Spring is one of the peak seasons for buying and selling homes, and realtors in the Lincoln-Way area are ready to help potential buyers and sellers get great results.
New Lenox resident Randi Lynn Kroll, a real estate agent at Century 21 Pride in New Lenox, is offering a free copy of her book, “The Ultimate Guide to Southwest Chicago Real Estate: What You Need to Know Before Contacting a Real Estate Agent,” to anyone who is thinking about buying or selling a home. Kroll said her book, available at www.chicagohomesbook.com, gives potential homebuyers and sellers practical tips to ease what can often be a difficult process.
Kroll said one of the first steps for sellers may seem obvious but is not always done. She said cleaning and decluttering a home to make it appealing to a buyer is a key component in a sale. Kroll is specific in what sellers can do to accomplish the best effect, including listing items to remove so potential buyers can visualize their own belongings in the home.
Kroll also discusses the all-important curb appeal of the home.
“You get one first impression,” she said. “That’s a huge deal.”
A poorly kept yard may keep a buyer from ever going inside, Kroll said, while a project that may take minutes to accomplish, such as planting flowers, may result in a potential buyer taking that important next step.
Kroll’s advice to both buyers and sellers who are going to use a realtor is to find a compatible agent so everyone can benefit best from the experience.
“Not every agent is going to click with every client,” Kroll said. “You have to be able to talk to the agent. It’s more of a team sport.”
Frankfort resident and realtor Denise Kessler, of Remax Action in Lisle, has been in the real estate business for 20 years. Kessler said the use of technology has become an increasingly more important tool for those who are looking to buy a home. Kessler cautions that there are “literally millions” of real estate sites, so potential buyers need to be aware of the accuracy of the information they are getting.
Kessler said some statistics show that about 90% of potential home buyers use the top 10 real estate sites in their home search, but even the top sites are “not created equal,” she said.
Kessler said a top real estate company can take as many as 72 hours to upload a new listing or to make changes in a listing, including advertising and open house information.
“In that 72 hours the home could be sold,” she said.
Kessler said putting technology to good use is critical for home sellers, as well. Getting a home at a particular price point placed on the first two or three pages of a website is extremely important, according to her experience, she said.
More Top Picks Best Reading Lamps With Adjustable Brightness
“If it’s on the last page, it’s not going to be seen,” Kessler said. “Buyers have too short of an attention span. They back out and they go to a different website.”
Once you are “predominantly placed” on a website, Kessler said, the photos and the verbal description of the home are “critical” to the process. She said realtors are allowed up to 25 photos of a listing, but that is not always the best use of the space.
“I’ve seen time and time again where people feel they need to put all 25 photos on there and…it ends up deterring the (potential buyer).”
Kessler suggests using five or six “warm and engaging” photos of the home that will make a potential buyer to want to see more.
Joseph Siwinski, owner of MBLO Funding and Lincoln-Way Realty in Mokena, said, “the biggest thing” potential home buyers should do before shopping for a home is to get pre-approved for a home loan.
“It’s a very, very important step to take to understand how much home you can really afford before you start looking and getting your expectations too high or too low,” Siwinski said.
He said the pre-approval process will help potential home buyers get all documents gathered and ready for a purchase when the time comes.
Siwinski said another important step is for home buyers to know where they want to live. That will require some research about whatever they consider important to their quality of life, such as school districts or public transportation.
Siwinski said when potential buyers know what they can afford, where they want to live and are ready to purchase with the correct documents on hand, “You’re ready to go to work with the real estate professional, …a highly qualified buyer at that point.”
Siwinski said it is the job of a lender to help a potential buyer understand what the price of a house payment involves, from principal and interest to taxes and insurance. He suggests all home buyers learn about closing costs and down payments “before you even get your heart set on a house.”