Off the Record: Portland Real Estate Insider
Welcome to Off the Record: Portland Real Estate Insider, your ultimate source for all things real estate in Portland Metro! Join Joe and Makayla, as they take you on a thrilling journey behind the scenes of the bustling Portland Metro real estate market. From jaw-dropping success stories to nail-biting challenges, we spill the beans on it all, without holding back. Get ready to gain insider knowledge, uncover hidden gems, and discover the secrets of the trade that no one else will tell you. With our expert insights, you'll be hooked from the very first episode. So, whether you're a seasoned investor, a first-time homebuyer, or just curious about the world of real estate, be sure to tune in to Off the Record: Portland Real Estate Insider. Don't miss out - hit that subscribe button now and join us on this thrilling ride!
Off the Record: Portland Real Estate Insider
The Inside Scoop: Behind-the-Scenes of a Successful Home Sale!
Summary:
Ever wondered what it takes to sell a home in today's market? Join Joe Reitzug and Makayla Mast as they spill the beans on the secrets of real estate success. From getting your home ready to hitting the market with a bang, they'll walk you through the step-by-step process with ease. Get ready to learn the tricks of the trade and set yourself up for a smooth and lucrative home selling journey!
Episode Highlights:
- Unveiling the comprehensive process of getting a home ready for market, from initial preparations to launch day.
- Exploring the importance of customized marketing plans tailored to each property's strengths and weaknesses.
- Highlighting the significance of digital marketing assets, including digital magazines and Matterport tours, in attracting potential buyers.
- Discussing the role of neighborhood postcards and open houses in generating buzz and word-of-mouth referrals.
- Emphasizing the necessity of clear communication and proactive feedback for sellers throughout the selling process.
Are you considering selling your home? Don't settle for a mediocre selling experience. Partner with LivPortland to ensure your property gets the attention it deserves. Visit LivPortland.com to learn more about our proven strategies for selling homes in the Portland Metro area.
Thank you for listening to this episode. Stay up to date on the latest trends and insights by subscribing to our podcast and following us on social media.
For more information about buying or selling in the Portland Metro real estate market, please visit www.LivPortland.com or contact us directly.
We appreciate your feedback, so please leave a review and let us know what topics you would like to hear more about.
00:00:08:05 - 00:00:21:09
Joe Reitzug
Welcome to off the record Talking real estate with Joe and Makayla. If you're interested in the Portland, Oregon real estate market and want the unvarnished inside scoop, you've come to the right place. Thanks for giving us a listen.
00:00:21:09 - 00:00:26:07
Joe Reitzug
Okay. Welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Hi, Makayla. How are you?
00:00:26:07 - 00:00:34:17
Makayla Mast
I Am so good. The sun is shining, so maybe the spring is around the corner. We'll see. But it's a good day. I'm happy to be here.
00:00:34:17 - 00:00:35:22
Joe Reitzug
So here at the
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Joe Reitzug
LivPortland,
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Joe Reitzug
off the record studios,
00:00:39:05 - 00:00:43:06
Joe Reitzug
you may hear the sounds of spring, which is leaf blowers and
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Joe Reitzug
power washers in the background. So
00:00:44:23 - 00:00:49:08
Joe Reitzug
if you're listening and you hear some of that, it just means it's a super sunny day out and
00:00:49:08 - 00:00:50:15
Joe Reitzug
people are getting after it. So
00:00:50:15 - 00:00:51:10
Makayla Mast
it is what it is.
00:00:51:13 - 00:00:54:03
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. We've got an exciting show today.
00:00:54:03 - 00:00:54:22
Makayla Mast
I know we have
00:00:54:22 - 00:00:58:23
Makayla Mast
lot of good notes, but we're totally winging this.
00:00:59:01 - 00:01:00:15
Joe Reitzug
Isn't that how we always do it? Yeah.
00:01:00:15 - 00:01:01:16
Joe Reitzug
We are better that way.
00:01:01:19 - 00:01:06:00
Makayla Mast
But we're excited because I think this is really good information and we
00:01:06:00 - 00:01:11:14
Makayla Mast
kind of just went through this on a couple different listings. So I think it's fresh in our minds and it is.
00:01:11:14 - 00:01:12:08
Joe Reitzug
And I think,
00:01:12:08 - 00:01:15:05
Joe Reitzug
warning this podcast contains
00:01:15:05 - 00:01:23:14
Joe Reitzug
a lot of really super real estate and nerdy stuff. I mean, we're going to get deep into things, but I think it's important stuff and I think people will find it interesting because,
00:01:23:14 - 00:01:26:06
Joe Reitzug
think the general public thinks,
00:01:26:06 - 00:01:27:22
Joe Reitzug
when you listen home with a broker,
00:01:27:22 - 00:01:30:19
Joe Reitzug
they just put it on the arm alarm, throw the sign up and away you go.
00:01:31:00 - 00:01:39:03
Joe Reitzug
And that may be the case with some brokers, but with professional brokers, that's not how it works at all. So we're going to go in depth into
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Joe Reitzug
everything it takes to get a home ready
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Joe Reitzug
to hit the market. And
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Joe Reitzug
what that entails, because I think people will be very surprised at
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Joe Reitzug
the amount of work that goes into it.
