Prepared to Sell- An Insider’s Point of View

People have to sell their homes for many reasons.  Some good reasons: promotions, relocations and expanding families. Others not so good: divorce, loss of job, demotions, and relocation (yes this can fall under both categories). Regardless of the reason, there is one common thread to selling your home.  Making it “Sellable”. 

I will now be joining our many past and present clients in preparing my home to sell.  Fortunately for me, Jeff Lange Real Estate specializes in selling country properties, because that is exactly what I am selling.  I am not an agent, but have worked as the office manager and assistant to the agents for 8 years.  I know that if anyone can sell my home, they can.  I also know that marketing and great salespeople can only go so far. Another BIG factor is up to me.  How much time, money and elbow grease do I want to spend to sell my house?  Well, the answer is easy to me, whatever it takes to help ensure the success of selling my home. 

I am what is referred to as a “highly motivated Seller”, but that doesn’t mean that I am willing to take less than what my home is worth.  No sir, I expect to get every penny that my home is worth.  What it does mean is that I will be rolling up my sleeves, packing away the clutter, doing any maintenance, painting and yard work etc to bring top dollar for my home.  One of my favorite shows on HGTV lately is, “Designed to Sell”.  Too bad I can’t get their team out to my home to help me out.  The $2000 wouldn’t hurt either. Oh well, I will have manage with out them. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing my experiences in preparing and putting my home on the market.  Hopefully it will give you some insight and help you with any decisions that you may be making regarding the sale of your home in the upcoming months.     

Dana

Buying a COUNTRY home

We here at JLRE list a gazillion country residential properties.  We are very familiar with the things that go along with a home in the country.  Water well, septic/lagoon, shelter belts, trees, flood plains, dirt/gravel roads, cricks, (I have been informed they are officially called creeks) ponds, propane, outbuildings, fences, minimum acreages, county requirements, and the list goes on!  For those of us who have grown up with these things, we take them for granted.  Others, I have discovered, don’t have a clue.   Unfortunately, some realtors don’t have a clue either.  There are some very good realtors who DO know and understand country property, but it is amazing to me, at the number that DON’T!! Quite often, we experience a Buyer’s agent writing a contract on a country property, then calling and asking “what a lagoon is?”  Can you imagine?  It happens more than you think.  We encourage Buyer representation, but does this sound like sound representation to you?   If you are looking for a home in the country, why wouldn’t it be logical to use a JLRE agent who knows and understands this kind of property?  We can not only assist you in searching, but help you understand, point out possible hazards, pitfalls, and normal “common sense” things that come with a country property.  And, we know lenders who don’t have a problem with more than 7 acres!!!   Don’t be afraid to ask an agent straight out if they are comfortable and/or what their knowledge of country property is.  If you aren’t comfortable with their answer, are you going to be comfortable in your decision making process come purchase time? Why not let a country professional help you with your country property?  Give us a call. 

Don Burford

KPTS Pledge Drive

Agents and staff from Jeff Lange Real Estate volunteered their time for KPTS, the PBS station broadcasting from Hutchinson, KS. for their pledge drive on Saturday, December 15, 2007.  The volunteers answered phones and took information from viewers calling into the station to place pledges.  They were also given a tour of the station.  KPTS is a non-profit educational organization that relies heavily on public support.  “Financial contributions from members account for more than 60 percent of our annual operating budget, so your pledge really makes a difference!” says their web site.  If you would like to make a pledge to support KPTS you may go to their site: www.kpts.org 

Preconceptions

Preconceptions, about the way people see one another, are generally something that has been established in their mind over time.I make this statement for one purpose.  Jeff Lange Real Estate is widely known in the south central area of Kansas as a realty company that primarily handles land and rural homes.  Most people do not know that we are also very much involved in the metropolitan areas in South Central Kansas.We have recently moved back to Kansas and after joining Jeff Lange Real Estate, I found it interesting to see how the company was being perceived.  However, this should not have come as a surprise to me.  Over the past decade, in visiting relatives in Kansas, I did see many Jeff Lange Real Estate Signs in the rural areas of Sumner, Harper, Sedgwick and Kingman counties.  I thought to myself that he was definitely the one the public must turn to for their COUNTRY real estate needs. I understand in the past we have made an effort to promote ourselves as your “Country Professionals”.  However, we have always been interested in both country and urban markets.  Now that we are perceived as the land and rural specialist, we are now working to establish this firm as your real estate professionals, no matter where your property interests lie.   We have always had the ability to represent buyers and sellers in the metropolitan areas also.   However, I see us now making a genuine effort to educate the public that we can meet or exceed all your real estate needs, be it “country” or “city”.We offer many innovative programs to accomplish this goal.  The most impressive of these offerings to me, is our Guaranteed Sales program that meets or even surpasses any other realty firms, including those with national affiliation.Let us know how we can help you!  Simply reply to this blog or give any of the realtors at Jeff Lange Real Estate a call 529-3100). 
REMEMBER WE WANT TO BE YOUR REAL ESTATE PROFFESSIONALS. Dee Pettegrew

