Which Upgrade Will Make You The Most Money When You Sell?

A major question we encounter with homeowners thinking to sell their homes lately revolve around which projects they should undertake prior to putting their home on the market for sale.

There is almost always some level of consternation regarding how much time, money and effort will be required and to what extent the projects should be completed.

There’s always the obvious punch list to take care of the areas where the home shows wear and tear. The questions arise when discussing the more ambitious projects.

Fresh paint and steam cleaned carpets only begin to scratch the surface on the “can do” projects to prepare a home for sale.

Unfortunately it’s the gray areas that present the largest challenge. The costly improvements that may or may not result in a quicker sale, an offer for more money – or both. I call the areas gray because even the best real estate schools don’t train us to use a crystal ball, so we cannot see into the future and advise with that ever so helpful hindsight. So there will be no guaranteed rate of return on investment.

A simple Google search for “home repair cost-recoup” will reap some invaluable data. While perusing the data keep in mind these are national averages, unless you can find local information. Don’t dismiss these numbers all together though, they at least give some level of indication on each named project and they certainly can assist in your decision making process. Below is a chart of repairs and what they return on average borrowed from the National Association of Realtors® from mid-range homes.

When deciding which repairs will make the most sense the first thing to do is decide on a budget. If you don’t have $62,000 available, you likely won’t be doing a major kitchen remodel—even if your kitchen looks like a scene directly out of “The Brady Bunch”.

Before making a decision on repairs or upgrades before you sell contact us at Miranda Executive Realty. We can walk you through the best repairs to make within your budget to ensure you get the highest return on investment. As you can see from the chart above, not all repairs are created equal, and it doesn’t always make sense to do some repairs. While others make total sense. Let us be your Sherpa guide when navigating through the mountains of data for your repairs. We’re ready to make you as much money as possible, and spending as little money possible. You’re success is our goal.
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The Best Advice When Hiring a Realtor®

Real estate agents may be one of the only professions in a double nature type of profession.

Take for example a family practice medical doctor. He doesn’t practice family medicine by day and switch to being a surgeon by night.

No more than an attorney representing the plaintiff will turn around and become the prosecuting attorney in a later case.

In contrast, a real estate agent can start the day showing houses and negotiating on a buyer’s behalf. Then switch over in the second part of the day review purchase offers for a listing they represent and negotiate on the seller’s behalf. Luckily this isn’t a split personality disorder. In fact, for a Realtor, it’s all in a day’s work.

The new real estate business model is teams. A basic real estate team will consist of a buyer’s agent, a listing (seller’s) agent and an administrative assistant. Real estate teams can get more complex from there, but this is the where a team starts. That being said, there is no difference between the classes a listing agent has to pass as compared to the classes a buyer’s agent has to pass. They’re all the same. One agent could do it all. But why would they want to? Like the African Proverb says: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a team.

Which begs the question, with all of the moving parts in one transaction why would one agent want to do it all? And how can they be effective in managing multiple transactions all in different stages? The answer: It’s very difficult.

When you bring in a real estate team you have real estate “specialists”, not “generalists”. For example us, Miranda Executive Realty. Our listing agent only works with sellers, and our buyer’s agent only works with buyers. This allows each of our agents to focus all of their attention on doing what they’re hired to do. When we get a property under contract with our client we pass the file to our administrator to handle all of the paperwork from contract to closing. We still go to inspections, appraisals etc and handle all of the negotiations, but our admin does all of the office work. Likewise our Inside Sales Agent handles all of the phone calls letting everyone know the property is available for sale and proactively searching for buyers.  And each agent’s continuing education is geared specifically towards their specialty.

The subject of real estate double nature came up when we came across an article earlier this week discussing The 3 Things you shouldn’t talk about with a listing agent (for a buyer when out looking at homes with their real estate agent). The 3 things the author listed are: How much you like or dislike a house; what’s your purchase budget; and let your agent do all of the talking – which seems more like “don’t say anything” as opposed to what not to say.

As a team we certainly agree with all three. Keep in mind the same advice goes for sellers also. Your agent is there to use their knowledge and experience to gather the necessary information and prevent you from divulging too much and placing yourself in a weaker position during negotiations – and doing all of this with a smile. These are all situations where experience is key.

