{"id":20498,"date":"2020-12-29T14:01:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T22:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=20498"},"modified":"2020-12-29T14:01:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T22:01:54","slug":"agent-increase-competition-real-estate-listings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/agent-increase-competition-real-estate-listings\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Drive Up Competition and Sell Your Listings Faster"},"content":{"rendered":"

The events of 2020<\/a> created an action-packed seller\u2019s market<\/a>, and real estate agents across the country are finishing the year with a tidy stack of sold listings. While it\u2019s been a surprisingly good year<\/a> for the industry \u2014 though not without its logistical challenges \u2014 now is not the time for agents to get too comfortable.<\/p>\n

In a seller\u2019s market, there\u2019s competition for your listings as soon as you enter the property into your local MLS. But what happens when the tables inevitably turn and market conditions stabilize, or even shift toward a buyer\u2019s market?<\/p>\n

Of course, as a client-focused agent, you want your sellers to receive the strongest possible offers no matter what\u2019s happening with the real estate market at large. That\u2019s why we spoke with two top agents to learn their best tips for driving up competition and wowing their sellers with great offers that hold up all the way to the closing table.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at five ways to create competition, make your listings irresistible to buyers, and sell homes faster.<\/p>\n

\"Set<\/a>
Source: (Francesca Tosolini \/ Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Start by setting the stage<\/h2>\n

Yep, we\u2019re talking about staging the home<\/a>. Even if it\u2019s a hot seller\u2019s market, staging your listings will help showcase each property\u2019s best assets and increase the odds of receiving multiple offers.<\/p>\n

In many cases, staging helps homes sell faster and for more money. According to a 2019 research report<\/a> by the National Association of Realtors, 47% of agents indicate that the value of a staged home increases by 1% to 5%. What\u2019s more, 53% of agents report that staged listings tend to spend less time on the market.<\/p>\n

Staging your listing doesn\u2019t have to mean shelling out thousands of dollars<\/a> and hauling in a truckload of furniture; the effort can be a simple spruce-up to help make the home more welcoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018fluff staging\u2019 is what I call it,\u201d says Ann-Marie Sharp<\/a>, a top agent of 14 years based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. \u201cBringing in flowers, lamps, blankets, pillows \u2014 things that add that warmth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encouraging your sellers to declutter<\/a> and keep the house in a respectable state of cleanliness<\/a> will already go a long way in helping potential buyers to visualize the space as their own, but never underestimate the power of a strategically draped sofa throw.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think, because this is the generation of everyone shopping for houses online, you really have to show it in the best light,\u201d says Sharp.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou only get one chance to make the best impression, so you want to do it right the first time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the old trick with the freshly baked cookies on the morning of an open house? Well, that probably won\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n

Build anticipation before hitting the market<\/h2>\n

Humans are curious creatures. When we catch a glimpse of something we might be interested in, we want to learn more, and perhaps nowhere does this hold true more than when it comes to buying a house.<\/p>\n

Creating a sense of anticipation is one surefire way to drive up competition for your listings \u2014 and this is before prospective buyers even set foot through the front door.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a week before listing, we\u2019re getting the house prepared for the \u2018coming soon\u2019 launch,\u201d explains Sharp. \u201cOnce we have the photos and we\u2019re getting our marketing materials all prepared, we have the house as a \u2018coming soon\u2019 to generate interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharp prefers to unveil her new listings<\/a> on Friday afternoons, so Mondays are her target for \u201ccoming soon<\/a>\u201d reveals. During the days leading up to the active listing<\/a>, other agents and potential buyers can see property photos and details in the MLS, but no showings are allowed.<\/p>\n

Anticipation builds, Sharp\u2019s listing status is updated to \u201cactive\u201d just in time to appear in everyone\u2019s Friday home searches, and voila, there\u2019s an open house<\/a> prepared for Saturday.<\/p>\n

In Seaford, Delaware, top agent Dustin Parker<\/a> uses a similar approach with his new listings, preferring to build anticipation for several days before officially launching the listing and welcoming walkthroughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we like to do, ideally on day one or day two, is hold an open house so all that pent-up interest kind of comes at once,\u201d says Parker. \u201cOur goal, really, is to create a multiple-offer situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get buyers and their agents all the info they need<\/h2>\n

A big part of effectively building anticipation and driving competition toward your listings is making sure that key information makes its way into the right hands. You want potential buyers and buyer\u2019s agents to have access to everything they could want to know about that new home on the market, and these days, a flyer box in the front yard just isn\u2019t going to cut it.<\/p>\n