00:01:50:04 - 00:01:50:19
Joe Reitzug
And
00:01:50:19 - 00:01:53:06
Joe Reitzug
it's super interesting to understand,
00:01:53:06 - 00:01:59:22
Joe Reitzug
how you positioned a house to get sold fast. And for the most money, especially in our current marketplace, where things have softened a bit,
00:01:59:22 - 00:02:03:09
Joe Reitzug
average days on market is longer. So we'll go into
00:02:03:09 - 00:02:04:19
Joe Reitzug
how a listing is launched,
00:02:04:19 - 00:02:07:20
Joe Reitzug
from two weeks until launch, one week until launch,
00:02:07:20 - 00:02:09:01
Joe Reitzug
the week of the launch.
00:02:09:01 - 00:02:09:21
Joe Reitzug
And then
00:02:09:21 - 00:02:11:03
Joe Reitzug
what that entails
00:02:11:03 - 00:02:13:17
Joe Reitzug
from our end of it and what sellers
00:02:13:17 - 00:02:16:15
Joe Reitzug
are asked to do, because I think that's an important piece of it as well.
00:02:16:18 - 00:02:33:00
Makayla Mast
Yeah, I agree. I think this is a fun little look into the life of a realtor behind the scenes. Yeah, whenever I work with friends, they're always like, you. There's a lot of steps that go into this. This is, you know, quite the process. So I think it's fun to encapsulate it in one piece. Yeah.
00:02:33:00 - 00:02:34:13
Joe Reitzug
So let's start off with,
00:02:34:13 - 00:02:41:07
Joe Reitzug
you know, we'll just call it two weeks out from launch. And launch means your home is active on the market,
00:02:41:07 - 00:02:45:13
Joe Reitzug
active in our MLS. It's up on all of the websites,
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Joe Reitzug
marketing's going out, everything else that
00:02:47:22 - 00:02:49:02
Joe Reitzug
we'll talk about here
00:02:49:02 - 00:02:50:11
Joe Reitzug
along this podcast. But
00:02:50:11 - 00:02:54:02
Joe Reitzug
usually about a week to two weeks out. And it depends on everyone, right?
00:02:54:02 - 00:02:54:18
Joe Reitzug
We have
00:02:54:18 - 00:02:58:17
Joe Reitzug
some clients of ours right now that we're about three weeks out, but
00:02:58:17 - 00:03:02:20
Joe Reitzug
we just kind of customize this plan. But for right now, we'll just say two weeks out,
00:03:02:20 - 00:03:04:13
Joe Reitzug
what goes into getting
00:03:04:13 - 00:03:05:08
Joe Reitzug
the home ready?
00:03:05:10 - 00:03:13:19
Makayla Mast
Yeah, I like that. It's kind of like the sped up process. If someone were to call us and say that they want it on in two weeks, which is not usually the case, but
00:03:13:19 - 00:03:16:06
Makayla Mast
kind of a good enough timeline, right?
00:03:16:06 - 00:03:19:09
Makayla Mast
exactly. We can't put it on tomorrow, but. Right. A little bit of time.
00:03:19:10 - 00:03:23:21
Joe Reitzug
So this is the point of the process where we've met with the owners of the home.
00:03:23:21 - 00:03:29:21
Joe Reitzug
we probably interviewed with them. Who knows if there was other brokers involved, but they said, Yep, we want to go with you.
00:03:29:21 - 00:03:33:16
Joe Reitzug
We want to get this process going. We're going to put the home on the market in about two weeks.
00:03:33:18 - 00:03:58:09
Joe Reitzug
So what we typically will do is get copies of the listing agreement and send fill out as much as we can in there and then send it to them for them to have a copy of it. Because I'm a big fan of giving people as much information as possible so that they're comfortable with it because the last thing you want to do is send a document over to someone for signature when they haven't had a chance to read.
00:03:58:09 - 00:04:03:09
Makayla Mast
It, right? Totally. For the listener who might not know what is in the listing agreement, could you give us a quick
00:04:03:09 - 00:04:06:03
Joe Reitzug
Sure. So there is
00:04:06:03 - 00:04:10:12
Joe Reitzug
it's one of the shorter documents we have. Actually, it's only three pages and
00:04:10:12 - 00:04:17:11
Joe Reitzug
it goes into depth about what services you're going to get, rights, responsibilities. You're giving us the right to market, the property.
00:04:17:11 - 00:04:18:16
Joe Reitzug
talks about whether,
00:04:18:16 - 00:04:21:10
Joe Reitzug
how the earnest money is going to be disposition. The price
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Joe Reitzug
commission
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Joe Reitzug
and some legal jargon.
00:04:25:01 - 00:04:26:04
Joe Reitzug
Right. And
00:04:26:04 - 00:04:26:21
Joe Reitzug
that's about it.
00:04:26:21 - 00:04:28:14
Makayla Mast
Yeah, well, that's first step.
