of my corporate and government clients enjoy the benefit of assistance from an employer-paid third-party relocation service provider. I ease the paperwork and administrative burden of these activities -- I have done dozens of such transactions -- by working in close cooperation with your relocation counselor to ensure that all required paperwork and activities are completed correctly.

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Market Research, Establishment of Marketing and Pricing Strategy:

1. Market research. The comprehensive analysis of the market that I offer includes much more than an appraisal. Starting from all the factual information of the property to be sold I research the market for representative recent sales, current listings that have sold recently but not closed escrow, and all similar homes in competition. I present as much data as is pertinent in order to establish the probable selling range for the property.

2. Marketing strategy. My role is to identify the various choices in marketing the property. How long a market period is likely to produce the highest proceeds? What is the client's expectation with regard to a quick sale? What is the client's risk tolerance for netting less in proceeds if the property is initially priced above market?

3. Pricing strategy. The initial asking price is critical to success. Overpriced and the property misses the market's enthusiasm for a new listing. Priced correctly the home has a normal market time and maximum proceeds. Priced too low and a buyer can benefit at a seller's expense. My pricing advice, given an identified selling range, is influenced by market forces of the moment. In some markets it is safe, and even desirable to price high, even if it means waiting for the market to rise to the target price in a reasonable time. In a weak market, that approach can be fatal. The property will become shopworn and ultimately the seller will net less than if it had found a buyer within normal market times.

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Initial Marketing Activities:

1. Announcement to prime buyer prospects. The ever-growing client list of buyers and sellers I have worked for during the past 22 years gets first notice of new opportunities in the marketplace, such as my new listings. That client list consists of over 1500 real estate conscious people who know me from one-on-one contact in a real estate transaction. In addition, I communicate regularly with another 2000 people I have met in a real estate context, many of whom I expect will be my next clients.

2. Internet prospect notification: A new listing notice goes by e-mail to a subscriber list of clients and prospects on the Internet. The newsletter has been quoted in various national publications, including the Los Angeles Times and Real Estate Today, and is widely respected for its authoritative and timely information.

3. In-house promotion: Coldwell Banker Fortune, Inc. agents have the broad network in the community that works for our seller clients. My new listings quickly are known to my associates, for presentation to their best and most qualified buyers. When you list with a large company like Coldwell Banker Fortune, Inc. you become part of a critical mass in marketing that furthers your marketing goal.

4. Multiple Listing Service. I place a new listing in MLS without delay. I review it for accuracy and furnish the client a copy. I emphasize the importance of taking excellent photos for MLS and other marketing materials. As a past President of  AKMLS, Inc. I am especially current with marketing opportunities through this important forum.

5. Signage: Coldwell Banker Fortune, Inc. installs the sign as soon as the property is listed. The sign includes my distinctive Internet and telephone URL: “Web or Phone, 265-9106.com”. Whether a prospect browses or phones, I'm always easy to reach and quick to respond.

6. Information Packages: I prepare information packages for the public and agent-to-agent marketing. This includes property disclosures, well and septic information, Municipality of Anchorage public information on the property, neighborhood covenants, homeowner association information, financing options including any relevant financing in place that can be assumed, surveys, and opposite season photos where available.

7. On-line and local packages: I make information packages available on-site and in digital form for download by anyone. The general public at all times has unfettered access to all the published property information, both in a notebook at the home, and for download on-line through this web site. Other licensees have this at their fingertips when showing the property.

8. Property brochures: I keep a supply of summary property brochures on the sign outside for drive-by prospects. The brochure has all the on-line information. Experience shows that prospects tend to go home after finding properties that seem appealing from the street and use the URL on the flier to find additional information before calling for an appointment to see the property.

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On-going Marketing Activities:

1. Internet marketing. I publish all my marketing projects extensively throughout the Internet. I am the Anchorage licensee with the most robust and content-rich real estate site on the Web, RealS8.com, with property listings, indexes to Alaska information, and community and demographic information. My Internet Marketing Plan provides my seller's marketing projects with maximum online exposure. This is an excellent technique for bringing your property to the attention of the 78% of consumers who begin their home search on the Internet. It is an especially effective medium for reaching out-of-state and overseas prospects for residential and commercial-investment property. I have successfully sold properties over the Internet: on several occasions where neither the buyer nor the seller saw the property in person before the agreement was consummated!

2. Lead Router. This remarkable technology enables a prospect to ring my cell phone from web sites where a listing appears. All they do is click a "Call me now" button, for instant access to further information, or to schedule a showing. 

