Take time to choose the right broker when selling your home

When preparing to sell your home it is important to find a real estate professional that will best suit your needs.  A warm handshake and a friendly smile is all well and good but if you want to sell your home pick a broker that is experienced and knowledgeable, someone that will do the best job for you.  When selecting your real estate agent here are a few things to keep in mind:

Data.  Get a prospective Realtor to bring in a copy of what they have listed and closed.  They can present you with an MLS report that displays their inventory. In some markets, especially where secondary homes and investment properties are prevelant like Gatlinburg, email is how you’ll receive most documents and information so make sure your agent is proficient with technology.

Price.  Get an evaluation of your property.  A solid real estate professional will be able to detail what has been selling and for what price.  He will be able to evaluate your home and your location, giving you a value for your home that will help sell it not deter people from looking at it. The experienced agents at Century 21 Four Seasons can easily give you all the information you need to select the best price.

Plan.  What does your Realtor plan to do for you in terms of marketing, sales, listing, etc.  Make sure he has a plan for your house and find out what he is willing to do to get it sold for you. Each agent at our offices has a detailed market plan that they will present to you for your approval.

Real estate is often a person’s most valuable asset.  Do your legwork and choose the best broker for your home.  He or she should be a salesperson.  If they can sell themselves to you perhaps they are halfway to selling your home for you as well.

Using the internet can make the job of being a landlord easier

Being a landlord can be easier that you think.  Many people are holding on to their real estate these days, some by choice, because they are waiting for a stronger market, and some by necessity, those that simply cannot sell their homes.  What this means is that there are many first time landlords out there, a job that can be a bit daunting, especially if you don’t live near your property.

If you are lucky being a landlord is easy and you get a monthly check with no real involvement.  Many landlords have a more difficult time however, chasing down rent, making repairs and having to constantly oversee their tenants and their properties.

Here in Sevier County, more specifically Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, being a landlord can be surprisingly easy. One of the many companies who manages the overnight rentals that dot the mountains in our area is Chalet Village Properties. Management companies like Chalet Village take care of everything from advertising, leasing, cleaning and general maintenance of the overnight rentals.

Another thing management companies do that makes our job selling real estate much easier is to document the rental incomes of the properties for sale. This documentation makes it much easier for a buyer to decide which rental property is the right choice for them.

I have to admit that I’ve been aprehensive about 2009. It’s not as though 2008 gave me that much to look forward to in the way of business, the type of business you can count on, can budget with. 2009 is proving to be much more agreeable though. Beginning the last 3 weeks of December we started seeing marked improvements in our real estate business.

Short-sales, foreclosures and just great deals on some of our rental properties have inspired many buyers to act (along with almost comically low interest rates).

Someone once told me that ‘no one rings a bell when you reach the bottom, you only recognize it when it’s already past by at least 6 months’. I have the distinct feeling we could be hearing a bell soon and I couldn’t be happier.

Happy 2009!

I suppose I’m an eternal optimist. I do think the best of people more often than not. I have to admit I was really excited when one of my agents was asked to do an interview for the local ABC affiliate.

The story was supposed to be about how some absentee property owners here in the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas were taking the rental income from their overnight rental properties and using it to pay their mortgages on their primary residences (lots of them are in Florida). Thus, creating a situation where mortages on their second homes/investment properties here are going into foreclosure or short sale and creating opportunities for the savvy investor. A complicated story I suppose.

The report ended up highlighting the foreclosure/short sale portion of the story. Leaving out what I think most of the interview was about, the investor deals. I know editorial freedom is always going to be part of a news story (I’ve submitted my share of articles to the newspaper to barely recognize them when they were printed) but I had high hopes, perhaps too high, that this story would end on an uplifting note. Primarily, that our properties here have an inherent value that is not entirely determined by outside forces due to the rental income they produce.

It’s an amazing time to be in the real estate business. I know everyone bemoans the fact that sales are down but I just can’t help but be in awe of the deals some of our investors are getting. One, who shall remain nameless, says ‘It’s like a garage sale for the wealthy.’ It may sound callous but that attitude is pervasive with many of our cash buyers right now and even though they’re getting deals they are also helping distressed sellers and our local economy.