Why Sellers List Their Homes With Kyle Kovats

 

 

6 Reasons Why Seller’s List With Kyle Kovats

 

1)      Kyle pro-actively markets all of his listings. Kyle doesn’t just throw homes on the MLS while crossing his fingers and hoping for the best like most agents. On a daily basis Kyle contacts his buyers leads, other agents in the area who work with the most buyers, people currently selling their homes because they’re looking for somewhere else to move, and in general he targets the 5-mile radius around your property because stats show that 90% of all people that move, do so within a 5 mile radius of their home. Kyle seeks out buyers and doesn’t wait for them to come to him.

2)      Kyle’s technology is unmatched by anyone in the industry. To actively market your listing Kyle uses a system called, Mojo Power Dialer. This system allows Kyle to extract data from the MLS of people currently selling their homes and then uploads the data into his computer. Kyle then turns on the power dialer and dials three phone numbers at once, the first person to pick up is the person that he talks to. The two people that don’t answer get a pre-recorded voicemail about your listing. Again, Kyle doesn’t throw marketing pieces out there and hope that people see them, he actually contacts individuals directly and can track his numbers on how many people he’s marketed your home to. Kyle also syndicates your listing to over 300 of the top real estate websites, guaranteeing maximum exposure.

3)      Kyle expands his client’s pool of buyers immensely. Again, leveraging his technology he directly markets your listing to more than just the local markets. He directly markets listings to Hoboken, Jersey City, and New York City. Research indicates that a great percentage of individuals selling in those three areas typically move out to the suburbs. Let’s face it, anyone can market your home locally by throwing it on the MLS but having an agent expand your buyers pool gets more looks on the property, more offers, and the end result is top dollar for his clients.

4)      Kyle has an open door policy for all of his clients. As I’m sure we all know, realtors have a reputation for being lazy and working part-time. Kyle works full-time and gives all of his clients a copy of his schedule showing them the exact activities that he’s taking part in on a daily basis to get your home sold. Kyle believes it is very important to have an open door policy because it keeps him accountable and assures clients that Kyle is actively selling their home. At any time Kyle’s clients are free to walk into his office without notice.

5)      Kyle’s real estate credentials are unmatched by anyone in the industry. Kyle is the youngest licensed real estate instructor in US history and has been the editor of the #1 selling New Jersey real estate textbook, Principles and Practices of New Jersey Real Estate since he was 16. Kyle teaches real estate sales strategies to new licensees as well.

6)      Kyle has extensive experience in negotiating and has been trained by Scotwork North America, a company widely recognized as the number one negotiating training company in the world.

As always if you have any questions about my services or the real estate industry in general, feel free to reach out to me.

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

Local Buzz: Roseland

 

Throughout the summer and into the fall, Roseland farmers' market will be held at the Harrison Ave. field complex on the corner of Roseland and Harrison. The farmers' market is held every Friday throughout the fall from 12-7. At the market you will find everything from Jersey grown fruits and vegetables to New York style nuts and freshly squeezed lemonade.

My two personal favorites are the butterscotch covered almonds and you can't beat the Jersey grown blueberry's provided by the local farmers. Click the link below to check out the markets Facebook page.

Roseland Farmers' Market

My House Just Came Off The Market, What Do I Do Now?

So your listing agreement with your prior agent just expired (typically a 6-month listing agreement), what do you do now? If your first instinct is to get it right back on the market with the same agent, please walk over to a mirror, look yourself dead in the eyes and consider what I'm about to say.

Your prior agent just had your listings for six months and could not get the job done, what did that agent do in those six months to justify letting them sell the most valuable asset that you own? Let's be honest with ourselves, your agent probably tried their hardest to get your home sold for you. Your agent probably called their buyers leads, told all the agents in their office about your listing, and even put your home on the MLS. Fact of the matter is your prior agent couldn't get the job done given six months to complete the simple task of getting your home sold. So if someone would remind me what's the definition of insanity again?

Insanity- Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 

After working with their prior agent for six months, I always ask homeowners what exactly they expect that agent to do differently this time around. A lot of the time the responses I get are, "oh it wasn't my agents fault, the market just isn't good right now". If you weren't aware the market is doing phenomenal, it's actually up 10% over the past year. Don't listen to your agents excuses on why they couldn't get a simple task done given six months time. Another response I always get is, "I'm listing back with the agent they're a friend of mine." Think about this for a second! This is probably the largest sale you will ever make in your life! Do you simply just want to do a friend a favor and potentially lose out on tens of thousands of dollars or do you want an agent who uses a proven plan to get their clients top dollar every single time.