00:04:28:16 - 00:04:33:00
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, that's the first step is to kind of get that out there. We give people time to review that
00:04:33:00 - 00:04:34:05
Joe Reitzug
and then at some point,
00:04:34:05 - 00:04:36:03
Joe Reitzug
after they've had a chance to review,
00:04:36:03 - 00:04:45:01
Joe Reitzug
will send a sign over to get their signatures on that and get everything official. Once everything's official, then we can jump into hyperdrive and really start,
00:04:45:01 - 00:04:47:15
Joe Reitzug
checking some of these boxes of the things that we're going to talk about.
00:04:47:15 - 00:05:04:10
Makayla Mast
next on the list we get with our title escrow officer, and we order title and neighborhood information just to kind of give us a little background on the property and see if there are any red flags right off the bat, which usually isn't the case, but
00:05:04:10 - 00:05:05:00
Makayla Mast
it's good to know.
00:05:05:04 - 00:05:10:15
Joe Reitzug
Yep. And we get our mailing list from the title company and we'll talk about why that's important here in a second. But
00:05:10:15 - 00:05:11:08
Joe Reitzug
we also
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Joe Reitzug
try to schedule a visit
00:05:12:14 - 00:05:13:18
Joe Reitzug
to the home with
00:05:13:18 - 00:05:15:02
Joe Reitzug
the entire team. So
00:05:15:02 - 00:05:16:13
Joe Reitzug
you, me, Stephanie,
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Joe Reitzug
Laura
00:05:17:07 - 00:05:22:00
Joe Reitzug
We try to get over there so that we have eyeballs on the home and everyone can have some input into
00:05:22:00 - 00:05:27:02
Joe Reitzug
what preparation we need to do for photography and talk about showings and everything like that.
00:05:27:02 - 00:05:28:08
Joe Reitzug
And I think it helps people,
00:05:28:08 - 00:05:31:11
Joe Reitzug
have some confidence in what we're doing to see that
00:05:31:11 - 00:05:37:03
Joe Reitzug
we are a group that works together and we're there for them and we're here to help them through the process, right?
00:05:37:03 - 00:05:57:12
Makayla Mast
I think that is singlehandedly the most important piece of this. And yeah, and my favorite, honestly, I feel like we just get to walk through every inch of the house, which is what the client likes to do and sometimes are so nervous about the silliest things like do I leave soap on my counter for photography? And we're just able to answer all those little questions like,
00:05:57:12 - 00:06:02:06
Makayla Mast
can I put things in my garage or are you going to take pictures of my ranch or should I touch up this?
00:06:02:06 - 00:06:05:21
Joe Reitzug
Paint the answers. Yes, you can put soap on your counter.
00:06:05:23 - 00:06:10:03
Makayla Mast
But just random questions. And I think it really helps
00:06:10:03 - 00:06:11:07
Makayla Mast
ease the client and
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Makayla Mast
helps us kind of get a head start on staging and giving any advice you need in there.
00:06:16:03 - 00:06:18:09
Joe Reitzug
And we also talk during that visit, we talk about,
00:06:18:09 - 00:06:23:14
Joe Reitzug
protocol for showing, you know, should we be at the house? Probably not. You want to give the buyer some
00:06:23:14 - 00:06:27:21
Joe Reitzug
space for them to envision the home as their own, and that's super difficult
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Joe Reitzug
for them to do if you're standing right there. The other thing is,
00:06:31:02 - 00:06:32:10
Joe Reitzug
personal pictures and everything.
00:06:32:10 - 00:06:35:20
Joe Reitzug
Everyone thinks, I need to take all that stuff down. Well, yeah,
00:06:35:20 - 00:06:39:17
Joe Reitzug
but not all of it. I mean, you're still living in the home. It's still your home.
00:06:39:17 - 00:06:48:07
Joe Reitzug
But trying to create an environment where people can imagine it being theirs, it's helpful to have less of the personal stuff.
00:06:48:07 - 00:06:49:15
Makayla Mast
Yeah, absolutely.
00:06:49:15 - 00:06:52:00
Joe Reitzug
And then we also get keys to make sure we can,
00:06:52:00 - 00:07:05:08
Joe Reitzug
have access to the lock box. Lock boxes are great. It's all secure, it's digital. They talk via Bluetooth. So we see exactly when a broker enters and leaves, we get all their information,
00:07:05:08 - 00:07:06:10
Joe Reitzug
can follow up with them.
00:07:06:10 - 00:07:07:15
Joe Reitzug
just a great way to go.
00:07:07:15 - 00:07:09:17
Joe Reitzug
as far as the marketing plan,
00:07:09:17 - 00:07:25:02
Joe Reitzug
I'm the one that usually puts that together and we will get an outline of everything that goes into the marketing plan. And that's a whole nother probably episode to talk about what good marketing in real estate is, right?
00:07:25:02 - 00:07:27:02
Makayla Mast
Yeah. And it's different for every property.
00:07:27:02 - 00:07:33:10
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, it is. It really depends on what the strengths and weaknesses are and how we can best highlight
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Joe Reitzug
the home,
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Joe Reitzug
put it in its best position to,
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Joe Reitzug
get people's attention and show people why it's a great spot for them.
00:07:41:09 - 00:07:52:19
Makayla Mast
couldn't agree more. And then we head into the photo shoot that which is of course laid out in the marketing plan. But that's obviously where we start first, is either photos, video, both
00:07:52:19 - 00:07:56:18
Makayla Mast
and sometimes even a Matterport 3D floorplan view of the property.
