Myrtle Beach Area real estate agent Jerry Pinkas gives you tips and strategies on how to sell your home in today's market.

In my opinion, timing and knowledge are the keys of selling your home quickly and for the highest possible price.  My goal is to educate the seller and buyer to take full advantage of the present market.  

Seller-Strategy One- Take pictures of your home in all seasons- especially those that emphasize the beauty of your home. 

Let's say you want to put your home on the market in early spring, one of the times most people ultimately first think about selling their home. Imagine what the photos of your home would look like at the time of year. If you live in an area where the grass has turned brown, your pictures would either include brown grass or ugly barren trees. (Sometimes not a pretty site and one that does not make a good first impression.)

According the National Association of Realtors, nearly 80% of homebuyers start their home search on the Internet. This number is increasing on a daily basis. The potential buyer narrows his list of homes he would like to see by looking at pictures on the internet.   

My suggestion is that if you are comtiplating putting your home on the market in early spring - Everything is very green, especially after the week of rain we had a couple of weeks ago. Fall is a beautiful time of year and it would be a good idea to show the potential buyers what your home looks like in different seasons. Alot of pictures will not photograph as well in the middle of winter as it does in the middle of the fall

In my opinion, it's the photos -- and good photos -- that gets a potential buyer in your home, and you only get one chance to make a first impression.  A good picture is worth a 1000 words, a bad picture on the other hand may result in the consumer skipping over your home in their internet search and ultimately lose the sale. 

Think of it like you are the Realtor... would you take a client to a home which had no pictures on the internet? What about one that had bad pictures? What about potential buyers, what do you think?

If you want more information regarding other activities happenning in The Myrtle Beach Area, please do not hesitate to call me or check out my websites at http://www.HomeGuideMyrtleBeach.com/ or http://www.BeachRealEstateAgents.com/

Myrtle Beach Area real estate agent Jerry Pinkas gives important tips and strategies on how to buy or sell your property in today's market. 

Strategy - Sellers should hire a localrealtor!

After all that you read in the newspapers, hear on the news, you probably are frightened that you will not be able to sell your home in this market  if you are a seller. 

So I want you to ask yourself , do you want the best realtor for this challenging job?Isn't' your property one of your largest investments? In this tough market, I feel that hiring a local realtor, instead of a third cousin who lives 1 hour from your home would be one of the wisest financial moves you will ever pursue.

In this email I'm going to address why you want to hire a local realtor if you are a buyer or seller in today' s market.  Sounds too obvious, maybe to you and me, but not to all the past disappointed past sellers and buyers I have met. 

If you are a seller, your sellers agent needs to be a true expert in the communities you are interested in selling. Your agent should be completely versed in the schools, school districts, boundary lines, commuting, type of water the home uses, conservancy laws, rentals, management, zoning, homeowners associations, etc.    

Let me give you an example. Suppose a school district changed boundaries within the last few years.   Many listing realtors are relying on old school information, and submitting incorrect schools or incorrect spelling of schools on the MLS sheets.  This is happening more frequently today, especially with the influx of foreclosures and bank owned property on the market. The seller's bank hires the Realtor and this realtor may live and work hours from the property. Unfortunately, these Realtors may never have visited the property, and clueless of the school boundaries.

Unfortunately, these unintentional mistakes in turn affects someone looking to buy. Thus, the buyer's realtor who is not familiar with the area will either miss good homes (in their search) in the school district their client prefers, or advise their client to purchase a home in the wrong school district.  Even if the listing realtor has the right school district but spells the name of the school incorrectly, you may miss a home in your search. To the right, I have copied a portion of the MLS of an active bank owned property.  If you are looking for a home in district 125, you will pass over this home since the lister used the wrong district. They didn't even bother putting the name of the High school in the listing either. If a buyer's agent unfamiliar with the area used this information, it would be totally missed.

The same can be said for some one searching for an oceanfront condo, and the listing agent, missed one area to list the property in. In a search it would never even show up, unless the Realtor searching is the expert and completely knows the area.

Another important reason to hire a local realtor is that they are familiar with the nuances of the specific neighborhood, ordinances, assessments, etc. One time a friend of mine moved in to a condo and didn't realize what was happening in the homeowners association.  Her realtor wasn't familiar with this, and in turn didn't inform her of any potential problems. A professional, local realtor would have been knowledgeable about these issues.

When you are negotiating on behalf of your client, it is always better to be the one who is more knowledgeable about the area. If you are representing the seller and the buyer won't budge on the price, you always have the advantage if you have seen the inside of the comparable's and the reason that they sold for the price they did. A local realtor has the upper hand in the negotiations.

The last benefit I am going to address in hiring a local realtor in purchasing a property, is that they may be aware of the best properties before they even hit the market. Many times when I have a buyer in a specific price range and they can't find a home that they are truly in love with, I go the extra step.  I ask the realtors in my office, if anyone has a listing that they know that is coming on the market soon. If this networking proves unsuccessful, I take it one step further and ask my close friends and colleagues I trust in the other offices in town to see if they know of any listing that is going to meet the needs of my buyers. Although inventory is high, and you are probably laughing to yourself that a person can't find a home in today's market, many times the best homes do not even hit the market. It's the local agents who know of these homes first.

Caveat; if for some reason you do choose to hire a realtor that is not local, make sure they do their homework and learn all about every aspect of the home and communities you are buying....

If you want more information regarding specific real estate sales in the Myrtle Beach, Surfside, Garden City, North Myrtle Beach area please do not hesitate to call me at 843-222-1926 or email me at MyrtleBeachSales@aol.com . I am glad to make appointments!

Visit my web site http://www.beachrealestateagents.com/ or http://www.homeguidemyrtlebeach.com/ and you can search for more information on any listings.

The Jerry Pinkas Team

The Jerry Pinkas Team, Exit Grand Stand Properties
1350 Farrow Pkwy, Ste 200, Myrtle Beach SC 29577 Jerry Pinkas 843-222-1926