Bottom line, when hiring an agent there is no difference between the education requirements of a listing agent or a buyer’s agent. But every agent has different levels of experience. And every agent has strengths and weaknesses. After all, we are all human. Wouldn’t you want an agent that specializes in transactions similar to yours? When purchasing, wouldn’t you prefer an agent that only works and negotiates on behalf of buyers? Or when selling, working with an agent that works and negotiates only on behalf of sellers? A good buyer’s agent will have a different personality than a good listing agent. Working with a team allows each agent to specialize in their profession and allows us to place the right agent with the right job.

Whether you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Coral Springs or anywhere in Broward County, Miranda Executive Realty has an agent for you. English and Spanish speaking. Buyer’s agent, Seller’s agent and inside sales agent. And our administrator is ready to hold the office together. Take our advie and give us a call so we can talk about how we will make your next real estate experience better with our 6 Star ****** Guarantee. Most agents are OK with 5 stars, we promise 6 stars.

Or if you have a friend, family member or co-worker we can help, please pass our information along.

Satisfying Coral Springs Mortgage Refi Candidates’ Curiosity

If you use a credit card or Coral Springs bank checking account’s online system, you may have noticed the appearance of a free service: FICO score tracking.

You find it as a clickable area with a link title like “Your FICO^® score” or just “FICO^®.”

For many years, each of the major credit reporting agencies were mandated by law to honor any consumer’s request for a copy of their credit scores. But that was a once-a-year deal. For access to regular updates, you had to pay for a subscription. Particularly for consumers working to improve their credit scores, the paid services became a prudent monthly expense. The arrival of anytime free FICO score reporting eliminated much of that need.

Of course, tracking your FICO score is only useful if you know how the lending institutions will view it—and the answer to that is anything but clear-cut. Not only does each lender have their own confidential requirements, but since there are three separate reporting agencies, Coral Springs consumers have three FICO scores (and they’re rarely the same).

Be Prepared To Buy, Even If You’re Not Prepared To Buy

Even so, let’s face it: the single piece of information most everybody wants to know is what FICO score is needed to buy a home? or to refinance a home? Even if the answer is imprecise, it’s human nature.

To quell that curiosity, at least one source is willing to report what amounts to an average of approximations: it’s called EllieMae^®. Ellie is a company that serves banks, credit unions, and mortgage companies by providing a raft of automated tools—but those are for industry insiders. As a sideline, they also put out a monthly Origination Insight Report with statistics drawn from the home loans processed through their systems. Including some that most future Coral Springs home loan applicants will be interested to learn:

Average FICO score for conventional mortgage refis closed last month: 732

Average score for conventional purchases: 752

Average for FHA purchases: 681

Average FICO score — all loans: 724.

Average time needed to close: 43 days.

The percentage of mortgage refis grew to 39% of all loans. Most likely because interest rates decreased “for the sixth straight month” to 4.2%. EllieMae reckons that constitutes “a new 2017 low”—something Coral Springs refi and home loan applicants will be interested to know!

Those bargain basement interest rates continue to create a terrific opportunity for Coral Springs real estate. Call Miranda Executive Realty for a no-obligation discussion about how you might take advantage of the current real estate environment!

As always please feel free to share this article with a friend or family member that would find this information useful.

A Single Underlying Factor When Applying for a Mortgage

Every mortgage lender develops their own unique guidelines for evaluating the factors contained in a home loan application.

These may change from time to time so that their portfolios stay “balanced”—that is, so that the cumulative risk represented by the entire batch of home loans do not exceed the level of risk they wish to assume.

Potential Coral Springs mortgage applicants are bound to be curious about which factors are most influential for that decision.

Their curiosity is why you can find hundreds of “Top 5” and “Top 7” lists of “mortgage application factors”—and why home loan originators pay top dollar to advertise on them.