Hunting Properties

Hunting properties are currently one of the hottest things on the market right now!  I could just about write a book on why and how come.  Bottom line is, they are hot!  Naturally, you are looking for one.  You have limited time to drive and look at a property, so you rely on the agent to tell you about it.   He/she blows smoke up your skirt about how awesome this property is.  You find out later after spending half a day and $50 of gas in travel to find it is simply a hay meadow without a tree or crick within a mile of it! Point blank:  I don’t hunt.  (because after years of trying I finally figured out that I couldn’t hit it after I got the chance!)  But that doesn’t mean that I don’t know what makes and what is, a good hunting property!  I grew up with it, I know it.  AND, I will not blow smoke up you skirt about a piece of flat ground trying to make it into something it is not!   Your time is valuable too!  I am going to tell you the way it is.  YOU definitely need to see and walk it, but you should have a pretty good “grip” on the property after talking with me.   We generally try to get aerial photos of all our land properties.  I have studied FSA photos since I was 9.  I can tell a lot simply by the photo.  But if I haven’t walked it, I will tell you!  If I have walked it, I will tell you more.   I don’t ever recall anyone telling me “it wasn’t what you told me!”  I’m proud of that! Don Burford

Free Educational Seminars

Jeff Lange Real Estate has been putting on monthly seminars at our Derby office since the spring. We cover a wide range of topics that are beneficial to both the buyer and the seller. These seminars are open to the public and are free. We do ask that you call and make a reservation because we do serve dinner, so it is imperative that we have a head count to know how many people to order for. Give us a call at 529-3100 to inquire about the upcoming seminars at our Derby location.

Cheryl Nesbitt

Greetings from Alyce

Greetings!  This is Alyce Newell.  I work at Jeff Lange Real Estate, but I’m not an agent!  Imagine that.  I am one of those few folks who tend to get the opportunity to wear MANY different hats at JLRE.  Let’s just say…it keeps things fresh and almost never boring and for me AND makes it a great place to work!

            My two primary jobs are:

1.                            I am an assistant to 4 agents in our office.  I do a lot of little things for these agents which allows them to free up their time to go out and do what they do best….helping our clients meet their real estate needs.

2.                            I also work for Lange Auctions.  When we have an auction, be it real estate, quality personal property, farm equipment/machinery or an estate, (just to name a few of the types we do), I do a lot of the background work.  I gather information from various sources and write the ads for the numerous publications that we use to advertise our auctions.  I also assist with www.proxibid.com, if it is an auction that we are going to use the internet to attract buyers with.  I gather up any photos and prep them for the internet postings and I design and prepare the sale brochures and/or postcards that are sent out for each respective auction. 

We are always looking for better ways to help our clients not only sell their properties, but find new ones too.  Whether it’s through traditional print media, internet, radio, television, or e-mails, etc, we are always in search of new and better ideas.

Life is never boring around here!  Keeping Don Burford in line is enough in itself, but then Jeff is always being nice to me too by sending me lots of special projects to work on to!….and Colin….and Mark……Well, that’s it for now! Later!  Alyce

What Sells Homes Fast?

The #1 most important thing you can do-

     Listen to the advice of your Jeff Lange Real Estate agent.  We are an old fashioned, straight forward real estate company.  We are going to tell you what we think about your property.  What price it should sell for, what price it should be listed at, improvements you should make and all the little things that can make a BIG difference in your home selling fast.

     Unfortunately, many agents will tell you what you want to hear just to get your home listed.  That doesn’t do them or you any good.  It will make you feel good now, but how good are you going to feel when your home is still on the market months later.  It is amazing how many times we see a seller list their home with another agent and the property just sits there with no action.  Finally, the seller agrees to make the improvements we suggested and/or lower the price to where we suggested and then action takes place.  Unfortunately months or often a year is wasted because the seller just didn’t want to truly listen to what our agents marketing plan was initially.

     Bottom line-If you believe enough in us to have us visit with you about listing your home, believe in what we have to say.  Together we will get the job done and “your real estate dreams will be realized.”

Jeff M. Lange  

Definition of a Country Home

I am interested in hearing your definition of country, &/or country home.  We have debated this definition for years here at JLRE.  I will not go into our version for the sake of keeping your mind open and your definition un-skewed by my spew & view!   I look to this blog as being informative both ways!  I look forward to hearing your definitions/descriptions.  (Yes, I will tell you some of ours, & mine too, eventually) Don Burford

Seasonal Pictures

I was driving yesterday, and noticed a lot of yards are showing yellow grass from dry weather and it hit me that autumn is right around the corner.  Then, it hit me about the importance of pictures for showing properties on internet and in brochures.  Sellers should be aware of this importance. 

If you are thinking about selling in the near future, and you have a property that has a lot of character in a particular or even in different seasons, you need to capture that ahead of time.  Help your realtor out with seasonal pictures (preferably digital) of the “colorful” highlights of your property.  Placing the camera in the same place showing all four seasons is a powerful tool in the right setting!   Green foliage always shows better than winter leafless trees.  However on occasion, leafless trees do allow you to see through them to the improvements better. 
The same goes for swimming pools.  A bright, clean, clear pool is 200% better than a pool cover, and 400% better than green water!  Ponds have the same effect with water level and an iced over pond can make for an awesome picture.   
Something to keep in mind if you are considering selling a property in the near future.  The most important part is listing with Jeff Lange Real Estate though! All for now!  Looking to hear from you! 
Don Burford
Assoc. Broker & Auctioneer