00:07:56:18 - 00:08:04:22
Joe Reitzug
And drone is an important part of it too. So people can kind of see all aspects of the property. If it's a larger property drone says super important.
00:08:04:22 - 00:08:15:18
Joe Reitzug
The 3D Matterport is very popular as well and we have a listing coming up in McMinnville and McMinnville is a surprising place for a lot of California buyers.
00:08:15:18 - 00:08:16:13
Makayla Mast
This year.
00:08:16:14 - 00:08:17:01
Joe Reitzug
Right?
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Joe Reitzug
They want to be just outside of the Portland metro area, but still close enough to be able to come into town and do different things and enjoy kind of the
00:08:24:18 - 00:08:28:04
Joe Reitzug
small town feel, but also be able to come in to to Portland.
00:08:28:04 - 00:08:30:03
Joe Reitzug
But the Matterport is great
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Joe Reitzug
to do a 3D walkthrough. If you haven't seen
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Joe Reitzug
a Matterport tour, go to LivPortland.com
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Joe Reitzug
and just check out some of our listings.
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Joe Reitzug
There's there's bound to be one in there that has a Matterport tour or you can go to Matterport dot com
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Joe Reitzug
see some examples there but you can literally do a 3D walk through through a home from your computer. It's pretty.
00:08:50:14 - 00:08:56:16
Makayla Mast
Cool. I love when I'm working with a buyer and they have one of those in the listing. They can just text to him. It's so helpful.
00:08:56:16 - 00:09:00:14
Joe Reitzug
The next thing amenity sheets. You Stephanie and Rica
00:09:00:14 - 00:09:03:14
Joe Reitzug
do a fantastic job with those, and I am
00:09:03:14 - 00:09:05:06
Joe Reitzug
ever so thankful
00:09:05:06 - 00:09:08:03
Joe Reitzug
that you guys leave me out of that process.
00:09:08:11 - 00:09:12:04
Makayla Mast
Because it's tough. And I think it's. Yeah, it's fun. I think it's,
00:09:12:04 - 00:09:14:04
Makayla Mast
again, different for every property, but
00:09:14:04 - 00:09:16:20
Makayla Mast
it could be something as cool as like
00:09:16:20 - 00:09:23:05
Makayla Mast
video, you know, movie theater room. And if they have a flat screen, you know, we lay out the details of the flat screen and
00:09:23:05 - 00:09:26:23
Makayla Mast
whatever is in there and what might be staying with the property, what might be leaving.
00:09:26:23 - 00:09:31:03
Makayla Mast
it just depends. Sometimes we have a lot to say and sometimes we don't have as much. But it's a nice
00:09:31:03 - 00:09:32:22
Makayla Mast
place to be able to put everything and,
00:09:32:22 - 00:09:35:05
Makayla Mast
give the information right away rather than
00:09:35:05 - 00:09:38:06
Makayla Mast
waiting for people to have questions about that item.
00:09:38:08 - 00:09:39:15
Joe Reitzug
And that's a great
00:09:39:15 - 00:09:43:23
Joe Reitzug
piece of information to be able to attach to the listing and ARM allows because ARM allows,
00:09:43:23 - 00:10:02:14
Joe Reitzug
many of you seen our have seen our MLS listings, it's just a bunch of data with some pictures. Right. And that doesn't always tell the entire story, especially with some of the properties we represent. You want to be able to tell that story of why this home is incredible, why it's a good fit for them and being able to have an amenity sheet.
00:10:02:14 - 00:10:03:10
Joe Reitzug
And also,
00:10:03:10 - 00:10:06:22
Joe Reitzug
property features is incredibly important. And we've had some
00:10:06:22 - 00:10:09:11
Joe Reitzug
some properties that we've listed recently where we get,
00:10:09:11 - 00:10:19:15
Joe Reitzug
three, four or five pages amenities. Yeah. And that's just information that you're not going to be able to get in to our MLS or into Zillow, Redfin,
00:10:19:15 - 00:10:25:20
Joe Reitzug
Realtor.com, all of those places. So having that online, but then also having it at the property.
00:10:25:20 - 00:10:27:20
Joe Reitzug
So when someone's looking at the home,
00:10:27:20 - 00:10:28:23
Joe Reitzug
they can also
00:10:28:23 - 00:10:32:10
Joe Reitzug
get the full picture because a lot of times there's so much to process.
00:10:32:10 - 00:10:39:19
Joe Reitzug
If you didn't have that amenity sheet, it would be difficult to really take in everything that properties have to offer, right?
00:10:39:21 - 00:10:59:23
Makayla Mast
I think another good thing to highlight in those is your utilities and if you've made any major updates in systems like we just listed a home today where it's within city limits, but it has a well which is super rare. So I just put all the information about the well and attach it to the listing so that people don't have this fear around it.
00:10:59:23 - 00:11:03:15
Makayla Mast
But that's great. Yeah, I think those are really, really important.
00:11:03:15 - 00:11:07:16
Joe Reitzug
So that's about two weeks out when we gather all of that information,
00:11:07:16 - 00:11:08:10
Joe Reitzug
which is a lot.