Given that the factors mortgage companies examine are hardly secret, it’s not surprising that all of the lists are pretty similar. It’s also true that the individual factors all have something to do with a single underlying element. (I’d call it the “hidden factor” if it weren’t right out there in the open). Here’s a typical list seen as it relates to that single underlying factor:

1. Down payment (underlying factor: size of loan). If, say, $50,000 will be available for the down payment, a $200,000 home loan would be easier to grant than one for $600,000. Many mortgage firms have relaxed their requirements—but inevitably look harder as a down payment percentage declines.
2. Debt level; aka Debt-to-Income ratio (underlying factor: size of loan). Lenders analyze an applicant’s monthly cash flow to determine how much will be available to pay the monthly mortgage payment. The size of the loan—thus amount of the payment—determines if that’s easily doable.
3. Loan type (underlying factor: size of loan). Conventional loans carry stricter qualifying factors than do other types. For instance, if the size of the loan is beyond the conforming loan limitation, jumbo loan requirements pitch in.
4. Employment history (underlying factor: size of loan). Starter homes requiring smaller loans are often right-sized for younger borrowers with shorter employment records.
5. Credit Score. Typical descriptions say things like, “Borrowers who need to finance more will need a higher credit score of 700 or above…” In other words (you guessed it), underlying factor: size of loan.

Success when applying for a mortgage loan does involve all of these factors and more­­ but that’s just another way recognizing the common sense notion that home loans are granted to those who can demonstrate the ability to repay. The last time that notion was abandoned, the global financial crisis ensued.

The corollary for house hunters is equally clear: determine your comfortable budgetary range first­­­–then go out and find your new home. The mortgage lenders will fall into line—and Miranda Executive Realty be delighted to help!

Please feel free to share this with a friend that may find this information useful.

Make Sure to Avoid Fouls in Your Home Selling Negotiations

When it comes to starting negotiations, the home seller is the ultimate decision maker.

A great real estate agent, like every great coach of the past will be there to offer the guidance and counsel needed for a winning game plan.

It’s not always easy to develop the appropriate response to offers on your home.

If this is your first time selling a home, or it’s been more than a decade, it’s time well spent to familiarize yourself with practical pointers in home selling negotiations.

Not only is Realtor.com the best website to search for homes, home sellers around the country can also find valuable resources and insights to help them on the road to their home closing. This month’s World Series finale no doubt inspired one of Realtor.com’s title for a list of home selling negotiating pitfalls. The article I’m referring to was published on the morning of Houston’s Game 7 victory. The premise of the article deals with errors in negotiating a home sale. You can find it here, titled “Hardball Fouls: 6 Home-Selling Negotiation Strategies That Can Backfire.”

Even though the first foul mentioned is “starting a bidding war”, after reading we find that was a slight overstatement. Clearly, a bidding war is more than ideal for home sellers in Coral Springs, or anywhere in our beautiful country. What was mentioned was how a multiple offer circumstance could be botched. One common mistake is setting your offer deadline too far into the future. Buyers pressed for time simply won’t be willing to wait. An additional foul ball mentioned was passing up on a strong offer that may not re-appear if you miss out. Don’t leave money on the table during these multiple offer situations by sticking too hard to your own rules. After all, you only get one shot at making the most amount of money possible in this sale.

Read Our Article About Evaluating Offers Here

They also mentioned in the article about being too tough responding to the home buyer’s request for home repairs. They stopped short of saying “stop being so gosh darn stubborn”! On the same note, don’t be so stubborn about your closing date, how closing costs are paid and arguing over your favorite light fixture you want to take with you. If every other part of the deal is going smooth, don’t mess it up over these seemingly small items.

The next one could misfire in a big way: “threatening to put the property back on the market”. Now first of all, your agent should walk you off the ledge from this potentially deal killing move. Keep in mind, it’s not only the stigma that may be attached to your “back on the market” property. It’s also the fact that all of those other home buyers that were once interested in your house may have already moved on to other homes, never to return to the prospect of buying your house.

These invaluable negotiation techniques underlie all of the Realtor.com’s examples as guiding principles we know to be legitimate deal breaking techniques. When you’re in the final inning and coming down the home stretch, be sure you’re evaluating every aspect of the deal as part of the transaction as a whole. Individually, every detail that may seem important will tend to lose their influence when viewed in relation to the entire transaction. In baseball terms, keep your eye on the ball.

Regardless of how thrilling any World Series Game 7 may be, remember, it’s only a game. However, when it comes to selling your home, whether in Coral Springs, Broward County, or anywhere in The United States, it’s a much more serious endeavor. When selling your home, every decision matters, and every decision may have consequences for years to come. These are details we at Miranda Executive Realty keep in mind when we’re working with our clients and negotiating the best deal for them. From listing prep to closing day, we ensure you have a winning plan when it’s time to sell. Please call us anytime to discuss how we can help you put more money in your bank account with our game winning negation strategies.

