House Sold, But With A Twist Hyphen Interiors

The attached PDF file is a first hand account of our services and how the process works from the viewpoint of an actual client.  We are extremely grateful to the seller for posting such a detailed account of our process. This blog post gives a very accurate account of what a seller can expect from our company and our service.

Many times when customers are considering which Real Estate brokerage to go with, they fail to ask what I think is the single most important question…. “What have you actually sold”? Not, what have you listed… Not, what is your flat fee listing price…. Instead, what have you actually sold through your Flat Fee MLS service?!

You will notice that many other “discount” brokerages on the internet will try to get your business by making claims that can not be proven to be true or false. For example, you will see other companies claim to be the “original flat fee company”… or the “leader in flat fee”, etc…. With many of these companies, it’s all about the advertising and not about the results.

Congress Realty is different from every other flat fee company out there in that we will gladly provide our sold data to our prospective clients. Not only will we provide the data, we will provide it to you directly from the MLS so that you can even verify it is accurate/honest data. Anyone can put up a website with ridiculous claims and promises. Congress Realty can actually prove our program works.

To prove my point, I ran our data versus a competing flat fee firm who advertises themselves as the lowest cost provider. You can quickly see why they don’t advertise themselves as the leader in sold properties.

Las Vegas and Omaha.

In Las Vegas, Congress Realty has been credited with 80 closed sales in the past 12 months. The competing firm has been credited with 7.

In Omaha, Congress Realty has been credited with 53 closed sales. The competing firm has been credited with 6.

Upon request, we can provide the MLS printouts showing the sales referenced above and the names of both Congress Realty and the company referenced in the above comparison.

Congress Realty operates under the belief that the goal of any listing brokerage is to sell the property at a fair price acceptable to the seller.  Whether you are paying $100, $300, or 6%, the goal is to sell your property.

It is always best to add photos to your MLS listing before the listing goes active on the MLS. The reason for this is that the longer you wait to add photos, the more likely your photos will not appear on various 3rd party websites. By adding your photos from the very start, all 3rd party sites should pick up the photos.

How do I ensure Congress Realty has my photos? Prior to faxing or emailing your MLS documents to us, add your photos to our pre listing manager or email the photos to info@congressrealty.com.

What to do if you choose to add your photos at a later time after the listing is active? Email the photos to info@congressrealty.com or add them to the private client area. Do not add them to the prelisting mang after the listing is active.

When a property goes active with Congress Realty, we create a PDF screenshot of the detailed MLS listing and post this in our private client area. The seller then receives an email with a login and password to the private client area. When the seller logs in, at the top of the screen they will see, “click here to download copy of listing”. After viewing the listing, the seller can use this same interface to make changes to the listing, download blank purchase contracts, disclosures, etc.. and even add additional services if needed. Anytime the seller would like a new copy of their MLS listing to view, they can request this by emailing admin@congressrealty.com and we will send this right over.

1) Generally people looking for homes during this time period are legitimate buyers and not just lookers.

2) Many corporations relocate employees during this time of the year.

3) Buyers may be able to take advantage of certain tax benefits before the end of the year.

4) Less inventory on the market means less competition for you, the seller.

5) Homes are generally well decorated and show better during the holidays.

6) Buyers tend to have more time to themselves to look during Nov-Dec.

7) You can still be listed on the MLS and limit showings to days that work for your schedule.

Buyers can still take advantage of the tax rebate

9) Sellers have more freedom to use closing date as a negotiation tool b/c of the importance of closing before the New Year to some buyers.

10) Pending to active ratios are still increasing in the majority of markets we serve.

Three bits of advice I would give potential new sellers who are considering listing their property:

1) When you fax/email your listing docs, include your marketing remarks with the original information. This is your chance to boast about your property’s best features. Use this area to separate your property from the others by including specific information about your upgrades. Don’t simply write, “highly upgraded”, tell the buyer exactly what upgrades your property features.

2) Do not change your phone # during the listing period. When you pick a phone # to list as your main point of contact in your MLS listing, consider your future vacations, etc… Whatever phone# you choose to utilize on listing day 1, try to ensure this is a phone # you will have with you throughout the duration of the listing.