00:11:08:10 - 00:11:12:18
Joe Reitzug
But one week before we launch, we're usually finalizing marketing,
00:11:12:18 - 00:11:16:02
Joe Reitzug
copy and our MLS remarks. And
00:11:16:02 - 00:11:25:01
Joe Reitzug
there's a skill and a kind of an art form to that. And Makayla and I and Stephanie always go back and forth on, you
00:11:25:01 - 00:11:32:02
Joe Reitzug
the look and feel of that, and then we get it in front of the, the owners of the home to make sure it's representing how they want the property to look right.
00:11:32:02 - 00:11:32:22
Joe Reitzug
And then there's,
00:11:32:22 - 00:11:34:20
Joe Reitzug
the remarks in our MLS
00:11:34:20 - 00:11:35:18
Joe Reitzug
now there's
00:11:35:18 - 00:11:48:06
Joe Reitzug
I don't know how many characters you can put in there, but it used to be limited very limited to how many words, characters you could put in the arm. Alas, now they've given us a lot more leeway so you can really get into it and describe a home.
00:11:48:08 - 00:11:52:19
Joe Reitzug
But getting that final marketing copy put together can be difficult.
00:11:52:19 - 00:11:55:15
Makayla Mast
Yeah, sometimes take some trial and error.
00:11:55:17 - 00:11:57:12
Joe Reitzug
Trial and error and,
00:11:57:12 - 00:12:00:18
Joe Reitzug
getting it so that the description of the home fits
00:12:00:18 - 00:12:04:02
Joe Reitzug
what you're trying. The story that you're trying to tell with it can be
00:12:04:02 - 00:12:14:12
Joe Reitzug
very difficult. But you got to get that done because all the marketing assets, especially the the print assets that we order in that one week until launch, all of that depends on that.
00:12:14:12 - 00:12:17:15
Joe Reitzug
So we got to get that done so that we can get our,
00:12:17:15 - 00:12:18:16
Joe Reitzug
our fliers
00:12:18:16 - 00:12:22:20
Joe Reitzug
will do look books as well and all that copy has to go in there.
00:12:22:20 - 00:12:38:07
Makayla Mast
Right. And I think yeah, that time's up really quick because we have to finish listing and then we love to send out like postcards to all the neighbors and we like to have that in their mailbox. The day that we go live with the property. So there's just a lot of talk about it bringing more attention.
00:12:38:07 - 00:12:40:10
Makayla Mast
So yeah, that's important timing wise for sure.
00:12:40:15 - 00:12:41:07
Makayla Mast
Yeah.
00:12:41:09 - 00:12:43:11
Joe Reitzug
And then once we have that marketing copy,
00:12:43:11 - 00:12:48:07
Joe Reitzug
we can set up the digital marketing assets, including our digital magazine, which I just mentioned, our
00:12:48:07 - 00:12:50:22
Joe Reitzug
we'll have if you go to LivPortland.com
00:12:50:22 - 00:12:52:18
Joe Reitzug
and click on our podcast
00:12:52:18 - 00:13:02:14
Joe Reitzug
on this page, we'll have a couple of examples of the look books that we do for properties. They're fantastic and we're able to text them, email them, send it as a link,
00:13:02:14 - 00:13:07:16
Joe Reitzug
and it really puts all the properties we represent in their best possible light.
00:13:07:17 - 00:13:12:02
Joe Reitzug
We also print those out and have them in the home because a lot of times,
00:13:12:02 - 00:13:17:21
Joe Reitzug
people are looking at three or four or five sometimes more homes in a day. And
00:13:17:21 - 00:13:26:11
Joe Reitzug
if at the end of the day they remember your home and then have that booklet and can be able to look at it and say, yeah, and go through it, usually that's
00:13:26:11 - 00:13:34:12
Joe Reitzug
I've never been to a property where I've seen booklets nicer than what we do and that's, that's the image, the lasting image that they have of the property.
00:13:34:14 - 00:13:36:05
Joe Reitzug
That's a great place to be. Yeah.
00:13:36:07 - 00:13:37:06
Makayla Mast
I couldn't agree more.
00:13:37:06 - 00:13:39:17
Joe Reitzug
So final CRM to help with
00:13:39:17 - 00:13:41:07
Joe Reitzug
getting the list price set.
00:13:41:09 - 00:13:43:00
Makayla Mast
That's a big one. Yeah.
00:13:43:05 - 00:13:43:21
Joe Reitzug
Our marketplace
00:13:43:21 - 00:13:46:11
Joe Reitzug
moves so incredibly fast that sometimes,
00:13:46:11 - 00:13:47:17
Joe Reitzug
know, we might say,
00:13:47:17 - 00:13:54:10
Joe Reitzug
we think the price is 800 and the seller agrees. And then two weeks later, before we go live,
00:13:54:10 - 00:14:03:14
Joe Reitzug
two homes in the neighborhood of sold for 825, 840. And it's like, well, let's see where we should go now, right?
