Pre-listing Guide (or How Do You Sell Your Home…)

♦ I have been with Windermere since 1997. I work with a great team. We provide a level of service and expertise seldom matched. I implement a specific plan for each client to make sure their needs are met.

♦ I believe that service continues long after the sale has closed. My service philosophy is that I treat you as a "client for life" and provide a high level of service.

♦ Professional staging consultant—I provide the services of an interior designer to help you prepare your most valuable asset for sale.

♦ Professional photography—I hire a professional to take the best possible photos of your house to grab the interest of buyers and agents.

♦ Sketch—If appropriate, I use a sketch artist to create a pen and ink drawing of your home for print marketing.

♦ Systematic Marketing Plan — I utilize software that maps out all activities required to sell your home so that nothing is missed. Few other agents follow an organized plan for each listing. First, I implement a plan for listing and preparing your home for the market. Second, I implement another plan once we enter into contract with a buyer.

♦ Regular Updates— I utilize all the tools at my disposal to provide you with the best information throughout the home selling process. Every week, you will receive an activity report with the number of showings, agent web site visits, public web site visits and area activity analysis. You will never wonder what is happening.

MY PHILOSOPHY

1. Education

2. Advocacy

3. Guidance

STAGING

Some sellers hesitate to invest any time or money in the preparation of their home for sale. Many agents will take the path of least resistance and agree with them to just put the home on the market. I feel staging a home to sell is vital in obtaining the best price and best market time. I feel so strongly about this that I hire a professional interior designer to come to your home for a 1/2 day consultation. My designer attended Parson’s School of Design in NYC. Hands on, she will help you prepare your

home for the market. In addition, she will give you an itemized list of things to do that will set the stage for buyers coming through. Additionally, there may be some projects around your home that are well worth completing. She & I can advise you which projects would increase your net proceeds overall.

* Examples are meant to illustrate the potential gain and not to represent actual gain which will vary depending on the specific home and circumstances.

*Example Option One: Replace carpeting Cost: $ 3,500 Price increase $10,000 Net gain $ 6,500 *Example Option Two: Finish sheet rocking room Cost $ 750 Price Increase $ 2,000 Net gain $ 1,250

WELCOME SERIOUS HOME-SELLER!

Here’s what we need to do to sell your home:

PHOTOGRAPHY and SKETCHES

90% of buyers start the buying process by searching online. Appealing photos of your property can be the determining factor in whether your home is shown or rejected. I hire a professional photographer for this vital part of marketing your home. Providing engaging photos online and in marketing materials will show your home to its best advantage & bring the maximum number of buyers through your home. If it is an appropriate part of our marketing plan, I have a sketch artist create a rendering of your home for advertising. Sometimes it is almost impossible to get an attractive exterior photo due to street elevation, trees, or other landscaping challenges. A sketch can remedy and improve the initial appeal of your home online and in print advertising.

PRECISION PRICING

Average list price to sales price is 97%

Precision Pricing ♦ Overprice “we can always come down” Lose thousands of dollars. ♦ Fair price makes the home a consideration for buyers, but doesn’t always produce offers. ♦ Exciting price brings multiple offers often resulting in bidding up the price and/or minimizing any requests for seller paid work orders. Make thousands of dollars. ♦ Under price Almost impossible to under-price. The market corrects under-priced houses with

multiple offers.

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week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4

Time on the market

If your home does not receive an offer within the first 30 days on the market, this is usually an indication that it is overpriced. Price reductions can be like chasing a ball downhill and careful consid-eration should be given to choosing an exciting price from the on-set if maximizing your profit is of ultimate importance.

Activity

MARKETING PLAN OF ACTION

Each of these steps are essential to effective marketing of a property.

I have systems and processes in place to assure that all steps take place for each transaction to achieve the greatest marketing results.

Based on my daily observations, most agents do not have these systems in place, and therefore, cannot offer consistent, full exposure on their listings.

