RockStarGroup Rocking The Woodlands since 2002 Preparing for a Successful Home Sale
Welcome, I realize that you have a choice when hiring an agent to help you sell your home and I truly appreciate the opportunity to present our proven approach and the results we have achieved for our clients. As your agent, there are several services you can expect me to provide, including: • Accurately pricing your home for the market. • Enhancing the perceived – and real – value of your home, enabling you to command a higher asking price. • Providing unmatched marketing including professional staging, photography, video and custom property websites. •Securing a qualified buyer within your specific time frame.
•Helping you avoid the two main reasons sales fall apart – low lender’s appraisals and problems with the home inspection. Regardless of the price of your home, when you hire the RockStar Group as your Realtor, both you – and your home – will be prepared for a successful sale.
Warm Regards,
Rick Raanes Listing Specialist RockStar Group
About Rick & Vanessa Rick And Vanessa are widely respected members of The Woodlands real estate industry since 2004. After more than 450 successful sales, their track record remains spotless, a record they attribute to always placing their clients’ interests ahead of their own, providing attentive one-on-one services and knowing the contracts and procedures extremely well. Their Real Estate career includes considerable experience in the building and construction of residential properties. With his knowledge of the construction process, vendors and trades, he saves his clients money, sometimes thousands, during the transaction process. These things, along with their strong negotiation skills, will give you peace of mind. Vanessa has a background in design, and she is the perfect compliment to setting the stage for your home sale. They offer each client a professional commitment to personal and specialized Real Estate services. Rick and Vanessa are dedicated to going the extra mile to make each Real Estate transaction as hassle free as possible. When you choose The Rock Star Group for help in making your real estate dreams a reality, you get an award-winning team that is committed to the importance of God, Family and Work. Recently, Rick was awarded the Estelle Howard Memorial Award in The Woodlands office. This award is given to those who best personify the tradition of culture, leadership and integrity. Vanessa is our regional Cultural Ambassador for Keller Williams South Texas Region, an honor she is most proud of.
RockStar’s track record of success Percentage of homes successfully sold during the initial listing period
Days on Market
Under 30 30-45 45-90 over 90
RockStar’s track record of success My Client’s homes sell 40% faster than the competition
Days on Market 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Days on Market Average Average Days for Days for all My Listings Clients
RockStar’s track record of success Average price a seller would receive for a contract on their home
List Price Percentage 99 98.5 98
97.5 97
List Price Percentage
96.5 96
95.5 95
Our Clients
All Agents
RockStar’s track record of success We have helped over 450 families achieve success in Real Estate We have closed over $75 million in total sales
Career Sales 18X the career sales of the typical agent
By Comparison, the typical agent has 7 years of experience and has closed fewer than 40 sales
Testimonials Rick has been an outstanding agent for my wife and I. He's helped us through two transactions so far and we couldn't imagine using any other Realtor. Our last transaction was selling our home. The house went on the market a week after Hurricane Ike, 3 weeks later the stock market crashed and we still sold our home by Thanksgiving. He calmed us down when we needed it, provided great advice that we took in getting our house ready for market and did all the little things that make a huge difference when selling a house. We sold in a difficult housing environment and got the money out we wanted. All because of Rick's efforts and strategy. I've always found Rick to be an honest and fair minded man and can't wait to do business with him again. ~Paul and Meg Dixon
Rick always goes above and beyond his duties as a realtor. When we purchased our home, he was honest, and always kept our best interest at heart, even if it meant passing on a good number of houses before we found the perfect one for us. He was so knowledgeable about all the different neighborhoods and schools, and was an invaluable part of our decision making. He made the home buying process a very pleasant experience. Good, honest, realtors who put your interests first are hard to find, and we were lucky enough to find one in Rick! Next time we buy a house, we are definitely going with the Rock Star! ~Ryan & Valerie Cooper
“From staging our home, to handling challenging contract negotiations, Rick demonstrated attention to detail, responsiveness, professionalism and a
focus on getting us to closing. In spite of today’s challenging real estate market, he helped us sell our house quickly and helped make the process as smooth as possible.” ~ Spike & Rosanne Tinsley
Testimonials Rick did a wonderful job in helping us sell our house. His professional knowledge and experience made the process painless and successful. He is honest, straight forward and always there if you have a need. We would highly recommend the RockStar Group and will use him in any of our future property needs. ~ Lisa Staggs
Everything went so smoothly with the purchase of our new investment property. Rick and the RockStar Group are top-notch and we love his knowledge of the real estate market. We are very pleased with our new property, and the team secured a new tenant quickly for us. Thank you Rick and the RockStar Group. ~ Melanie Bell
Rick Raanes is truly a knowledgeable and honest real estate agent. He has been our realtor for over 5 years and we have completed multiple successful transactions, thanks to his hard work and dedication. He is always looking out for his client’s best interest. We highly recommend Rick and his team for your real estate needs ~ Valerie Cooper
Rick and Vanessa were amazing. They put together a game plan for us 6 months before we put our house on the market. During that time, they helped us with the perfect blend of contractors to get the details just perfect. From Staging the home to photography, to closing, everything was just perfect! ~ Tom & Barbara Fiorenzi
I want to thank you for your outstanding professional service as our listing agent for the sale of our property in The Woodlands. Your help on the front end, helping us prepare our home, setting the stage, to setting the price, helped us get multiple offers for our home. Your experience was invaluable as we walked through each of the offers selecting the one to choose. Your negotiation skills saved us money we didn’t expect to save. You are always fun to be around, pleasant to work with, and professional throughout the process. It made our experience like no other transaction. ~ Dave and Judy McCleary
How Homes Sell UNDERSTANDING HOW BUYERS EVALUATE HOMES The Marketing I will do to promote your home has only one purpose – to increase awareness among potential buyers leading to in-person showings.