00:14:03:19 - 00:14:05:04
Joe Reitzug
Maybe bump it up and,
00:14:05:04 - 00:14:08:02
Joe Reitzug
sometimes there's times where that's the opposite and it's like,
00:14:08:02 - 00:14:15:09
Joe Reitzug
we thought 815 or, you know, 425 was going to be right. We probably need to be at three 399 right?
00:14:15:10 - 00:14:16:00
Makayla Mast
Yeah.
00:14:16:02 - 00:14:20:20
Joe Reitzug
So getting that information put together before you go live is, is always important.
00:14:20:20 - 00:14:28:06
Makayla Mast
And then we work on sending all of this information to our brokerage. So Cascade House and Sotheby's, they get a good review of everything. Let us know if we need to,
00:14:28:06 - 00:14:34:12
Makayla Mast
make any changes in the comments or send better quality photos to make sure that it looks great on their end of the site.
00:14:34:12 - 00:14:37:20
Makayla Mast
And then they help us get the order, the sign, and install
00:14:37:20 - 00:14:39:17
Makayla Mast
that sign that goes outside the property.
00:14:39:17 - 00:14:40:00
Makayla Mast
And,
00:14:40:00 - 00:14:42:09
Makayla Mast
that takes a couple of steps as well. They have to
00:14:42:09 - 00:14:44:07
Makayla Mast
sit City has to come out and make sure they're not going to
00:14:44:07 - 00:14:45:16
Makayla Mast
put the sign where there's any
00:14:45:16 - 00:14:47:10
Makayla Mast
sewer lines or anything like that.
00:14:47:10 - 00:14:52:19
Joe Reitzug
Yeah, everyone thinks, you just pop a sign and then the same day. But no, they have to go out there and make sure they don't
00:14:52:19 - 00:14:54:13
Joe Reitzug
pop a sign into your gas line.
00:14:54:19 - 00:14:58:01
Makayla Mast
Right. I would be really unfortunate.
00:14:58:03 - 00:14:59:14
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Although,
00:14:59:14 - 00:15:01:03
Joe Reitzug
they only started doing that
00:15:01:03 - 00:15:02:04
Joe Reitzug
five or six years ago.
00:15:02:04 - 00:15:02:18
Makayla Mast
Serious.
00:15:02:19 - 00:15:12:08
Joe Reitzug
Yeah. Locates Wow. For signs only about five or six I think five or six years ago. But when I first started in this business, now they just go out there and plop a sign in anywhere.
00:15:12:13 - 00:15:13:12
Makayla Mast
Free for all.
00:15:13:14 - 00:15:14:11
Joe Reitzug
Yeah.
00:15:14:13 - 00:15:16:22
Makayla Mast
There's got to be some liability there. That's insane. Yeah.
00:15:17:02 - 00:15:21:03
Joe Reitzug
Sorry about your sewer line.
00:15:21:05 - 00:15:25:16
Makayla Mast
And then a lot of times when we install those, we try to do it a little bit before we go live,
00:15:25:16 - 00:15:27:08
Makayla Mast
ideally like a week.
00:15:27:08 - 00:15:35:01
Makayla Mast
And then we do like a comingsoon writer at the top of the sign again to start creating some talk around the property before we're actually on the market.
00:15:35:01 - 00:15:39:01
Joe Reitzug
You mentioned the Comingsoon postcard that gets sent out to the neighborhood.
00:15:39:01 - 00:15:41:19
Joe Reitzug
It is amazing how many times
00:15:41:19 - 00:15:45:06
Joe Reitzug
word of mouth sells properties, right? So,
00:15:45:06 - 00:15:46:08
Joe Reitzug
we're selling
00:15:46:08 - 00:15:52:11
Joe Reitzug
Jim and Judy's place and their friend Paul, who lives three
00:15:52:11 - 00:15:55:19
Joe Reitzug
streets down, comes over. yeah, we're selling our home.
00:15:55:19 - 00:15:57:12
Joe Reitzug
And Paul tells his,
00:15:57:12 - 00:15:58:20
Joe Reitzug
friend Steve
00:15:58:20 - 00:16:00:23
Joe Reitzug
about this home that's coming on the market.
00:16:01:01 - 00:16:09:11
Joe Reitzug
I'm amazed at how often that happens where we get a phone call. Yeah, I'm Paul's friend and we're like, okay, how can we help you?
00:16:09:11 - 00:16:18:10
Joe Reitzug
And now Paul's friends with Jim and Judy and great. Got it. Okay, so getting that neighborhood postcard out, and especially when we're going to have an open house,
00:16:18:10 - 00:16:19:22
Joe Reitzug
that invitation of, hey,
00:16:19:22 - 00:16:22:16
Joe Reitzug
first weekend on the market, We're having an open house.
00:16:22:22 - 00:16:25:22
Joe Reitzug
We'd love to see you. Please stop by.
00:16:25:22 - 00:16:28:08
Joe Reitzug
And that first open house is usually
00:16:28:08 - 00:16:29:02
Joe Reitzug
a lot of.
00:16:29:02 - 00:16:47:20
Makayla Mast
Neighbors, a lot of neighbors, which a lot of sellers don't like. But and I get it totally. A lot of people are just it helps them inside of the house. Right. But it totally helps. So that word of mouth and we had a a stat one time someone that figured it out like what percentage of the time sales happen that way and it was shockingly high.