Real Estate’s Unlikely New Player: Amazon.com

It’s official, Amazon has entered into the real estate business.

Although I wouldn’t go as far as saying they’ve entered in a big way.

In fact, I’d say it’s really happening in a “tiny” way.

A couple weeks ago, the unlikely news came in that the internet giant made it’s first move into the real estate word. Considering Coral Springs real estate (or any real estate for that matter) is by the very definition “local” The idea of mail order buying and selling may not include real estate. With this in mind, Amazon has found a way to succeed where many other industries have assumed failure (high-end fashion for example). As such, could Coral Springs (and more cities) be monopolized by Amazon Prime home sales? This question at least bears looking into.

After a little studying up on Amazon “real estate” it turns out Coral Springs real estate is not likely to be overcome by Amazon, not anytime soon at least. When searching on Amazon for “homes for sale“, the few listings for sale that showed up don’t seem likely to tempt many home shoppers looking for homes in the Southeast Florida region. The few homes for sale on Amazon were only able to be found when we specifically searched “tiny homes”- and the short list of homes offered were found listed between books written on how to build and design these tiny cabins.

Tiny House, or Mega Mansion-How to be Prepared to Buy When You’re Ready

If you don’t watch HGTV you may be wondering, what’s a “tiny home”? The answer may be relative, but if you go to Tiny House Community they would give the following definition: “…It’s a home of 400 square feet or less, either on wheels or a foundation. I consider a home of between 400 and 1000 square feet to be small.”

Although further research would show that some can be as small as 80 square feet. Most are in the 300 to 350 square foot range.

Even though you may not find too many “tiny homes” in Southeast Florida, and more specifically Coral Springs. It is a nation-wide phenomenon, very quickly becoming a movement. The “tiny house” concept is not as far-fetched as it may sound. If you’ve ever taken a vacation in a camper, or stayed for any stretch of time on a “house boat” or pleasure boat, then you already know your living space can be reduced to a significant minimum when planned carefully.

But I digress, back to Amazon. At the time of this writing the first listing was a pre-fabricated house converted from a shipping container. Marketed like an expert, the details point out the key selling points (in this instance, they included the fact that the container is “new”). For sale at a nifty $12,995.00 + $2,000 shipping and handling, or another for $36,000.00 + $3,754.49 shipping. Either one is even more thrifty if the $0.00 estimated tax is accurate. Customer reviews are mixed, with one in particular pointing out a possible issue: meeting building codes. Which can be especially tricky in Coral Springs and Southeast Florida in general. Plus, millions of Amazon Prime members who relish their free delivery are bound to be disappointed upon finding their new home isn’t eligible for free delivery.

All this being said, if your home buying or selling criteria require more than just a “tiny home”, Miranda Executive Realty is here to help. And if you are looking for a “tiny house” give us a call anyway. We’ve done our research and may be able to offer some guidance before or during your “tiny home” search. There are communities in Florida that are embracing this movement.

As always please feel free to share this article with anyone and everyone you think may find this information helpful. We look forward to speaking soon.

Halloween: The “NEW” Start of The Holidays

Tis’ the season to be jolly! It’s that time of the year again.

Well, not quite yet.

But it is the season for pumpkin spice everything!

And pretty soon you’ll hear those sleigh bells ringing again.

It also means by November 1^st, holiday advertising will commence at full speed, and will be around for the remainder of the year.

Believe it or not, the Thanksgiving start of the holiday season is a thing of the past. In fact, Hallmark has already begun their “Countdown to Christmas”, postal boxes are overflowing with gift catalogs and storefronts are merely weeks away from their transformation into snow-filled winter wonderlands.

Insofar as real estate in Coral Springs is related, there are a handful of advantages to buying, or selling during the holiday season. Believe me, there are clear advantages. But is it the best time to buy?

One trusted real estate company known for their education is FortuneBuilders. In one article they discuss why “the holidays are the best time to buy”. For your convenience, we’ve summarized their content for you.

