Selling Your Home In The South Bend / Granger / Mishawaka / Osceola Area

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Selling your home is a big decision. But once you’ve made the big one, there are four more you must get right to ensure your success: price, presentation, promotion and professional agent handling your sale. Here’s why…

Price – In a buyer’s market such as we have today, pricing your home correctly is more important than ever. A buyer’s market occurs when there are more homes for sale than there are buyers ready to buy. In other words, supply is greater than demand. And every comparable home in your neighborhood that’s currently for sale is your competition.

To compete successfully, your home must be priced in keeping with the market. Why? Because, with so many homes to choose from, buyers will not bother to look at one that is overpriced. And with so many homes that are priced correctly, agents won’t waste their clients’ time by showing them one that is overpriced.

So, how do you determine a price that’s in keeping with the market? When you choose me, Scott Gast, as your listing agent, I prepare a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) detailing the homes recently sold in your neighborhood and the homes currently on the market. With those prices before us, you and I, together, determine the highest price for your home the current market will bear. This “fair market price” will attract enough buyers to ensure an offer. It’s a fact of life: the more showings your home gets, the better your chances of getting an offer. And once an offer is on the table, I can negotiate it up.

Presentation – Remember the first time you saw your house and knew it was the one? The curb appeal when you first drove up ... that warm feeling you got upon entering the front door ... the cascade of light shining through the windows. They all came together in one emotional moment that said you were home. This is how you want to present your home to the buying public today. Is it ready, or do you need some help getting it there?

As your listing agent, I advise you on the important elements of presentation such as curb appeal and which updates, upgrades or repairs will substantially increase your home’s value to buyers, and which ones would be a waste of money. I also offer staging suggestions to best showcase your home’s features and space. With my background in real estate and homebuilding, I understand the many details that go into creating an emotionally appealing home presentation. And I help you accomplish it.

Promotion – The importance of promoting (marketing) your home to real estate agents and to the buying public cannot be overstated. As your listing agent, I have access to an extensive network of real estate agents and brokers whose clients are ready to buy. When you list your home with me, I promote your home to my network of real estate professionals ... and my network becomes your network.

Additionally, because nearly all homebuyers (93%) begin their home search on the Internet, today’s methods for marketing homes to the buying public have radically changed. When I list your home, I enter it not only into the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) but also into the Internet’s top real estate Web sites used by local buyers and those searching from throughout the nation and world. Plus, your home has feature status right here on my site, which has been professionally designed and optimized to attract both buyers and search engines and get results.

Not to be overlooked is the invaluable marketing benefit I offer as your listing agent, which is my ability to understand your home in ways other agents simply cannot. Based on my two decades as a homebuilder, I use my knowledge of the building science to spot specialty features you paid high dollar for—features you may not even realize you have—such as thicker exterior walls, which have better insulation values. I’m able to highlight such features when marketing your home, because I know what to look for. But an agent without this specialized knowledge can easily fail to recognize these key marketing details that make your home a better buy than the competition down the street.

Professional Agent Handling Your Sale – You may not be aware that only 5% of the agents in this market have been in the business long term. As part of this small committed group, I’ve been a real estate broker for nearly a decade—since before computers, Multiple Listing databases and the Internet streamlined our work. And I’ve been a homebuilder for two decades. I’m dedicated to and love helping families with their homes, whether they’re buying, selling or building. Helping folks in this way is my life’s passion. And my wife, Sharla, is an agent, too, and an important member of the Gast Homes Team.

As your listing agent, the big difference I bring to the table—besides my dedication, full-time availability, weekly communications and knowledge of the building science—is a fully customized approach to solving the problems and meeting the needs of each home seller individually. I wish I could tell you I have a canned, one-size-fits-all method of practicing real estate as so many agents do. But it’s just not my nature to see my home sellers as a group to be processed. You are a unique individual to me, with wants, needs and challenges that are all your own. My goal is to discover what those are, help you understand all of your options, warn you of the pitfalls, get you moving in the right direction and guide you step-by-step through the entire process to a home sale closing that’s based on YOUR definition of success.

If all of the above rings true with you and you’d like to get acquainted, you have only to email or call me at 574-231-6772. I do answer my phone if I’m not with a client. I do return phone calls promptly. And I do respond to my email. So, check out these Seller Success Stories, and then let’s get your home sale started!