Thinking of selling your San Ramon, Dublin or Pleasanton home? I found two great posts today that all home sellers should consider reading.

Dear Ms. Seller: Why Would You Sign a Six-Month Contract?  by Toby Boyce

Here is the comment I left on Toby’s post:

Great questions and points to wrestle with.

We offer our sellers two guarantees – One is that we will sell their home in a specified amount of time or we take a hit in the pocketbook. The other is our cancellation guarantee – they can cancel at any time if they are not happy with our service.

We can offer these guarantees because we know our business and we conduct our business with integrity and attention to the clients needs.

We Can Always Reduce the Price Later by Athol Kay

I have a firm belief that sellers stand to make the most money possible from a sale when a house is priced right, from the first day it comes onto the market. Plus it will usually sell quicker and easier.

One of the most difficult, yet greatest services a real estate agent can provide a client is a realty check on current “market value” of the property. The market value is what someone is willing to pay for the house which is often vastly different from the “utility value” of the house. The utility value is the value the property has for the owner which includes history and emotional investment.

Knowing the local market and the market trends is a must for good service. If your agent does not show up with graphs, statistics and other information to help explain the local market to you and how this affects the pricing of your property – keep shopping for an agent.

ALSO – lose the attachment to seeing a nice big ad of your house in the newspaper. Statistics show that only one percent of homes sell from an ad. The number one influence on selling homes remains the network of Realtors® in your local community and the national referral networks they have built.

The communities of Alamo, Danville, and San Ramon, CA are served by the Realtors Marketing Association. The communities of Dublin and Pleasanton are served by the Valley Marketing Association. Every week real estate agents present new listings to hundreds of local agents at these events. There is also a lot of networking that happens where people keep your property in front of these professionals.

Number two in influence is the Internet. In their marketing presentations, many agents still focus on the print ads they will use to feature your house. They do this for you, not because it is effective, but because you expect it (or they are stuck in the past). Having your home all over the Internet will do more for you than that big Sunday ad. Effective posting on the Internet takes time and skill many agents will do one or two things on the net, but comprehensive exposure of your property on the Internet is not something the average agent understands or can do. Question your agent about their Internet marketing and promotion skills.

And then I found this interesting post:Does money make you mean? by Jay MacDonald   

We all know that money can't buy love or happiness. But could just thinking about money actually make you mean?

A new behavioral study finds that folks with money on their minds are less helpful, less considerate and less willing to ask for assistance or engage with others than those who have not been preconditioned to money. On the bright side, the money-minded tend to be more independent and focused and they tend to work longer on a task before asking for help.

If you or your agent is only focused on “the money in it for me” – what’s being ignored or lost?