Once buyers reach your front door, the job of marketing is over. Your home must now compete with other homes in two areas; FEATURES AND PRICE
If your home has more features that appeal to buyers – or your home is priced lower than the comparables homes- your home will stand out as the better value. Conversely, if your home lacks the features that potential buyers desire, your only option is to compete on price. To be effective, your home should stand out as one of the top two to three best values in your immediate market place.
Price PRICING YOUR HOME FOR A SUCCESSFUL SALE
Factors that Influence Market Value Supply & Demand Economic Conditions Asking & Selling Prices of Competing homes Your Home’s Condition Buyer's perception of Your Home
Factors with Little or No Influence in Market Value The price the Seller Paid for the home The Seller’s Expected Net Proceeds The Amount Spent on Improvements
Pricing your home accurately is the most effective way to ensure a successful sale. Allow me to repeat that – pricing your home accurately is the most effective way to ensure a successful sale. No amount of marketing can sell an overpriced home. Many sellers are tempted to list their home with the agent who quotes the highest price. Please keep in mind, the agent doesn’t set the price, the seller doesn’t set the price – the market will set the price, or value, for your home
Price Professional Appraisal The most effective method of pricing your home is to have a professional appraisal. When you list – and choose – your home with me, I’ll pay for a pre-listing appraisal by a respected appraisal firm.
Having a pre-listing appraisal not only helped us sell faster, but we saved over $40,000 by using our appraisal to successfully challenge the low lender’s appraisal. That savings more than covered the broker fees.
~Dave & Judy
Benefits of having a professional appraisal: You receive an unbiased, third party opinion of the market value of your home by a trained professional You are positioned to quickly recognize and respond to a market offer.
You are positioned to effectively challenge a low lender’s appraisal of your home, maintaining your higher contract price. A lender will consider a well-known appraisers valuation – they will not consider an estimate provided by a real estate agent. You avoid the common practice of a real estate agent “buying your listing” by suggesting a higher price than can be achieved. Because the agent would then be reluctant to suggest a price reduction early in the marketing process, you lose valuable time during those critical first several weeks on the market.
Condition PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR A SUCCESSFUL SALE With the typical agent, you only discover potential deal-killing repairs after you are already under contract – when the buyer hires a home inspector to scrutinize every aspect of your home. When you list – and close – your home with me, I’ll pay for a prelisting inspection by one of our area’s most experienced and respected inspection firms.
63% of buyers responded that they would pay more for a house that is move-in ready!!
Discovering and repairing problems early in the marketing process places you in control, eliminating the stress of making repairs on the buyers schedule. Having your house in move-in condition also helps you avoid delays to closing and demonstrates to buyers, agents and the buyers’ home inspector that your house has been very well maintained. WE want buyers to focus on how they would live in your home – not what they would have to repair. Additionally, your house will stand out from the competition as a better value and command a higher price. I will also recommend trustworthy, professional contractors to address any repairs that are needed. The extent that these repairs are made will directly affect your listing price. You have the ability to command a higher asking price, and substantiate it, when your home is in top condition.
Condition HOME STAGING
Rick recognized that our lack of a usable back yard and our location on a busy street would not appeal to buyers seeking privacy and a place for children to play. We followed his suggestions and redesigned the landscaping. An equivalent price reduction would have had no effect at all. We sold a few weeks later for our full asking price.
Once we have your home inspected and the necessary repairs have been made, we will focus on presentation. You will only get one opportunity to make a positive first impression with potential buyers. Well staged homes look better, photograph better, show better, and sell faster than non-staged homes. When you list – and close – your home with the RockStar Group, we will pay to have it staged by one of the areas most experienced professional stagers. Home staging is not decorating. Decorating appeals to the person living in the house; staging is positioning the home to appeal to the psychological needs of buyers by creating a series of impressions that build an emotional connection to help buyers imagine living in the home. A recent poll revealed that 87% of respondents said home presentation make the difference in most residential sales. Also, while many listing agents overlook the presentation of your home and push for price reductions, the problems, whether perceived or real, still exist.
Condition HOME WARRANTY
While your home is listed with us, it will be covered by a nationallyrecognized home warranty from First American Home Warranty for the duration of your listing.
