How you can ensure you hire the best possible agent

There are many great Rochester area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Value Report so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (585) 600-JEFF (5333) for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today, we're going to cover the 4th "p" of marketing: the professional. This is the person you hire to help sell or buy a home, so there needs to be a good deal of trust between the two of you. The best thing you can do to ensure you hire the right person is conduct an interview. Here are some of the questions you should have answered:

• Find out how they operate: Do they have a team or are they a stand alone agent? Will they be available to meet regularly? Do they have an assistant? Assistants are usually quite helpful to clients - they can get you the answers quickly if the agent happens to be busy. 
• Find out how they communicate: Will they give you feedback? Will they stay in touch with you to keep you updated on developments during the buying or selling process? We personally like to keep in touch with our clients regularly, contacting them at least once a week.
• Find out how available they are: Will they be present at every showing? How will alarms and keys be handled during the selling process?

Another thing you might want to ask is, what can I do if I'm not satisfied with your services? This may be a more difficult thing to ask, as many agents can be evasive. We, on the other hand, offer an easy exit listing guarantee. If, for whatever reason, you are not satisfied with my services at any point in the process, you can fire us no questions asked. We want to make sure you get the best possible real estate experience. 

So when thinking about hiring a real estate professional, give us a call. We think you'll be happy with the interview. 

Prepare for Success with a Solid Marketing Plan

There are many great Rochester area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Value Report so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (585) 721-3010 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

The Four P's of Marketing
To continue my four part series of the four P's of marketing, we will discuss a marketing plan. We have covered the product and the pricing so far, so let's dive into this third part.

Planning is extremely important for marketing. A lot of what goes into planning is figuring out what will work. I always make sure to read reports from the National Association of Realtors. These reports show what is important to the consumer and what captures their attention.

I always make sure to read these reports when I'm structuring my marketing plan for the upcoming year. There is a great publication called Real Trends that predicts where the real estate market is headed. Just be sure to research what works.

We all know what has been historically successful in real estate, such as open houses, print ads and direct mail. The use of the internet has really turned this market upside down, and you need to have a marketing plan specifically for the internet. To illustrate just how widespread and popular the internet has become, look no further than current buying habits: The average home buyer looked at 22 homes 10 years ago, while nowadays the average home buyer looks at only 4.7 homes. This means that your home needs to be marketed well and staged well. You do not have a second shot at a first impression with our current market.

To make a good impression make sure you hire a professional photographer, and be prepared to repaint your home and do a very thorough cleaning. Try a virtual tour - research has shown that consumers love virtual tours.

Another consideration to think about is where you will be on the internet. My theory is to get my clients in front of as many potential buyers as possible. I would recommend posting pictures to every real estate site possible: Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, etc. Find the website with the highest traffic, and list the home on that website.

The way that homes are marketed has changed. If your Realtor cannot keep up with the changing landscape of real estate and market your home online, then I would find a professional like myself who can do so.

I hope this information is useful to you. As always, if you're interested in buying or selling real estate in Rochester, then please contact me via email or phone.

Finding an Accurate & Attractive Price Range for your Home is Easier than You Think

 There are many great Rochester area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Value Report so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (585) 721-3010 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

The Four P's of Marketing: Pricing your Home

Today I am going to continue my discussion of the four P's of marketing. Last time we talked about preparing your home to sell where we touched on staging. Today, however, we will be discussing how to price your Rochester home.

A lot of people get sent in the wrong direction with this aspect of selling and it can cause major problems down the road. What you want to do is consider very similar homes to your own to gauge an accurate price.

• Consider the area: Find a property that is in a similar school district, and preferably the same subdivision or neighborhood as your own. Here in Rochester we have a lot of different home builders so it makes comparing a little bit tougher, but there are many other aspects you can focus on for pricing.
• Find the same style of home: Every style of home has its own price bracket. You wouldn't expect a 2,000 sq. foot remodeled Victorian home to sell for the same price as a 2,000 sq. foot ranch home, would you? However, there are nuances to pricing by certain styles. I might put a colonial home in the same price bracket as a Cape Cod, so if you're unsure about the style of your home, then please contact me for advice.
• Same Size: You should shoot to find a home that is similar in size to your own, plus or minus 100 sq. feet.
• Same Age: If you have a home that was built in 1995, then find another property built from 1990-1999. Don't compare properties like a 1985 build versus a 2005 build, because there are significant differences to these.
• Amenities: Find a property with the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Other features like garages can add value, but things like in-ground pools and extra fireplaces really shouldn't add a lot of extra value if you're comparing homes.

