Hampton Ridge Estate

NEW TO THE MARKET...

Today we just listed 6119 Moss Springs in Hampton Ridge. Everyone has their own opinion on where the best place to live in Columbia. Many say Heathwood, Kings Grant, Wildewood, Wood Creek Farms, Lake Carolina etc. I agree with them all, however, I sure do like Moss Springs. If you have never been down this road before, go take a drive. You will be very impressed.

Description - Come live the high life in this in town Estate. This beautiful 4 bed, 3 bath, 3,800sqft Williamsburg style home is located in sought after Hampton Ridge. This beautiful home boasts: a grand foyer with formal living and dining rooms, with heavy molding, a fireplace, high ceilings and hardwood floors; the spacious eat-in kitchen has hardwoods, a island, pantry and tons of cabinet space; a sunken family room with a fireplace, hardwoods, and French doors leading to a screened-in porch and a guest/master suite located on the first floor. Upstairs are: two spacious bedrooms; a master suite with walk in closet, double vanity, and fireplace; a finished bonus room; and an unfinished frog.

Seller Etiquette When Showings Are About to Happen.

Sellers are a big a part of our team as anyone else. When showings are about to happen they are our last line of defense before the miraculous "first impression" happens. When an agent calls and wants to show your home this is what you need to do...

1. Clean up! Depending on your time frame either throw stuff in closets or really put it away. The rooms need to be clear of clutter and stuff off of the floor (it makes the rooms look smaller).
2. Turn on all lights! Go through every room and turn on every nightlight, ceiling fan and bathroom light. This will make the rooms appear brighter, more open and bigger.
3. Spray some Febreze! I would recommend spraying this over other air cleaners. It gives a clean fresh smell not an overpowering lemon zest odor as soon as they walk in the door.
4. Open all blinds and curtains! This goes along with the lights.
5. Hide the Litter box and Dog Beds! I personally love dogs but I don't want to smell yours. Put their beds in the garage and spray where they usually lay with Febreze. This also goes for litter boxes.
6. Sweep off the porch and walkway! I think this explains itself.
7. Focus on the entry way! If you don't have enough time to clean the whole house then just focus on the entry way. The typical buyer will make their decision on buying your house from the drive way to the entry way. Make it look as good as possible.
8. GET OUT! Don't stay home for the showing and don't hang out to introduce yourself. Buyers will not talk as freely or as open as if you weren't there. Many people need to talk it out when looking at a home. The buyers want this to be there home and if your there it's your home. Trust me, get out. There is a lock box on the door for a reason.

We are working hard everyday to get people in your house, don't drop the ball on the 1 yard line. Good luck and happy selling.

PREA 100!!!!

This week we, The Andrea Reynolds Team, received a notice that we are one of the top 100 Teams/Agents for Prudential Real Estate nationwide. That is out of 60,000+ agents that work for Prudential Real Estate. Andrea and Myself, Brad, will be traveling to Las Vegas at the end of March to receive our award. We have had a great year, in a trying market. But you know what? If you give good service, do what you say, and follow up. The market has nothing to do with selling houses, people still need a place to live. Thank you so much to our team and clients, because with out you all, none of our success would have been possible.

Who is the Number One Agent in Columbia, South Caolina?

You guessed it. The Andrea Reynolds Team is the #1 Team/Agent for resales (homes that are not brand new) in Columbia in 2008! I can tell you that no other Real Estate Agent/Team works as hard as we do. We work 10-14 hour days and sometimes see very little of our families. But we are committed to our clients who put the trust in us to sell their biggest investment. Thank you to all of our clients who trusted us this past year.

Who Do Open Houses Benfit? Are they Worth It?

I know it's a great debate with in the Real Estate field on who Open Houses really serve? What does the homeowner really get out of being kicked out of their home for a couple of hours on Sunday? Typically about 1% of the time a buyer actually walks through the door and wants to write an offer. But we are talking about the "perfect storm" of buying a house. You have a to have a great product, a willing and able buyer and their worlds have to meet on a Sunday between 2-4pm. It has never happened to me and I have done hundreds of open houses.
At this moment I am a little biased because I am sitting at an Open House right now and have only had two noisy neighbors come through, I personally think open house are of no use. Our buyer agents get very few leads out of open houses.

Here is what we do to prepare for an open house...

1. Schedule with the home owner with in the first month of the house being listed.
2. Create and send post cards a week and a half early to three hundred of the nearest neighbors. ($157.00)
   
3. Put the ad in the open house sections in Saturday and Sundays newspaper. ($62.50)
4. Make 20 color flyers and sign in sheets. ($10.00)
5. Put the open house on three online open house websites.
6. Put out directionals the day before with balloons. (where allowed)
7. The day of, get there early (easier said than done) and sit there for two hours.

So, every weekend our team has at least one open house. We do all of this work, spend all this money, kick our "aggravated seller" out of their house on one of their days off. To return to frustrated agent with no good news and no explanations on why people didn't come or make an offer.
I really think that our team does such a great job marketing, that people don't come through our listings unless they really like it. We give each listing a Virtual Tour, Showcase status on REALTOR.com, post cards to all the neighbors, a flyer box out front and a whole lot more. So people can see inside the house with actually stepping inside, so that has to decrease the amount of traffic on open houses and showings. Do you think thats a good idea? Or should we not put as much out there so they have to come in?
So, the question of the day is who do open houses benefit? I would love to hear what you think, especially if you are a current, future or past client.