"Our move was far less stressful with your excellent action and marketing plan for the sale of our Ottawa home. The pictures were amazing. People still can't believe that it was our home."
Darrell
"I greatly appreciate your hard work and time to help me find tenants for my home. Thank you for being patient with me and making it work for my convenience." Amira Ayoub
"Thanks for all your work. I had a great time working with you. We were really impressed by your professionalism and attention to details" LT(N) F.Martel
"Sean and I want to thank you for everything you have done to help us through the buying and selling process...You are a great person whose energy and support helped us at every turn...I will certainly recommend you to anyone who will listen!" Karen Beattie
In terms of selling agents, we have had experience with those who try to sell homes at the lower end of the market value (I presume to minimize time on market, which in turn leads to more houses sold; both of which maximizes the realtor's revenue, but neither of which maximizes the seller's profit margin). We were in search of a new agent to sell our home and we were only going to chose someone who we felt had our interests at heart.
We ended up obtaining Patrick after simultaneously soliciting several realtors (all recommended by trusted friends and neighbors) in an open bid to see who would be the best to sell our home; we asked each realtor to reply with a suggested range within which they thought our house could sell for, as well as their marketing strategies. The Kellys won hands down. They were one of the first to reply, thereby showing interest from the very beginning; their suggested sale range coincided with what we thought we could sell for and was the highest amongst those interviewed (but not overly inflated compared to the others). Their marketing and reporting strategies were sound and involved regular updates on how they were selling out home. They left us with the impression that their sole job was to get us as much as we could for our home and that they were working for us and not themselves.
Having them as our agents was wonderful. They were in constant contact with us, always explaining their next steps. As houses in the area came on the market, they would report to us how those homes could aid or hamper the sale of our home and would provide mitigation strategies. They relied on their expertise to provide sound suggestions, but were never pushy; indeed we felt we were always at the helm. Most importantly, their sale tactic resonated well with us; they put our house on the market higher than what they thought we could get for it and said "let's see what the market says". This is a great strategy: they were honest enough to inform us of what they thought the final value would likely be, but they were willing (as were we) to ride the market for a little while to see if we could get more. Granted that this isn't always appropriate: some people need to sell their home as soon as possible. We were not in that situation and we told all the interviewed realtors just so, but only Patrick used that fact in their proposed marketing strategies. In short, they listened to us!
They ended up selling our home after 20 days on the market for a value right in the middle of their initial estimated range. In fact, the house sold for $10,000 MORE than what similar homes in our area were going for on average, and for $5,000 or more than any of the STARTING listing prices suggested by the other interviewed realtors. This is worth repeating: had we gone with any of the others interviewed, we would have missed out on AT LEAST $5,000. Our final sale price was even $10,000 more than the value stated by the appraiser who evaluated our home earlier this spring. We do not think that this was because our house was that much better than the other homes in the area; we really do attribute it to the our realtors' marketing abilities. They clearly have a superior grasp of the local housing market.
thank you once again; you have certainly made this side of our move as seamless and smooth as could be, and we dare say enjoyable! This has been nothing but a positive experience.
Sincerely,
Dr. Andrew Billyard and Mrs. Jane Billyard
"Thank you very much for everything. Ricki-Lee and I have both been very pleased and impressed with your help and advice throughout the entire process.We will recommend you to the fullest and we hope to meet again in the future." Stephen Mackie
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