Moral of the story is, if your listing contract expires with your old agent do yourself a favor and at the very least get a second opinion from another realtor.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me, KyleKovats@Gmail.com

Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

How Do I Expand My Listing's Pool of Buyers

I've been getting a lot of questions on this recently so I'll just briefly explain how exactly I do this.

1) I have a referral network of agents/brokers in the Hoboken area. If these agents have past clients that are looking to move out of that market and to the suburbs, they will refer the client to me in exchange for a 25% referral fee. It is an agreement that everyone benefits from.

2) Mojo Power Dialer- Mojo Power Dialer is a system that I subscribe to that allows me to dial up to 300 phone numbers per hour. The way it works is I extract data from the MLS, Trulia, Zillow, etc. to get the contact information of all the people currently selling their home (because they're obviously looking for somewhere else to move). Next, I upload that information into my Mojo Power Dialer. This system allows me to call three numbers at once and it connects me with the first number that answers. When the prospect picks up the phone I will begin to ask them some questions to figure out where they're planning on moving to and their price range amongst other items. If they're looking to move to the suburbs I will then describe both my clients home as well as the general area. It is at that point that I will send them an e-mail complete with your listing information as well as area information contained in an "e-neighborhood" profile.

3) I will then contact agents and brokers in specifically targeted markets to see if they have any past clients or active clients looking to move to my listings area. If so, they'll get the same treatment as the prospect gets with the full listing sent to them as well as the "e-neighborhood"if they're not a local agent.

These are just a few of the simple tactics that I employ to expand my clients pool of buyers. I can't stress enough how important it is to choose an agent who will do more for you than just simply put your home on the MLS and hope that it sells. You need an agent who will not only market to the local market but expand your buyers pool by thousands by directly contacting qualified prospects.

Market More Than Your Home

When you put your home up for sale, make sure that your agent is marketing more than just your home. If the agent you're working with is marketing just your home, chances are that this agent is doing nothing more than throwing your home on the MLS. To expand your buyers pool and appeal to people outside of your direct market place you must also market the area that the home is located in.

How do you market the area?

One of the strategies that I use to market the areas that I'm listing homes in is I create an "E-Neighborhood" profile. This is a 23-25 page report that basically describes everything and more that you need to know about the area. This report will include the demographics, median incomes, education stats, school system stats, restaurants, NYC transportation info, entertainment, and much more.

Another simple strategy that I implement is making a facebook fan page for your home. This fan page will basically include information from the e-neighborhood and I will also post a feature every few days about the area. These features include restaurant specials, local news, and general entertainment in the area. The purpose of this is to give the potential buyers a good feel for what the area is like.

These are just a couple of the very simple strategies that I use to expand your buyers pool effectively.

If you would like to know what else I do to expand my client's buyers pool, feel free to reach out to me at, KyleKovats@Gmail.com

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

You Deserve More From Your Agent

In today's market, having an agent take your listing and put it on the MLS is simply not enough. Let's be honest with ourselves, anyone can do that including yourself. Make sure that your agent is earning their keep. Ask your agent what exactly they do for their marketing, pro-actively. 

You see, there are two types of marketing pro-active marketing and reactive marketing. Reactive marketing is hoping that buyers come to you, pro-active marketing is seeking out buyers and prospecting on a daily basis. A few examples of reactive marketing are putting a home on the MLS, putting a home on the internet, putting a for-sale sign in the ground, and putting a lockbox on your door. Quite frankly as a homeowner you can do all of that yourself, your agent must bring more value to the table than that, you deserve more. 

Proactive marketing is an approach that top agents take where we seek out buyers for your home and don't just wait for them to come to us. A few example of some proactive marketing I implement for my clients are as follows. I get in touch will my buyer's leads and let them know about your property and its features and benefits. I call the agents in the area that work with the most buyers and ask them what their clients are looking for to see if your property would be a fit. I reach out to people currently selling their homes because obviously they're looking for somewhere else to move. Just in general, I'm calling people in the 5 mile radius of your home because stats show that 90% of all people that move, do so within a 5 mile radius of their current home. 

What really separates me from all the agents in this area is my referral network in Hoboken and NYC. I've built relationships with agents/brokers in Hoboken and NYC where if they have a past client looking to move out to the suburbs, (which is quite often) I pay them a 25% referral fee to service their clients. This is a huge plus to my seller's because essentially I am expanding their buyers pool unlike any other agent is. 