3. Buyer showings. I am always available to buyers who have a need to see the property. I do not intrude on established relationships that buyers may have with other licensees. My reputation for respectful and fair dealings among my peers is a valuable asset for my seller clients. Where a buyer does not have representation, I disclose that I represent only the seller in such circumstances, leaving the buyer free to obtain separate representation, or allow me to assist them with the process of obtaining the property if they wish to. (Where a buyer is already my client, I obtain pre-authorization from buyer and seller to work as a neutral licensee, as provided by Alaska statute.)

4. Targeted newspaper advertising: The advertising budget that I spend on my clients’ behalf is generally used to support open house activity, where such is part of the marketing plan. Most buyer activity now centers on the Internet, however. For this reason, a web-based marketing approach needs to be at the center of the marketing program. This produces results that are far superior to newspaper advertising, which is seen only by a small proportion of the buying public. In addition to the Anchorage Daily News, I have used the budget where appropriate in other media such as the Alaska Journal of Commerce and Alaska Magazine.

5. Open house is by mutual agreement where consistent with marketing objectives. Coldwell Banker's existing home sellers benefit from open houses our associates conduct for many of Anchorage's leading home builders. Many of these prospects are comparing new homes to existing homes. It is very common for Coldwell Banker associates to follow up the open house day with making appointments to see existing homes in the same price class.

6. Market monitoring and feedback to client. During any property's initial exposure to the market, considerable information and data comes to our attention that was not available at first. My job in representing a seller is to monitor the pulse of the market on a daily basis, to analyze the performance of my client's property against its competitors, and to give my seller client feedback concerning the process. Is the property getting regular showings? Are comments being heard about how the property shows that should be taken to heart? Are similar properties selling, or is the market segment temporarily quiet? Of those properties that have recently sold, how do they compare with our marketing project?

7. Marketing review conferences.  Every marketing plan, no matter with what care it was prepared, merits regular review. The market monitoring process described in the paragraph above frames the agenda for these meetings. Generally held at three-week intervals, we review progress toward the sales goal. I present current market data and an analysis of the results of marketing efforts to date. The agenda includes discussion of any necessary repositioning of the property in the marketplace and adjustments to the marketing plan.

Purchase and Sale Agreement Negotiation

1. Effective representation. Critical moments occur in the early stages of negotiation, even before a written offer is received. "Pregnant questions" from a buyer or the buyer's real estate licensee signal serious interest. What is said (and left unsaid) helps to shape the negotiation which follows. As much art as skill, I've honed my negotiating skills for 23 years, doing 50-70 transactions per year. This is "in the trenches" experience at effective representation.

2. Shaping a response. When an offer is received in writing, my job is to analyze the terms of the proposed agreement and identify its strengths and weak points for my seller client. My analysis always includes recommendations for an appropriate response. Once the client makes decisions, I prepare it in writing and present it to the buyer or the buyer's representative. The negotiation process continues for as long as necessary to obtain an agreement, or to convince us that none is possible.

3. Earnest money, appraisal costs. I seek to negotiate on behalf of my seller clients that the buyer's earnest money is to be held in my company broker's trust account. This is done to further solidify the agreement and protect our seller client from scenarios in which a buyer defaults and yet receives an earnest money refund from the buyer's broker, contrary to the terms of the purchase and sale agreement. I also seek to negotiate that the buyer pays the cost of any appraisal required by the buyer's lender. This is the universal practice around the country but has not been the business tradition in Anchorage. Both these requested provisions are announced to buyer's licensees in the listing published in MLS.

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Agreement Implementation: Repairs, Transaction Management, Closing

1. Buyer inspection and repair negotiation. Almost all purchase and sale contracts include a proviso that the buyer may inspect for property defects. My role as seller's representative is to cooperate with the efforts of the buyer and buyer's representative and to advise the seller in negotiation of any repair requests. This often becomes complex and invites creative solutions to resolve real or perceived issues. The Coldwell Banker Concierge is a proven asset: someone on our staff who can recommend licensed, bonded and insured service providers, such as handymen.

2. Transaction management. I use the most sophisticated and yet user-friendly online transaction management system in the industry. Note the Client Log-In link at the top of every page of RealS8.com. The Transaction Participation Center for RealS8.com is available from any computer and contains all pertinent documents, a running log of tasks, contact information for participants and a message center. Access is available to the buyer and seller, their real estate licensees, lenders, title personnel, appraisers and service providers. Documents and other information are visible to participants on a "need to know" basis. All content from the center is copied to a CD for your permanent record as client.

3. Settlement review and closing. In the end game of every transaction, considerable expertise is required to ensure that all the complex parts of the project come together as agreed. Or, if anything is missing or not happening, that steps be taken to solve the problem. Closing tends to be a "just in time" activity; it is not uncommon for us to see the final figures and closing documents for the first time when we sit down with the escrow officer. The most pleasant part, if course, is when the closer asks you how you would like your proceeds handled: check to pick up, direct deposit, "coin of the realm"?

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