Agent tips you wish you knew

[Ryan L Grinstead]

What are some things you wish you knew when you were starting out? Beside writing love letter to the sellers.

Looking for tips on writing strong offer for cash strapped buyers

Looking for tips when your listing a house that clearly needs updates but upgrades can't be done.

What made your offers or your listings stand out above everyone else's?

[Bruce Lynn]

Join a company that has programs and resources..... for example our brokerage has a mortgage company that has basically zero lending fees....so on average that saves the buyers about $4500.  That's $4500 they can offer over asking...

Our company has a make ready program that allows the sellers to make repairs/updates before they get it on the market and pay for those repairs at closing.  Make more money for the sellers and yourself with higher commissions.

Gain a strong understanding of the contracts and the market place....maybe any agent from any brokerage can do that, but being in a large brokerage with 100s of agents and lots of data, perhaps can give you an advantage there too.   Of course you have to show up, plug in, and network.  In my brokerage we are regularly discussing tips and strategies to get offers accepted and let others know what we are seeing in the marketplace.  At some point we'll also have AI to help make it scientific vs artistic.

Work also with lenders that can fully underwrite buyers before they make offers, so they're not just preappoved, but already underwritten.  Few lenders do this, but pick the ones that do.  Bonus for the buyers is there are no surprises later on, your work pays off, so you don't work hard only to find out the buyer FORGOT to tell the lender something significant...like they still have $400,000 in school loans.   Have the lender call the listing agent to discuss the strength of the buyer.

Focus on listings vs buyers, so you don't have these headaches....or less of them.