A listing management platform like Disclosures.io<\/a>, which is owned by HomeLight, lets you assemble and showcase a comprehensive listing information package to ensure that interested parties have everything they need to make an informed decision. Providing details not just on the home itself, but also on the neighborhood, school districts, contractors, infrastructure, and more can help lead buyers to a faster conclusion that your home is the one for them.<\/p>\n

\"disclosures-listing<\/a><\/p>\n

Since few things are more frustrating \u2014 and likely to cause delays \u2014 than getting caught up in games of phone or email tag to ask and answer questions about a home, having a streamlined, user-friendly portal to disseminate information can increase competition and lead to faster offers and increased sales.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t accept offers \u2026 yet<\/h2>\n

So your listing is finally active, buyers and agents have poured over the details, they\u2019ve visited your open house (or scheduled their own walkthrough), and now they\u2019re chomping at the bit to write a sweet, sweet offer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How can you drive up listing competition from here? Don\u2019t accept offers just yet.<\/p>\n

In Sharp\u2019s case, while she may welcome the first viewings on a Friday afternoon, she often won\u2019t accept offers until later that weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo [the house] is popping up in people\u2019s searches on Friday and they can see that we have an open house coming on Saturday, and we\u2019re just really slow-playing it,\u201d explains Sharp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to eliminate the person who\u2019s going to come in immediately and try to take it off the market.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Understandably, sellers may balk at this strategy. As the expert, it\u2019s your job to help them understand why the first offer may not be the best or only offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many times I\u2019ve had somebody come in and say, \u2018Oh, we got a full-price offer!\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018Slow down, we\u2019re going to reach out to the other agents who are showing the house and see if they want to make us an offer.\u2019 So many people get excited about the full price,\u201d says Sharp.<\/p>\n

Holding off on receiving offers gives your listing time to speak for itself. Particularly during these times<\/a> of social distancing and heightened concerns surrounding hygiene, it\u2019s very possible that not everyone who wants to see the home will have an opportunity to do so within the first day or two that it\u2019s on the market. By being more accommodating with access, you\u2019re also increasing your odds of receiving multiple offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have a lot of confidence that we will have the type of interest to lead to a multiple offer-type situation, we\u2019ll typically advise our sellers not to receive or review offers for the first three days to give us an opportunity to get a bunch of people through that house,\u201d says Parker.<\/p>\n

After a few days of patience, it\u2019s time to let the offers roll in.<\/p>\n

\"After<\/a>
Source: (fizkes \/ ShutterStock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the offers come in, raise the stakes again<\/h2>\n

If your plan has worked, you\u2019ll likely have more than one offer to discuss with your (hopefully very impressed) seller. And you guessed it: It\u2019s time to drive up competition even further.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we receive those first offers, assuming there\u2019s more than two, we\u2019ll usually ask for all parties to submit their highest and best<\/a> offer,\u201d says Parker. \u201cMany times this year we\u2019re getting full price or above asking price. We\u2019ve had as many as 11 offers on the same house, and I think it\u2019s because we\u2019ve drummed up that interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

2020\u2019s real estate market may be exceptionally in favor of the seller, but that doesn\u2019t mean negotiations should be a free-for-all. Sharp cautions against dragging out the multiple offer scenario for too long, recommending that agents set a deadline when inviting a highest-and-best turnaround.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll say something like, \u2018Highest and best by Sunday at 8:00 PM,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be disrespectful to the buyers who came in quickly because in this market, people know that if you\u2019re serious, you\u2019re not going to wait a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eager buyers aren\u2019t likely to wait, but neither is an excited seller. This is where coaching your clients is key, helping them to see the benefits of reviewing all options on the table before making a decision on which offer to accept.<\/p>\n

When in doubt, plan it out<\/h2>\n

If 2020 has taught us anything, it\u2019s that we can\u2019t always predict the future. You can, however, have a reliable plan in place to market your listings and create a level of competition that will delight your sellers and boost your own bottom line.<\/p>\n

Parker teaches his sellers to look at the big picture rather than focusing on the listing price, and it\u2019s often a winning strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe encourage our sellers to price the home very aggressively, and we follow our launch plan 99% of the time. We do get into that multiple-offer situation and the price gets driven up \u2014 sometimes even higher than if it were listed overpriced initially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Header Image Source: (sommart sombutwanitkul \/ ShutterStock)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some houses sell themselves. But in most cases, an experienced real estate agent knows what it takes to turn the typical home into a hot property. Top agents share the tactics they use to increase competition for their real estate listings and sell homes faster. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":20520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[193,664,687,669],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-agents","category-marketing","category-negotiating","category-selling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Increase Competition and Sell Your Listings Faster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some houses sell themselves. 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