After finding similar properties, you need to set a price range. You don't want to set a new high or set a new low, so shoot for somewhere in between. Be objective when pricing and compare your home with others to determine which property you would pay more for. Be honest with yourself and consider the different features and qualities to each property. After finding and comparing properties to your own, you should be able to price it somewhere between all of them.

You should know that it is always recommended to consult a realtor to price your home in the best range, so if you need any help pricing your Rochester home, please contact me and I would be glad to assist you.

Stay tuned for the third installment of my Four P's of real estate Marketing!

Real Estate Marketing Part 1: Focusing on Your Product

Welcome to my first installment in a 4 part series that I'm filming about marketing. You've likely heard about the three textbook aspects of marketing: Product, promotion, and price. However, I have added a fourth aspect which is the Professional that you hire. Today I will be examining the product.

#1 Aspect of Marketing: The Product

The product when you are in real estate is your home. You have to ask yourself, how can I make my product more desirable and better than my competition's product? 

1. Repairs: Sometimes there are mandatory and necessary repairs like a leaking roof, a broken AC unit, or a malfunctioning furnace. You absolutely must fix these things. The return on these investments can sometimes be upwards of 300%.
2. Updates: Perhaps you have an old and outdated bathroom with green or blue tile. You don't need to throw a bunch of money into completely renovating these areas, but you need to consider how you can minimize the effect of that dating. Sometimes just putting a new coat of paint on can work wonders.
3. Cleaning and Removing Clutter: This is where you will find the biggest return on an investment, but it will come at the expense of your own labor. You need to vacuum air vents, clean crevices, polish windows and even clean the screens on them. Clean like you have never cleaned before, and then hire a carpet cleaner or whoever else you need to make your home sparkle. Ask your realtor for his/her preferred cleaners if need be.
4. Remove Collections / Neutralize Your Home: Get rid of fine china, trophies, pictures, or whatever you've accumulated through the years. You might love it, but this will only distract a home buyer during a showing. You want the buyer to focus on the spaciousness of your living room, not on your vast collection of sports memorabilia. Hire a stager if you're having trouble, or have your agent hire one. Put your belongings in a storage unit. It's best to get them cleared away if you're going to be moving out anyway. 
5. Repainting: If you have not repainted your home in the last 3-4 years, I would highly recommend doing so. If you're child painted his/her room pink or purple in the past, you need to repaint it. I'm a huge fan of earth tones because they are very neutral and inviting. Khaki or beige with white or off-white trim has been proven to work with buyers in studies, so you might consider that.

The goal of this first step is to get your home in the condition where it can appease the largest amount of buyers possible. Do the work and contact me with any further questions because I would be glad to help. You can contact me at (585) 712-3010 or (585) 279-8250 or you can reach me via my website: www.jeffscofield.com

Ignore conventional thinking - the spring selling season starts NOW in real estate

When is the BEST time to sell my home?
There is no time like the present – especially when that time falls between January and May. That’s because in the real estate world buyers have dusted off their hands from the holidays, many have deliberated with family members, made important decisions about purchasing, transferring property, large gifts have changed hands – and the New Year represents a time for a fresh start.

Oftentimes sellers tend to believe listing their home at the height of summer is the ideal time – mainly when their landscaping is at its peak state. On the contrary, most buyers prefer to be done with their home purchasing by the time schools are out, well in time for summer activities. Another important consideration is that home-builders will offer buyers a 2% to 3% discount on their new construction homes in the fall, potentially presenting a competing challenge to sellers should they list at that time of year. 

What will happen to our home value if interest rates go up?
A common misconception regarding home values is that if interest rates rise, home values will conversely come crashing down. The theory behind that being that buyers would not be able to afford as much of a home, effectively driving prices down. However, in actuality rates don’t cause home value fluctuation as much as supply and demand does.

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So if you’re in the market to sell your home – don’t wait! Call us now and seize the opportunity that presents itself today. There are buyers waiting to write offers now, why should you wait to list your home?