Category Archives: Real Estate

Real Estate

Five Ways to Wow Your Real Estate Clients

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Today’s consumer is mobile-first and more educated than ever about real estate. Likewise, they expect and demand that their real estate agents deliver personable, responsive and tech-savvy experiences with complete expertise in their market.

Here’s how to create compelling client experiences before, during and long after the deal has closed.

1. Cater to Your Clientele.

First impressions are mission critical for real estate agents trying to capture the hearts and minds of potential new clients.

Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report research shows that sellers use these initial impressions to shape and inform their decisions. Specifically, 86 percent say trustworthiness and 81 percent cite responsiveness as “extremely or very important” qualities they seek when selecting an agent. Also, 80 percent favor agents who can serve as experts within a local market.

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Real Estate, Travel

Coping With Moving Away Before the Holidays

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If you’ve just moved over the summer or right before the holiday season starts, it can be hard to cope with your first holidays being away from family and your hometown. But there are some things you can do to help ease the pain of being far from family during the holiday season. Here are some tips for creating lasting memories and making the holidays enjoyable even after a big move.

If you can’t visit…

Start your own traditions:

If you’re unable to visit your extended family after the big move, you can start your own traditions within your own family. Whether it’s creating a new Thanksgiving recipe, looking for amazing Christmas light displays in your new neighborhood, or getting the kids involved with decorating your home home, there are plenty of new traditions you can start.

Have a virtual visit:

You can also have a virtual visit with the rest of your family members. If everyone gets together for a big holiday party, or if you’re apart from someone you love for the first time, offer to have a phone or video call to make the distance feel less drastic. You’d be surprised just how much better you may feel getting to chat (even if it’s brief) with the ones you miss the most during what’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year.

If you can visit…

Make your attendance the gift:

If you’re able to visit but money is tight (as it typically can be during the holidays), make your attendance during the holidays the gift you’re giving to your family. Flights and gas can be expensive, and holiday travel can be draining, especially if you and your spouse have children to take care of. So go home for the holidays, but don’t worry about the expense of holiday gifts on top of the visit.

Switch off every other year:

After a big move, it can be overwhelming to think of traveling every holiday season. So you and your extended family can work out a schedule to switch off visiting each other every year. Maybe your parents or other extended family can visit you for your first holiday season in your new home, and you can travel to them the following year, or vise versa. Establishing this schedule can also allow you to look forward to the holidays instead of dreading them.

Overall, consider this a fresh start.

The holiday season can be a fresh start for all of us. So remember that your first holidays in your new home may be hard to cope with, exciting, or a full range of emotions in between, but they are also a time for togetherness and remembering what’s most important. And no matter what, the new year is just around the corner.

Real Estate

Customer Service: Why it Matters.

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Providing good customer service. Such a simple concept and a necessity in today’s customer centric on-demand world. Yet it seems to be somewhat of a unique and sometimes hard-to-find skill in business.  It is both art and science. Customer service plays an essential role in basically every industry, which is why companies holistically need to embrace customer service in an integrated way for it impacts their bottom line. In the real estate industry, the quality and value of customer service – from real estate agents, brokers, brokerages, teams and companies alike – must be strong, concise, authentic, integrated and memorable in order to be successful and market aligned.

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Home Sellers, Real Estate

How to Increase Your Home’s Resale Value

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People are always asking how they can get more money for their house when they put it on the market. While some of the things that determine your home’s value are out of your hands (location, age, layout), many buyers are willing to fork over a little more when certain upgrades have been made. Below are some suggestions for projects and improvements that can increase your home’s resale value. 

Invest in Energy Efficiency

It’s the 21st century, and green is the name of the game! Not only do energy-efficient updates help protect the environment, they also save you more money by reducing utility bills. Now we’ve all heard of those little energy-saving hacks like unplugging your phone charger and washing your clothes in cold water — but those aren’t the kinds of things that are going to add value to your home. If you want a greater resale value, you have to think bigger. Consider one of these upgrades:

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Real Estate, Real Estate Agents

Five Tips For Keeping Mobile Data Safe

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1. Have a Security Plan And Follow It

All mobile phones and tablets used for business should be password-protected. Even better, use bio-metric authentication, such as a fingerprint or face scan, which cannot be replicated. Bio-metrics also make a strong password for apps.