00:16:47:20 - 00:16:48:07
Joe Reitzug
So
00:16:48:07 - 00:16:50:14
Joe Reitzug
I want to say it was almost a quarter.
00:16:50:14 - 00:16:51:10
Makayla Mast
I think you're right, like.
00:16:51:11 - 00:16:54:05
Joe Reitzug
21, 22%, something like that. Yeah.
00:16:54:05 - 00:17:04:00
Makayla Mast
Which, you know, everyone thinks, you just throw it up on Zillow, you know, again, like we're live in the digital age, but word of mouth goes really, really fast with data.
00:17:04:02 - 00:17:12:10
Joe Reitzug
So getting all the data and our M.S. is a pain in the butt. Yeah, but it has to be done and it has to be done right, because once you submit that
00:17:12:10 - 00:17:13:07
Joe Reitzug
and we just had
00:17:13:07 - 00:17:15:16
Joe Reitzug
a couple of pieces of land that we put on
00:17:15:16 - 00:17:18:11
Joe Reitzug
on the market and some of the information
00:17:18:11 - 00:17:19:19
Joe Reitzug
we ended up changing
00:17:19:19 - 00:17:22:02
Joe Reitzug
just for accuracy, purpose and different things.
00:17:22:02 - 00:17:30:08
Joe Reitzug
And it took forever to get Zillow and Realtor.com to change that information. Right?
00:17:30:10 - 00:17:38:20
Makayla Mast
Zillow and all those third party websites say that there should only be a 30 minute lag when we change things on our MLS. But I do not think that's true.
00:17:38:20 - 00:17:50:15
Joe Reitzug
I mean, what world does that happen right? Not in ours. So we try to make sure that the information in our MLS is accurate, right when we hit the market. And that means giving a proof to our
00:17:50:15 - 00:18:00:02
Joe Reitzug
our homeowners to say, Hey, here's what we're going to go live with, take a look. Let us know if you'd like to see any changes or edits or make sure everything's accurate in a way we go.
00:18:00:02 - 00:18:02:19
Joe Reitzug
Seller's property disclosure. You want to tackle that one?
00:18:02:19 - 00:18:13:13
Makayla Mast
Gosh, this is a beast. And it always, I think this tends to stress people out, but it shouldn't be a stressful as it sounds. But what is it? Six pages.
00:18:13:15 - 00:18:14:16
Joe Reitzug
Something like that.
00:18:14:16 - 00:18:15:08
Makayla Mast
But it's,
00:18:15:08 - 00:18:25:20
Makayla Mast
you're disclosing what you know about the property. So any material defects, unfortunately, fortunately, you need to disclose of them in this document,
00:18:25:20 - 00:18:27:16
Makayla Mast
most of it's pretty light. Like is there
00:18:27:16 - 00:18:31:08
Makayla Mast
insulation in the floors or ceiling or walls? And,
00:18:31:08 - 00:18:35:07
Makayla Mast
you share as much as you know about the house. And if you don't know, that's okay.
00:18:35:11 - 00:18:35:22
Makayla Mast
You just.
00:18:35:22 - 00:18:44:07
Joe Reitzug
Mark So it's a list of questions. Yeah. And they have yes, no unknown, right. And you just check in boxes on all these
00:18:44:07 - 00:19:06:03
Joe Reitzug
hundred million questions. And at the end of it there's a page for an addendum to say, okay, line 33 where it says, Has the roof ever leaked? You checked? Yes. But you want to add a comment to that to say, yes, It did leak in 2019, but we immediately had that repaired and it's been fine since.
00:19:06:03 - 00:19:17:19
Joe Reitzug
So you can go in and say, okay, line 119. Here's my comment about that roof leaking. So when a buyer's looking through that, they can go, the roof leaked and then they can go to the
00:19:17:19 - 00:19:21:03
Joe Reitzug
the addendum and say, okay, but it was taken care of right?
00:19:21:03 - 00:19:31:13
Makayla Mast
kind of a pain, but it's important and it does help. A lot of brokers will attach that to the listing and we found that it makes the world of difference to just share as much information as you know.
00:19:31:13 - 00:19:37:20
Joe Reitzug
And we actually ask for it to be included in the offer. So the buyer has reviewed it and signed off on it.
00:19:38:01 - 00:19:45:03
Makayla Mast
Just eliminates a step after the fact. Or hopefully you're in a situation where you're getting three or four or five offers on your home.
00:19:45:03 - 00:19:48:15
Makayla Mast
And yeah, we're we're already away with the important stuff.
00:19:48:17 - 00:19:49:00
Joe Reitzug
Yep.
00:19:49:00 - 00:19:53:00
Joe Reitzug
So the week of going active.
00:19:53:02 - 00:19:54:13
Makayla Mast
So all.
00:19:54:13 - 00:19:56:15
Joe Reitzug
The homeowners hard work of,
00:19:56:15 - 00:20:10:00
Joe Reitzug
everything they've done to go make their home as appealing as possible and everything our team has done to get everything put together, get it put together in a way that's going to reflect the home in the best possible light.
00:20:10:00 - 00:20:12:04
Joe Reitzug
All of that comes together and,
00:20:12:04 - 00:20:16:05
Joe Reitzug
we get it. We get it live and hopefully it gets a great reception.
