Category Archives: Home Sale

Keeping it Real… Safe

I’m excited to be getting back to work, and helping to serve you!

As we begin to re-open the Michigan real estate market there are a few things I have to ask in order to keep everyone safe while following CDC, state, and association guidelines. These requests also apply to photos, pre-listing appointments, inspections, final walkthroughs, and any other appointment related to your real estate needs.

First and foremost: Please notify me if any person occupying or entering the property has been exposed to, diagnosed with, or quarantined as a result of COVID-19 or is experiencing fever, cough, shortness of breath or other cold or flu-like symptoms.

For home sellers or prospective home sellers:

Prior to and after any appointment or showing, please clean and disinfect all frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs, handles, light switches, and countertops.
For all appointments, please unlock all doors, turn on lights/lamps, and open blinds to let light in and reduce surface contact.
For pre-listing walkthroughs, please open all interior doors.
For all new listings, please advise if you do not wish to allow in-person showings.
For any appointment that you must be present at the home, please remain on the opposite level of the home or exit the structure and maintain a 6 foot distance.
Please note that open houses are not allowed at this time.

For home buyers or prospective home buyers:

I will be providing a release form for every showing requested that must be signed prior to the showing taking place.
Please do not touch any surface or share items (pens, phones, tablets, etc) with others at the showing.
Please consider wearing gloves and a mask while viewing the home.
Please use hand sanitizer immediately prior to entering the home and upon exiting prior to getting into your car.

For everyone:
Please also note that there are restrictions in place on the number of people (4) that can be present in a home at one time, and those persons must maintain a 6 foot distance at all times. In addition, any conversation with a buyer or seller outside of a showing (where, by law, I must be present with the buyer) will not be conducted in-person. I have text messaging, email, IM, Zoom, phone, and more at my disposal for any needed conversation.

I appreciate your support and help to keep everyone safe.

Burning the midnight oil

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Sometimes the difference in a couple extra thousand dollars is the Realtor that stays up past midnight to get a deal done for their seller. Much is talked about in the Realtor community about having “business hours” and “setting expectations”. So that all of my clients and potential clients know, my business hours are 24×7 (ok, I do sleep sometimes) and the expectation you should have is that I’ll do whatever it takes to get your deal done!

Thinking of buying or selling? Let’s chat!

An #unreal experience

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Not sure why I hadn’t asked before, but about a week ago I asked some past clients to provide testimonials and ratings on FB, Realtor.com, Zillow, etc and boy did they respond! Over the next month I’ll be posting some of them here along with a bit of commentary.

Take the testimonial below as just one example. As a Realtor I pride myself in not only taking care of a client during the deal, but also afterwords. There’s a reason I say choosing FreedomRE is an #unreal experience. My clients are clients for life, and I hope that when you’re ready you reach out and can experience the difference.

We couldn’t have asked for a better experience! Our property sold quickly at full asking price. I highly recommend Mark to anyone buying or selling a home!

Looking to sell quickly and at a good price? Let’s chat!

16 Tips for Selling Properties Faster and for More Money

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Listen to the full episode here, but here are the main points – some commentary added 🙂

Have a pre-listing inspection performed by a licensed home inspector.
Clean up your home. – Please, please, please – you have no idea how often this is missed/skipped
Does it pass the sniff test? – It better unless you want it to take longer to sell.
Take great pictures of your house. – That’s why you hire a great agent – like me!
Be available.
Have your home ready for showings at all times. – You never know when or where your buyer will show up.
Be informative.
Use an agent. – At your service
Ask your agent for selling advice.
Price your house right. – You mean Zillow doesn’t know everything?
List in peak market time. – If you can. If not, I wouldn’t consider this a deal breaker. Just be ready for it to potenially take longer.
Double check your listing information.
Stage those weird areas that don’t have an obvious use.
Leave during your showings and make sure you take your pets with you. – So awkward when the seller sticks around. Get out! I would also add “take any valuables and medications” as well.
Be prepared to walk away from an offer.
Tell everyone you know that your house is for sale.

The Difference is in the Details

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Today I happened to be browsing the MLS, like I do on a nearly daily basis, and came across a home listed for more than $700,000! “Wow!” I thought. “I need to check this place out”. So I clicked through to take a look. The first picture was beautiful. Obviously not taken recently – given the lush green grass and all 🙂 Then I clicked through to the next and was greeted with a blurry mess. “Surely this can’t be right” I figured and moved on to the next. A few in, there’s one with the camera flash reflecting back off the window. As I moved on almost half of the photos were grainy or blurry. And this was on a $700,000+ house!

Ok I thought. The agent must be a newbie or a discounter. That would explain not being able to afford or being willing to have a professional photographer do the images, right? Wrong again. I won’t name names, but let’s just say this agent has more than the means to have the photos done right 😉

So, why am I writing about this? Because I truly believe that the details make all the difference. Once I got over the hump in getting my RE practice humming I hired a professional photographer for the first time, and let me just say they are worth their weight in gold! Now, every client that lists with me gets professional photos (apologies to my clients when I was just starting out).

So, when it comes time to list your home you can either hire the agent that takes the photos themselves or has their “assistant” do it, or someone – like me! 🙂 – that will see to it that the details are tended to weather your house lists for $100k or $700k+.