Why should sellers hire a lake specialist?

We know what you’re thinking. All real estate agents do the same thing, right? They take photos, put a sign in the yard, enter the information into the MLS, then they wait. They might do a couple of open houses to show that they’re making an effort. There are countless discussions on every social media platform saying that it doesn’t matter what real estate agent you choose because they all offer the same thing. It’s true that many of the components involved in listing a home for sale are the same. Any agent can enter the listing in the MLS and put a sign in your yard. The MLS will feed the listing to Zillow and everywhere else for buyers to find it, so we understand why many sellers assume that it doesn’t matter who lists their house. There are so many options, right? Everyone knows at least one person with their real estate license, so you can always choose to help out a friend who’s doing real estate part-time and has only sold 3 homes. Or you can just call the agent who helped you 10 years ago when you bought, even if that agent primarily sells new construction, or she’s based in Athens and really doesn’t actively work on the lake at all. There are also the tempting fee-for-service models that can save you thousands of dollars in commissions. It sounds great, but these are really not successful on Lake Hartwell. As a homeowner, it’s not your job to know why it matters who you hire, and why even the most successful agent off the lake might not be the right agent to list your home on Lake Hartwell.

6 Reasons to hire us to sell your lake hartwell home

We Know How to Price Lake Homes

Pricing a lake home is very different from pricing homes off the lake. If you price a lake home wrong, it doesn’t matter about everything else you do. All agents have access to the same information from the MLS, but the interpretation of that data matters greatly. We search a much larger area for comparable sales, and we have to consider much more than the basic differences you’ll find in off lake properties. When selecting and adjusting comps, we have to consider how similar the lot is. If we find a comparable sale with a house that is very similar but a lot that is far inferior, we have to know how much to adjust for the inferior lot. We also regularly use comparable sales with similar lots and dissimilar homes. Our experience, knowledge of the market on Lake Hartwell, and firsthand experience on the lake all contribute to our ability to select the comparable sales that are most relevant to your home.

We see overpriced listings far more often than we see underpriced ones, but both pricing mistakes have a major impact on the seller’s net proceeds. The old way of pricing a home with a bit of a cushion for negotiation is not effective in the current market. Homes that are priced correctly sell quickly with little or no negotiation, while overpriced listings spend much more time on the market and ultimately sell for less than they would have if priced correctly. Any pricing advice that we provide is based on our goal of maximizing your proceeds.

We know What Moves them

Most people only go through a handful of real estate transactions during their lifetime. Most property owners on Lake Hartwell have not owned more than one home on the lake. When you have a lake home where your family has spent years making memories, it’s virtually impossible to separate your emotions and view your property objectively as a buyer would.

This is especially true if you’re the home’s first and only owner, or if you’ve owned the property for decades. Many of us make changes to homes that suit our needs without considering how someone else may view them in the future. In addition, owners often don’t notice needed repairs and maintenance items requiring attention because we simply are not looking at our own homes in the way someone else will be looking at them when deciding whether or not they are willing to pay your price. The first time we visit your home, we’re there as potential listing agents but with the knowledge of how buyers will perceive the home. By being able to identify potential objections buyers may have, we’re able to make recommendations that will position your home to attract an offer with the highest price and best terms as quickly as possible.

Buyers usually know what they want, and we’re not here to convince them to buy something other than what they want. Even if you have the smallest platform dock at the back of a cove, there are buyers who want what you have. Our job as listing agents is to present your listing in a way that captures attention immediately and highlights your home’s best features. The only way to accomplish this is by knowing what buyers are looking for and how they respond to what they see.

Experience Matters

Having lived on Lake Hartwell for 30 years, we have seen it at its best and its very worst. We know that some areas have shoals that will cut off access to the lake if the water drops just a few feet. We know that certain places remain brown and muddy for weeks after a heavy rain.

Because we’ve sold property successfully during extreme droughts, we know what information we can provide to encourage buyers to make offers when they’re afraid of how much time the dock may be on land. We know that coves and open water both have pros and cons – it just depends on what’s important to the buyer. We know which information to highlight in your listing to attract the right buyer.

Because the majority of agents representing buyers on Lake Hartwell are not knowledgeable about the lake, it’s more important than ever for sellers to have a listing agent who’s able to answer prospective buyers’ questions. We use these conversations as a way to find out what other properties the buyers are considering. Since we’re familiar with other properties on the market, we’re able to compare your listing to those competing properties on the spot. Often, agents who are inexperienced with selling lake property will ask us to provide comparable sales and information to support our list price. Despite having access to the data, they are not equipped to interpret it. I have even gone so far as to prepare a map showing my listing compared to sold properties on a historical satellite image during a drought to show why my listing was worth more! I’ve also done this comparing my listing to active properties in an effort to convince a buyers to write an offer on my listing.

Buyer Database

We already have a database containing thousands of prospective buyers who have reached out to us about property on Lake Hartwell. Some of these people are actively searching, while others are simply waiting to see something that piques their interest enough to warrant an in-person visit. The individuals in our database receive a mass email with your listing prior to MLS activation, and our agents will also reach out individually to those buyers with whom they are closely working.

Professional Presentation

Professional photography with aerial photography has been a standard for our listings for over a decade, and we include a floor plan with individual room measurements for all of our listings. Some listings get a walk-through video as well, and all listings will have a 3D home tour that appears on Zillow. Select listings will have Zillow Showcase, which provides prioritized placement in search results and an innovative listing design that results in 75% more views, shares, and saves. Our name is prominently displayed on Showcase listings, which drives more property inquiries directly to us. Even if inquiries come from buyers who already have agent representation, this allows us an opportunity to communicate directly with buyers to explain what makes your property special.

Aerial photography has become increasingly important for lakefront property in particular. Buyers expect to have access to as much information as possible, and sometimes satellite map images are not the best reflection of your property’s location on the water. This could be because of dark shadows on the image, or perhaps the most recent satellite image is from a time when the water was low.

Simple communication

When you list with the Quigley Team, you will have two licensed, full-time real estate agents working for you. We don’t use assistants or transaction coordinators, so you will only be dealing with the two of us.

Many agents are no longer providing showing feedback through ShowingTime due to liability concerns about their comments

being recorded in writing. As a result, we are frequently reaching out to agents directly for feedback on showings in order to provide this valuable information to our sellers. In addition to communicating showing appointments and feedback, we ask that each seller indicate their preferred communication style so that we can provide periodic updates in the way they like best.

We provide regular market updates showing new listings, as well as those that have gone under contract or sold since the previous update. This will be accompanied by a brief synopsis comparing your listing to any that have gone under contract. We look at the number of showings, the feedback received, as well as the most recent pending and sold transactions in order to recommend if a price reduction is warranted. We will never ask for a price reduction without providing documentation to support that request.

Why should sellers hire a lake specialist?

6 Reasons to hire us to sell your lake hartwell home

Ready to talk about selling?