31 Steps to successful exposure,

negotiation, and ultimately, closing a transaction

Checklist

Listing

Address:________________________________________ Set up file for property Go through home with seller and prepare “To-Do List”. Set up interior designer

consultation Prepare paperwork for client to sign Obtain keys and access information for property Order preliminary title report Coordinate and assist with staging the home Schedule and attend professional photo shoot. Take additional photos of area if

beneficial. Order sketch if needed Have paperwork signed by client Make extra keys for keybox Attach keybox Register keybox to enable showing updates and feedback requests Place flag for optimal sign posting Order sign to be posted at property Create silent talkers to highlight property features Input property into MLS Load photo gallery so buyers will see high-quality photos online. Create “Offer Packet” for placement at property with all information an agent would

need to prepare a purchase & sale. Upload to MLS also. - Cover page with summarized contact information for title, escrow and listing

agents - Property disclosures - Preliminary title report - Lead based paint disclosure (if needed) Prepare initial transaction memo for transaction coordinator

Turn in all paperwork to office manager Order coffee-table-quality photo album for marketing and as a keepsake for seller

Email invitation to agents and my database to announce new listing and invite them

to brokers open house. Office tour Windermere “Hot Sheet” tour Enter Brokers Open tours and open houses for the week Order food for broker’s open to increase traffic Create flyers and attach permanent flyer to yard sign Order new listing postcards for immediate mailing Prepare ad for local office “Home Preview” Write 1st ad for newspaper Public Open House

Another reason to be sure the agent you

select can perform and not just promise!

MARKETING PLAN OF ACTION

• 5/19/08— Exclusive Windermere Hot Sheet tour for all new Windermere listings. Windermere agents all tour each other’s new listings. Approx 10:30-12:30 pm

• 5/19 or 5/20—Photo session

• 5/21/08—Sign listing papers

• 5/22/08— Sign goes up

• 5/22/08— First day on the market. Make plans to eat out or visit friends after work the first couple days on the market. This will allow easy showing, and less stress for you.

• 5/22/08— Broker’s Open Tour. Approx. 12-3 pm

• 5/29/08— Second Broker’s Open tour. Approx. 12-2 pm

• 6/1/08— Sunday Seattle Times ad runs. First public open house from 1pm—4pm. You will need to be out of the house during this time

Sample Plan

Phase II

Sample Plan

Phase I

The current market in your area will determine the point at which we move to our Phase II Marketing Plan. We need to constantly monitor the market and make

adjustments to reach your ultimate goal—Sell your home

• Day 30— Look at market data for area and price range. Preview and tour other homes that buyers would be considering.

• Day 32—Make adjustments to price, terms, conditions as determined by market research.

• Day 33—Promote adjustments to all agents who have visited home. Post all changes to MLS and web sites.

• Day 35— Brokers open house to promote adjustments.

• Day 38— Public open house to allow unattached buyers who are enticed by adjustments to see your home easily.

ELEMENTS OF MARKETING

Hype, Exposure

Flyers

Listing

In addition to Windermere’s dominant presence in the Sunday paper, there are several other elements to marketing a property.

All marketing is fully in place within 24 hours of being listed. Few other agents can promise this level of service.

ELEMENTS OF MARKETING

Project an image, Sold

Photo Gallery

Internet

Because most buyers begin their home search online, I post an internet photo gallery for prospective buyers to tour the property from home. I employ a professional photographer to assure high quality images.

COMMUNICATION

Every week, you will receive an activity report with the number of showings, agent web site visits, public web site visits and area activity analysis. Update

Weekly

COMMUNICATION

As part of your weekly update, you will receive a list of all the

showings that week.

Update

Weekly

COMMUNICATION

Monitoring

Constant

I follow up with each agent after every showing to find out what they and their buyers thought of your home. It

is vital to pay attention to what they say. You receive feedback as soon it is received. No waiting, no filtering.