1. Less is more (especially when it comes to inventory). Sure there will likely be less inventory on the market. But more importantly, there will be less buyers. Less buyers equals less competiton which equals more opportunity for you!
2. The power of a motivated seller. During the holidays, there may be no bigger form of leverage than the motivation of sellers. If someone is selling a home during the holidays, chances are, they have a compelling reason to do so. This is doubly true if the property has been on the market for awhile. And keep in mind, financial institutions are often motivated to get foreclosure properties “off the books” before the end of the calendar year
3. Tax benefits. This particular advantage will obviously depend on your particular financial situation, and what your tax liability looks like for the current calendar year. But closing on the purchase of a property in the waning months of a year can give you major tax advantages heading into the following year.
4. Lower interest rates. Historically, interest rates tend to be lower during the holidays. And not due to “Yuletide cheer,” but limited demand (there’s just less financial business being done in late November and December).
5. Faster closing. Lenders, brokers, realtors — even inspectors — are often motivated to get a deal done before the end of the year. This can bring welcome focus and speed to a process that can take longer in non-holiday months.

Read Our Article About What To Consider When Hiring An Agent

At the moment, home buying during the holidays may seem like distant preoccupations. But beginning in November, these home buying ideas will suddenly to come together. So for those looking to buy in the near future, whether in Coral Springs, Broward County, or anywhere in the United States, the reality is, they’ll be shopping in the holiday market “atmosphere”. As the real estate educators put it,  “some of the best deals you can make during the holidays involve real estate, not 72-inch televisions.”

Remember, you don’t have to wait until after Halloween for a complete preview of Coral Spring’s current inventory of soon-to-be holiday deals. Feel free to call Miranda Executive Realty Real Estate Group anytime for a quick conversation on how we can assist you in snagging a great holiday real estate deal. And if now is the best time to buy.  Or if you have a friend, family or co-worker that this article could help, please share with them. Happy Festivus!

Your Sale May Hinge On Your Offer Evaluation Abilities

We’ve finally arrived. After all of the prep work. The open houses. Showings, showings, showings.

Now the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Purchase offers begin rolling in. Oh the suspense.

As the buyer eagerly awaits your response. And you eagerly go over the details of the offer with your agent.

Wouldn’t it be great if the offer was 100% what you wanted?

But we live in the real world, and we know an offer with exactly what we want is not likely. Not at first at least.

Not all offers are created equal, and most buyers don’t send initial offers to result in an immediate yes from you.

Most offers will require some level of negotiating.

Below are just a few terms of the purchase contract you may want to consider when deciding your counter offer.

The key is to decipher what’s important to the other party.Hint: it’s not always money (it’s usually money, but not always).

Offer Price. This is almost always the starting point. How much did they offer? Was it enough? It’s nice to see a big number here. But look closer. Is the buyer asking for closing credits? A pre-closing move-in? Or do they see your house for the gem it is and presented their offer accordingly? Whatever the case, you have to look beyond the offer price. There are many other elements to the deal that may break down or increase your risk exponentially should you decide to move forward.

Deposit. Some call it a deposit, others call it good faith earnest money, and still others call it a pledge. No matter what you call it, make sure you call it an important number to consider. Does it add or subtract from your bottom line? The answer is a simple, NO. It does nothing for your bottom line. So why does it matter? Because this number will tell you whether their offer is backed up with more than just hopes and dreams. While there is no customary limit. I’ve seen offers come in where the buyers wanted to put $0 for a deposit. And still others that put up the entire purchase price for a deposit. So how much should you offer? Yet another difficult question to answer in a short blog. In fact, an entire blog post could be written on this alone.

Ask yourself this: How easy or difficult would it be for the buyer to walk away from the amount they’re pledging? Is it likely to cause them to lose sleep if they lost that amount of money, or could they walk away maybe upset, but able to move on? Your answer lies somewhere in between. You want the amount to be enough that it would cause the buyer some level of pain should they lose it, but not too much that it’s unreasonable. Your agent can guide you in this aspect.

Inspection and Appraisal Contingency. Most offers will be contingent on a satisfactory inspection. By satisfactory we don’t mean flawless, every house will have some level of issues. Some will be contingent on the appraisal (This one catches a lot of buyers off guard). Let’s focus on the inspection, there are ways to get ahead of this one. We recommend our sellers invest in a pre-listing inspection (yes we said investment). This way they’ll know everything the prospective buyer will know before the buyer knows. We take a proactive approach rather than reactive. Last minute discoveries can really slow down (or kill) a deal that was previously moving full speed ahead. If you have an inspection of your own you can properly disclose and verify disclosures to the buyers in advance.