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me, KyleKovats@Gmail.com

Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor 

Questions To Ask Your Agent

Selling your home is often the biggest sale that you'll ever make in your entire life. It is important that you have an agent working in your interests who is doing a whole lot more than just throwing your home on the MLS and kicking back hoping for the best. You want an agent who is pro-actively seeking out buyers for your home on a daily basis, rather than hoping buyers come to them. Here are some questions you should ask your realtor before deciding to hire them for the job of selling, what is most likely the most valuable asset you own, your home.

1) Are you a full-time or part-time agent?

You'd be shocked to know how many agents out there are part-time agents who just rely on referrals from friends and past clients to sustain their business. These agents will come out put on a nice show for you then just throw your home on the MLS and hope that it sells. You want an agent who is looking to earn your business, not just be handed your business. To dig deeper into this, ask your agent what a typical day entails for them. If they're not prospecting for at least 2-3 hours then you're working with a part-time agent most likely.

2) What is the average number of days your homes are on the market before selling?

This will again tell you how active they are in the market. If they have what seems like an abnormally high DOM (days on market), then that should be a tell tale sign that they "bought your listing". Buying a listing will be explained next.

3) What is your average sales price to list price ratio?

This will be able to tell you whether or not your agent "buys listings". Buying a listing is an unethical strategy used by some agents out there where they'll basically tell you that they can get far more money for your home than it is actually worth. By doing this they hope to excite you and in turn list with them. More often than not 6 months down the road you'll have an expired listing on your hands. Remember overpriced listings are only seen by 15% of all buyers on average where as homes priced at market value are seen by 60% of all buyers. You need maximum exposure of your home and overpricing will deter that from happening. Again, you don't want your listing to be one that sits on the market and becomes a "stale listing".

4) How many Seller's and Buyer's are you representing?

There's a few ways to look at this. If your agent is working with a number of buyers then there's a good chance that they'll be able to get your home sold very fast. Having your agent work with a lot of buyers is usually a good thing, however sometimes buyers can be very time consuming and take away from your agent's time to pro-actively market your home.  If your agent is working with a lot of sellers then there is a good chance that he/she is a very good agent. If your agent specializes in a particular price range then their prospecting will remain the same and you shouldn't worry that they won't have time for your listing.

5) What is your internet marketing program?

This is very important because in today's market nearly 89% of all home searches start on the internet. You need to ensure that your property has maximum exposure on the internet. For example, I subscribe to a service that has my listings syndicated to over 350 of the top real estate websites.

6) What is your policy on returning calls/texts/e-mails?

The #1 complaint amongst clients of their realtors last year according to studies was the lack of communication. Right from the beginning set guidelines and expectations for your agents regarding when you will communicate (before a showing, weekly review), how you will communicate, and anything else that is important to you about communication. You need to be able to contact your agent when you have something important to bring to their attention and knowing how to do so is very important.

7) Do you offer an "easy exit" listing so that I can end our agreement if I'm not satisfied?

If you are not satisfied with your agent you deserve to be let out of your contract with no liability. In all of my contracts with clients I have an out-clause for them stating that at any time they may cancel the agreement free from liability if they are unsatisfied with my service. On the flip side I also provide them with my daily schedule and have an open door policy stating that at any time they can walk into my office and see exactly what I'm doing. Make sure that your agent offers an easy out and is accountable to you.

Have a great weekend and to all my clients if you'd like to come in and watch me prospect tomorrow, you'll know where my office is located!

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

VIP Buyer's List

Every single morning Monday-Saturday, I prospect for three hours between the hours of 9-12. In the afternoon depending on my consultation/appointment schedule I prospect for an additional 2-3 hours. In total on an average day I usually prospect for between 3-6 hours.

What do I mean by prospect? By prospecting, I mean that I am calling for sale by owners, expired listings, withdrawn listings, and just in general calling my specialty areas trying to see if there are any homes off of the market that are open to offers. In the past week alone, I've found six homeowner's of expired/withdrawn listings that don't want to put their homes on the open market just yet but are open to offers. In turn, I am making my buyers aware of these homes and it's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

In this type of scenario, if I bring a buyer to one of these properties, the owner will be paying a lower commission rate because they're only dealing with one agent and in turn my buyer will be able to get a better deal because the owner can pass a part of the savings onto the buyer. Essentially, my buyer gets the property at a slightly lower price than usual and the seller winds up netting more money on the sale of their home.