3) Add your photos to your listing as quickly as possible. Do not wait 3-4 weeks to add photos, try and your photos within 1 day of your listing going active.

Always try and use the phone # that you will be most often available to answer. Try and avoid routing calls to attorneys or other points of contact when you can avoid it. If you have a cell phone, use this on your sign and MLS listing. (and phone forwarding if you select this feature) The problem with making your attorney your point of contact is that this individual will most likely not be available on weekends and evenings. (when many showing request take place)

Also, try to avoid putting too many phone #’s on your listing. Ideally, have one phone dedicated solely to selling your property. Thus, when you hear this ring, you know to put down what you are doing and address the call.

Our phone forwarding system sends all potential callers to you the seller directly. This allows the seller to work these leads for a potential owner to owner transaction. In the rare event a potential purchaser contacts us directly, we give the caller the seller’s phone #. Our program is designed to generate massive online exposure for our clients. As a result, it is not uncommon for our sellers to generate interest from a number of potential purchasers. Congress Realty distinguishes itself from the competition by not “stealing” these leads from the seller. (As our competitors do) Most Flat Fee companies are dependent upon using their listings to try and secure buyers. They do this by marketing the seller’s property online and then trying to work the potential buyers themselves. Congress Realty forwards each and every lead to the seller directly. In the event we receive an email lead from websites such as Realtor.com, we fwd these to the seller as well. Sellers can be confident that they are receiving each and every lead their property generates.

When it comes to negotiating price, For Sale By Owners can and more often than not do negotiate the best possible price on their own behalf. The reason? They don’t have a 3rd party in the deal influencing their own decision. Especially a 3rd party who is seeking a payment that is contingent upon a deal being closed. Seller’s who aren’t in a position ”of having” to sell can be very strong negotiators. This past week alone we had 2 written complaints from buyer agents concerning one of our sellers negotiating a price above current market value. In both instances, the agent had represented the buyer in the transaction and had allowed their client to agree to our seller’s price. The wonderful thing about both of these situations is that our seller out negotiated both of the agents on price.

How did they do it? Simple, they were willing to walk away from the deal. If the buyer agent has invested many hours driving their client around, writing offers, etc… they are likely to want to close the deal. The minute they realize the seller is willing to walk away from an offer, they become more inclined to invite their client to pony up the additional cash.

What is the biggest difference in listing my home with Congress Realty versus other MLS listing services?

The first difference is that we actually input all of our listngs ourselves. We are the licensed brokerage and actual members of each MLS we represent. 90% of our competitors simply take the sellers money and then try to send the client to the “local” broker who actually inputs the listing. The problem with this is that the “national” company isn’t held accountable for the services they promise. Essentially, they can promise whatever they like to try and secure the listing. After they secure the listing, they shop around looking for anyone who is willing to input the listing, hoping they will also provide the services the national company promised. As a result, most services promised by national companies are never actually provided.

How do I avoid this problem as a client?
Simple, ask for the name of the broker and brokerage who inputs the listing. If the name of the brokerage doesn’t match the URL or company name of the company you have called, they are a referral service. If they won’t tell you who is inputting the listing, take your business elsewhere.

The newest online scam from these referral companies involves the use of the word “direct”. Sellers have caught on to the terms, “we are the direct source, we list your home directly on the local MLS”, etc.. these national companies use the word “direct” over and over again to try and confuse the seller into not knowing who is actually inputting the listing. These companies do a marvelous job of masking the fact that they don’t actually do any of the work. They simply try and find someone else who will. The problem with this is again the national company has no accountability to the client.

Lastly, other small local brokers who participate in the Flat Fee MLS market are many times simply agents who failed at the 6% model, then the 5% model, and so forth…… and eventually they will fail with the flat fee model. The turnover in this business is quite high, thus, brokerages you see online today many times are gone by the end of the week. Congress Realty has been offering flat fee listing for nearly 7 years. We continue to grow and have every intention of continuing to take on new states. Be leery of any brokerage that does not publish their own listings on their website for you to review. They do this for one reason, they simply don’t have any listings to display.

How do I avoid this problem as a potential client?
Ask for a direct link from Realtor.com showing each and every listing from the brokerage you have called. If they won’t provide this, take your business elsewhere.

J. Andrew English