Buyer Financing. In real estate we know that cash is king. But when you don’t get that mighty cash deal, what kind of financing does the buyer have? Is it FHA, conventional, VA? It could be anything. Just because they have a pre-qualification doesn’t mean they’re pre-approved. How much are they putting down? Do they have sufficient assets to close? What if they need more money to close? If your offer is accompanies with a finance letter make sure your agent calls the lender to get these and other important questions answered before proceeding with a beautiful deal that blows up because the buyer was never pre-approved in the first place.

Everything else. An offer to purchase can have any number of contingencies and addenda and the only way to realistically weigh them out is to decide what will the be the total impact? You have to look at the entire deal, soup to nuts. In a real estate transaction, time is of the essence. If the buyer wants a fast closing, can you pack up, find a new home and move out in time? Maybe. Or what about an extended closing? Are you sure the buyer will still qualify for the mortgage five months down the road?

Then there’s purchases contingent on the sale of the buyer’s home. Ask, how far along is their sale? Do they have an offer? Are their contingencies cleared? Every offer will pose some level of uncertainty. Part of your agent’s job is to go over every detail of the offer with you and weigh the risk with you so you can make an informed counter offer.

Your ultimate success will be in the ability to evaluate an offer or multiple offers and formulate a strategy on the best path forward. And if the path is not totally clear you have your real estate expert to be your Sherpa guide and get you to your destination.

To discuss this or any aspect of sales strategy please give us at Miranda Executive Realty a call. We’re happy to meet for a no-obligation, no-pressure consultation. Whether at our Coral Springs office or in your home.

Let There Be Light

I just got back from a free consultation with a potential home seller.

The house was amazing. Remodeled throughout with mid to high end finishes. It was a truly amazing house.

Except one thing… It was dark!

They had heavy wood blinds with HUGE curtains over them.

Not one bit of light was coming in. It was like I was visiting the bat cave.

Easy solution: tie those curtains back and open the louvers on the blinds.

Voila! Instantly the house went from dark and dreary to light, bright and airy.

When selling a home keep in mind every home showing is a light show. When you break down statistics (whether you look on NAR, Trulia, Inman, or Zillow) they all say the same thing about what buyers are looking at, and it’s plain and clear. The house has to grab their attention at first sight! You could say a buyer has to feel “love at first sight”. Whether they’re viewing the home online, driving by and see the “for sale” sign in the front or come across a flyer. At the end of the day “the eyes have it”.

Where do we start when marketing a home for sale? It always starts with photos. All of the prep work is intended to ensure the property shows at it’s best both on photos and in person. Keeping in mind that almost 100% of home-buyers are looking at the pictures online before they even consider looking at the house in person, those photos better be top-notch.

A professional photographer will know exactly how and where to direct their camera to get the best photos. To ensure they’re capturing the home in the “best light” they know, lighting is just as important as the subject. When we meet our photographers we often hear them talk about the “shape” of the light, or if the light is “hard’ (prominent shadows), or “soft” (innocuous shadows).  For the same reason it’s why the best agents and photographers will time a photo-shoot of the house when the sun is in the most flattering position for the property. Proper timing of light for your “photo session” is crucial. In fact, sometimes when the photographer cannot get proper interior lighting you may see them use additional lights to brighten rooms to even out the lighting.

Light and bright is the general rule of thumb for success when taking photos to sell a house. Because of that rule, it’s easy to understand why most people agree the preferred interior wall colors are some variation of pale or light something. You’ll see colors like pale taupe, light beige and pale blue- grays as frequent favorites. Common factors you want to look for when choosing paint no matter what color you choose are high to moderate reflectivity. In other words “light and bright”. Recently an analysis was published with over 32,000 photos of homes sold. In hindsight the analysis was for the most part unnecessary because the leading color people chose as favorites were: (Drum roll please) PALE GRAY BLUE AND LIGHT BEIGE.

Similar thinking will lead to the conclusion, before every showing and open house take a trip through the home to open curtains, blinds and window coverings. As well as turn on all lights, including lamps. We at Miranda Executive Realty show every one of our listings at every appointment. We always arrive early to ensure the house shows it’s best, every time. You only get one chance at your first impression. So we want to impress buyers on first impression.