If you're a buyer who's interested in purchasing a home in Essex County, contact me if you'd like to be put on my VIP buyer's list for the best deals that other agents simply cannot find for you.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. Next week I will be launching my personal real estate website, so keep an eye out for that.

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

Pricing Your Home Right

When selling your home, if you want to maximize your profit and net the most possible money, you must price your home right. Pricing right means pricing the home at its fair market value, not pricing with some wiggle room so that you have some space to negotiate. In fact you won't ever have to negotiate the price of your home with a buyer if it is priced right because you will have multiple offers to choose from. In fact you'll be in position to tell all buyers the greatest line in real estate, "please submit your final and best offer, we will be choosing the best one on _______". The following are the main reason why pricing is so important.

1) If you overprice you will become a "stale listing": A stale listing is a listing that's been sitting on the market for a number of months and despite price reductions, buyers already have made their first impression of the house and mentally crossed it off their list. Homes for sale see the most action in the first three weeks and if you come out of those first three weeks without an offer that should be a tell-tale sign that you're overpriced.

2) The home won't appraise: When a buyer takes out a mortgage the bank/lender orders an appraisal to make sure that the money they lent will have the necessary collateral backing it in case of default/foreclosure. In essence if the house sells for more than it's worth the buyer will have to increase their down payment to meet the banks lending criteria and if they don't have the money to do that then the deal will be killed by the lender.

3) Buyers don't look at overpriced homes: Stats show that 60% of all buyers look at homes priced at market value, where as only 10% of all buyers look at homes that are priced 15% or more above their fair market value. The goal is to price your home to the most broad base of buyers because more buyers = more offers = bidding war = higher sales price. It's just common sense.

4) You position yourself as the best buy on the market: Typically homes are listed for about 5% more than they sell for. By listing your home at fair market value you look like you're a steal of a deal due to the competitions overpricing. What we see here is that there's a ton of interest in the property, multiple offers, and quite often a bidding war breaks out that causes your home to sell for above market value. This is really the only way to get your home to sell for above market value because if you were to list along with all the other homes you're not differentiating your property. Sure, you'll have a buyer or two interested but at that point they'll have all the pricing power and they'll really be able to beat you up on the price. Listing at fair market value is the same strategy that all the top agents in the country use, and is recommended by top real estate coach, Mike Ferry.

5) The longer the home is on the market the less it sells for: Sotheby's recently released a study that showed that homes that go under contract in 10 days or fewer sell for 98.9% of their asking price where as homes that sit on the market for longer than 121 days sell for just 86.9% of their asking price (stale listings).

In conclusion, you would rather have 10 offers to choose from and create a bidding war than have one or two low-ball offers that you have to negotiate on because your house is overpriced. If you price your home at fair market value from the beginning you will get top dollar. It doesn't matter what you paid for your home 5 years ago, the market determines the price today. For example, think of it like the stock market. Say you bought a stock 5 years ago for $100 but today it's only trading for $75. Sure, you'd love to get $100 for that stock and break even but the market is telling you that if you sold it today it's worth $75 and that's not negotiable. The same goes for real estate.

As always if you have any questions feel free to reach out to me KyleKovats@Gmail.com.

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

The Value of Exclusive Buyers Representation

If you would like to get the highest quality of service and be assured that your agent will be actively looking for your dream home, sign an exclusive buyers agency agreement with an agent. This should be an agent you're confident will find your dream home in your price range, and make the transaction go through as smooth as possible. Make sure this agent is a one-stop shop. What I mean by that is make sure that they have every kind of professional that you'll be in need of on speed-dial, whether it be mortgage brokers, attorneys, home inspectors, moving companies, you get the picture.

If you do not sign an exclusive agreement with an agent, they'll essentially have no incentive to take time out of their day to actively seek out the best deals for you because they'll have zero assurance that they'll get paid on the deal. Look at it this way, would you go to work every day if your boss couldn't assure you that you'd be paid? Most likely not. And that is the same here, as a client you are essentially an agent's boss and they only get paid if they close a deal with you. It's in your best interest to have an agent that's committed to you. Keep in mind you're not paying a penny to this agent, the agent gets paid through the seller's commission. The only way that you're liable for any type of payment to the agent is if you break your agreement by going behind the agents back and purchasing a property without their representation.