Ask,

listen and make adjustments

Email is sent immediately

Sample questionnaire

COMMUNICATION

Powerful Analysis

I utilize all the tools at my disposal to provide you with the best information throughout the home selling process. I employ the power of Google Analytics to evaluate the number of web site visits to your property. This helps us track the effects of

adjustments and events.

PURCHASE AND SALE CONTRACT

♦ The highest offered price does not always mean the highest

net proceeds in your pocket at closing. It depends on the type of financing and how it is structured.

♦ I am an expert at deciphering offers and explaining the

financial impact to you. . ♦ There is an inherent risk in every contract and that is the

potential buyer’s ability, or lack thereof, to close the transaction. I takes a firm stance in requiring potential buyers to keep all of the contingency dates as short as possible and provide firm financing.

♦ A sample of a Purchase & Sale Agreement is included for

your advance review and familiarity.

Once we get an offer, I will work with you to negotiate a win/win agreement. I will guide you through the options and the associated risks and consequences of your choices regarding:

1. Price 2. Earnest Money 3. Closing Date 4. Contingencies 5. Time Frames

Once we reach mutual agreement with a buyer, a lot has to happen in order for the transaction to close smoothly. I worry about everything that needs to happen so you don’t have to…

IS A DISCOUNT REALLY A SAVINGS?

3% selling agent 3% listing agent

3% selling agent 1% listing agent

+ $ Precision pricing.

+ $ Multiple offers.

+ $ Back-up offers.

+ $ Work order negotiation. + $ Choice of who to

contract with. + $ Detailed tracking of

closing. .

- $ Inaccessible agent loses offers. - $ Passive price negotiation. - $ Passive work order negotiation. - $ Inefficient/ incompetent tracking of closing.

6% Versus 4%

Home Sales Price

There can be an appearance of a potential savings with a lower brokerage fee. However, the commensurate lower level of service can quickly

erode the savings by a reduced eventual sales price ( if in fact a sale is achieved and successfully closed). In this scenario the seller is shortchanging themselves with inadequate representation while fully compensating the buyers agent.

TESTIMONIALS

Gretchen Schmidt did a great job educating us on the process. She communicated frequently via email/phone to inform us how the house/loan was going and what was coming next.

Gretchen is very professional and we were extremely happy with how smooth the home buying process went, especially because we were coming from out of state.

- Ed & Victoria Sorenson

A+ Very professional. Gretchen took the time to learn exactly what I was looking for in a home purchase and followed through.

- Brian Albee

Thank you for all of your help and support during this exciting, yet nerve-wracking experience. I really appreciated knowing that you were available to answer my questions and calm my fears. Thanks for everything!

- Camilla F.

Gretchen Schmidt did an outstanding job for me—both in selling my condo and in getting me in my new condo!

- Dianne H.

The best way to predict future performance is to look at past performance, so I have included some testimonials from clients I have helped in the past

WHAT DO I DO NEXT? Finish interviewing agents. Choose the agent who is the best match for you. Remember, the most important part of choosing an agent is to pick someone with whom you are comfortable, whom you feel will represent you strongly with integrity. I’d love to work with you, however, I want you to have the best match for you. Your Homework:

Complete a Client Profile, if we didn’t already complete it at our meeting.

Help me know your home by completing the “What Makes Your Home Special” worksheet

Complete a Seller’s Property Disclosure Have a mortgage statement handy Gather HOA information (if applicable):

HOA president contact information HOA management contact information Dues and assessments

2 copies of keys for the front door

1. Increase your odds of selling 2. Increase your odds of closing on time 3. High performance team 4. Systematic action plan—everything gets done, on time 5. Increase exposure through precision marketing 6. Attract more internet buyers 7. Regular communication—you never wonder what is happening 8. Powerful negotiation on your behalf 9. Guaranteed service—you can fire me any time 10. You can talk to me for the rest of your life

10 reasons to work with me: