Selling your home

Talk to the Experts Radio Show on CKNW 98

February 12, 2012 By Scott Simmons Leave a Comment

I was invited to go on the “talk to the experts” Radio show on CKNW 98.

CKNW is one of the biggest radio station in Vancouver. I was hopping to get Salt Spring into the conversation as much as possible. The host of the “Talk to the Experts” show is Ian Power On this clip you will hear Ian Baily founder of One Percent Realty and myself.

talk to the Expert Radio Show 11feb12

Apparently the show gets 40 – 50 thousand listeners per hour. Just a few more than our local CFSI-fm.

Here is the clip from a show I did last year (April 2011) on CKNW 98 “Talk to the Experts”

Talk to the Experts clip from 2011

Cheers Scott

Selling on Salt Spring? What do we charge?

December 17, 2011 By Scott Simmons Leave a Comment

Commissions

As of Jan 1st, 2018 we now charge the following;

Full-Service MLS® Only $7,950

(Homes over $700,000 1% + $950)

$3,500 to listing agent / $3,500 to buyer’s agent

$950 expense fee at closing

$7,950 TOTAL

How much do I charge to sell your Salt Spring Island house? Just 1% plus $900 a disbursement fee or if your house sells for over $700 thousand. If your home sells for less than $700k we charge a minimum of $7000 plus the $950 disbursement fee. All commissions are plus HST.

How can I do it all for so little? Easy. I leverage the Internet and work out of my home office, not a fancy old-fashioned real estate office that no one goes to anyway. Low commissions are a way of letting you lower your selling price but keep more of the money in your pocket when you sell.

What about the myth that other agents will not show a 1% listing? If you have followed the steps above your house will be irresistible to the buyers and the other agents will bring them to see your stunning house. The buyers’ agent might ask the buyers to pay them more commission or might ask you to pay more commission if they bring in an offer. This puts you, the seller, in the driver’s seat. It gives you leverage when an offer comes in. The buyers like low commissions because they know you are not being charged as much and can sell for less or sell at market price and make more. Low commissions are a win-win for everyone but the high overhead agents who are not adapting to the new online world we live in. Don’t worry, they will learn to adapt or go out of business.

Here is an article out of the local driftwood newspaper driftwood article March 11, 2009, regarding what one agent says about what they have to charge. quote “…minimum rates at which the full-service-downtown-storefront real estate business can function….” They need to charge more to pay for their downtown offices not because they are going to spend more on your listing marketing it.

Compare services to services. We offer all the same Full services Full MLS® listing, Lawn Signs, Virtual Tour, Agents Open, Lock Box, Brochures, Driftwood Real Estate magazine ads… Yes, we do all the same services like the so-called downtown-storefront real estate companies.

One of the biggest financial mistakes I see sellers make is the failure to realize commissions can only come out of their home equity (or capital). This is an example; If a house sells $700,000 and $600,000 is owed to the bank (mortgage) they will net out approx $100,000 (this is their “home equity”). Out of this $100,000 equity, they will pay the $24,000 commission (if they use a typical 6/3 agent), which is more than 20% of their equity. Why would someone give away so much of their equity? It just does not make financial sense to me. I’m always shocked when I see this happen. Those that can afford it the least seem to pay such a staggering amount of their home equity (their home equity is usually most of their net worth) to sell their house. It’s really quite shocking and sad to see that so many make such bad financial decisions. My Financial planning 101 advise is to preserve your after-tax capital, invest it wisely and make it work for you, Do Not Give it away.

Cheers
Scott Simmons

Salt Spring home Staging tips

December 17, 2011 By Scott Simmons Leave a Comment

Simple home staging tips to sell your Salt Spring Island Home.

Download a free copy of my “how to sell your home” printed report
how to sell printed brochure

One of the worst ways to sell is to sell an empty home.

Tour of the house without light on;

Tour of staged house with light on;

Staging tips;

Check out whats available at costco to stage your home to sell

If you are going to try and sell in this soft market contact a home stagger or Scott if you are on Salt Spring and looking to sell.

How to sell your home in any Real Estate market

January 23, 2011 By Scott Simmons Leave a Comment

As a Salt Spring Island real estate agent the first question I usually get from anyone is “how is the market doing”. I usually say the same answer “great”. Home are always selling in all markets. If the market is hot or cold it really does not mater if you are selling. If your home is very poorly turned out it will not sell. Some homes just sit and sit, some for years.

There are two main reasons price and state of it. The easy route is just to lower the price until it sell. Any home will sell if you keep lowering the price. The problem with this is you are giving away your home equity. The best thing to do is to stage the home to sell. Last year I took an extensive home staging course and learned a lot about home staging. I have written what I consider to be a very simple guide to home staging. You can download a copy of it right here. how to sell printed brochure If you follow this simple guild you will find out how easy it is to stage your home to sell. If you have any questions about home staging just send me a note. I can come over and help you stage your home if you live on Salt Spring Island and list your home with me.

If you stage your home and make it look smashing it will sell faster than any none staged comparable home. Home staging can help you sell faster and generally at higher price. Look at this video of sold Salt Spring home. Look at how nice the homes that sold were.

Cheers
Scott Simmons TEAM

Salt Spring Island new year on a small real estate up swing

January 17, 2011 By Scott Simmons Leave a Comment

It looks like the new year is off with a bang as far as Salt Spring Island real estate is concerned. With 6 new sales and with one coming in over 1.5mil. The home that sold at over 1.5 was IMO not a good home and way over priced. My friend had rented the home for 6 months and really thought it was a poor home. Just goes to show that every once in a while someone will buy a dog. Good luck with that one. Any home at any price range has to have flow, grace and charm all packaged in a style that is pleasing to the eye. Far to many of the Salt Spring homes are tired, dated and just plain ugly. Only a small percentage of the buyers are willing to buy a home that needs work. If you are going to sell think about upgrading your home and staging it. I was in Cosco a week ago and shot this video on what they had.

If you do not have a copy of my top 5 picks under 750k please send me a note.

Cheers
Scott

BC Building code Changes for 2010

February 1, 2010 By Scott Simmons Leave a Comment

BC Building Code changes for 2010
As of Feb 1st, 2010, the BC Building Code has been changed;
1) the consideration of potential for slope instability and its consequences at a building site becomes an explicit requirement in designs of structures and their foundations, and
2) the seismic hazard probability level to be used in the consideration, particularly in assessment of seismic slope stability, will be as referenced in Subsection 1.1.3 of Division B of the BC Building Code, namely a 2%-in-50 year probability of exceeding.
As a result, the Geotechnical Slope Stability (Seismic) Regulation, B.C. Reg. 358/2006 is repealed. The companion Commentary on Geotechnical Slope Stability (Seismic) Regulation issued by the Building and Safety Policy Branch in January 2007 is also withdrawn. As originally intended, the repealed B.C. Reg. 358/2006 served as an interim provision for specifying a seismic hazard probability level to be used for slope assessments for building sites. That level was a 10%-in-50 year probability of exceedance.
These are a big changes to the BC Building Code and basically it has raised the bar of slope stability.
We have had this change come up already. What was deemed to be a OK building lot is now worthless until a new Geo-technical Slope Stability report is completed.
If you have a building lot and a Geo-technical Slope Stability report saying you can build a home and have not built you will have to re hire the Geo-technical engineers to do another report. $$$
Some lots that have been OK may not pass the new levels that have been set. Who knows what the engineers will deem to be 2%-in-50 years from a level of 10%-in-50 years. If you Google 100 year flood you can get a better feeling of how extreme value theory works. Its counter intuitive. It sounds like they are making the levels less but it works backwards.
The other change is that in part 1) the wording explicit requirement IMO means everyone will have to have a Engineer do a Geo-technical Slope Stability report to build anything in BC. This will affect all BC real estate.
Cheers
Scott Simmons
Salt Spring Island BC
Update I was just at the CRD building inspection office on Salt Spring and they are shocked at how sever these changes are to the BC Building Code. They think this will make some lots un-build-able and make so many homes legal none conforming. What will happen if the homes burn down and you can not rebuild. Like I said this is a massive change.