Just a little side note, when buyers sign exclusive agency agreements with me, not only am I actively seeking out the best deals for them and finding the bottom lines on properties, I am also calling around homes off the market that are looking into offers. By contacting these owners of homes off of the market, I am finding you deals where we will essentially be bidding against ourselves, we'll have an owner paying a lower commission, and in turn it results in my buyers getting great deals that they wouldn't find elsewhere. Keep in mind, I only do this for my buyers who sign exclusive agency agreements with me.

If you're serious about finding a home and you want the highest quality of service, it is in your best interest to sign an exclusive buyers representation.

As always if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me KyleKovats@Gmail.com

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

In a Seller's Market, Buyer's Must Move Fast

Literally and figuratively in a sellers market, buyers must move fast. In the market that we're in today where inventory is low and homes that are priced right are selling in less than a week, buyers must be ready to make an offer immediately. In order to be ready to make an immediate offer, here are the steps buyers must take.

1) Get Pre-Qualified- You can't submit an offer without a pre-qualification letter from a bank. Sometimes you can't even see a home without being pre-qualified.

2) Have your attorney lined up and ready to go- If you happened to remove a contingency from an offer such as an inspection contingency, let your attorney know upfront that you really want this house and in order to get it you had to waive the inspection contingency. I can't tell you how many times a lack of communication between buyers and attorneys cause deals to fall through.

3) Put as few contingencies as possible in your offer- If it's priced right and it's a great value, odds are there are going to be many competing offers. To make yours stand out from the bunch waive as many contingencies as possible and make the deal look simple and easy to the seller.

4) Have your agent submit the offer in person- This will allow the agent to get a read on how many offers are in on the property and where your offer stands in line.

5) Don't try and lowball the seller- If it's priced right, just go right after it and make a full-priced offer right off the bat. What we're seeing in this market is that if the home sells in the first 5 days or so, it will sell for full price. If it sells in 2-3 weeks that usually means more buyers got wind of the property and a bidding war broke out to cause the home to sell for above asking. Come in strong with a full-priced offer right from the get go to ensure you lock up a great deal and don't get into a bidding war.

As always if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at KyleKovats@Gmail.com

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor

Staging Your Home Before Putting it on the Market

When putting your home on the market, small changes can have a large impact on your bottom line. Professional staging services out there can range from a couple thousand dollars all the way up to tens of thousands of dollars, it's up to you to decide if the ROI is right. However, if you have a home that's worth under $750,000 you're probably best off staging your home yourself. Here are some small staging strategies you can implement to ensure you get top dollar for your home. 

1) Maximize all space: After living in a home for many years, we often tend to overload rooms with furniture that we view as "nice additions". Often times what we perceive to be nice additions just make the room look smaller than it really is. For example, often times people put their TV's in entertainment units. If you want to maximize the space of that area, take out the entertainment unit and hang the TV on the wall. To make the project look professional add floating shelfs to put your cable boxes on, in some cases you could be adding on as much as 20 square feet to a room. 

2) Put away all personal items: This includes family pictures, your sons hideous painting from 3rd grade (which my mom still had on display until a couple years ago), etc. You want the potential buyers walking through your home to be able to envision the house as theirs and that is hard to do when you have family portraits all throughout your home. 

3) De-clutter: In general just de-clutter your entire house. If something is not essential to your every day living, then just put it away. It is a good idea to rent a small storage unit while your home is on the market to put all your personal items and any furniture that you have removed from your home. It is essential that you de-clutter your kitchen, this is the room where you want the buyer to feel they have enough space to be comfortable while preparing a meal. This means putting away the coffee maker, wooden spoon holder, TV, toaster oven, and just in general anything that makes the room look messy. 

4) Make everything symmetrical: Rooms must have a certain flow to them to appeal to buyers. Less is truly more when it comes to getting a home sold. You want to have everything lined up, and perfectly angled when showing your home. This includes pillows on beds and couches, dog beds, side tables, kitchen knife sets, blankets, etc. 

5) Make sure the house smells nice: When a buyer first walks in the house by nature they rely on their 5 senses to make a first impression. If the house smells damp or like an old dog who hasn't been bathed in five years, do all you can to cover up that smell. Whether you air the house out before the showing, light candles, or bake chocolate chip cookies make sure the house smells good and has a "homey" feel to it. 

As always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to reach out to me. KyleKovats@Gmail.com. 

-Kyle Kovats, New Jersey Realtor