00:20:16:05 - 00:20:38:16
Joe Reitzug
But we we set up feedback on it on our digital showing platforms line and showing time. And so when I mentioned the lock box, when an agent views a property, they automatically get an email we have set up so they automatically get an email saying, Hey, we saw that you showed the property on, you know, Southwest 85th. We'd love to get your feedback on what you thought.
00:20:38:16 - 00:20:47:07
Joe Reitzug
And we have some customer questions in there for the home. They can just click on their phone. It's got a picture on it so they know exactly which home we're talking about
00:20:47:07 - 00:20:49:08
Joe Reitzug
and they can get feedback that we can pass along.
00:20:49:08 - 00:20:59:18
Makayla Mast
but that is really helpful because obviously the seller wants feedback right away. They were just hanging out at the coffee shop down the street for 2 hours. They'd like to know if that was productive or not. Yeah,
00:20:59:18 - 00:21:00:17
Makayla Mast
so it helps us get
00:21:00:17 - 00:21:02:01
Makayla Mast
info over right away.
00:21:02:01 - 00:21:08:22
Joe Reitzug
We also have our emails that we send out to the top brokers in the area. The top Sotheby's brokers
00:21:08:22 - 00:21:10:03
Joe Reitzug
get the word out that way.
00:21:10:03 - 00:21:14:03
Joe Reitzug
broker open house to area brokers and top producers. Well
00:21:14:03 - 00:21:19:11
Joe Reitzug
sometimes now they're not as popular as they used to be. But we'll do an open house just for the realtors in the area.
00:21:19:13 - 00:21:25:10
Joe Reitzug
And then also there's getting that the public open house is set up. And a lot of times we'll email to the area,
00:21:25:10 - 00:21:28:00
Joe Reitzug
letting all the neighbors know that we'll be having an open house.
00:21:28:05 - 00:21:30:07
Makayla Mast
And we post it on our social media.
00:21:30:07 - 00:21:33:00
Joe Reitzug
Yes, all of the social media is,
00:21:33:00 - 00:21:34:09
Joe Reitzug
which is great.
00:21:34:09 - 00:21:35:12
Joe Reitzug
Every Monday,
00:21:35:12 - 00:21:51:15
Joe Reitzug
each of our sellers will receive a online activity report where you can see all the different locations that people are viewing. Your property will be able to see how many clicks it gets and from where. It's always interesting to see where people are looking at the home from,
00:21:51:15 - 00:21:55:10
Joe Reitzug
Saskatchewan, Canada right now, 34 views.
00:21:55:10 - 00:21:57:08
Makayla Mast
It's like it's always surprising.
00:21:57:08 - 00:21:59:12
Joe Reitzug
Big following in Canada
00:21:59:12 - 00:22:03:07
Joe Reitzug
Tuesdays is when we communicate with sellers on activity and feedback and
00:22:03:07 - 00:22:09:16
Joe Reitzug
anything else we can provide to help them have a clear understanding of where we're at in the process and what's going on.
00:22:09:16 - 00:22:22:00
Makayla Mast
Great. So that's the funny to end there. But that is the launch. We have to do a whole another episode about what happens after the launch, but I hope people find this helpful or interesting release.
00:22:22:04 - 00:22:23:17
Joe Reitzug
I think we can post this too, right?
00:22:23:22 - 00:22:24:20
Makayla Mast
Yeah, yeah.
00:22:24:21 - 00:22:43:07
Joe Reitzug
Put this on the website so you can kind of see everything that goes into it. It's a ton of work, but that's what gets properties sold fast and for the most money and if you're talking to a broker to sell your home, if they don't have a written plan, that's a red flag.
00:22:43:07 - 00:22:44:06
Makayla Mast
I couldn't agree.
00:22:44:06 - 00:22:54:05
Joe Reitzug
More. Make sure they have a written plan of how they're going to market your property, make sure that it's proactive, that it's aggressive, and that you're going to be getting feedback on
00:22:54:05 - 00:22:55:04
Joe Reitzug
how things are going.
00:22:55:07 - 00:22:58:21
Makayla Mast
Yeah. Also that they're just going to have clear communication with you because,
00:22:58:21 - 00:23:13:11
Makayla Mast
putting this on the market and then having your broker text you 100 times throughout the process to get all these questions answered is not going to make you feel at ease about this process whatsoever. So we can gather all the communication beforehand. That's always, always ideal.
00:23:13:17 - 00:23:14:17
Makayla Mast
Yeah.
00:23:14:19 - 00:23:16:09
Joe Reitzug
Okay. Well, that's it for today.
00:23:16:09 - 00:23:19:07
Makayla Mast
That's good. Yeah. Thank you.
00:23:19:07 - 00:23:21:09
Joe Reitzug
Thanks, Makayla. Have a good Day. Thanks for joining, everyone. Bye.
00:23:21:09 - 00:23:35:04
Makayla Mast
Thanks for joining us today. If you're interested in finding out more about Joe, myself or the LivPortland team, you can go to LivPortland.com. Thanks for giving us a lesson and see you next time on the Off the Record podcast.