THE MIKE STAR HOME SELLING SYSTEM

The Mike Star Home Selling System

Over the years we have developed a unique and innovative Home Selling System to provide our sellers with a distinct advantage over other homes actively for sale in their community.

In a buyer market with higher than average inventory levels (an abundance of homes for sale in the area) this home selling strategy can help our client’s sell their home while other homes sit on the market. On the flip side, in an extreme seller market where inventory levels are low and homes are selling quickly, this unique strategy helps our sellers retain more of their hard earned equity by selling at a higher price.

So what do we do that is so different to get our homes

Step 1. We view your home or condo.

We set up a time to meet, view your property together and go over every feature your home has to offer a potential buyer. We build a list of features a buyer would appreciate, a list of unique features that other properties for sale might not have, and a list of any potential objections a buyer might have to purchasing your property.
By putting ourselves in the buyers shoes, we are able to look at the property from a different perspective. Coming up with objections to your home is not always an easy process, but by doing this we are able to rectify many of them or come up with a strategy on how to handle them as they come up.

Step 2. We go look at the competition.

Viewing other properties in the area that are currently for sale, is an important part of our home selling process. I’m not sure why more Realtors don’t do this. If we are listing your home for sale, wouldn’t it make sense that we should at the very least view the competition? By doing this before we go to market it does 3 things:

  1. We are better able to price your home within the current marketplace. If we price your home by reviewing past sales and currently active homes by looking at the data only, we are likely missing the mark. By viewing the other homes for sale of a similar size, in the community and surrounding comparable communities, we are able to adjust the pricing to more accurately reflect the current market and competition. For example if we see a superior property for sale, we know we will need to price your property below it. When we view inferior properties for sale, we know we can comfortably price your property above them. If we looked based on size and location alone we might overlook an advantage we have in the market and price too low. Many homes don’t show as well as they look online, after all, most Realtors are utilizing professional photography and only using the best photos, that highlight the property.
  2. We get to see which Realtors have buyers actively looking for homes similar to your home, in the area. You know how Realtors leave their cards on the counter after a showing? While we are viewing the active competition to your home we are making a note of all the Realtors that have shown the property so that we can call them direct and tell them about your home that is about to come on the market.
  3. We know the competition. When we are negotiating an offer on your property and the buyer’s Realtor brings up other homes that they’ve looked at to justify their position on price, we can easily debunk any misinformation or misrepresentation of value. For example; the buyer’s Realtor notes another property for sale with a fully finished basement, we’ve already viewed the home and know that the workmanship was poor, the layout wasn’t very functional, the carpets were old and worn, and there was no electrical permit for the basement development. These are all things we wouldn’t have known without viewing the property in person. This makes negotiating your sale price easier for us as we are able to respond with a high level of accuracy and justify our list price.

Step 3. We utilize my proprietary sale-ability checklist.

I developed a simple, easy to use, formula for determining a properties potential for selling in any market. We use this form, together, to see where your property falls within the current market based on absorption rates, average days on market, inventory levels, property condition, and other controllable factors that we can tweak and adjust together in order to better enable us to secure a sale in any market.

Mike Star’s Home Selling Sale-Ability Checklist

Score: _____%

Average days on the market in the community:
0-20 days (10) 21-50 days (5) 51-90 days (2) 90+ days (0)
Community Absorption Rate:
0-2 months (10) 3-5 months (5) 5-7 months (2) 7+ months (0)
Amount of inventory in the community:
0-30 (10) 30-60 (5) 60-90 (2) 90+ (0)
Exterior condition of the property:
Extraordinary (10) Average (5) Poor (0)
Interior condition of the property:
Extraordinary (10) Average (5) Poor (0)
Location of the property within the community:
Extraordinary (10) Average (5) Poor (0)
Availability for possession:
Immediate – 30 days (10) 30-60 days (5) 60-90 days (2) 90+ days (0)
List price vs. market analysis suggested sale price:
<0%-2% above (10) 2%-5% above (5) >5% above (0)
List price compared to median price for properties in the subject area:
Below (10) Average (5) Above (0)
Level of finishing and amenities associated with the property:
Extraordinary (10) Average (5) Poor (0)

Step 4. We price your home together.

Setting the right price from the beginning is one of the most important factors in selling a home for value in any market. Pricing is more of an art than it is a science, after all a property is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay in any given market no matter what the sales data. Homes that sell sooner after being listed on the market typically sell for more than those that have sat for several months.