The benefit of having your home under coverage is that many of the normal day to day repairs are covered under this plan while your home is listed with us. When you list your home with the RockStar Group, we will pay to have a First American Home Warranty listing coverage policy.
By advertising a comprehensive warranty for your home, we increase buyer confidence in your home and we set you apart from the competition.
Marketing MARKETING YOUR HOME FOR A SUCCESSFUL SALE Your home is now priced accurately and looks great.
Let’s show it off! The marketing of your home will reflect an established history of how buyers search for, and purchase, homes. 95% of buyers use the internet during their home search. 85% of all home sales in the Houston MLS are cobrokered. This means there is a listing agent who represent you, the seller, and another agent who represents the buyer of your home. As a result, marketing to Realtors is our most productive activity. The most effective way to get the attention of productive agents and buyers is through accurate pricing and great photography
Marketing PROFFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
After your home is staged, I will pay to have your home photographed by a professional real estate photographer, using the latest techniques in High Definition Resolution (HDR) photography. Over 90% of home buyers are using the Internet to search for homes, and professional photography is essential to any comprehensive marketing plan. As you know, more people will view your home online than will ever visit it personally. Getting, and holding, their attention online with professional photography is one way to increase the probability of in –person showing.
“Buyers perceive homes with professional photography to be worth, on average, 12% more than the actual price.” The Wall Street Journal
Marketing HI DEFINITION VIDEO
In addition to professional photography, the RockStar Group will create a superior compact high-definition video of your home, showing off your homes best features. A well produced video will give potential buyers an emotional feeling for what living in the house could be like, long before they make a personal visit. Video enables us to “tell a story” about your home – why you loved living there – making that emotional connection for buyers to come and visit your home. We are able to address the emotional needs for comfort, family relaxation, family fun and more than photos alone cannot communicate. While many agents create “video” slide shows with the pictures of your home, I have a team of videographers that have made a significant investment in video cameras, lighting equipment, editing software and training. I believe you will be overwhelmed at the quality and difference of our videos – I know your buyers will.
Marketing INTERNET MARKETING
Your home will be prominently featured on several major websites, like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and over 500 others. And just so you know, It is also on our website too.
Marketing INTERNET MARKETING
Your home will be featured on our Keller Williams web site where is can be seen by thousands of daily visitors. Your home is also directly accessible by more than 600 leading real estate broker websites that serve over 32,000 agents in the Houston Metropolitan area.
Additionally, all open houses are promoted on our web site, thewoodlandsrockstar.com, kw.com, Har.com, increasing the exposure of your home.
Marketing Keller Williams Luxury International
We are also members of our Keller Williams Luxury International. As a home seller of Luxury home, your property will be features in our unique Luxury only website, www.kwluxuryhomes.com. We go the extra mile with our marketing efforts by isolating the primary focus of your property to attract the perfect buyer for your home. We elevate the number of high resolution photos available, create a lifestyle cinematic video for your home, create an 8 page color brochure, promote your property to the agents in our market area most likely to have a pre-qualified buyer for your property, and create a dynamic personal website for your home that is shared through our premium reach social media channels.
Marketing SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Your home will also be marketed extensively on Facebook, the world’s leading social media site. We also are active on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pintrest. I will market your home using several proven approaches, including highly –targeted ads, video, photos, and more. Facebook represents an opportunity to reach tens of thousands of local Houston residents on a site where they already spend a lot of time.
Marketing A MARKET WITHIN A MARKET
Your home will not only be marketed through universal channels such as the Internet, print advertising, the Multiple Listing Service and signage, I will also market internally to our highly collaborative Keller Williams sales force of more than 1100 agents – each with their own connections that forms a rich source of prospects, buyers and referrals. This “market within a market” results in the most efficient transaction environment in Houston real estate. In fact, one out of every six transactions in the Houston area involves a Keller Williams agent. Furthermore, Keller Williams has one of the highest market shares in the Houston MLS.
Service WHAT ELSE CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THE ROCKSTAR GROUP
In addition to the services we’ve covered, you can expect us to provide the following: Attentive Service to the Sale. The responsibility of managing the sale of your home is our focus throughout the transaction. Regular communication the way you like it. We let you know of our efforts and the results of those efforts, plus any changes in the market, that includes new listings, recent price changes of competing homes, recent contracts of competing homes and how we should re-position your property to remain competitive. Assistance in negotiating offers and preparing contracts. Attending the closing to ensure all contract provisions have been met and that you are fully satisfied with the results of your sale.
Thank You Thank you for the privilege and opportunity to partner with you on the sale of your home. As always, feel free to call me if you have any questions. I look forward to meeting with you and helping you achieve a successful sale. Rick Raanes RockStar in Real Estate RockStar Realty Group Keller Williams – The Woodlands 1401 Woodlands Parkway The Woodlands, TX 77380
Direct: 281-960-1900 rick@rickraanes.com www.thewoodlandsrockstar.com