Use a password manager to generate and store a different password for every account.

Know which data and apps are on a device and remove any apps that are not necessary for business. While the user may see a functioning app, like a flashlight or game, in the background, the program may be secretly sending information to a third party. Domingo Guerra, co-founder and president at mobile security firm Appthority, refers to these apps as “hospital gown” threats. The programs appear to be legitimate upfront and are even distributed in the major app stores, but they have a security gap in the back end. To be sure, only install apps from reputable developers and services, such as the Apple App Store and Google Play.

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Homeowners, Real Estate

Five Home Relocation Tips

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House relocation can be stressful, time-consuming and expensive affair especially if you have lots of items that need hauling over long distances. However, you can make the process easy by planning and getting help from the right sources. Here are five tips to help when planning a relocation.

Plan Early

When you start preparations early, you have all the time you need to put everything in its right place for the relocation. Make a checklist of things that need to be accomplished each week and give timelines to each activity. Tick each activity that you complete.

Waiting until the last minute might prove expensive, labor intensive and stressful. Do not underestimate the effort and planning required in house removals. Start early to be ready when time comes.

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Homeowners, Real Estate

What to Consider When Renting Out Your Home

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So, you own a home that isn’t selling, or something else is keeping you from selling it, but you still want to add some extra money to your budget. Renting out is a reasonable option many homeowners who won’t or can’t sell choose. Although renting out your home or a part of your home is a relatively easy way to earn extra cash, not everyone is capable of doing so. There are several things you should take into consideration before putting your home on the market as a rental property.

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Real Estate, Travel

EXEC Travel: Staycation Guide to Kansas City

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With back-to-school season upon us, we’re putting together some fun staycation guides for you and your loved ones so you can enjoy some fun and relaxation in your hometown without needing to plan an entire vacation. Here are some ideas for what to see, do and eat in Kansas City for the perfect local staycation.

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Homeowners, Real Estate

How Senior Citizens are Impacting the Housing Market

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Seniors Are on the Move in the Real Estate Market | MyKCM

In a recent report, Freddie Mac compared the homeownership rates of two groups of seniors: the Good Times Cohort (born from 1931-1941) and the previous generations (born in the 1930s). The data shows an increase in the homeownership rate for the Good Times Cohort because seniors are now aging in place, living longer, and maintaining a high quality of life into their later years.

Seniors Are on the Move in the Real Estate Market | MyKCM

This, however, does not mean all seniors are staying in place. Some are actively buying and selling homes. In the 2019 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) showed the percentage of seniors buying and selling:

Highlights from NAR’s report:

  • Buyers ages 54 to 63 had higher median household incomes and were more likely to be married couples.
  • 12% of buyers ages 54 to 63 are first-time homebuyers, 5% (64 to 72), and 4% (73 to 93).
  • Buyers ages 54 to 63 purchased because of an interest in being closer to friends and families, job relocation, and the desire to own a home of their own.
  • Sellers 54 years and older often downsized and purchased a smaller, less expensive home than the one they sold.
  • Sellers ages 64 to 72 lived in their homes for 21 years or more.

Bottom Line

According to NAR’s report, 58% of buyers ages 64 to 72 said they need help from an agent to find the right home. The transition from a current home to a new one is significant to undertake, especially for anyone who has lived in the same house for many years. If you’re a senior thinking about buying or selling a home, call Team Nest Builder’s Lynn Garafola today to help you make the move as smoothly as possible.  

Originally published on tapinto.net. by Lynn Garafola.

Real Estate

Home Seller’s Guide to Success – Now Available in PrimeAgent

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Selling your home is a huge decision and there is a lot to consider and prepare before and during the process. It is important to know what is involved and what it will mean for you. Realty Executives are experts in the home selling process. Use this exclusive Home Seller’s Guide to help walk you through the process from start to finish in preparation for selling your home.

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