We would all like to know the secrets of selling real estate. Who best to ask than JSK top agents? Here are some tips according to them:
Homes “priced-well” sell; overpricing your home helps to sell the next-door home.
As a seller, it is very critical to list your home at the right price. The right price is the right price today; it is not the right price yesterday when you bought the home and it is not the right price tomorrow when things will pick up hopefully. An experienced agent can help sellers price their homes at today market price. This does not mean of course that negotiation will not further happen but price negotiations will be more realistic and close to list price when you price your home right. Another trick that not many people will mention is that homes priced high are used by agents to sell the next-door home. Agents will show potential buyers both homes and their strategy is to push the buyers to buy the right-priced home using the fact that similar homes in the neighborhood are listed for way more and hence this price is a catch.
Tip from Zeina Kosseifi – JSK TOP AGENT
Cash is king. As a seller, don’t be afraid to experiment with creative payment terms
Sellers want cash obviously for their homes. Buyers with cash in today’s market are kings. They are fierce negotiators with many options available on the market and they play sellers against each other’s and sometimes tend to offer unrealistic low prices for the simple reason that they are paying cash and loans are tough to get nowadays.
Carlos encourages his clients to experiment with creative payment terms such as paying for homes partly in cash and partly in a barter of another smaller property for the price difference. Selling home and then renting it out to the seller is another tip that can
Tip from Carlos Zgheib – JSK TOP AGENT
Experience Sells. Hire an experienced real estate agent with track record
Mac likes to work with sellers who appreciate the skills of an experienced real estate agent and trust their ability to sell or rent their home. Agents have a database of potential buyers and similar listings on the market and hence can help sell or rent the listings. They know how to best present the listing, where to market it and how to describe it. They are the best at showing and once an offer is placed they can handle negotiation swiftly. They say there is no experience like that of closing a deal. Well top real estate agents have closed hundreds of deals and dealt with many negotiation scenarios that they are the best equipped to sell your listing. You simply need to trust them as a seller.
In a nutshell, Mac like to work with sellers who understand that selling real estate requires skills and hence it is best to trust this job to an experienced real estate agent.
Tip from Mac El Haddad – JSK TOP AGENT
Written offers only and with check deposits
Samar – or as we like to call her Tita – believes in following the process to the dot. As such, written offers with check deposits are a must. Written offers are not only useful to confirm buyer real interest and avoid any misunderstanding. Written offers help us avoid many rounds of negotiations and additional requests each and every time from the buyers. Once and for all, buyers sit down not only to put their offered price but to list down their additional requirements as well. Written offers are not only effective with buyers; they are equally helpful with sellers. Sellers are more inclined to discuss an offer when they know it is written and with check deposit as they know they are face to face with a serious client. Those may seem the ABC of real estate abroad, but in Lebanon JSK is one of the very few companies that use written offers with check deposit and I find it extremely professional and very effective as a technique.
Tip from Samar Issa – JSK TOP AGENT
Negotiation is an art and a technique
The single most important tip of negotiation is to know the style of the person in front of you. In the same deal, I negotiate differently with the different stakeholders as different styles apply to them. I can use hardball with the seller and analytical detailed negotiation with the buyer depending on their style. The second most important tip is to try to negotiate face to face whenever possible. Live conversations beat emails, texts and phone calls. In live conversation, you have the person full attention and you can better read his reaction. Add to that, you are serious to him as you have taken the time to come and negotiate and present the other side point of view face to face. The final and most important tip is never to try to take one side – the buyer or the seller – but rather think always about a win-win situation. Of course, negotiations take time and they take energy; I am well-known for giving any deal all its chances and efforts needed in terms of negotiations prior to calling it quits and I invite all real estate agents to do so.
Tip from George Geha – JSK TOP AGENT