That being said, there are always an exceptions to every rule. Many of the larger new homes are now being constructed with media rooms. Even pre-existing homes are having media rooms added when owners decide to upgrade. These room benefit from dim lighting that will accentuate the large media screens. Similar to media rooms you may find an office with rich, dark wood paneling. Rooms like these provide an excellent contrast to the rest of the home. As well as a nice break in the presentation. When we show our properties we lead the potential buyers and their agents on a predetermined route through the property. Presentation matters. In our progression of impressions we work the for maximum “awe” effect.

When considering selling your home, whether in Coral Springs or anywhere in Southeast Florida, even if you’re not currently planning to sell for a while, we hope you’ll give Miranda Executive Realty a call. We would be happy to visit to discuss low-intensity preparations that will prepare you for a quick and easy sale when you’re finally ready. There is never an obligation or expectation to these meetings. However, there are always steps you can begin taking now to ensure meaningful results. It’s better to consult with a sales professional before making any modifications or changes when contemplating sales. Not all repairs and upgrades are created equal. Some will give you a much higher return on investment. While some will end up losing you money. We can help you make money, and prevent you losing money on unnecessary repairs. Feel free to contact us anytime.

Want to read more about some home hacks to help organize you when you’re ready to sell? Check out our blog about our favorite home hacks.

What to Look for When Hiring a Real Estate Agent

When considering buying or selling a home, the first most important task for you to take in will be deciding who is the best Realtor® to work with.

Although you may think combing through all of the current listings and driving through neighborhoods to see what’s going on first would be more important.

There may be a time when you need to act quickly.

If that happens, you’re going to want to be armed with the best agent possible for the job.

You don’t want to be stuck with a weak, or inexperienced real estate agent because you didn’t take the time to interview for the right agent.

So, how do you find the best real estate agent? It’s much like the hiring process used in most other businesses. Except it’s a lot easier to find your candidates. You won’t have to post “HELP WANTED” signs and ads everywhere, because the potential candidates (myself included) will be actively seeking you out. We are the agents you see everywhere. From the top of every Google search, to the prominent real estate agent signs you see while driving around. We’re everywhere.

The best thing you can do to identify the “best hire” is to have a conversation with your favorite candidates. You can call them up or drop in their office. Heck, you might even run into them at an open house. Keep in mind these conversations, whether business or casual conversations are the interview. Or at least the first interview. Most of the best jobs will require more than one interview. And remember You’re the boss; the agents are the ones interviewing-and who you hire matters. During the conversation try to ensure your agent at least these five characteristics and you’ll at least be off to a good start. Not necessarily in any order.

1. Professionalism. This is a no brainer. Every real estate agent should at the very least be professional. That’s not always the case. Pay attention to how they speak. And how they’re dressed. A true professional will carry him or herself well. They will show respect and will receive it.
2. Accessibility. Look for a full time real estate agent. Part time agents won’t have the time or availability to handle your transaction with the skill, care and diligence needed. The last thing you want is to miss out on a better deal because your agent was unavailable. This is very important.
3. Authority. The best will know their product inside and out. In this case the product is real estate. They will not only understand the market and neighborhood, they also understand people and how to handle the many different personalities out there. They’ll know how to structure the deal so it is in your best interest. If you are looking for the best deal in Coral Springs, FL, will they know where to find it? They better.
4. Dedication. Ensure your real estate partner is committed to real estate. Are you dealing with a true real estate professional? Or someone that’s watched one too many episodes of “Millionaire Real Estate” looking for a payday. If they’re not committed, you may find yourself looking around wondering where your agent went when the road gets tough. A dedicated real estate agent will not only be there when the going gets tough, but will also know how to navigate you through it. What, you thought making the largest purchase or sale in your life would come without problems? You might ask your dedicated Realtor® what could go wrong, and how you can prepare. The best agent will be proactive, not reactive.
5. Sympathy. Who doesn’t want a sympathetic agent? After all, every real estate transaction will be different. Not only in the piece of property involved, but also the parties involved. If your agent doesn’t know you, and what’s important to you (sympathy) how can he/she possibly deliver that? They can’t that’s how. If we weren’t real estate agents, we’d probably be life coaches.

All of that being said, we hope when you do decide to interview agents you’ll see Miranda Executive Realty at The Keyes Company stands head and shoulders above the competition. Not only do you get a real estate agent. You get a team of agents and administrative staff to make sure your transaction is as smooth as possible. We’re ready to chat when you are. Feel free to give us a call.